The fight against TB: Bayer donates drugs to WHO program

According to a report from PharmaTimes, Bayer will donate 620,000 tablets of its antibiotic moxifloxacin in order to help tackle multi-drug resistant tuberculosis.

The drugs will be provided to the World Health Organization for use in its Stop Tuberculosis Partnership, with the WHO expected to provide the antibiotics to China’s national tuberculosis programme.

World No Tobacco Day

On 31st May each year WHO celebrates World No Tobacco Day, highlighting the health risks associated with tobacco use and advocating for effective policies to reduce consumption. Tobacco use is the second cause of death globally (after hypertension) and is currently responsible for killing one in 10 adults worldwide.

According to the WHO, nearly 6 million people will die this year from tobacco use.

The World Health Assembly created World No Tobacco Day in 1987 to draw global attention to the tobacco epidemic and its lethal effects. It provides an opportunity to highlight specific tobacco control messages and to promote adherence to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. Tobacco use is the number one preventable epidemic that the health community faces.

World No Tobacco Day info.

Resolutions and highlights from the 2011 World Health Assembly

An interesting synopsis of key resolutions, decisions and highlights from the 2011 World Health Assembly, courtesy of World Health Advocacy.  The World Health Assembly, held in Geneva Switzerland, started May 16th and closed today.

This year’s World Health Assembly saw an unprecedented social engagement, with updates and discussions being shared via twitter, facebook and other media. The global discussion was significant enough to cause Dr. Chan to comment on it in her closing speech – “tweets about events over the past several days, on topics ranging from the reform agenda for WHO to pandemic influenza preparedness, reached more than three million people.”

More than 2700 delegates, including Health Ministers and senior health officials from 192 WHO Member States, NGOs and civil society groups attended the World Health Assembly in person. Following a week’s worth of discussions, the following are some of the key resolutions and highlights:

Non-communicable diseases

Countries unanimously approved a resolution on the preparations for the United Nations General Assembly high-level meeting on the prevention and control of non-communicable diseases being held this September. Some 47 countries and 16 observers, including civil society, commented on the resolution, which urges heads of state and governments to attend the UN meeting in New York and calls for steps against the NCD challenge through an action-oriented outcome document.

Read the WHO report.

Working together to stop HIV/AIDS

The Global Health Sector Strategy on HIV/AIDS, 2011-2015 was approved, and will guide actions by WHO and governments around the world to dramatically increase innovation, integration and efficiencies of HIV programmes. If all countries implement these guidelines, at least 4.2 million new HIV infections could be prevented and 2 million lives saved between 2011-2015.

Global immunization vision and strategy

In a great show of support, many delegates and global health partners in Committee A spoke in favour of the Global Immunization Vision and Strategy. Delegates applauded strides in saving lives around the world through vaccines, noting key challenges such as eradicating polio and increasing measles vaccination coverage to prevent dangerous outbreaks.

Read the report and strategic direction for the Decade of Vaccines.

The final mile in polio

Delegates described significant advances in polio eradication over the past year. In India and Nigeria, polio cases plummeted by 95% between 2009 and 2010. Highlighting the necessity of routine immunization, delegates pointed to the funding gap of US$ 665 million, and warned that a lack of resources could lead to dangerous backslide. Several delegates called for political and financial commitments, noting that low-income countries could save US$ 40-50 billion over the next 25 years.

Maternal, infant and young child nutrition

More than 100 million children under five were underweight in 2010. Additionally, more women are becoming overweight, increasing the risk of birth complications. Delegates in Committee B discussed a progress report on a plan to tackle problems of poor nutrition through awareness campaigns, and policies involving health, education and agriculture.

Resolutions and reports support health-related MDGs

Health-related MDGs received support with resolutions and reports on immunization strategy, infant and young child nutrition, child injury prevention, safe management of drinking water, malaria, and the presentation of the final report of the Commission on Information and Accountability for Women’s and Children’s Health.

