Source: World Health Organization (WHO) |

Commonwealth and WHO to Strengthen Cooperation on Health, Including Access to Vaccines

Memorandum of Understanding agreement signed today focuses on ending the COVID-19 pandemic, advancing Universal Health Coverage, addressing vaccine equity, strengthening digital health systems and working towards global health security

The Commonwealth Secretariat and the World Health Organization (WHO) today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) committing to strengthening their collaboration on a broad range of public health issues of particular concern to Commonwealth member states and governments, such as the response to the COVID-19 pandemic, vaccine equity, advancing universal…

Source: World Health Organization (WHO) |

World Health Organization Secretariat announcement regarding the election of the next WHO Director-General

The Director-General is WHO’s chief technical and administrative officer

The appointment of the next Director-General of the World Health Organization will take place at the Seventy-fifth World Health Assembly in May 2022 (WHA75). The Director-General is WHO’s chief technical and administrative officer. The election process began when Member States, through a circular letter sent by the WHO Secretariat in April 2021,…

Source: World Health Organization (WHO) |

WHO welcomes preliminary results about dexamethasone use in treating critically ill COVID-19 patients

The benefit was only seen in patients seriously ill with COVID-19, and was not observed in patients with milder disease

The World Health Organization (WHO) welcomes the initial clinical trial results from the United Kingdom (UK) that show dexamethasone, a corticosteroid, can be lifesaving for patients who are critically ill with COVID-19. For patients on ventilators, the treatment was shown to reduce mortality by about one third, and for patients…

Source: World Health Organization (WHO) |

Coronavirus - Somalia: As Somalia braces to effectively respond to COVID-19 outbreak, life-saving essential health care services are scaled up

Since the beginning of the outbreak, seven associated deaths out of 135 cases have been reported by the government in Somalia as of 19 April 2020

The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases continues to rise in Somalia including associated deaths attributed to coronavirus disease. While the cases grow in numbers, the health systems in Somalia is being rapidly confronted with increasing demand for patient care from COVID-19. When health systems are strained and overwhelmed specially in…

Source: World Health Organization (WHO) |

Modes of transmission of virus causing COVID-19: implications for IPC precaution recommendations

COVID-19 virus is transmitted between people through respiratory droplets and contact routes

Scientific brief According to current evidence, COVID-19 virus is transmitted between people through respiratory droplets and contact routes. Droplet transmission occurs when a person is in in close contact (within 1 m) with someone who has respiratory symptoms (e.g.  coughing or sneezing,) and is therefore at risk of having his/her…

Source: World Health Organization (WHO) |

B-roll – Coronavirus in Africa: UN system is fully activated to support countries in Africa

“If we don't prioritize protecting health workers, many people will die because the health worker who could have saved their lives is sick.” WHO

“We continue to hear alarming reports from around the world of large numbers of infections among health workers,” WHO's chief, Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus, told reporters in Geneva, adding in “If we don't prioritize protecting health workers, many people will die because the health worker who could have saved their lives…

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Source: World Health Organization (WHO) |

WHO Executive Board appoints directors for Africa and Europe

Re-appointed Dr Matshidiso Moeti for a second term as WHO Regional Director for Africa

The WHO Executive Board, currently holding its 146th session in Geneva, has re-appointed Dr Matshidiso Moeti for a second term as WHO Regional Director for Africa and Dr Hans Kluge as Regional Director for Europe in his first term. Re-election of the Regional Director for Africa “I am greatly honoured…

Source: World Health Organization (WHO) |

Guided Self-Help Intervention reduces Refugees’ Psychological Distress and improves Wellbeing in Humanitarian Crises

First randomised trial of its kind finds multimedia guided self-help intervention can be delivered rapidly to large numbers of people in low-resource humanitarian settings by non-specialists with minimal training

A guided self-help approach that provides strategies for managing distress and coping with adversity is safe, and resulted in meaningful improvements in psychological distress and functioning compared to enhanced usual care over three months in female refugees living in a settlement in Uganda, according to a randomised trial involving almost…

Source: World Health Organization (WHO) |

WHO Director-General reconvenes International Health Regulations Emergency Committee on the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo was declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern on 17 July

WHO Director-General, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has reconvened an Emergency Committee under the International Health Regulations (IHR) 2005 on Ebola virus disease in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo was declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern on 17…