NEWS
Recent news from WHO
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In Almaty, Kazakhstan, on 14 October, WHO launched The world health report 2008 calling for a return to a primary health care approach. Primary health care: now more than ever marks the 30th anniversary of the International Conference on Primary Health Care held in Alma-Ata in 1978. Read the report here: http://www.who.int/whr/2008/en/index.html
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WHO said, on 10 October, that it is working with experts in South Africa and Zambia to investigate a new disease that has killed at least three people.
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A new WHO programme launched on 9 October aims to address the lack of treatment and care for 75% of people suffering from mental disorders in developing countries.
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At a meeting in Madrid, Spain, from 6 to 8 October, WHO agreed with over 80 top researchers on a research agenda to develop an evidence-based framework for action in response to implications of climate change for human health.
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WHO and the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization called on countries, on 26 September, to look out for melamine-contaminated dairy products to avoid their spread after thousands of infants became ill after consuming such products in China.
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There is no evidence to back claims that the electronic cigarette is a proven safe nicotine replacement therapy, WHO said on 19 September. Users puff on this steel device as if using a real cigarette, to produce a fine mist instead of smoke that is absorbed into the lungs.
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On 26 September, WHO called for greater efforts to control dengue in the Asia Pacific Region. WHO also warned that the Aedes aegypti mosquito, the principal vector, is expanding to new geographical areas that were previously unaffected and that more collaborative activities are needed to address dengue.
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WHO supplied Kyrgyzstan with emergency health kits following an earthquake on 5 October. Each kit provides enough medicines, disposables and instruments to support the emergency health needs of 10 000 people during a three-month period.
For more about these and other WHO news items please see: http://www.who.int/mediacentre