Two years on from the launch of a pilot programme, more than 1.7 million doses of the world’s first malaria vaccine have been administered in Ghana, Kenya and Malawi, benefitting more than 650 000 children with additional malaria protection.

COVID-19 has unfairly impacted some people more harshly than others, exacerbating existing inequities in health and welfare within and between countries. For World Health Day, 7 April 2021, WHO is therefore issuing five calls for urgent action to improve health for all people.

Côte d'Ivoire has successfully eliminated human African trypanosomiasis, also known as “sleeping sickness”, as a public health problem, becoming the second African country after Togo to be validated by the World Health Organization (WHO).

Hangzhou Muhua Bio-Tech Co., Ltd attended the recently hosted CPhI & P-MEC China 2020, which attracted a remarkable 46,157 visits of professional pharma visitors, including 5,105 international attendees taking part online.

World misses most 2020 mental health targets; extension of WHO Mental Health Action Plan to 2030 provides new opportunity for progress

MDA is needed to reduce infection in the community to levels below a threshold at which mosquitoes are unable to continue spreading the parasites from person to person, and new infections are prevented. WHO recommends the transmission assessment survey (TAS) to determine when infections have been reduced below these target thresholds and MDA can stop. Once MDA has stopped, TAS is used as a surveillance tool to determine that infection levels are sustained below target thresholds.

As the pandemic continues to challenge health systems capacity for delivering essential services, International Safe Abortion Day is an opportunity to celebrate global efforts to protect ongoing provision of comprehensive abortion care.

Cholera is an acute diarrhoeal infection caused by eating or drinking food or water that is contaminated with the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. Cholera remains a global threat to public health and is an indicator of inequity and lack of social development. Researchers have estimated that every year, there are 1.3 to 4.0 million cases of cholera, and 21 000 to 143 000 deaths worldwide due to the infection.

WHO is urging leaders attending the 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) to guarantee equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines and other life-saving tools; ensure the world is better prepared to respond to future pandemics; and renew efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Antibiotic resistance is a natural phenomenon that happens when bacteria develop the ability to defeat the drugs designed to kill them. The germs change over time, no longer responding to medicines thus making infections harder, and sometimes impossible, to treat. This, in turn, results in higher health care costs for both individuals and governments. “Preventing and controlling antibiotic resistance calls for a multi-pronged approach, of which vaccines is one”, says Dr Stanley Midzi, WHO Health Systems Strengthening Advisor.