Latest news with #DrTedros
Express Tribune
24-06-2025
- Health
- Express Tribune
Over 40 killed in Sudan hospital strike as conflict escalates: WHO Chief
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the WHO Director-General, delivers his speech after inaugurating the WHO Academy campus, which promotes lifelong learning across the health sector, in Lyon, France December 17, 2024 Photo: REUTERS Listen to article Over 40 people, including children and health care workers, were killed in an attack on a hospital in Sudan at the weekend, the head of the World Health Organization said on Tuesday. Attack on the Al Mujlad Hospital took place in West Kordofan, near the front line between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, who have been fighting each other since the conflict broke out in April 2023. WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called for attacks on health infrastructure to stop, without saying who was responsible. Another appalling attack on health in #Sudan, this one in the Al Mujlad Hospital in West Kordofan, causing over 40 civilian deaths, including of children and health workers, and dozens of injuries. We cannot say this louder: attacks on health must stop everywhere! #NotATarget — Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) June 24, 2025 The WHO Sudan office said that six children and five medics were killed in the attack, reporting extensive damage to the facility. Emergency Lawyers, a human rights group, accused an army drone of striking the hospital on Saturday, but in a statement on Sunday, put the death toll at nine. Read: ICJ dismisses Sudan's genocide case against UAE Previously, multiple explosions and fires have been reported in Port Sudan, marking a significant escalation in the ongoing conflict between Sudan's army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). The attacks, believed to be drone strikes launched by the RSF, targeted key infrastructure in the city, including fuel depots and a military base near the international airport. Port Sudan, a vital Red Sea port and a refuge for displaced persons, had previously remained largely unaffected by the conflict. However, the recent assaults have raised concerns about the safety of civilians and the potential disruption of humanitarian aid operations. The United Nations and neighboring countries have condemned the attacks, urging all parties to respect international humanitarian law and protect civilian infrastructure. Furthermore, International Court of Justice (ICJ) on May 5 dismissed Sudan's case accusing the United Arab Emirates of fueling genocide in Darfur by supplying weapons to paramilitary forces, saying it lacked jurisdiction. Sudan had argued before the UN's top court last month that the UAE was violating the Genocide Convention by supporting paramilitary forces in Darfur, but the UAE said the case should be thrown out. The court agreed with the UAE's arguments, rejected Sudan's request for emergency measures and ordered the case be removed from its docket. Due to the lack of jurisdiction "the court is precluded by its statute from taking any position on the merits of the claims made by Sudan", a summary of the ruling said. The UAE hailed it as a legal victory. "This decision is a clear and decisive affirmation of the fact that this case was utterly baseless. The Sudanese civil war, which began in April 2023, has resulted in over 12 million displaced persons and widespread food insecurity.
The Guardian
23-06-2025
- Health
- The Guardian
Vapes threaten to undo gains in tackling dangers of tobacco, health leaders warn
Aggressively marketed vapes threaten to undo progress made on smoking control, according to the World Health Organization. Officials, speaking at the World Conference on Tobacco Control in Dublin, said efforts were stalling when it came to helping tobacco users to quit, campaigning in the media on the dangers, and imposing higher taxes on tobacco products. Young people were particularly vulnerable, it added. Countries should consider extending the graphic health warnings already required on cigarette packets to vapes or e-cigarettes, heated tobacco products and nicotine pouches, the WHO said. In many countries, tobacco products had become more affordable in the past decade, the report said, despite a WHO recommendation that cigarettes should be taxed at 75%. While cigarettes became less affordable in 46 countries, they became more affordable in 42 others, including 23 low or middle-income countries. In 133 countries, vapes and similar devices are now regulated in some way – up from only eight in 2007. However, 62 countries apply no regulations at all. The extent of regulation varies, with almost 90% of wealthier countries either regulating or banning sales, compared with 66% of middle-income and only 27% of poor countries. In the UK, disposable vapes were banned this month in a bid to prevent young people using them and on environmental grounds. Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO director general, said: 'Twenty years since the adoption of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, we have many successes to celebrate, but the tobacco industry continues to evolve and so must we.' The report highlights nicotine pouches and heated tobacco products, as well as vapes, as examples of new products. Dr Rüdiger Krech, the WHO's director of health promotion, said they were 'aggressively marketed in ways that undermine hard-won public health gains'. He said national regulators could not be expected to deal with an onslaught of 'thousands' of new products, which represented an attempt by tobacco companies to focus attention away from their 'major business' of traditional tobacco. He added, however, that it was 'hugely important to regulate these new products, because they are attracting children and young people to actually use nicotine, and that's with the addiction that it brings', which he said would lead to tobacco use. Data is not available for all countries, but surveys suggest about 6% of children aged 13 to 15 use e-cigarettes. The WHO report on the global tobacco epidemic focuses on six tobacco control measures and rates countries on how far they have implemented them. These include taxation, introducing smoke-free air