The world is coming to a standstill as the new coronavirus spreads: schools have closed in Japan, rallies are banned in Switzerland and flights are canceled worldwide.
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Tag: World
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Researcher discovers huge flaw with anthropometry, the measurement of facial features from images
University of Huddersfield lecturer Dr. Eilidh Noyes was among world-leading experts in the science of face recognition who assembled in Australia for a conference that will lead to policy recommendations designed to aid police, governments, the legal system and border control agencies.
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Data centers use less energy than you think
If the world is using more and more data, then it must be using more and more energy, right? Not so, says a comprehensive new analysis.
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Australia could soon export sunshine to Asia via a 3800-km cable
Australia is the world’s third largest fossil fuels exporter – a fact that generates intense debate as climate change intensifies. While the economy is heavily reliant on coal and gas export revenues, these fuels create substantial greenhouse gas emissions when burned overseas.
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WHO steps up action to improve access to safe blood
The World Health Organization’s new action plan to speed up universal access to safe blood and blood products pulls together existing recommendations and recommends new improved ways of working. It’s the start of a four-year collaborative effort to improve blood transfusion and blood-based therapies in all countries.
Safe blood saves lives in all sorts of circumstances, not least in emergency and epidemic settings. Blood transfusion and blood products are critical for birth delivery for both the mother and baby; the survival and quality of life of patients suffering from life-threatening conditions such as haemophilia, thalassemia, immune deficiency and cancer; treating severe injuries and carrying out medical and surgical procedures.
But progress in blood safety and availability has been slow in many parts of the world, placing patients’ safety at risk and putting undue pressure on health workers. Progress is also mostly restricted to developed countries. Out of the approximate 118 million blood donations collected globally, 42% are collected in high-income countries, home to 16 % of the world’s population. And one out of four low-income countries do not test all donated blood, while 54% of countries do not have surveillance systems to securitise the supply chain from blood donor to patient.
Challenges include: slow implementation of national blood policies and weak blood regulatory systems; insufficient number of voluntary blood donors (who are considered the safest donors); poor quality management of screening tests, blood grouping and compatibility testing; inappropriate clinical use of blood; insufficient national funding for blood safety.
To address these, WHO has set out six key objectives for all countries and in particular those with weak blood systems:
- appropriately structured, well-coordinated and sustainably resourced national blood systems;
- regulatory capacity to ensure the quality and safety of blood;
- functioning and efficiently managed blood services;
- effective implementation of patient blood management to optimize transfusion practices;
- effective surveillance, haemovigilance and pharmacovigilance, supported by comprehensive and accurate data collection systems;
- partnerships, collaboration and information exchange to achieve key priorities and jointly address challenges and emerging threats at global, regional and national levels.
The Organization looks forward to working with partners worldwide to implement the plan, improve blood supply particularly in the low and middle-income countries where this is so urgently needed, and save lives. The plan will run from 2020-2024.
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A Joint Statement on Tourism and COVID-19 – UNWTO and WHO Call for Responsibility and Coordination
As the current outbreak of the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) continues to develop, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) are committed to working together in guiding the travel and tourism sectors’ response to COVID-19.
On 30 January 2020, the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the outbreak of COVID-19 to be a Public Health Emergency of International Concern and issued a set of Temporary Recommendations. WHO did not recommend any travel or trade restriction based on the current information available. WHO is working closely with global experts, governments and partners to rapidly expand scientific knowledge on this new virus, to track the spread and virulence of the virus, and to provide advice to countries and the global community on measures to protect health and prevent the spread of this outbreak.
Cooperation is key
The tourism sector is fully committed to putting people and their well-being first. International cooperation is vital for ensuring the sector can effectively contribute to the containment of COVID-19. UNWTO and WHO are working in close consultation and with other partners to assist States in ensuring that health measures be implemented in ways that minimize unnecessary interference with international traffic and trade.
Tourism’s response needs to be measured and consistent, proportionate to the public health threat and based on local risk assessment, involving every part of the tourism value chain – public bodies, private companies and tourists, in line with WHO’s overall guidance and recommendations.
UNWTO and WHO stand ready to work closely with all those communities and countries affected by the current health emergency, to build for a better and more resilient future. Travel restrictions going beyond these may cause unnecessary interference with international traffic, including negative repercussions on the tourism sector.
At this challenging time, UNWTO and WHO join the international community in standing in solidarity with affected countries.
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WHO launch eEML
The World Health Organization has launched a new easy-to-access, digital version of its Model list of Essential Medicines (EML). The move will revolutionize the way this core WHO reference tool is used.
More than 150 countries currently use the WHO list to work out which medicines best meet their national health contexts and priorities, so they can compile their own national essential medicines lists.
Essential medicines are those that satisfy the priority health care needs of a population. They are the medicines that need to be available in a functioning health system at all times, in appropriate dosage forms, of assured quality, and at prices individuals and the community can afford.
Keeping up-to-date lists of the most important medicines a country needs is key to achieving health for all in a sustainable way.
