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MercoPress, en Español

Montevideo, December 23rd 2024 - 14:53 UTC

Tag: World Health Organization (WHO)

  • Tuesday, October 27th 2015 - 09:39 UTC

    Processed meats can cause colorectal cancer in humans, says WHO

    Each 50-gram (1.8-ounce) portion of processed meat eaten daily increases the risk of colorectal cancer by 18%, the agency estimated.

    Eating processed meats like hot dogs, sausages and bacon can cause colorectal cancer in humans, and red meat is also a likely cause of the disease, World Health Organization (WHO) experts said.

  • Sunday, October 25th 2015 - 10:16 UTC

    Monsanto in the dock? possible mass tort civil action against glyphosate

    The lawsuit in several US states accuses Monsanto of long knowing that the main ingredient in Roundup, glyphosate, was hazardous to human health.

    Personal injury law firms around the United States are lining up plaintiffs for what they say could be “mass tort” civil actions against agrochemical giant Monsanto that claim the company’s Roundup herbicide has caused cancer in farm workers and others exposed to the chemical.

  • Friday, July 24th 2015 - 00:23 UTC

    World Health Organization calls for urgent action to curb hepatitis

    WHO is alerting people to the risks of contracting hepatitis from unsafe blood, unsafe injections, and sharing drug-injection equipment.

    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.

  • Thursday, July 16th 2015 - 08:15 UTC

    Aphids beat latest 'odor' efforts to repel them and protect GM crops

    GM crops are being grown commercially since 1996. Land with GM crops has increased from 1.7m in 1996 to around 175.2m hectares worldwide in 2013.

    In what is described as a major blow to genetic modification of crops, a variety of wheat developed in the UK to repel pests has failed in field trials. The variety engineered to produce an odor that repels aphids, failed in the field test after it was successfully tested in the lab, proving a wide gap between lab and commercial application of the process.

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

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

    “Raising taxes on tobacco products is one of the most effective ways to reduce consumption of products that kill”, Dr Margaret Chan said.

    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

    “To benefit human health it is vital to further accelerate progress on sanitation, particularly in rural and underserved areas,” according to Dr Neira.

    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.

  • Friday, May 29th 2015 - 09:22 UTC

    WHO calls for action against illicit tobacco trade on World No Tobacco Day

    “The Protocol offers the world a unique legal instrument to counter and eventually eliminate a sophisticated criminal activity,” says Dr Margaret Chan

    Eliminating the illicit trade in tobacco would generate an annual tax windfall of 31 billion dollars for governments, improve public health, help cut crime and curb an important revenue source for the tobacco industry. Those are the key themes of World No Tobacco Day on May 31 when the World Health Organization will urge Member States to sign the Protocol to Eliminate the Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products.

  • Saturday, May 2nd 2015 - 10:46 UTC

    “World closer than ever to wipe out polio, but no victory declaration yet”

    Latest global data show just 23 polio cases reported so far in 2015. That compares to a year-to-date total of 54 cases worldwide in 2014

    The world is closer than ever to being able to wipe out polio, international experts said, with zero cases of the crippling disease recorded across all of Africa this year and fewer than 25 globally.

  • Thursday, April 30th 2015 - 10:08 UTC

    Only 34 countries with plans to fight threat of antibiotic resistance, says WHO

    “This is the single greatest challenge in infectious diseases today,” said Keiji Fukuda, the WHO's assistant director-general for health security

    Only 34 countries have national plans to fight the global threat of antibiotic resistance, meaning few are prepared to tackle “superbug” infections which put even basic healthcare at risk, the WHO has said. In a survey of government plans to tackle the issue, the World Health Organization said only a quarter of the 133 countries that responded were addressing the problem.

  • Monday, April 27th 2015 - 21:57 UTC

    WHO calls for renewed efforts in global vaccination targets for 2015

    In 2013 nearly 22 million infants missed out on the required three doses of diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis-containing vaccines (DTP3)

    Progress towards global vaccination targets for 2015 is far off track with 1 in 5 children still missing out on routine life-saving immunizations that could avert 1.5 million deaths each year from preventable diseases. In the lead-up to World Immunization Week 2015 (24 -30 April), the World Health Organization (WHO) is calling for renewed efforts to get progress back on course.