World Health Organization

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Ukraine Cancer Patients Deprived of Painkillers

WHO calls for end to country's strict limits

(Newser) - Rules tied to the Soviet era have left Ukraine with some of the world’s toughest painkiller laws—restrictions so broad that some cancer patients have attempted suicide to escape the pain, the AP reports. Morphine, for example, isn’t available in tablet form, and patients are limited to 50...

WHO Panel: Yeah, OK, Keep Your Smallpox

Executive board backs Russian, US proposal to keep their stashes

(Newser) - The US and Russia can and should keep their smallpox supplies , the World Health Organization’s executive board concluded yesterday. The WHO has been asked to consider setting a deadline for destroying the virus, the Wall Street Journal explains. But at a meeting in Geneva yesterday, the board agreed with...

US, Russia Fighting to Keep Smallpox

Virus samples needed to guard against bioterrorism, US argues

(Newser) - Smallpox was once one of the deadliest diseases ever known, but now only the US and Russia stand between it and utter annihilation. The two countries have the last known stocks of the virus, which was eradicated by vaccination more than 30 years ago, and they're resisting efforts to set...

Second-Hand Smoke Kills 600K People a Year

WHO study finds passive smoking causes 1% of all worlds' deaths

(Newser) - Some 1% of all deaths worldwide are caused by second-hand smoke, according to the World Health Organization. Researchers say passive smoking results in close to 600,000 deaths a year from heart disease, respiratory diseases, asthma, and lung cancer. It takes an especially heavy toll on children, with 165,000...

1B Can't Afford Health Care: WHO

Health costs push 100M into poverty yearly

(Newser) - A billion people worldwide can’t afford health care, and paying for it drives 100 million people into poverty annually, a World Health Organization report says. The global report says all countries should seek creative ways to boost health-care efficiency and funding, Reuters reports. “For many, health services just...

WHO Exaggerated Swine Flu Pandemic: EU Reports

Watchdogs accuse WHO of colluding with drugmakers

(Newser) - Was the H1N1 pandemic exaggerated? European officials are putting heat on the WHO over its handling of the pandemic, alleging the organization caused unnecessary panic and wasted millions of dollars. Reports released by an EU watchdog and the British Medical Journal go even further: they accuse the WHO of being...

Swine Flu Mutation Worries Norway Scientists
Swine Flu Mutation Worries Norway Scientists
h1n1 outbreak
Nov 20, 2009 1:37 PM CST

Swine Flu Mutation Worries Norway Scientists

CDC official says it's no cause for alarm

(Newser) - Norwegian scientists say they've discovered a mutated version of swine flu in two patients who died and another who is severely ill. The mutation "could possibly make the virus more prone to infect deeper in the airways and thus cause more severe disease," said the nation's health institute....

Swine Flu More Likely to Cause Pneumonia
Swine Flu More Likely to Cause Pneumonia
h1n1 outbreak
Oct 16, 2009 3:52 PM CDT

Swine Flu More Likely to Cause Pneumonia

WHO urges doctors to treat suspected cases with antiviral meds

(Newser) - Swine flu is much more likely than seasonal flu to cause potentially life-threatening viral pneumonia, the World Health Organization said today, urging doctors to immediately treat even young and otherwise healthy suspected H1N1 cases with antiviral meds. “It’s not like seasonal influenza,” said a WHO officer. It...

Seasonal Flu Shot May Boost H1N1 Risk

WHO asks other countries to verify Canadian study

(Newser) - The WHO has asked researchers around the world if their findings back up a Canadian study that shows people who received seasonal flu vaccines are more likely to contract swine flu. So far, the results haven't been repeated. “None have been able to find anything like that,” the...

WHO Sounds Alarm on Homeopathy

(Newser) - The World Health Organization has issued a warning against homeopathic treatments for TB and other life-threatening illnesses, reports the BBC. The organization issued the alert after pressure from a group of young researchers who complained that homeopathy was being promoted in poor countries as a treatment for TB, infant diarrhea,...

