By Joke Kujenya MORE THAN one billion people are currently living with mental health disorders, according to new data released by the World Health Organization (WHO). The findings, published in two new reports by World Mental Health Today and the Mental Health Atlas 2024 reveal that conditions such as anxiety and depression continue to impose...
By Jemimah Wellington, JKNewsMedia Correspondent UPDATED EDITIONS of the World Health Organisation (WHO)’s Model Lists of Essential Medicines (EML) and Essential Medicines for Children (EMLc) now feature new treatments for several cancers, diabetes with comorbidities such as obesity, as well as medicines for cystic fibrosis, psoriasis, haemop...
By Joke Kujenya HEALTH MINISTERS from across Africa have converged on Lusaka for the 75th Session of the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Committee for Africa, where the continent’s fragile health systems face a convergence of challenges threatening their foundations. The three-day session, which runs from 25 to 27 August, is hosted b...
By Ajibola Olaide, JKNewsMedia Reporter EFFORTS HAVE been intensified by African countries one year since the World Health Organization (WHO) declared mpox a Public Health Emergency of International Concern, recording measurable progress in curbing the spread of the virus. Coordinated action between governments, WHO, the Africa Centre for Dise...
THE NIGERIA Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) has urged State Governments to strengthen year-round community engagement to curb the spread of Lassa fever. In its latest situation report for epidemiological week 31, the agency confirmed nine new cases in Ondo, Edo and Taraba, up from three reported the previous week. This, the NC...
By Jemimah Wellington, JKNewsMedia Correspondent IMMEDIATE ACTION to raise Nigeria’s excise tax on tobacco products to 100 percent could save thousands of lives and recover at least N526billion annually from healthcare costs and productivity losses, the Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA) has said. In a statement ...
By Joke Kujenya A CONTINENT-wide study has uncovered alarming rates of drug resistance in common infections across 14 African countries, exposing critical weaknesses in laboratory capacity, data systems, and health infrastructure. Researchers analysed over 187,000 lab results collected between 2016 and 2019 from 205 laboratories in countries ...
Illness in Nigeria is no longer driven solely by poverty or lack of access to healthcare. Increasingly, it stems from what people eat. Processed foods high in salt, sugar, and saturated fats, poorly labelled and aggressively marketed, are fuelling a sharp rise in non-communicable diseases (NCDs), including hypertension, stroke, and cardiovascu...
By Jemimah Wellington, JKNewsMedia Correspondent TOBACCO-LINKED diseases have killed over 8 million people each year, yet billions in public funds continue to flow into mitigating the damage caused by one of the world’s most harmful industries, the Make Big Tobacco Pay (MBTCP) coalition has said. Governments worldwide, the MBTCP notes, includ...
By Joke Kujenya NEARLY ONE million deaths worldwide are now tied to loneliness, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO), which has raised alarm over the escalating health toll of social isolation. One in six people worldwide is affected, as loneliness and social isolation drive up the risk of strokes, heart attacks, diabetes, depress...
