Latest news

Extending health coverage in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

WHO/G. Tapper

13 July 2017 – In the Tanganyika province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, going to a health centre often means traveling long distances over poor roads, while carrying a sick child and supplies. WHO’s Rapid Access Expansion Programme (RAcE) is bringing diagnosis and treatment for malaria, pneumonia, and diarrhoea – the three deadliest childhood diseases – into remote communities.

• Photo story
• Feature story

• Water and sanitation
• G20 Summit
• Gonorrhoea
• Ebola

2.1 billion people lack safe drinking-water at home

UN Water

12 July 2017 – Some 3 in 10 people worldwide lack access to safe, readily available water at home, and 6 in 10 people lack safely managed sanitation, according to a new report by WHO and UNICEF. Billions of people have had basic drinking water and sanitation since 2000, but these are not necessarily safe water and sanitation services. Many homes, healthcare facilities, and schools also still lack soap and water for handwashing.

• News release
• Report

Dr Tedros at the G20 Summit

WHO/C.Black

8 July 2017 – WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus led the WHO delegation at the G20 Summit on 7–8 July 2017, in Hamburg, Germany. Dr Tedros participated in all G20 sessions during the Summit. His speech focused on investing in universal health coverage to ensure health security in order to be better prepared for the next pandemic or emergency.

• Speech by Dr Tedros
• Photo gallery

Antibiotic-resistant gonorrhoea on the rise, new drugs needed

WHO

7 July 2017 – Data from 77 countries show that antibiotic resistance is making gonorrhoea – a common sexually-transmitted infection – more difficult, and sometimes impossible, to treat. Some countries – particularly high-income ones, where surveillance is best – are finding cases of the infection that are untreatable by all known antibiotics. These cases may just be the tip of the iceberg, as gonorrhoea is more common in lower-income countries.

• News release

End of the most recent Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo

2 July 2017 – Today, WHO declared the end of the most recent outbreak of Ebola virus disease in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). "With the end of this epidemic, DRC has once again proved to the world that we can control the very deadly Ebola virus if we respond early in a coordinated and efficient way,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General.

• Read the press release
• More on Ebola in Democratic Republic of the Congo

Highlights

• Trachoma: 85 million people treated through expanded access to medicine
  July 2017 – New WHO data show a remarkable increase of 63% in the number of people treated with an antibiotic for trachoma from 2014–2016, considerably improving prospects for the global elimination of the disease. The surge is mainly due to expanded access to azithromycin.

• Measles continues to spread and take lives in Europe
  July 2017 - Ongoing measles outbreaks in the Europe have caused 35 deaths in the past year. The most recent fatality was a 6-year-old boy in Italy, where over 3300 measles cases and 2 deaths have occurred since June 2016. Several other countries have also reported outbreaks, according to national public health authorities.

• Scaling up efforts to minimize spread of acute watery diarrhoea/cholera in the Eastern Mediterranean Region
  July 2017 – With increasing numbers of people in some countries of WHO’s Eastern Mediterranean Region affected by acute watery diarrhoea and cholera, WHO is working with partners, including UNICEF, to save lives in areas where outbreaks are active, and reduce the risk of these diseases crossing into unaffected areas and neighbouring countries.

• Protecting health from climate change
  July 2017 – Climate change undermines access to safe water, adequate food, and clean air, exacerbating the approximately 12.6 million deaths each year that are caused by avoidable environmental risk factors. Between 2030 and 2050, climate change is expected to cause approximately 250 000 additional deaths per year, from malnutrition, malaria, diarrhoea and heat stress, and billions of dollars in direct damage costs to health.