World Health Organization

Ebola vaccine provides high protection, trial confirms

Jean Francoi Tolno and Hawa Madi, part of Team Nine of the WHO Ebola vaccine trial staff at work in Katongourou, Guinea, studying documents at a desk outdoors where medicine is piled up.

23 December 2016 – An experimental Ebola vaccine was highly protective against the deadly virus in a major trial, according to results published today in The Lancet. The vaccine is the first to prevent infection from one of the most lethal known pathogens, and the findings add weight to early trial results published last year. The vaccine, called rVSV-ZEBOV, was studied in a trial involving 11 841 people in Guinea during 2015.

News release

2016
Dr Mahler
Syria
Nigeria

WHO's Year in Review for 2016

Collage of six photos: woman with lymphatic filariasis, child with yellow fever vaccination card, young boy with leprosy medication, a baby having her head measures due to microcephaly, a health worker receiving package in Syria, and a nurse smiling

WHO

19 December 2016 – 2016 has been a turbulent year, in which WHO has tackled disease outbreaks and humanitarian crises and championed efforts to combat antimicrobial resistance and move towards universal health coverage. It has helped countries eliminate infectious diseases and implement programmes to beat cancer, diabetes and other noncommunicable diseases.

Year in Review

Dr Halfdan T. Mahler, WHO’s third Director-General, dies at 93

WHO

15 December 2016 – WHO is saddened by the death of Dr Halfdan T. Mahler on 14 December 2016. Dr Mahler served as Director-General of WHO from 1973-1988. As WHO's third Director-General, Dr Mahler will be remembered as a champion for primary care. He played a key leadership role shaping the Alma Ata Declaration that defined the Health for All by the Year 2000.

Statement

WHO calls for urgent resumption of medical evacuations from besieged east Aleppo

Health worker looking through documentation as child waits for vaccination in Jibreen, outside of Aleppo, Syria

WHO

16 December 2016 – WHO is calling for medical evacuation of the sick and injured from east Aleppo to be resumed as quickly as possible. Almost 200 patients were safely transferred to hospitals in western rural Aleppo, Idlib and Turkey before all evacuations were aborted this morning, leaving many more in need of medical care stranded.

One third of health facilities are destroyed in Borno State, Nigeria

Personnel erecting sign for health clinic in Nigeria

WHO/B Mafio

14 December 2016 – According to a report released today by WHO, of those facilities remaining, one third are not functioning at all. WHO has been working with the Borno State Ministry of Health to set up a Health Resources Availability Monitoring System (known as HeRAMS) to collect information on the availability of health resources and services in this humanitarian crisis.

Outbreaks and emergencies

Emergencies » Haiti hurricane » Nigeria crisis » South Sudan crisis » Syrian Arab Republic » Zika virus and complications »

Election of Director-General

A close-up of the Director-General's seat in the WHO Executive Boardroom.

WHO/N. Bojgaard

The process to elect the next WHO Director-General is underway.

Highlights

Research shows higher risk of developing non-communicable diseases in Africa
December 2016 – According to a report released by WHO, impending threats can be predicted because most adults in Africa have at least one risk factor that increases their chances of developing a life-threatening non-communicable disease, including heart disease, cancer, type 2 diabetes and chronic obstructive lung disease.

Report on childhood immunization
December 2016 – The report addresses two overarching questions: What inequalities in childhood immunization coverage exist in low- and middle-income countries? And how have childhood immunization inequalities changed over the last 10 years?

UN General Assembly high-level meeting on tuberculosis to take place in 2018
December 2016 – WHO welcomes the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) Resolution, calling for the UNGA to hold the first-ever high-level meeting on the fight against tuberculosis in 2018. WHO has been asked to work with the UN Secretary-General, in consultation with Member States, to conceptualize and plan the 2018 high-level meeting.

Consultation on action to address adolescent health opens
December 2016 – WHO in collaboration with other UN agencies and in consultation with youth, Member States and major partners, has drafted global implementation guidance for Accelerated Action for the Health of Adolescents (AA-HA! guidance). Input is now requested from governments, civil society, the private sector, academia, youth groups and citizens until 15 January 2017.

What we do

Dr Chan, WHO Director-General, visits Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India, three of the four countries where indigenous transmission of wild poliovirus has not yet been interrupted.

WHO

WHO is the global guardian of public health.

Health emergencies programme

WHO Health Emergencies Programme delivers rapid, predictable, and comprehensive support to countries and communities as they prepare for, face or recover from emergencies caused by any type of hazard to human health, whether disease outbreaks, natural or man-made disasters or conflicts.

Zika virus and complications

After a spike in cases of microcephaly and Guillain-Barré syndrome associated with Zika virus, WHO declared a public health emergency.

Universal health coverage

Dr. Margaret Chan, Director-General of WHO, and Dr Gro Harlem Brundtland, Former Director-General of WHO and Deputy Chair of the Elders

"The evidence clearly shows that, with the right policies in place, greater public spending on health is associated with less dependence on out-of-pocket payments."