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US withdrawal from WHO unfortunate, but won't affect India: Health experts

This follows US President Donald Trump's signing of an executive order on Monday, announcing the country's withdrawal from the WHO

Trump signs executive order to withdraw US from World Health Organisation

US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order beginning the process of withdrawing America from the World Health Organisation, the second time in less than five years that the US has ordered to withdraw from the world body. It was among dozens of executive actions he signed after being sworn in on Monday for a second term, on issues ranging from immigration to foreign policy to climate change. The World Health Organisation (WHO) came under intense criticism from Trump in 2020 for its response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which grew into a worldwide health crisis during the final year of his first term. That's a big one, Trump told reporters in the Oval Office of the White House when an aid presented to him an executive order on this to be signed by him. We paid USD 500 million to World Health when I was here, and I terminated it. China, with 1.4 billion people, has 350 dependents... nobody knows what we have because so many people came in illegally. But let's say we have 325

Amid concerns, WHO official says HMPV virus 'expected during winter'

WHO official said that the pathogens are known ones and can be tackled, including the pathogens of Covid-19

HMPV cases in India highlights: Mumbai reports first case, 6-month-old child tests positive

HMPV Cases in India updates: Catch all the major news updates on human metapneumovirus cases here

HMPV cases in India highlights: Health Secretary urges states to raise public awareness on HMPV

HMPV Cases in India updates: Catch all the major news updates on human metapneumovirus cases here

New year celebrations, Manipur CM Biren Singh, WHO urges China for Covid19 data & more

China defends Covid-19 data-sharing as WHO seeks more information access

China is also the only country that organised experts to share traceability progress with the WHO on many occasions, Mao Ning, spokesperson at the foreign ministry said

Trump team revives 2020 plan for US exit from WHO on day one of new term

The United States is the largest single donor to the World Health Organization, contributing 16% of its funding in 2022-23

India has cut malaria cases, deaths significantly, says WHO report

India has significantly reduced its malaria incidence and mortality and exited the High Burden High Impact (HBHI) group of endemic countries officially in 2024, according to the World Health Organisation's (WHO) World Malaria Report released on Wednesday. The malaria caseload in India was slashed by 69 per cent from 6.4 million (64 lakh) in 2017 to two million (20 lakh) in 2023. Similarly, the estimated malaria deaths decreased from 11,100 to 3,500 (a 68-per cent decrease) in the same period. The WHO South-East Asia Region had eight malaria endemic countries in 2023, accounting for 40 lakh cases and contributing 1.5 per cent to the burden of malaria cases globally. In 2023, India accounted for a half of all estimated malaria cases in the region, followed by Indonesia, which accounted for just under one third. The estimated malaria deaths in the region fell by 82.9 per cent, from 35,000 in 2000 to 6,000 in 2023. India and Indonesia together accounted for about 88 per cent of malari

WHO calls for global commitment to fight against HIV on World AIDS Day

WHO also highlighted the situation of children and adolescents living with HIV. In the Southeast Asia Region, approximately 80,000 children and adolescents are living with HIV

WHO chief congratulates Okonjo on reappointment as WTO Director General

On her reappointment, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala thanked the members and highlighted the challenges she plans to address

Doctor-population ratio in country is better than WHO standard: Nadda

The doctor-population ratio is 1:811 in the country which is better than the WHO standard of 1:1000, Union Health Minister J P Nadda informed the Lok Sabha on Friday. As per information provided by the National Medical Commission (NMC), there are 13,86,145 allopathic doctors registered with the State Medical Councils and the National Medical Commission (NMC) as on November, 2024, he said. "Assuming 80 per cent availability of registered allopathic doctors and around 6.14 lakh AYUSH doctors, the doctor-population ratio in the country is around 1:811 which is better than the WHO standard of 1:1000," Nadda said. The government has increased the number of medical colleges and subsequently increased MBBS seats, he said. The minister said there is an increase of 102 per cent in the medical colleges from 387 before 2014 to 780 as of now. Further, there is an increase of 130 per cent in MBBS seats from 51,348 before 2014 to 1,18,137 as of now and an increase of 135 per cent in PG seats fr

WHO Africa director-elect dies while receiving treatment in India

The World Health Organisation's regional director-elect for Africa died while receiving medical treatment in India, Tanzania's parliament speaker said Wednesday. Plans to repatriate the body of Tanzania's Dr Faustine Ndugulile, 55, were underway, Speaker Tulia Ackson said, adding that funeral plans would be announced later. She didn't disclose Ndugulile's ailment. No other details were available. Ndugulile served as a member of parliament for Kigamboni Constituency in Tanzania's commercial capital, Dar es Salaam. He was also the East African country's health assistant minister between 2017-2020 and the information and communication minister until 2021. He was elected as the WHO's African director in August and was set to start his new role in February 2025, following Dr Matshidiso Moeti who served in the role for two terms. In his acceptance speech, Ndugulile expressed a firm commitment to advancing the health and well-being of people in Africa. Tanzania's President Samia Suluhu .

