With 87 per cent of the world's population or approximately 5.9 billion people using safe drinking-water sources, the world is on track to meet or even exceed the drinking-water target of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG), according to the new WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) report titled: " Progress on Sanitation and Drinking- Water: 2010 Update Report," released today...

The World Health Organization (WHO) is releasing new guidelines for the treatment of malaria, and the first ever guidance on procuring safe and efficacious anti-malarial medicines. In recent years a new type of treatment called artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACTs) has transformed the treatment of malaria, but if not used properly the medicine could become ineffective...

WHO Bulletin Examines Communicable Diseases In Southeast Asia The WHO's March Bulletin is a special themed issue focusing on communicable diseases in Southeast Asia. The publication addresses tuberculosis, cholera, neglected tropical diseases and family planning in the region (March 2010)...

A new report released by UNICEF and WHO provides a seven-point plan for comprehensive diarrhea control. The plan and its objectives are discussed in a comment published Online First and in a future edition of The Lancet. The comment is the work of Dr Tessa Wardlaw, UNICEF, New York, USA, and Dr Elizabeth Mason, Director, Department of Child and Adolescent Health and Development, WHO, Switzerland, and colleagues. Presently, nearly one in every five child deaths (around 1.

Particulate air pollution during the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing constantly exceeded levels considered excessive by the World Health Organization, was far worse than other recent Olympic Games, and was about 30 percent higher than has been reported by Chinese environmental experts - even though some favorable weather conditions helped reduce the problem.

No Additional Risk The World Health Organization (WHO) has announced a global Influenza A(H1N1) pandemic now that 74 countries have officially reported over 30,000 cases of Influenza A(H1N1) infection. A pandemic has been declared because of the virus' geographical spread. It does not reflect an increase in the severity of the illness. Safety of the blood supply is the number one priority of Canadian Blood Services.

On Wednesday, government ministers and senior officials from 27 countries pledged to intensify efforts to control the spread of drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB) following warnings from the World Health Organization (WHO) that the various drug-resistant forms of the disease are emerging as a major global threat.

Malaria is a common and life-threatening disease in many parts of the world. The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that more than one million people a year die from malaria.1 Most of these fatalities occur in children under five in Africa. 1 In fact, on average a child in Africa dies every 30 seconds from a malaria infection caused by the bite of a mosquito. 1 GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has committed its resources to reducing malaria infections.