In The News

Africa and Pakistan Face Polio Outbreaks

Donald G. McNeil, Jr. September 4, 2013
New polio cases are emerging in some of the world’s most unstable places – North Waziristan, Somalia and a Kenya refugee camp. The world had about 350,000 cases in 1988 and 223 cases in 2012, a 99 percent decrease, but polio can spread quickly, especially among children under the age of five, reports the World Health Organization. Poverty and rumors add to the challenges of health care workers....

Smoking in Latin America

June 24, 2013
Tobacco is a native plant of the Americas, but Latin America is gradually going smoke-free. Chile is the 14th Latin American country – out of 20 – to ban smoking in enclosed public spaces. Over 40 percent of Chileans smoke, reports the World Health Organization. Treatment for tobacco victims represents a quarter of the $10 billion public healthcare budget, reports Chile’s health minister. Tobacco...

WHO Puzzled by Deadly Chinese Bird-Flu Strain

Esther Fung April 22, 2013
A World Health Organization team of researchers is in China, trying to determine how a new strain of bird flu, H7N9, spreads. Human-to-human transmission would be dangerous, and researchers are investigating family members who share the flu strain. “So far, investigators have said they can't rule out limited person-to-person transmission, which could include unusually close contact, such as...

CDC Begins Work on Vaccine for China Flu

Donald G. McNeil Jr, Andrew Jacobs April 8, 2013
US researchers are developing a vaccine to block H7N9 flu that’s killed six in China. China reports that “No cases of human-to-human transmission have been confirmed, even though China’s disease control agency has traced hundreds of people who had contact with the 14 known cases,” report Donald G. McNeil Jr, Andrew Jacobs for the New York Times. Global cooperation to tackle the flu is underway,...

The UN’s Battle with NCDs

Sheri Fink and Rebecca Rabinowitz October 19, 2011
Sheri Fink and Rebecca Rabinowitz of the New America Foundation call attention to rising danger of non-communicable diseases, or NCDs. Such diseases, including heart and lung disease, cancer and diabetes, now account for two out of every three deaths worldwide. A UN meeting signals new priority on the challenges of such diseases. Non-communicable diseases, many preventable, have become prevalent...

A Pair of Clean Hands Can Save Lives

May 4, 2011
Accustomed to great advances in medicine, staff and patients often overlook simple life-saving rules. Unclean hands are a major source of hospital infections around the globe. Studies in the US have shown compliance rates of less than 50 percent. The global health problem has an easy fix, reports the Times of India, as the World Health Organization observes World Hand Hygiene Day on 5 May. About...

Cholera, Fear Spread Beyond the Border

Fred Tasker, Frances Robles November 19, 2010
Soon after the earthquake hit Haiti in January 2010, world public health officials predicted that poor sanitation and disrupted services could lead to an outbreak of disease. Cholera now spread rapidly throughout the country, killing more than 1000 Haitians and crossing borders into the Dominican Republic and the United States. Thousands more are sickened and violent riots have broken out in...