Latest World Health Organization News

Global vaccine alliance GAVI to buy 500,000 doses of mpox vaccine

Sep. 18, 2024 13:28 PM EDT

DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — The global vaccine alliance Gavi will buy 500,000 doses of mpox vaccine to battle outbreaks of the disease in African countries, the organization said on Wednesday. The vaccine doses — manufactured by the Danish company Bavarian Nordic — will be available...

The Taliban have suspended polio vaccination campaigns in Afghanistan, the UN says

Sep. 16, 2024 07:16 AM EDT

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The Taliban have suspended polio vaccination campaigns in Afghanistan, the U.N. said Monday. It’s a devastating setback for polio eradication, since the virus is one of the world’s most infectious and any unvaccinated groups of children where the virus is...

WHO grants first mpox vaccine approval to ramp up response to disease in Africa

Sep. 13, 2024 12:15 PM EDT

GENEVA (AP) — The World Health Organization said Friday it has granted its first authorization for use of a vaccine against mpox in adults, calling it an important step toward fighting the disease in Africa. The approval of the vaccine made by Bavarian Nordic A/S means that donors...

Mpox deaths rise by 107 in a week as Africa CDC calls the toll unacceptable

Sep. 12, 2024 12:45 PM EDT

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — African countries recorded more than 100 mpox-related deaths in the past week, the continental health body said Thursday as it described the rising toll as “not acceptable.” Dr. Jean Kaseya, director-general of the Africa Center for Disease Control and...

Red Cross staff members killed in Ukraine as country warned of severe winter health crisis

Sep. 12, 2024 11:48 AM EDT

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The World Health Organization issued a stark warning on Thursday about a potential health crisis in Ukraine as the country faces its third winter of war since Russia’s full-scale invasion. The warning came as three Red Cross staff members were killed by...

UN official says Sudan's war has killed at least 20,000 people

Sep. 08, 2024 09:17 AM EDT

CAIRO (AP) — More than 16 months of war in Sudan has killed more than 20,000 people, a senior United Nations official said Sunday, a grim figure amid a devastating conflict that has wrecked the northeastern African country. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director general of the World...

WHO and Africa CDC launch a response plan to the mpox outbreak

Sep. 06, 2024 12:54 PM EDT

DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — The Africa Center for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization launched on Friday a continent-wide response plan to the outbreak of mpox, three weeks after WHO declared outbreaks in 12 African countries a global emergency. The estimated...

The first 100,000 doses of mpox vaccine reach Congo. But it's a fraction of what is needed

Sep. 05, 2024 14:33 PM EDT

KINSHASA, Congo (AP) — The first batch of mpox vaccine arrived in Congo’s capital on Thursday, the country’s authorities said, three weeks after the World Health Organization declared mpox outbreaks in 12 African countries a global emergency. The 100,000 doses of the JYNNEOS...

Prince Harry and Matt Damon set to address this year's Clinton Global Initiative annual meeting

Sep. 05, 2024 08:10 AM EDT

Prince Harry, actor Matt Damon, and World Central Kitchen founder Jose Andrés are set to speak at the 2024 Clinton Global Initiative annual meeting in New York on Sept. 23 and 24, the Clinton Foundation announced Thursday. The theme of this year’s gathering of political, business...

Mpox outbreaks in Africa could be ended in 6 months, WHO chief says

Aug. 30, 2024 14:43 PM EDT

GENEVA (AP) — The head of the World Health Organization believes the ongoing mpox outbreaks in Africa might be stopped in the next six months, and said Friday that the agency's first shipment of vaccines should arrive in Congo within days. To date, Africa has received just a tiny...