New study claims Mpox clade la has evolved to spread from human to human

Investigation of the Clade la strain of the virus circulation in Central Africa shows genetic mutations indicative of sustained human-to-human spread

WHO chief warns of imminent famine in North Gaza, calls to scale up efforts

He gave a call for an immediate scale-up and safe access for humanitarian aid, primarily food and medicines to tackle severe malnutrition

TB infects around 8 mn people in 2023, highest ever seen, says WHO

More than 8 million people were diagnosed with tuberculosis last year, the World Health Organization said Tuesday, the highest number recorded since the U.N. health agency began keeping track. About 1.25 million people died of TB last year, the new report said, adding that TB likely returned to being the world's top infectious disease killer after being replaced by COVID-19 during the pandemic. The deaths are almost double the number of people killed by HIV in 2023. WHO said TB continues to mostly affect people in Southeast Asia, Africa and the Western Pacific; India, Indonesia, China, the Philippines and Pakistan account for more than half of the world's cases. The fact that TB still kills and sickens so many people is an outrage, when we have the tools to prevent it, detect it and treat it, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a statement. TB deaths continue to fall globally, however, and the number of people being newly infected is beginning to stabilize. The

Over 77% of India's children lack WHO-suggested diversity in diet: Study

About 77 per cent of children in India aged 6-23 months lack diversity in diet as suggested by the WHO, with the country's central region showing the highest prevalence of minimum dietary failure, a study has found. The states of Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh reported the highest levels of inadequate diversity in children's diets -- all above 80 per cent -- while Sikkim and Meghalaya were the only two to report an under-50 per cent prevalence. The World Health Organisation (WHO) suggests using the Minimum Dietary Diversity (MDD) score to evaluate the quality of a child's diet -- it is considered to be diverse if it contains five or more food groups, including breastmilk, eggs, legumes and nuts, and fruits and vegetables. Analysing National Family and Health Survey data from 2019-21 (NFHS-5), researchers, including those from the National Institute of Health and Family Welfare, found that the country's overall rate of minimum dietary diversity ...

WHO approves Zydus Lifesciences' typhoid vaccine for UN procurement

Typhoid affects an estimated 11 to 21 million people annually, leading to between 117,000 and 161,000 deaths

CDSCO meets WHO standards for functional vaccine regulatory system

Drug regulator CDSCO and the National Regulatory Authority of India have met the standards set up by the World Health Organisation for a functional vaccine regulatory system A team of international experts from various countries led by the World Health Organisation (WHO) headquarters in Geneva reviewed India's vaccine regulatory system from September 16 to 20, the health ministry said in a statement. Safety, efficacy, and quality were the three basic parameters of assessment of vaccines, it said. The WHO has established global standards and benchmarks for assurance of vaccine quality through the development of tools and guidelines, benchmarking of the National Regulatory Authorities (NRA) and pre-qualification programme of vaccines, the statement said. The WHO NRA re-benchmarking was aimed to assess and document the status of the India regulatory system in the area of vaccine regulation, re-benchmark the status of the India vaccine regulatory system against the WHO NRA Global ...

Four new polio cases reported in Pakistan, tally rises to 32 this year

At least four new cases of polio have been reported in Pakistan, taking the tally to 32 this year, according to an official statement. Of the four new cases, three were reported from Sindh province and one from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. So far this year, 16 cases have been reported from Balochistan, 10 from Sindh, four from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and one each from Punjab and Islamabad. Currently only two out of seven regions i.e. Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan are polio-free. The virus has reached five regions, including four provinces and the federal capital, according to the official data. The Dawn newspaper reported that an official of the Health Ministry said that the Pakistan Polio Eradication Programme vaccinated nearly 33 million children under the age of five during a nationwide campaign in September this year. The campaign aimed to protect children from the devastating effects of polio. A comprehensive evaluation of the campaign was conducted to assess its