Cholera: mechanism for control and prevention

Delegates agreed that cholera is a public health threat for many countries and the incidence is on the rise. They expressed the urgent need for effective public health interventions, such as solid surveillance systems, improved environmental management, access to clean water and proper sanitation, and the adequate use of cholera vaccines as a complementary measure. Cholera was recognized as a clear marker of environmental management. Member States underscored the need to revitalize the Global Task Force on Cholera Control and emphasized the need to scale up advocacy measures.

Annual report on the eradication guinea-worm disease

The delegates adopted a resolution paving the way for an annual report on the eradication of dracunculiasis (more commonly known as guinea-worm disease) to be presented every year beginning with the next Health Assembly. Dracunculiasis is the second disease which is approaching eradication (the first being smallpox) and it occurs only after people drink contaminated water. Previously it was responsible for millions of infections across Africa and Asia. The disease mainly occurs in remote poverty-stricken areas, with limited or no access to safe drinking water.

Sources:

• Sixty-fourth World Health Assembly: daily notes on proceedings
• Historical agreements at the Sixty-fourth World Health Assembly

World Health Assembly adopts resolutions on NCDs and child injury

A report from the UN Daily News about resolutions adopted by the 64th World Health Assembly on non-communicable diseases and child injury.

UN HEALTH ASSEMBLY ADOPTS RESOLUTIONS ON CHILD INJURY AND NON-COMMUNICABLE DISEASES

Delegates at a United Nations health gathering today adopted resolutions on preventing child injury and preparing for the forthcoming General Assembly high-level conference on non-communicable diseases.

The resolution on child injury prevention adopted by the ongoing 64th World Health Assembly (WHA) of the UN World Health Organization (WHO) creates a platform designed to prevent injuries, which are the leading cause of death for children over the age of five. The resolution has to be adopted in the WHA plenary.

Delegates to the WHA said child injuries represented a major child survival issue that required more attention and resources. More than 830,000 children die each year from road traffic crashes, drowning, burns, falls and poisoning.

Countries also unanimously endorsed the resolution on preparations for the General Assembly’s high-level meeting on the prevention and control of non-communicable diseases (NCDs), which will be held in September.

Non-communicable diseases, primarily heart and lung diseases, cancers and diabetes, have become leading causes of death, according to the WHO global status report on NCDs. In 2008, 36.1 million people died from conditions such diseases, including 9 million who died prematurely before the age of 60. Some 8 million of those premature deaths occurred in low- and middle-income countries.

Millions of deaths can be prevented by stronger implementation of measures that exist today, Ala Alwan, WHO’s Assistant Director-General for NCDs and Mental Health, told a news conference in Geneva. The measures include policies that promote government-wide action against NCDs; stronger anti-tobacco controls and promoting healthier diets, physical activity, and reducing harmful use of alcohol; and improving people’s access to essential health care.

The resolution recognized WHO’s leading role as the primary specialized agency for health and reaffirmed its leadership in promoting global action against NCDs.

The World Health Assembly is the decision-making body of WHO and brings together delegations from all WHO Member States to determine the policies of the Organization and its approve proposed programme budget.

Patients must set the agenda on non-communicable diseases

The International Alliance of Patient Organizations (IAPO) yesterday held a side meeting at the World Health Assembly in Geneva in regards to the role of patients in preventing and managing non-communicable diseases.  The press release from this event is attached below.  More updates from the World Health Assembly can be followed on twitter via #worldhealthassembly, #NCDs or #globalhealth — or for updates of interest follow @whonews, @globalhealth, @whadvocacy or @NCDAlliance.

