Get our news on your inbox! x

Remember me Forgot password

MercoPress, en Español

Montevideo, April 20th 2024 - 13:16 UTC

Health & Science

  • Monday, May 19th 2014 - 21:00 UTC

    WHO's Dr. Chan targets childhood obesity: “our children are getting fatter”

    Dr.Chan announced a high-level Commission will produce a consensus report specifying approaches

    World Health Organization Director-General Dr. Margaret Chan voiced deep concern about the increase worldwide of childhood obesity, with numbers climbing fastest in developing countries. “As the 2014 World Health Statistics report bluntly states, ‘Our children are getting fatter,’” she said during her opening speech to the Health Assembly on Monday in Geneva.

  • Monday, May 19th 2014 - 13:54 UTC

    People living longer, both in rich and poor countries, says latest WHO report

    “Global life expectancy has improved because fewer children are dying before their fifth birthday” said Dr Margaret Chan

    People everywhere are living longer, according to the World Health Statistics 2014 published this week by the World Health Organization (WHO). Based on global averages, a girl who was born in 2012 can expect to live to around 73 years, and a boy to the age of 68. This is six years longer than the average global life expectancy for a child born in 1990.

  • Saturday, May 17th 2014 - 06:16 UTC

    Worldwide 3.3 million deaths in 2012 were caused by harmful use of alcohol

    On average every person in the world aged 15 years or older drinks 6.2 liters of pure alcohol per year

    Worldwide, 3.3 million deaths in 2012 were due to harmful use of alcohol, says a new report launched by the World Health Organization (WHO). Alcohol consumption can not only lead to dependence but also increases people’s risk of developing more than 200 diseases including liver cirrhosis and some cancers. In addition, harmful drinking can lead to violence and injuries.

  • Friday, May 16th 2014 - 10:47 UTC

    Morales reveal that with Argentine help Bolivia is developing nuclear energy

    “We are working on nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, for medical purposes”, said the Bolivian president

    Bolivian President Evo Morales revealed on Thursday that, with Argentina's help, his country was working to develop nuclear power. Morales had previously indicated that his country had plans to go nuclear with help from both Buenos Aires and France, but this is the first time that the news was confirmed.

  • Monday, May 12th 2014 - 23:56 UTC

    Mujica asks Obama support for scientific knowledge and to combat smoking

    He called to fight 'for life' by finishing with the smoking habit that kills eight million people annually

    In an enjoyable press conference at the White House Uruguay's President Jose Mujica spoke about the increasing importance for people in the US to be bilingual, the dangers of smoking and his interest in having access to U.S. knowledge and professors. President Barrack Obama praised the Uruguayan leader's 'extraordinary' credibility and leadership in democracy and human rights issues.

  • Monday, May 12th 2014 - 06:48 UTC

    Brazil downplays, mathematically, the threat of dengue for Cup tourists

    According to the calculi at the most 33 out of 600.000 visitors could catch dengue

    A study by Brazilian experts calculates that, in the worst case scenario, just 100 of the 600,000 foreign tourists who will visit Brazil during the World Cup soccer tourney scheduled to begin in June, or less than 0.02% of the total visitors, will contract dengue during their stay in the country.

  • Wednesday, May 7th 2014 - 06:21 UTC

    Live avian influenza virus discovered in Antarctica Adélie penguins

    “We found that this virus was unlike anything else detected in the world,” said Hurt ( Pic Aeron Hurt, WHO)

    Researchers have found a new type of avian influenza virus in a group of Adélie penguins (pygoscelies adeliae) from Antarctica. Aeron Hurt, PhD, a senior research scientist at the WHO Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research on Influenza in Melbourne, Australia, said that this is the first time that a distinct, live flu virus has been found in these birds.

  • Tuesday, May 6th 2014 - 06:41 UTC

    WHO declares a polio international public health emergency

    Assistant director general Aylward said that 74 cases have been detected this year

    The World Health Organization warned Monday that polio has reemerged as a public health emergency, after new cases of the crippling disease began surfacing and spreading across borders from countries like Syria and Pakistan.

  • Monday, May 5th 2014 - 06:31 UTC

    Mosquito transmitted Chikungunya has become an epidemic in the Caribbean

    Caribbean PHA, Dr James Hospedales: 4,108 probable cases in 14 countries across the region

    The head of the Caribbean Public Health Authority (CARPHA), Dr James Hospedales, has declared the Chikungunya virus has reached epidemic proportions in the Caribbean. The mosquito-borne illness was first detected in the Caribbean in December 2013, in St Martin, and last week Antigua and St Vincent and the Grenadines became the latest countries to declare an outbreak.

  • Monday, May 5th 2014 - 06:11 UTC

    The Lancet acknowledges Argentina's child mortality rates have dropped dramatically

    According to the most prestigious medical journal, there are 14.2 under five child deaths per 1,000 births in Argentina

    Argentina has been improving its mortality rates over the past decades, as it was revealed on Friday by the prestigious medical journal The Lancet. Although Argentina's rates are better than other countries in the region, including Brazil, Cuba, Uruguay and Chile among others still have the better numbers.