Sanitization News and Research

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Changes to city design, transport can have significant impact on health

A new Series, published in The Lancet quantifies the health gains that could be achieved if cities incentivised a shift from private car use to cycling and walking, and promoted a compact city model where distances to shops and facilities, including public transport, are shorter and within walking distance.

27 Sep 2016

Global study assesses countries on health-related Sustainable Development Goals

Worldwide, good progress has been made towards some of the health-related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) since 2000, particularly in reducing under-5 and neonatal mortality, family planning, and the rollout of universal health care.

24 Sep 2016

World leaders at UN meeting commit to develop action plans on antimicrobial resistance

World leaders today signalled an unprecedented level of attention to curb the spread of infections that are resistant to antimicrobial medicines.

24 Sep 2016

New Series on Maternal Health highlights future challenges, strategies to improve maternal wellbeing

Each year, about 210 million women become pregnant and about 140 million newborn babies are delivered. While progress has been made in reducing maternal mortality globally, differences remain at international and national levels. The gap between the groups of countries with the lowest and highest rates of maternal mortality has doubled between 1990 and 2013.

21 Sep 2016

New approach could help tackle behavior change challenges across the globe

A new approach to behavior change which has been shown to successfully change hygiene, nutrition and exercise-related behaviors is described in a paper published in Health Psychology Review.

13 Sep 2016

Fiocruz to start phase II clinical trials of novel vaccine for schistosomiasis

The Oswaldo Cruz Foundation at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, will start the phase II clinical trials of a vaccine for schistosomiasis, called 'Sm14 Vaccine'.

26 Aug 2016

Arab uprising linked to detrimental effects on health and life expectancy in several countries

The Arab uprising in 2010 and subsequent wars in the eastern Mediterranean region have had serious detrimental effects on the health and life expectancy of the people living in many of the 22 countries in the region, according to a major new analysis from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2013 (GBD 2013), published in The Lancet Global Health journal.

26 Aug 2016

Scientists discover novel African types of Salmonella linked to blood poisoning and death

The first global-scale genetic study of Salmonella Enteritidis bacteria, which is a major cause of blood poisoning and death in Africa and food poisoning in the Western World, has discovered that there are in fact three separate types.

22 Aug 2016

Study finds 10% of patients admitted into hospitals colonised with dreaded pathogens

According to National Reference Center for Surveillance of Nosocomial Infections esti-mates, up to 15,000 patients die of hospital-acquired infections in Germany every year.

18 Aug 2016

Hygiene hypothesis: a misleading misnomer? An interview with Professor Sally Bloomfield

Professor Strachan first proposed the hygiene hypothesis back in 1989. Reviewing the evidence, he suggested that one of the causes of the recent rapid rise in allergic diseases in children was lack of exposure to childhood infections

11 Aug 2016

New study provides projections for Zika outbreaks in the Americas through January 2017

With the report from Florida Gov. Rick Scott on Monday that 14 people in the state have been infected with the Zika virus most likely through mosquito transmission, the concern about outbreaks in the U.S. has intensified.

3 Aug 2016

WHO works with Ministry of Health to ramp up disease surveillance, treatment efforts to prevent cholera outbreak

In a move to prevent a cholera outbreak from spreading, the Ministry of Health of South Sudan with support from the World Health Organization and health partners are ramping up disease surveillance and treatment efforts.

29 Jul 2016

Public urinals can generate electricity with help of bacterial metabolism

Pee can be transformed into electricity with the help of bacterial metabolism, thanks to a device created by researchers at the University of the West of England, where Spanish researchers are working.

8 Jul 2016

New research highlights need to abandon modern hygiene hypothesis

The July issue of Perspectives in Public Health (published by the Royal Society of Public Health) takes an objective view of ongoing research showing that the hygiene hypothesis – the idea that allergies are the price we are paying for our “modern obsession with cleanliness” – is a misleading misnomer.

6 Jul 2016

Revised Zika Strategic Response Plan focuses on preventing, managing medical complications

The World Health Organization (WHO)/the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and partners have set out their strategic response to Zika which will place a greater focus on preventing and managing medical complications caused by Zika virus infection.

20 Jun 2016

FDA approves Vaxchora for prevention of cholera

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved Vaxchora, a vaccine for the prevention of cholera caused by serogroup O1 in adults 18 through 64 years of age traveling to cholera-affected areas. Vaxchora is the only FDA-approved vaccine for the prevention of cholera.

13 Jun 2016

WHO/PAHO provides public health advice to mitigate Zika virus risk during 2016 Olympics in Brazil

Based on current assessment, cancelling or changing the location of the 2016 Olympics will not significantly alter the international spread of Zika virus.

31 May 2016

Injectable IPV with bivalent oral vaccine safer than using oral vaccine alone

A groundbreaking study released today shows that a single injectable dose of inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) along with bivalent oral polio vaccine could protect up to 90 percent of children from polio and strengthen community protection against the disease.

23 May 2016

WHO/PAHO statement on Zika virus and the 2016 Rio Olympic and Paralympic Games

The World Health Organization (WHO) and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) recognize that athletes and visitors are seeking more information on the risks of Zika and ways to prevent infection while attending the 2016 Rio Olympic and Paralympic Games (5 August to 18 September 2016).

16 May 2016

Scientists identify new hots pots of antibiotic resistance

Antibiotic-resistant bacteria most often are associated with hospitals and other health-care settings, but a new study indicates that chicken coops and sewage treatment plants also are hot spots of antibiotic resistance.

12 May 2016