Patients must set the agenda on non-communicable diseases

Geneva, Switzerland, 17 May 2011 – Patient advocates have called for a stronger role in setting the agenda in the design and delivery of strategies to prevent and manage non-communicable diseases (NCDs), and chronic diseases more broadly. This call was made at a Side Meeting to the World Health Organization (WHO) World Health Assembly in Geneva, Switzerland. The meeting was hosted by the International Alliance of Patients’ Organizations (IAPO) and two of its member patient groups; Alzheimer’s Disease International (ADI) and the Multiple Sclerosis International Federation (MSIF) and attended by over 50 participants including member state representatives, health professionals and WHO representatives.

Speakers from Africa, Latin America and Europe highlighted, with practical examples, how patient advocates are contributing knowledge, experience and resources to support efforts to tackle chronic disease. Across the world in high, middle and low income countries, patient groups routinely provide health information and training to patients and health professionals. These have been shown to support prevention strategies and effective disease management to ensure that patients’ needs are met. Interventions like these and many others are driven from within the communities they serve, reflecting their needs and preferences and ensuring that they are relevant to the context in which they are being implemented. For these to be most effective there needs to be a greater focus on, and commitment to, policy-making that involves the users of care. As the United Nations High-level Meeting on Non-communicable Diseases approaches, it is vital that discussions and outcomes reflect the fundamental changes that are needed to strengthen and adapt healthcare systems to involve and address the health and quality of life needs of patients with chronic disease.

Patient advocates stressed a need for a greater focus on disease management, including reducing severity and promoting quality of life, in addition to prevention. They called a greater role for patients’ organizations in every stage of NCD policy and program design along with implementation at all levels. It was also stressed that it was important that the work undertaken to address NCDs strengthens health systems ability to respond to all chronic conditions.

A participant, Jose M. Martin-Moreno, Director, Programme Management of WHO Regional Office for Europe said ‘Policy-making in health matters should involve the patient voice for the benefit of all. Within health systems we should not compete but ensure that we prevent the preventable, diagnose early, take care of those with a disease and give dignity to those at the end of life. Patients have an important role to play in achieving these goals.’

World Health Assembly – Day 1

The following summary of discussion from day 1 of the 64th World Health Assembly is from the World Health Organization’s media centre.

WHO kicks-off World Health Assembly and chooses president

The 64th World Health Assembly opened this morning, with remarks pointing to tremendous achievements in recent years, and the need to remain vigilant and committed to reaching our targets for healthier communities worldwide. The delegates appointed the Assembly’s president, Dr. Christos Patsalides, Director of the Ministry of Health for Cyprus, as well as five vice presidents from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Nigeria, the Philippines, and Trinidad and Tobago, representing their respective regions.

WHO Director-General urges partners in global health to “remember the people”

In her address, Dr. Chan highlighted unprecedented progress, such as under-five childhood deaths at their lowest in more than 60 years, and a 60 percent drop in maternal mortality in two regions. Dr. Chan spoke of difficulties stemming from the global financial crisis and skyrocketing food and fuel prices. She commended UN agencies, countries and public and private partners for their hard work in saving lives from preventable and treatable diseases in the face of these challenges. Urging her colleagues to keep up their momentum Dr. Chan stated “any form of complacency at this point would be deadly.” She also announced that WHO is embarking on the most extensive administrative, managerial, and financial reforms in its 63-year history.

WHO releases 2011 world health statistics

The World Health Organization today released their 2011 report on World Health Statistics.  The report highlights the increasing burden of chronic disease and the struggles faced by many countries as they are still working to reduce the impact of infectious diseases.

Many countries hit by health threats from both infectious and chronic diseases

13 MAY 2011 | GENEVA – An increasing number of countries are facing a double burden of disease as the prevalence of risk factors for chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart diseases and cancers increase and many countries still struggle to reduce maternal and child deaths caused by infectious diseases, for the Millennium Development Goals, according to the World Health Statistics 2011 released by the WHO today.

Noncommunicable diseases such heart diseases, stroke, diabetes and cancer, now make up two-thirds of all deaths globally, due to the population aging and the spread of risk factors associated with globalization and urbanization. The control of risk factors such as tobacco use, sedentary lifestyle, unhealthy diet and excessive use of alcohol becomes more critical. The latest WHO figures showed that about 4 out of 10 men and 1 in 11 women are using tobacco and about 1 in 8 adults is obese.

