According to United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and World Health Organization (WHO), around 78 million babies or three in every five are not breastfed within the first hour of the birth, putting them at a higher risk of death and disease and making them less likely to continue breastfeeding. Most of these babies are born in low- and middle-income countries. According to the report, newborns who breastfeed in the first […]

The music you love to listen to could be making you deaf, thanks to your earphones. And, you are especially vulnerable if you are in the 12-35 age group. These are the conclusions of a report from the World Health Organisation (WHO), that are set to go viral again in a few days’ time, thanks to International Ear Care Day, which is coming up on March 3. The WHO report […]

Over 3,000 youngsters die every day, totalling 1.2 million deaths a year, from largely preventable causes, according to a new report from the World Health Organization (WHO). Around 1.2 billion people, or one in every six persons, are adolescents aged between 10 to 19 years. The report entitled ‘Global accelerated action for the health of adolescents (AA-HA!): Guidance to support country implementation’, was scheduled to be launched on Tuesday in […]

Sounding the alarm over the rapid increase in the number of people struggling with mental health issues in the country, the  (WHO) has said that over five crore Indians are suffering from depression,a major contributor to global suicides occuring mainly in India and other low- and middle-income countries. In its new global health estimates on depression, WHO said that 322 million people are living with depression worldwide and nearly half of […]

Smoking costs the global economy more than $1 trillion a year and will kill one-third more people by 2030 than it does now, according to a study by the World Health Organisation and the US National Cancer Institute published on Tuesday. That cost far outweighs global revenues from tobacco taxes, which the WHO estimated at about $269 billion in 2013-2014. “The number of tobacco-related deaths is projected to increase from […]

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has set aside calls from 150 leading scientists and public health officials to postpone or move the Rio Olympics because of the ongoing Zika virus.  In an open letter to the WHO and the International Olympic Committee – both organisation based in Switzerland – the experts are asking for the Games to be held in another location. Professor Amir Attaran, one of the co-authors of […]

WHO revealed processed meat is as big a cancer threat as cigarettes Experts classed bacon, salami and smoked ham as being carcinogenic Here we reveal the 115 things also in the same category – group one, those which are deemed to cause cancer Includes smoking, sunbeds, arsenic and asbestos as well as hepatitis B and C, HIV the Epstein-Barr virus and working as a painter Bacon, burgers and sausages were […]

On the eve of the World Suicide Prevention Day 2015, the World Health Organisation (WHO) today called for collective efforts to raise awareness about suicide and reduce the stigma associated with it. At the individual level, early identification of mental disorders and appropriate management and recognition of suicidal behaviours is helpful. Large-scale advocacy efforts are required to reduce the stigma related to suicides. “The World Suicide Prevention Day is a […]

South Korea’s burgeoning MERS outbreak should be a reminder to the world that a virus some may have written off can trigger significant disease and major disruption, a World Health Organization expert says. The outbreak in that country has now infected 126 people, 11 of whom have died. And it may be a while yet before South Korea’s health officials manage to stop spread of the virus, said Peter Ben […]

Geneva: The world is doing far too little to combat the misuse of antibiotics which is fuelling drug resistance and allowing long-treatable diseases to become killers, the World Health Organization said Wednesday. In its first ever analysis of how countries are responding to the problem of antimicrobial resistance — when bugs become immune to existing drugs — the UN health agency revealed “major gaps” in all six regions of the […]