Health

FAO/Marco Longari

UN agricultural agency launches programme to eradicate deadly goat disease

28 October 2016
Global

The United Nations agricultural agency today launched the first phase of a new, 15-year global programme to eradicate a highly contagious viral animal disease affecting more than 70 countries in Africa, Middle East and Asia, which account for about 80 per cent of the world’s sheep and goats and where millions of families depend heavily on these animals for nutrition and livelihoods.

Oldy Auguste

INTERVIEW: Funding to prevent cholera is crucial to advance development in Haiti – UNICEF’s Marc Vincent

19 August 2016
Americas

Earlier today, the spokesperson for United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon spoke about how the UN system is actively working to develop a package that would provide material assistance and support to those Haitians most directly affected by the outbreak of cholera in the Caribbean nation.

PAHO/WHO/Joshua E. Cogan

FEATURE: How concerned should you be about Zika?

29 July 2016
Americas

The announcement that the United States might have discovered its first cases of locally-transmitted Zika virus, and concerns raised by some of the athletes headed to the Olympic Games in Rio, are renewing fears about the disease, which the United Nations’ health agency declared a ‘public health emergency of international concern’ in February 2016.

World Bank/Kim Eun Yeul

UN health agency warns of rise in urban air pollution, with poorest cities most at risk

12 May 2016
Global

More than 80 per cent of people living in urban areas that monitor air pollution are exposed to air quality levels that exceed guidelines set by the World Health Organization (WHO), with populations in low-income cities the most at risk for respiratory diseases and other long-term health problems.

UNICEF/Sanjay Acharya

UN health agency launches global strategy to end leprosy

20 April 2016
Global

The United Nations health agency today launched a new global strategy for a world free of leprosy, calling for stronger commitments and accelerated efforts to stop disease transmission and end associated discrimination and stigma.

World Bank/John Hogg

UN estimates 12.6 million deaths each year attributable to unhealthy environments

15 March 2016
Global

An estimated 12.6 million people died as a result of living or working in an unhealthy environment in 2012 – nearly one in four of total global deaths, according to new estimates from the World Health Organization (WHO).