In addition many developing countries continue to battle health issues such as pneumonia, diarrhoea and malaria that are most likely to kill children under the age of five. In 2009, 40% of all child deaths were among newborns (aged 28 days or less). Much more needs to be done to achieve the MDGs by the target date of 2015, but progress has accelerated.

• Child mortality declined at 2.7% per year since 2000, twice as fast as during the 1990s (1.3%). Mortality among children under five years fell from 12.4 million in 1990 to 8.1 million in 2009.
• Maternal mortality declined at 3.3% per year since 2000, almost twice as fast in the decade after 2000 than during the 1990s (2%). The number of women dying as a result of complications during pregnancy and childbirth has decreased from 546,000 in 1990 to 358,000 in 2008.

“This evidence really shows that no country in the world can address health from either an infectious disease perspective or a noncommunicable disease one. Everyone must develop a health system that addresses the full range of the health threats in both areas.” says Ties Boerma, Director of WHO’s Department of Health Statistics and Informatics.

The report also shows that more money is being spent on health and people can expect to live longer (life expectancy in 2009 was 68 years, up from 64 years in 1990); but the gap in health spending between low- and high-income countries remains very large.

• In low-income countries, per capita, health expenditure is an estimated US$ 32 (or about 5.4% of gross domestic product) and in high-income countries it is US$ 4590 (or about 11% of gross domestic product).
• High-income countries have, per capita, on average 10 times more doctors, 12 times more nurses and midwives and 30 times more dentists than low-income countries.
• Virtually all deliveries of babies in high-income countries are attended by skilled health personnel; but this is the case for only 40% of deliveries in low-income countries.

World Health Statistics 2011 is an annual report based on more than 100 health indicators reported by WHO’s 193 Member States and other reliable sources. These data provide a snapshot of the global health situation and trends. However, timely, accurate health information is hard to obtain in some parts of the world, because the country health information systems are weak.

UN conference in Moscow adopts declaration on NCDs

Health ministers from around the world met last week at the first Global Ministerial Conference on Healthy Lifestyles and Non-Communicable Diseases Control (April 28-29) in Moscow.  The goals of this conference were to highlight the magnitude and socio-economic impact of NCDs: to review international experience in NCD prevention and control; and provide evidence on the pressing need to strengthen global and national initiatives to prevent NCDs.

The following WHO press release highlights the outcomes of the conference, including the ‘Moscow Declaration’ on NCDs.

Health ministers from around the world meeting under the auspices of the United Nations today adopted measures to strengthen the fight against the non-communicable diseases, including the promotion of healthy lifestyles and encouraging a multi-sectoral approach to prevention and treatment of the illnesses.

In the Moscow Declaration, delegates to the First Global Ministerial Conference on Healthy Lifestyles and Noncommunicable Disease Control, held in the Russian capital, stressed that non-communicable diseases (NCDs) – mainly heart conditions, diabetes, cancers and chronic respiratory diseases – are the leading causes of preventable morbidity and disability.

The diseases currently cause more than 60 per cent of global deaths, 80 per cent of which occur in developing countries, the delegates to the conference, organized by the UN World Health Organization (WHO) and Russian Government, pointed out. It is projected that the diseases will to 75 per cent of worldwide deaths by 2030, they added.

“Many countries are now facing extraordinary challenges from the double burden of disease: communicable diseases and non-communicable diseases,” the ministers said in their declaration.

“This requires adapting health systems and health policies, and a shift from disease-centred to people-centred approaches and population health measures. Vertical initiatives are insufficient to meet complex population needs, so integrated solutions that engage a range of disciplines and sectors are needed. Strengthening health systems in this way results in improved capacity to respond to a range of diseases and conditions.”