Tanning Beds Branded a Top Cancer Risk

(Newser) - Tanning beds have been upgraded from a probable carcinogen to a definite cause of cancer by World Health Organization experts, Newsday reports. The scientists analyzed over 20 studies and promptly moved the beds and other sources of ultraviolet radiation into their top category of cancer risks. They concluded that using...

EU Moves to Fast-Track Swine Flu Vaccine

Rushed vaccine could be dangerous, WHO flu chief warns

(Newser) - In a drive to inoculate people against swine flu before winter, many European governments say they will fast-track the testing of a new flu vaccine, arousing concern among some experts about safety and proper vaccine doses. Europe's top drug regulator is accelerating the approval process for swine flu vaccine, and...

WHO Gives Up on Counting Swine Flu Cases

(Newser) - The World Health Organization today instructed member nations to stop counting cases of the rapidly spreading swine flu pandemic and focus instead on the most serious, Reuters reports. “Trying to register and report every single case is a huge waste of resources,” a spokesman said. Authorities should continue...

Fears Mount as WHO Declares Swine Flu 'Unstoppable'

Agency orders worldwide vaccines

(Newser) - Concerns continue to mount about swine flu in the wake of the World Health Organization's declaration that the illness is "unstoppable" and the deaths in Britain of two apparently strong individuals, a 6-year-old girl and a doctor. WHO officials are calling for worldwide vaccines to protect populations before they...

Harry Potter Star Has Swine Flu as New Strain Emerges

(Newser) - The actor who plays schoolboy sorcerer Ron Weasley in the Harry Potter movies has a "mild case" of swine flu, the Daily Mail reports. Twenty-year-old Rupert Grint left the latest Potter film set for a few days, but plans to attend next week's premiere of Harry Potter And ...

Spread of Swine Flu 'Unstoppable': WHO

(Newser) - World Health Organization chief Margaret Chan told a summit in Mexico today that, though most cases of swine flu were not deadly, the virus cannot be stopped, the BBC reports. “With well over 100 countries reporting cases, once a fully fit pandemic virus emerges, its further international spread is...

Swiss Pharma Won't Donate Swine Flu Vaccine to Poor

Novartis defies WHO calls to give free doses to poor

(Newser) - Swiss pharma giant Novartis is defying the World Health Organization by refusing to donate swine flu vaccines to the world's poor, despite the designation of H1N1 as the first pandemic in 40 years, reports the Financial Times. Last week the WHO's director general called on drug companies to show "...

WHO Declares Swine Flu Pandemic
 WHO Declares 
 Swine Flu Pandemic 
UPDATED
Jun 11, 2009 10:20 AM CDT

WHO Declares Swine Flu Pandemic

H1N1 has spread to 74 countries, but may be milder than first thought

(Newser) - The World Health Organization has declared the first influenza pandemic since 1968, Reuters reports. Although the current outbreak has caused mostly mild cases of the illness, today's official declaration that the outbreak has hit phase 6, the highest level, means heightened prevention measures in 193 countries. The designation refers to...

Scientists Urge WHO to Slam Homeopathy as HIV Remedy

Brits want such treatment ruled out for HIV, TB, malaria

(Newser) - Concerned about deaths tied to choice of treatment, British scientists are calling on the World Health Organization to speak out against homeopathy as a way to battle HIV, TB, malaria, influenza, and infant diarrhea. Clinics throughout Asia and sub-Saharan Africa offer to treat such diseases through homeopathy, though there is...

Japan Tops Life-Expectancy List

Sierra Leone, Afghanistan fall at bottom

(Newser) - Health initiatives and wars have flipped some of the world's life expectancies since 1990, the World Heath Organization said today. Some findings, via AP:
  • Japanese women, at 86, and San Marino men, 81, enjoy the longest life expectancies.
  • Sierra Leone men, 39, at Afghan women, 42, have the shortest.
  • In
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