zika

Photo: WeRobotics

Mosquito-packed drones ready to join fight against Zika and other deadly diseases – UN agency

19 April 2018
Health

Robotics may soon be a critical ally in the fight against disease-spreading bugs, a United Nations agency said Thursday after a successful test that eleased sterile mosquitos from aerial drones aiming to suppress the insect that spreads Zika and other diseases.  

IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano (right) addresses the Preparatory Committee for the 2020 Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT).
UNIS Vienna

News in Brief 2 May 2017 (PM)

2 May 2017
News in Brief

Nuclear science and technology playing “significant role” in development

Expanding membership of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) shows a “growing appreciation of the immense value” of nuclear science and technology.

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WHO/PAHO

No longer an international public health emergency, Zika is 'here to stay' – UN health agency

19 November 2016
Following a meeting of its Emergency Committee on Zika, the United Nations World Health Organization said that the infectious disease and its associated consequences no longer present a public health emergency of international concern, but stressed the need for sustained effort to address the disease, which has been linked to congenital and other neurological disorders.
WHO/TDR/S. Lim

UN health agency calls for stronger measures against Zika as Thailand confirms disease-related cases

30 September 2016
The United Nations health agency today urged countries across the South-East Asia region to continue to take decisive action to prevent, detect and respond to Zika virus, following news that Thailand has confirmed two cases of Zika-related microcephaly.

FEATURE: How concerned should you be about Zika?

29 July 2016
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.
The IAEA, in partnership with FAO, spearheads global research in the development of the sterile insect technique and its application against mosquitoes (
D. Calma/IAEA

Tests of nuclear “pest control” for Zika mosquito forthcoming

7 June 2016
General News

A decision on when to start field trials of a nuclear technique to stop the spread of the Zika virus will be made next month.

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WHO/PAHO

No need to cancel or postpone Olympics due to Zika, says UN health agency

31 May 2016
The World Health Organization (WHO) has determined that based on the current assessment of the Zika virus circulating in almost 60 countries globally and 39 countries in the Americas, there is no public health justification for postponing or cancelling the 2016 Olympic Games.
Aishatu Margima at the World Humanitarian Summit.
UN/Fabrice Robinet

UN and Africa: focus on displaced people in Nigeria, Zika virus, El Niño and Liberia sanctions

26 May 2016
UN and Africa

Nigerian nurse describes sheltering 50 people fleeing Boko Haram

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WHO/PAHO

Zika ‘on doorstep of Africa,’ UN health agency warns after virus confirmed in Cabo Verde

20 May 2016
The United Nations health agency today confirmed that the Zika virus strain circulating in Cabo Verde, an island nation off the northwest coast of Africa, is the same as the one responsible for the outbreaks linked to neurological disorders and microcephaly in South America.
Aedes aegypti mosquitoes that can carry Zika as well as Dengue and Chikungunya viruses.
IAEA/Dean Calma

Zika strain reported on African island for first time

20 May 2016
General News

A strain of a virus which can lead to brain defects in newborns has been discovered for the first time in Africa, the UN has confirmed.

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