The Moscow Declaration stresses that evidence-based and cost-effective interventions exist to prevent and control NCDs at global, regional, national and local levels, giving the example of measures to control tobacco use, reduce salt intake and reduce the harmful use of alcohol.

Particular attention should be paid to the promotion of healthy diets, including low consumption of saturated fats, trans-fats, salt and sugar, high consumption of fruits and vegetables, and physical activity in all aspects of daily living, according to the declaration.

Effective NCD prevention and control requires the active and informed participation and leadership of individuals, families and communities, civil society organizations, the private sector, employers, health care providers and the international community, it adds.

The declaration also calls for the implementation of effective policies for the prevention and control of non-communicable diseases at national and global levels, including those relevant to achieving the goals of the 2008-2013 Action Plan for the Global Strategy for the Prevention and Control of Noncommunicable Diseases, the WHO Global Strategy to Reduce the Harmful Use of Alcohol, and the Global Strategy on Diet, Physical Activity and Health.

At the international level, the declaration calls upon WHO and all other relevant UN system agencies and other key international organizations to work together in a coordinated manner to address NCDs.

It calls for the consideration of possible means to facilitate the access of low- and middle income countries to affordable, safe, effective and high quality medicines for the treatment and control of NCDs, based on needs and resource assessments.

“With a view to securing an ambitious and sustainable outcome, we commit to actively engaging with all relevant sectors of government, on the basis of this Moscow Declaration, in the preparation of and the follow-up to the United Nations General Assembly High-level Meeting on the Prevention and Control of NCDs in September 2011 in New York.”

Addressing the global challenge of chronic disease

The first Global Ministerial Conference on Healthy Lifestyles and Non-Communicable Diseases Control (April 28-29), hosted by the World Health Organization and the Russian Federation, closed today in Moscow.

The goals of this conference – part of the build-up to the 19- 20 September 2011 United Nations General Assembly High-level Meeting on the Prevention and Control of NCDs – were to highlight the magnitude and socio-economic impact of NCDs: to review international experience in NCD prevention and control; and provide evidence on the pressing need to strengthen global and national initiatives to prevent NCDs.

As part of this effort, the World Health Organization released their first WHO Global Status Report on chronic diseases, providing updated information on the prevalence and impact of these diseases around the world.  This report was released on April 27th, as part of a WHO global forum: addressing the challenge of non-communicable disease.

Recent WHO estimates predict that by 2030, NCD-related deaths in Africa, the Middle East, and South East Asia will grow by over 50%. Globally diabetes deaths will increase by two-thirds. More than 8 million of premature deaths are in developing countries, which are very vulnerable to NCDs.

Both of these events were attended by governments and health experts from around the world to help address the global health challenges posed by NCDs.

Webcasts from the global forum and ministerial conference can be viewed online.

For those on twitter, highlights of the conversation can be tracked by searching #NCDsMoscow, #NCDs or #noncommunicable.

World Malaria Day 2011

Today (April 25) is World Malaria Day — a day to commemorate global efforts to control malaria.  According to the World Health Organization, “the key is to maintain the financial and political commitments to fighting malaria over the next 5 years so that we can reach these ambitious RBM targets and the health-related Millennium Development Goals.”

WHO reports that over 780,000 people died of malaria in 2009, most of them children under the age of five. The disease perpetuates a vicious cycle of poverty in the developing world and malaria-related illnesses and mortality cost Africa’s economy alone approximately USD 12 billion per year.

Key Facts About Malaria (Source:  WHO)

• Malaria is a life-threatening disease caused by parasites that are transmitted to people through the bites of infected mosquitoes.
• Malaria is preventable and curable.
• In 2008, malaria caused nearly one million deaths, mostly among African children.
• Malaria can decrease gross domestic product by as much as 1.3% in countries with high disease rates.
• Non-immune travelers from malaria-free areas are very vulnerable to the disease when they get infected.

Image Source:  Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation