A dangerous antibiotic-resistant “superbug” has been found in the North American food supply for the first time, according to researchers from the University of Saskatchewan.
On World No Tobacco Day (31 May), WHO calls on countries to raise taxes on tobacco to encourage users to stop and prevent other people from becoming addicted to tobacco. Based on 2012 data, WHO estimates that increasing tobacco taxes by 50%, all countries would reduce the number of smokers by 49 million within the next three years and ultimately save 11 million lives.
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.
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.
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.
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.
A new report by WHO–its first to look at antimicrobial resistance, including antibiotic resistance, globally–reveals that this serious threat is no longer a prediction for the future, it is happening right now in every region of the world and has the potential to affect anyone, of any age, in any country.
In new estimates the World Health Organization (WHO) reports that in 2012 around 7 million people died - one in eight of total global deaths – as a result of air pollution exposure. This finding more than doubles previous estimates and confirms that air pollution is now the world’s largest single environmental health risk. Reducing air pollution could save millions of lives.
The World Health Organization (WHO) and Health Care without Harm organisation have joined forces to launch a new initiative to get mercury removed from all medical measuring devices by 2020.
Cardiovascular diseases remain the number one cause of death throughout the world, and killed nearly 17 million people in 2011, that is 3 in every 10 deaths. Of these, 7 million people died of ischemic heart disease and 6.2 million from stroke, reports the World Health Organization.