Decades of conflict and under-investment have placed a huge strain on Iraq’s healthcare system – with pregnant women and their babies paying for it with their lives, according to three United Nations agencies. “Although progress has been made to lower maternal mortality rates, there has been slow headway in reducing the mortality rates for children […]
The scales have tipped for the first time in the fight against AIDS as more than half of all people living with the HIV virus now have access to treatment, while AIDS-related deaths have nearly halved since 2005, according to a new United Nations report. “We met the 2015 target of 15 million people on treatment and […]
Spread of the Zika virus disease and emerging threat of dengue and chikungunya were the result of weak mosquito control policies adopted nearly half a century ago, the United Nations health agency has said, vowing a renewed attack on global spread of such vector-borne diseases. “What we are seeing now looks more and more like […]
Millions of people are facing the peril of famine in Somalia and South Sudan, and the situation is expected to worsen as the drought and violence fuelling the crises widen, cautioned senior United Nations officials who have just returned from the area. Speaking to journalists in New York, John Ging, from the UN Office for […]
More than 300 million people are now living with depression, which is the leading cause of ill health and disability worldwide, according to the latest estimates from the World Health Organization (WHO) released ahead of World Health Day. “These new figures are a wake-up call for all countries to re-think their approaches to mental health […]
Hundreds of measles cases have been reported in Europe – where the disease was believed to be nearing elimination – leading the United Nations health agency to urge families to vaccinate their children and for national authorities to take urgent measures to stop transmission at the borders. “outbreaks will continue in Europe, as elsewhere, until […]