Since 1977, the WHO list has been revised every 2 years (most recently in 2019) by a group of experts and published in print or PDF formats. It includes information about available dose forms and strengths; specifications as to who should take a medicine; what conditions a medicine can treat and how it should be taken, as well as details about the clinical evidence supporting recommendations being made.
The new electronic version brings the traditional EML to smartphones and computer screens in a comprehensive, freely accessible, online database. Instead of flicking through pages of information, users can search by simply clicking on the name of a medicine, for example, or a health issue. They can also make their own customized lists by exporting the list – in full or in part – into an Excel or Word version.
The electronic EML is the latest step in WHO’s effort to harness digital technologies to drive improvements in global public health, and advance progress towards universal health coverage.
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IAEA backs sea release of contaminated Fukushima water
The world’s nuclear watchdog gave its backing Thursday to Japanese plans to release contaminated water from the damaged Fukushima nuclear plant into the ocean.
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WHO EB recommends the adoption of the strategy for elimination of cervical cancer
Co-sponsored by 20 Member States and the EU, the draft resolution for the
Seventy-Third World Health Assembly (WHA) was presented on 5 February,
2020, at EB146.The proposal followed Executive Board Members’ review of the Director-General’s report.
The proposed resolution recommends that the World Health Assembly adopt the global
strategy to accelerate the elimination of cervical cancer as a public
health problem and its associated goals and targets for the period
2020–2030. It also urges Member States to implement the
strategy, calling for the support of international organizations and
other relevant stakeholders, and includes a request for the Director
General to support Member states in this endeavor. The WHA will
consider the resolution when it convenes in May 2020.
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To eliminate cervical cancer in the next 100 years, implementing an effective strategy is critical
Vaccination, screening, treatment and palliative care are the key interventions of WHO’s Draft Global Strategy towards the Elimination of Cervical Cancer as a Public Health Problem,
the fourth most common cancer in women.On World Cancer Day, new estimates show that this strategy could save more than 62 million girls and women from a cervical cancer death and prevent 74 million cases within the next 100 years – but only if these interventions are used effectively
together.No single intervention can eliminate cervical cancer
These estimates, published by the WHO Cervical Cancer Elimination Modelling Consortium (CCEMC) in The Lancet, are based on the draft strategy’s targets to achieve a global coverage of 90% vaccination, 70% screening and 90% treatment by 2030.
Developed by Member States, UN agencies and other partners, the draft global strategy seeks to redress the unequal burden of cervical cancer around the world. Nine in 10 cervical cancer deaths occur in low and lower-middle-income countries, where
women lack access to health services.
As Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO’s Director-General has said, “It doesn’t have to be this way. Cervical cancer
is one of the most preventable and treatable forms of cancer, as long as it is detected early and managed effectively.”This new analysis compares the impact of vaccination, screening and treatment of cervical pre-cancer lesions as single or combined interventions. Focusing on 78 countries where cervical cancer mortality is highest, the results clearly show that no
single intervention will be sufficient to reduce levels of cervical cancer in the next 100 years to below the elimination target of 4 cases per 100,000 women per year.Acting immediately on all three fronts is crucial.
90-70-90: a triple intervention by 2030 and beyond
Vaccinating girls against cancer-causing types of human papillomavirus (HPV) before the age of 15 is the foundation for bringing every country’s incidence rate of cervical cancer down to the agreed elimination level.
Right now, however, vaccination is not enough. As a single strategy, vaccination targets would only deliver a 0.1% reduction in cervical cancer mortality by 2030. Scaling up screening and treatment of cervical pre-cancer lesions at the same time would
reduce mortality by more than one third, or 300,000 deaths, in the same period.The evidence shows that when all adult women are screened for cervical cancer at least twice, at ages 35 and 45, abnormalities are more likely to be detected before they become cancerous. When cancer has developed, screening increases a women’s
likelihood of early and successful treatment, as well as palliative care if recovery is no longer an option.Meeting these triple-intervention targets would be a major contribution to target 3.4 of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a one-third reduction in premature mortality from non-communicable diseases by 2030.
The future of cervical cancer elimination
WHO’s global strategy towards eliminating cervical cancer aims to set the world on the right track by 2030, but it is just the beginning.
At this pace, global elimination of cervical cancer is not predicted until 2120.
While high HPV vaccination coverage is the primary prevention intervention, ensuring every woman has two cervical screenings in her life would accelerate elimination by 11 – 31 years, depending on the country.
If no action is taken, cervical cancer deaths will rise almost 50% by 2030. Approval of the draft global strategy at the WHO World Health Assembly in 2020, and investment in mechanisms to deliver it, is vital.
As the new World Cancer Report shows, only 18% of countries that currently provide screening for cervical cancer reached the recommended target of more than 70% coverage. An estimated 55% of low-income countries that reported offering
cervical cancer screening generally lack accessible radiotherapy or surgery services.Elimination of cervical cancer is possible within the lifetime of today’s youngest girls, but the clock starts now and every intervention counts.
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