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WHO boss says major milestone reached in fight against AIDS

Dr. Margaret Chan, WHO Director-General says a major milestone in the long struggle against HIV/AIDS has been reached.

3 Dec 2008

WHO says governments must do more to improve access to essential medicines

An alarming lack of availability of essential medicines in the public sector drives patients to pay higher prices in the private sector or go without, according to a WHO study reported in the online edition of The Lancet. The results confirm that governments must do more to improve access to essential medicines as part of their efforts to make national health systems more efficient and equitable.

2 Dec 2008

Should the private sector play a greater role in delivering health care in low-income countries?

A provocative debate in this week's PLoS Medicine examines whether the private sector should step up its involvement in delivering health care in low-income countries.

24 Nov 2008

Advisory vote begins on California long-term care local union

SEIU healthcare members began casting ballots this week in an advisory vote on two reorganization plans.

19 Nov 2008

Impact of the global financial and economic crisis on health

We face a severe financial crisis of unprecedented dimensions in a world that has never before been so closely connected and interdependent. The consequences are global. The situation is volatile. The current financial crisis is rapidly becoming an economic crisis and threatens to become a social crisis in many countries.

12 Nov 2008

Exercise training safe in heart failure patients - offer clinical benefit

Exercise training is safe in heart failure patients, does not significantly reduce hospitalization or death, but is associated with several improved clinical outcomes, even in those already receiving optimal medical care, researchers reported at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2008. The Heart Failure and A Controlled Trial Investigating Outcomes of Exercise Training (HF-ACTION) was presented as a late-breaking clinical trial.

11 Nov 2008

Indigenous Australian's inadequately informed about kidney disease

New Australian research has shown that Indigenous Australians with kidney disease are confused, frustrated and feel poorly informed about their illness.

11 Nov 2008

Alternative health treatments get a boost from WHO

A declaration by the World Health Organization (WHO) could raise the profile of traditional or alternative health treatments such as acupuncture and herbal medicine.

10 Nov 2008

Obesity reality check

Sydney University's Institute of Obesity, Nutrition & Exercise (IONE) will today draw together some of Australia's leading obesity experts to review and measure the effectiveness of our response as a nation to the obesity epidemic.

27 Oct 2008

Ministers urged to rethink rather than repackage $2 billion global response to infectious diseases

As the first globally co-ordinated plan for the planet's gravest health threats is hatched by government ministers from around the world this weekend, a new report sets out a 10-point plan for this new, globalised approach to infectious diseases such as avian flu.

23 Oct 2008

World Bank Group President Robert B. Zoellick's remarks - Modernizing Multilateralism and Markets

Mr. Chairman, Governors, and Distinguished Guests: Thank you for joining us at these Annual Meetings. I want to express my particular thanks to our Chairman, Zoran Stavreski, and, once again, to Agustin Carstens for his leadership of the Development Committee and his partnership as a friend.

13 Oct 2008

WHO makes urgent call for services for mental disorders to be scaled up

The World Health Organisation (WHO) says millions of people with mental disorders in the developing world are deprived of necessary treatment and care and has called for an urgent scaling up of services.

13 Oct 2008

Better air ventilation in infants' bedrooms linked to reduced SIDS risk

Infants who slept in a bedroom with a fan ventilating the air had a 72 percent lower risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome compared to infants who slept in a bedroom without a fan, according to a new study by the Kaiser Permanente Division of Research. The study appears in the October issue of the Archives of Pediatric & Adolescent Medicine.

6 Oct 2008

New WHO efforts to save the lives of women and newborns

During the next five years, we will enhance support to the countries with the highest maternal mortality. We will support countries in strengthening their health systems to achieve the two MDG 5 targets of reducing the maternal mortality ratio by 75% and achieving universal access to reproductive health by 2015. Our joint efforts will also contribute to achieving MDG 4: "To reduce child mortality".

25 Sep 2008

Medical tourism business projected to grow eightfold by 2010

The number of people in the U.S. who plan to travel abroad for medical care, where the costs for various medical and surgical procedures often are comparatively lower, is projected to increase by eight times by 2010, according to a recent study by the Deloitte Center for Health Solutions, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports.

24 Sep 2008

30 years on from Alma-Ata and the pendulum is swinging back to primary health care

Thirty years on from the signing of the historic Alma-Ata declaration, the famous rallying call to the global health community, the concept of Primary Health Care, which lay at its heart, is back on the global agenda.

15 Sep 2008

Africa can successfully fight malaria with increased resources, commitment, WHO Director General says

Africa can achieve success in combating malaria and other diseases with sufficient resources and increased commitment from African leaders, World Health Organization Director-General Margaret Chan said Monday at the opening of the 58th session of WHO's Regional Committee for Africa in Yaounde, Cameroon, the Cameroon Tribune reports.

4 Sep 2008

WHO says inequities around the world are killing people on a "grand scale"

According to a report by the World Health Organization (WHO) inequities around the world are responsible for killing people on a "grand scale".

1 Sep 2008

Social injustice is killing people on a grand scale reports WHO's Commission

A child born in a Glasgow, Scotland suburb can expect a life 28 years shorter than another living only 13 kilometres away. A girl in Lesotho is likely to live 42 years less than another in Japan. In Sweden, the risk of a woman dying during pregnancy and childbirth is 1 in 17 400; in Afghanistan, the odds are 1 in 8. Biology does not explain any of this. Instead, the differences between - and within - countries result from the social environment where people are born, live, grow, work and age.

28 Aug 2008

Time is right to make cancer control a development priority

For public health, the complexity of cancer control has increased enormously following the shift of the disease burden from wealthy to less affluent countries. Cancer causes around 7.9 million deaths worldwide each year. Of these deaths, more than 72% are now occurring in low- and middle-income countries. This is a shocking statistic, with huge implications for human suffering, health systems, health budgets, and the drive to reduce poverty.

27 Aug 2008