legislation, and offering smokers help to quit. Other measures include monitoring tobacco use and prevention policies, bans on tobacco advertising and sponsorship, and warning people about the dangers via pack labels and information campaigns. Since 2007, 155 countries have implemented at least one of the six measures at 'best-practice' level, the report found, with four countries – Brazil, Mauritius, the Netherlands and Turkey – implementing the full package. However, 40 countries have no measure at best-practice level, and more than 30 countries still allow cigarettes to be sold with no mandatory health warning. It means billions of people remain unprotected from the ill effects of tobacco, which claims kills more than 7 million people a year, the report warned. Alison Cox, director of policy and advocacy at the NCD [non-communicable disease] Alliance, said: 'It's clear that there is a long way to go if we are to reduce the many unnecessary tobacco related illnesses and premature deaths still occurring globally. 'Raising taxes is one of the most effective measures that offers governments a triple win of reducing tobacco consumption, saving lives and healthcare costs, while raising much-needed revenue.'
The Independent
23-06-2025
- Health
- The Independent
Call for more taxes on smoking to make up cuts to global aid funding
Larger taxes should be placed on cigarettes around the world, experts have warned – with progress on tackling tobacco use having slowed for the first time in decades according to a new World Health Organisation (WHO) report. In the past decade the number of countries with at least one tobacco control measure in place – whether that's increased taxes, health warnings on packages, bans on advertising or smoking in public places – jumped from roughly 45 to more than 150. But of the seven such tobacco control measures recommended by the WHO, making cigarettes and other tobacco products more expensive through taxes has seen least progress. The WHO put the overall slowing of progress down to disruptions during the Covid-19 pandemic as well as challenges posed by the need to regulate a raft of new products like vapes, which the report said 'threaten[ed] to undo earlier progress made' in the more than 20 years since the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control was agreed . 'Raising prices through taxation is the most effective way to reduce tobacco use,' the WHO report said, adding that this measure had only risen from 13 per cent in 2018 to 15 per cent in 2024. Speaking at the World Conference on Tobacco Control in Dublin, WHO director general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said: "The greatest gains have been made in developing countries where despite aggressive industry interference, governments and civil society have demonstrated that change for the better is possible. Yet, challenges remain.' 'Raising taxes on tobacco is a proven way to reduce tobacco use while generating revenues to reinvest in health." Dr Tedros added that raising taxes on cigarettes could help make up for cuts to global aid funding – particularly driven by Donald Trump and the US, but also including the UK and a number of other countries – which is expected to hit tobacco control efforts. 'And with [overseas development assistance] falling or the funding level for health falling, the taxes could be used for the gaps that are happening in many countries,' he said as he also called for more research on the health impact of new tobacco and nicotine products like vapes and smokeless tobacco. Andrew Black, who works on the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control said: 'We're facing a really challenging problem especially when it comes to securing the resources that are needed to fight tobacco'. 'What we really need to do is to encourage governments to look domestically for sources of revenue... The very obvious place to look is through tobacco taxation,' he added. A tool developed by Johns Hopkins University in the US found increasing taxes on a pack of cigarettes in Kenya by 75 per cent could raise enough money to cover more than three-quarters of the funds lost to the country through foreign aid cuts. Dr Guy Marks, president of the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease, said: 'The reduction in funding for global health is a huge catastrophe for many things. Actually, tobacco control is one area which should be less affected by this than most others [if governments raise tobacco taxes].' 'Why does that not happen? It does not happen, because governments are convinced that they actually gain more revenue for continuing to allow tobacco to be sold," he added. "Why is this the case? Because there are huge political and other interests in countries that support the sale of tobacco.' Global tobacco industry watchdog STOP estimated $1.8 trillion (£1.3tn) US dollars were lost worldwide to tobacco due to the costs of healthcare and lost wages from tobacco-related illness. But some major strides have been made towards controlling tobacco use around the world over the past ten years. More countries have applied graphic health warnings to cigarette packs since 2007 than any other measure, with bans on smoking in public places being the next most common new measure to be introduced. But in many cases countries applying stark health warnings to cigarette packs demand no such thing on smokeless tobacco, which the WHO said could, 'wrongly suggest that some products are harmless'. And while there has been a rise in rules or bans on e-cigarettes, also known as vapes, more than 60 countries have no restrictions on sales of vapes at all. Hazel Cheeseman, the chief executive of UK public health charity Action on Smoking and Health (ASH), said the progress was 'heartening' but that there was much left to be done. 'Tobacco taxes are one of the most effective ways to reduce smoking and can also raise revenue to support health systems. With 134 countries yet to make progress in this area this is an area of significantly untapped potential,' she said. 'Ending the harms from tobacco takes time and I hope the UK government will continue to provide assistance to other countries for the long term helping to secure a planet where no one dies from tobacco related illness.'
