Latest news with #DrTedros
4 days ago
- General
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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BBC News
21-05-2025
- Health
- BBC News
Gaza health system 'stretched beyond breaking point', WHO warns
Intensified Israeli ground operations and new evacuation orders are stretching Gaza's health system beyond breaking point, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) has Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the Indonesian, Kamal Adwan and al-Awda hospitals in the northern towns of Beit Lahia and Jabalia were inside an evacuation zone announced on Tuesday. Another two hospitals are within 1km (0.6 miles) of Adwan was out of service due to hostilities nearby and the Indonesian hospital was inaccessible because of the presence of Israeli forces around it, he hospital is still functioning, but its director told the BBC on Wednesday that it was "totally under siege". "Nobody can move out and we can't receive any cases from outside the hospital," Dr Mohammed Salha added that there was a quadcopter drone "shooting in the surroundings of the hospital and the outdoor area of the hospital"."We also hear shooting from the tanks... maybe 400 or 500 metres [away]."Israel Defense Forces (IDF) told the BBC that it was "operating in the area against terror targets", but that it was "not aware of any siege on the hospital itself".Dr Tedros said: "Even if health facilities are not attacked or forced to evacuate, hostilities and military presence obstruct patients and staff from accessing care, and WHO from resupplying hospitals, which can quickly make them non-functional.""We've seen this too many times - it must not be allowed to happen again." Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) also said that at least 20 medical facilities across Gaza had been damaged, or forced partially or completely out of service, in the past week by Israeli ground operations, air strikes and evacuation charity demanded that Israeli authorities stop what it called the "deliberate asphyxiation of Gaza and the annihilation of its healthcare system".Israel imposed a total blockade on Gaza on 2 March and resumed its military offensive against Hamas two weeks later, ending a two-month ceasefire. It said it wanted to put pressure on Hamas to release its remaining 58 hostages, up to 23 of whom are believed to be several days of intense bombardment, the IDF launched an expanded offensive on Sunday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said would see ground forces "take control of all areas" of Gaza. The plan reportedly includes completely clearing the north of civilians and forcibly displacing them to the than 600 people have been killed and 2,000 injured across Gaza over the past week, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry. The UN says tens of thousands of people have been newly also said Israel would allow a "basic" amount of food into Gaza to prevent a famine. But the UN has so far been unable to collect the dozens of lorry loads of supplies allowed in since said the volume of aid allowed in so far was not nearly enough, describing it as "a smokescreen to pretend the siege is over". On Tuesday, the WHO's representative in the Palestinian territories said he had recently returned from Gaza and witnessed how the health system was facing attacks and acute shortages of supplies."Every time you get into Gaza you always think it cannot get worse. But it gets worse," Dr Rik Peeperkorn told reporters in described how al-Awda hospital was "overwhelmed with injuries" and running low on supplies. Hostilities had damaged the facility, disrupted access and deterred people from seeking healthcare, he said the Indonesian hospital was barely functioning, almost inaccessible, and that most patients had left last week after a staff member was killed, one patient was injured and the facility was damaged during intensified 15 people, including patients and staff, were still inside the hospital as of Tuesday, urgently in need of food and water, he hospital's generator was also struck by an Israeli quadcopter on Monday night, causing a large fire and a blackout, according to MER-C Indonesia, the NGO that built the Wednesday, a woman inside the hospital told the BBC by telephone that two of the patients were in a "serious condition".In the background of the call, crashes could be heard."Five minutes ago, there was intense shooting in the surroundings of the hospital," she said, adding that she could see woman also said that they still had supplies of food inside the hospital, but were "facing a water crisis".The IDF told the BBC it was operating in the area around the hospital and targeting "terrorist infrastructure sites", but that it was not targeting the hospital itself. In another incident on Tuesday, a paramedic said his ambulance was shot at by an Israeli drone while he was transporting staff and food between al-Awda and Kamal Adwan Sadeh said he was with another ambulance when bullets hit both vehicles' windshields. Nobody was Salha shared photos of the ambulances and confirmed that Mr Sadeh was unable to return to al-Awda because of the threat of Israeli BBC supplied details of the allegations and photos to the IDF, but it said it "could not confirm" the and medical personnel are specially protected under international humanitarian only lose that protection in certain circumstances. They include being used as a base from which to launch an attack, as a weapons depot, or to hide healthy IDF has insisted that its forces operate in accordance with international law. In most instances where it has attacked hospitals, it has said they were being used improperly by Hamas - an allegation the group has denied. In the southern city of Khan Younis, the European hospital - the only facility providing neurosurgery, cardiac care and cancer treatment in Gaza - has been out of service since 13 day, the hospital's