Health & Science

• Friday, July 24th 2015 - 00:23 UTC

  World Health Organization calls for urgent action to curb hepatitis

  

  On World Hepatitis Day (28 July) the World Health Organization highlights the urgent need for countries to enhance action to prevent viral hepatitis infection and to ensure that people who have been infected are diagnosed and offered treatment. This year, the Organization is focusing particularly on hepatitis B and C, which together cause approximately 80% of all liver cancer deaths and kill close to 1.4 million people every year.

• Wednesday, July 8th 2015 - 01:05 UTC

  WHO: Stepped up government tax action needed to curb tobacco epidemic

  

  Too few governments levy appropriate levels of tax on cigarettes and other tobacco products. They therefore miss out on a proven, low-cost measure to curb demand for tobacco, save lives and generate funds for stronger health services, according to the World Health Organization’s Report on the Global Tobacco Epidemic-2015.

• Wednesday, July 1st 2015 - 20:27 UTC

  Lack of sanitation for 2.4 billion people undermining health improvements

  

  Lack of progress on sanitation threatens to undermine the child survival and health benefits from gains in access to safe drinking water, warn WHO and UNICEF in a report tracking access to drinking water and sanitation against the Millennium Development Goals.

• Wednesday, June 24th 2015 - 07:48 UTC

  World Medical Association welcomes report on climate change and health

  

  The World Medical Association welcomed the Lancet Commission's latest report on climate change, which it says reiterates the serious concerns of physicians that climate change poses an unacceptably high threat to health.

• Sunday, June 21st 2015 - 14:27 UTC

  US gives food manufacturers until 2018 to remove artificial 'trans' fats

  

  Based on a thorough review of the scientific evidence, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration finalized its determination that partially hydrogenated oils (PHOs), the primary dietary source of artificial 'trans' fat in processed foods, are not “generally recognized as safe” or GRAS for use in human food. Food manufacturers will have three years to remove PHOs from products, said FDA.

• Thursday, June 18th 2015 - 05:10 UTC

  Nestle will destroy more than 50m dollars of Maggi noodles in India

  

  Nestle says it will destroy more than $50m worth of its hugely popular Maggi noodles, following a ban imposed by India's food safety regulator following tests have found the instant noodles “unsafe and hazardous” and has accused Nestle of failing to comply with food safety laws.

• Monday, June 15th 2015 - 05:44 UTC

  Immunotherapy could replace chemotherapy in a few years

  

  Immunotherapy, a new cancer treatment that trains the immune system to attack cancerous cells, is being hailed by experts as the biggest step forward since chemotherapy, which some claim it could replace within five years.

• Monday, June 15th 2015 - 05:19 UTC

  Health spending pushing low and middle income countries further into poverty

  

  A World Health Organization and World Bank Group report shows that 400 million people do not have access to essential health services and 6% of people in low- and middle-income countries are tipped into or pushed further into extreme poverty because of health spending.

• Friday, June 12th 2015 - 04:55 UTC

  “Isolated” mad cow case in Ireland; OIE had recently returned the “controlled risk status”

  

  Irish authorities have identified a suspected case of Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), or “mad cow disease”, on a dairy farm in County Louth, the first such case to be discovered in the country since 2013. The Irish Department of Agriculture said on Thursday the five-year-old diseased cow was discovered as part of ongoing inspections of animals that die on farms.

• Friday, June 5th 2015 - 09:51 UTC

  Nestle withdraws Maggi noodles from sale in India following 'lead content scare'

  

  Food group Nestle has withdrawn Maggi noodles from sale in India due to “an environment of confusion for consumers”, following a food scare sparked by reports of excess lead in some packets of the popular instant snack.