Emirates 24/7
01-06-2025
- General
- Emirates 24/7
WHO calls for urgent action to ban flavoured tobacco, nicotine products
On World No Tobacco Day, the World Health Organisation (WHO) today launched a new publication and calls on governments to urgently ban all flavours in tobacco and nicotine products, including cigarettes, pouches, hookahs and e-cigarettes, to protect youth from addiction and disease. Flavours like menthol, bubble gum and cotton candy are masking the harshness of tobacco and nicotine products turning toxic products into youth-friendly bait. Flavours not only make it harder to quit but have also been linked to serious lung diseases. Cigarettes, which still kill up to half of their users, also come in flavours or can have flavours added to them. 'Flavours are fuelling a new wave of addiction, and should be banned,' said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of WHO. 'They undermine decades of progress in tobacco control. Without bold action, the global tobacco epidemic, already killing around 8 million people each year, will continue to be driven by addiction dressed up with appealing flavours.' The publication, Flavour accessories in tobacco products enhance attractiveness and appeal, reveals how flavours and accessories like capsule filters and click-on drops are marketed to bypass regulations and hook new users. Currently, over 50 countries ban flavoured tobacco; more than 40 countries ban e-cigarette sales; 5 specifically ban disposables and 7 ban e-cigarette flavours; and flavour accessories remain largely unregulated. Flavours are a leading reason why young people try tobacco and nicotine products. Paired with flashy packaging and social media-driven marketing, they've increased the appeal of nicotine pouches, heated tobacco, and disposable vapes into addictive and harmful products, which aggressively target young people. WHO reiterates that tobacco products, including heated tobacco products, expose users to cancer-causing chemicals and should be strictly regulated. Follow Emirates 24|7 on Google News.
Yahoo
24-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Global aid cuts will kill many – but it could be good for Africa in the long run, says WHO chief
The unprecedented cuts to international aid led by Donald Trump will cause many deaths but could be good for Africa in the long term, the Director General of World Health Organization has said. Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told The Telegraph that cuts are being seen by many developing countries as an 'opportunity' to break the cycle of aid dependency in the developing world. However, he cautioned they had created a serious immediate crisis – one which charities like Oxfam say will cause millions of additional deaths each year. Speaking exclusively to The Telegraph as the 78th World Health Assembly in Geneva drew to a close on Friday, Dr Tedros said the WHO and its member states were facing a 'storm' but would weather it and emerge stronger. He added that although the US had announced it was leaving the WHO, the door remained open for it to rejoin and that informal communications were continuing with the US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. 'We keep in touch with RFK junior. We do things together. It's informal, not public. He just texted me even this morning [Friday] at 00.42,' said Dr Tedros. The US and others, including the UK and France, announced deep cuts to international aid spending in January, causing deaths, medicine and equipment shortages and thousands of clinic closures and lay-offs across the developing world. Altogether about $50 billion in aid is expected to vanish from the global system over the next two years, sparking an urgent scramble to restructure health systems globally. According to Oxfam America, the US cuts alone could result in 23 million children losing access to education, and as many as 95 million people losing access to basic healthcare, potentially leading to more than 3 million preventable deaths per year. Programmes for the three biggest global killers – tuberculosis, HIV/Aids and malaria – are all currently heavily reliant on international aid and are especially vulnerable, say experts. Dr Tedros said the US cuts had sparked a 'serious crisis' and that he wished the US had given developing countries 'six months or one year to transit into other sources instead of pulling the plug'. Nevertheless, the US had 'every right to spend its money in the way it wants' and the cuts were being seen by member states as an opportunity to break away from a 'dependency mentality' and stand on their own feet, he added. 'To be honest, as an African, I am really embarrassed to see this,' said Dr Tedros of the crisis sparked by the aid cuts. 'It's embarrassing because it reveals a reliance, a dependency.' But he said he was encouraged by how many affected countries were reacting, shifting away from a 'mindset of aid dependency' and focusing on domestic solutions. 