courtyard and surrounding area was hit by a series of Israeli air strikes that Israel's defence minister said targeted an underground bunker where the head of Hamas's military wing, Mohammed Sinwar, was hiding. Gaza's Hamas-run Civil Defence agency said the attack killed at least 28 people, but it is not clear yet whether Sinwar facility has also been inside an Israeli-designated evacuation zone covering almost the entire eastern half of Khan Younis since Tedros said Nasser, al-Amal and al-Aqsa hospitals, as well as one field hospital, were within 1km of the zone. Dr Victoria Rose, a British surgeon working at Nasser hospital, said in a video posted on social media on Wednesday that she was very worried about the facility being evacuated or cut off by an Israeli troops advance from al-Aqsa, which in the central town of Deir al-Balah."If we get cut off from the Middle Area, there really are no other hospitals around us that could cope with the evacuation of Nasser," she explained."We have some amazing field hospitals... but none of them are capable of doing the type of surgery that we're doing here. And none of them have ICU capacity or generated oxygen. So, even all of them together couldn't cope with the amount of patients that we have."She warned: "If Nasser is evacuated, we really are looking at the imminent death of hundreds of patients because we won't be able to take them anywhere." Nasser was also hit by an Israeli strike on 13 May, killing two people including a Palestinian journalist who was being treated for injuries he sustained in a previous strike on a tented camp at the complex. The attack also destroyed 18 beds in a burns unit, according to the IDF accused the journalist of being a Hamas operative and alleged that the hospital was being used by the group to "carry out terrorist plots".Another strike on Monday severely damaged Nasser's medical warehouse and destroyed critical WHO supplies, according to the hospital's Shaath, a pharmacist from Khan Younis who has been told by the IDF to evacuate and head to camps in the coastal al-Mawasi area, told the BBC in a voice note: "I have not left my house until now because I haven't found any place to set up my tent.""The humanitarian situation is very serious - no water, no food, no fuel. The shelling is hitting everywhere," she launched a military campaign in Gaza in response Hamas's cross-border attack on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken least 53,655 people have been killed in Gaza since then, including 3,509 since the Israeli offensive resumed, according to the territory's health ministry.
Zawya
19-05-2025
- Health
- Zawya
Professor Mohamed Yakub Janabi of Tanzania nominated as next director of World Health Organization (WHO) African Region
Professor Mohamed Yakub Janabi was today nominated as the next Regional Director of the World Health Organization (WHO) African Region during a Special Session of the WHO Regional Committee for Africa held in Geneva ahead of the World Health Assembly. The Special Session by Member States of the WHO African Region to elect the next Regional Director was agreed upon and organized following the sudden and untimely death of Regional Director-elect, Dr Faustine Ndugulile in November 2024. Other candidates were Dr N'da Konan Michel Yao (proposed by Cote d'Ivoire), Dr Mohamed Lamine Dramé (proposed by Guinea), and Professor Moustafa Mijiyawa (proposed by Togo). Professor Janabi's nomination will be submitted for appointment by the 157th session of the WHO Executive Board, which takes place from 28 to 29 May 2025 in Geneva. The newly appointed Regional Director will take office thereafter for a five-year term and be eligible for reappointment once. In his acceptance remarks, Professor Janabi expressed commitment to advancing health of the people of the region. 'Thank you for your trust in me. I will not let you down. Your support underscores our collective resolve to build a healthier stronger and more united Africa,' said Professor Janabi. 'As we face challenges ranging from infectious diseases, noncommunicable diseases to climate change and limited health financing, we must harness African resilience and unity.' Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General, congratulated Dr Professor Janabi on his nomination as Regional Director for Africa and praised the other candidates on their campaigns. 'I offer my warm congratulations to Professor Janabi on his nomination as Regional Director for Africa, and also to the United Republic of Tanzania. I also thank Dr Yao, Dr Lamine and Professor Mijiyawa on their campaigns for this challenging but extremely important position,' said WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. 'Professor Janabi will take the reins at an unprecedented time for the African Region, and WHO as a whole. We are grateful for his experience and expertise as we work together to navigate the challenges we face, and position our Organization to be stronger, sharper and more effective in the future. I look forward to his appointment by the Executive Board, and to working with him for a healthier, safer, fairer Africa," said Dr Tedros. Dr Tedros also thanked Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu, Acting WHO Regional Director for Africa, for his service in steering the Regional Office during the transition period following the end of the term of former Regional Director Dr Matshidiso Moeti. Dr Ihekweazu congratulated Professor Janabi, wishing him success as he takes up the new role. 'Congratulations Professor Janabi on your election. This is a true reflection of the trust that Member States have placed in you. The African region has made important strides in health. But it also faces real and complex challenges. You can count on my support and that of all of WHO Africa as you take on this new role to serve our people,' said Dr Ihekweazu. Distributed by APO Group on behalf of WHO Regional Office for Africa.
