New vaccines against the virus that causes cervical cancer could save hundreds of thousands of women’s lives in the developing world, home to the vast majority of the more than 250,000 women who died from the disease last year, and funding to make them available must be a priority, United Nations health officials said today.

An independent United Nations human rights expert today called on the Government of Belarus to assure access to proper health care for a jailed opposition political leader who has been on hunger strike for the past 49 days.

With road accidents killing 1.2 million people worldwide every year, injuring up to 50 million more and racking up $518 billion in costs and losses, the United Nations health agency is preparing a series of manuals on counter-steps, including laws, enforcement, and information sharing on the use of seat-belts, helmets and child restraints.

With at least 870,000 people killing themselves each year and 450 million others around the world affected by mental, neurological or behavioural problems at any given time, the United Nations today marked World Mental Health Day with calls for greater attention to be afforded to the causes and treatment of suicide.