'So many countries have now moved into mobilising domestic resources. So there is a paradigm here and it's shifting; shifting to a belief that, 'okay, this is our problem to solve. We need to move into self reliance. We cannot be dependent on others'.' The mood among African and Asian delegations at the annual gathering of world health leaders was remarkably upbeat given the circumstances. There was a sense that, with the US exiting, an inflection point had been passed. The long-debated Pandemic Agreement was passed without a single vote against, a significant boost for multilateralism even if the new treaty is thin on specifics. There were also big delegations from China, South East Asia and the Middle East present, suggesting there were new deals to be done. Meanwhile, more countries are introducing taxes on alcohol, tobacco and sugar in a bid to bridge the funding gap, while others are looking at the introduction of universal health insurance systems for the first time. The crackdown on junk foods, tobacco and booze has been given licence – not just by WHO recommendations – but by the US Health Secretary's call for a focus on the 'industrialised' food sector and the need to cut obesity and other chronic diseases. 'We're seeking to reduce consumption of ultra processed foods, and we're going to support lifestyle changes that will bolster the immune systems and transform the health of our people', he told WHO delegates in a video message posted on X, formerly Twitter, on Thursday. Dr Tedros said the WHO itself had 'foreseen' the risk of one of its major funders pulling out in 2017 and had put in place mechanisms to broaden its funding base so it would remain both solvent and independent in the event of a such a crisis. These included an agreed 50 per cent increased core contributions from all 194 member states by 2030/31 and the establishment of the WHO Foundation, which is able to receive private donations, and has raised around $100 million since its launch in 2020. Just this week China, which had a record delegation of more than 120 diplomats at this year's WHA, pledged to give $500 million to the WHO over the next five years – a sum which will help make up for, but far from replace, the total funding withdrawn by the US. Overall the WHO, is still facing a shortfall in annual funding from 2024 levels of about $450m. Dr Tedros said the WHO's central bureaucracy in Geneva would bear most of the cuts as a result of the shortfall and that most regional offices would be maintained but trimmed. The organisation would refocus on its 'core mandate' of promoting health and helping to manage emergencies by setting standards and convincing global expertise, he said. The WHO would become a 'lean and mean' organisation which was able to do 'more and better' for less. 'What we're doing is we're reducing our size. We have to focus on our core mandate and we're starting to shrink from the top', said Dr Tedros, who recently cut his executive team in half from 14 to seven. 'At the end of the day we will be smaller but more focused. We will be sharper and more empowered and independent. That's the opportunity.' Dr Tedros said the door would always be open to the US rejoining the WHO and that he hoped it would reconsider its position. He said he also hoped it would honour the estimated $350 million in arrears it owes the WHO but conceded that did not look likely as things stand. But ultimately the question of the US rejoining was not about money, said Dr Tedros. On that front the WHO was already 'shaping up and moving forward'. 'It's about safety. If they're out, then they will not be safe. And I'm sure the rest of the world will not be safe,' he said. 'So the money doesn't come first. When I ask them to reconsider, it's about the other things. Being part of the family, about cooperation and partnership, about the expertise we get from the US, and also their leadership.' Yet relations between the Trump administration and the WHO remain tense and a reversal of the US position seems unlikely. In his recent video message, RFK Jr described the WHO as a 'legacy' organisation 'mired in bureaucratic bloat, entrenched paradigms, conflicts of interest and international power politics.' The falling out dates back to President Trump's first term in office when he accused China – without evidence – of starting the Covid-19 pandemic through a lab leak. He then made certain unspecified demands of the WHO which Dr Tedros said were not possible to meet without sacrificing the organisation's independence. 'Our independence is the most important thing of all,' said Dr Tedros. 'The Director General should decide, without fear of any repercussion… I cannot give away the value of the organisation, even if it's for money. No way. So I said 'no'. I knew [then] the repercussion.' The situation, said Dr Tedros, is made more bizarre as the official positions of the US and the WHO on the origins of Sars-Cov-2 are the same: both are undecided and say it could have come from nature or a lab leak. He said this point was made together with others at a recent meeting with representatives of the Heritage Foundation, a US think tank closely aligned with the US administration, but that the established facts were rejected. 'What they have is contrary to what the truth is', said Dr Tedros. 'It's very difficult even to discuss with them, because it's not rational'. Protect yourself and your family by learning more about Global Health Security Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. 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