WHO - NEWS AGENCY OF NIGERIA

WHO warns of tobacco industry interference, urges stronger controls

Lydia Beshel
Jun, Tue, 2025

Health

WHO warns of tobacco industry interference, urges stronger controls

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Tobacco
By Franca Ofili
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned that urgent action is needed to maintain and accelerate progress in tobacco control as rising tobacco industry interference threatens global efforts to reduce tobacco use.

In a statement released on Monday, WHO highlighted its 2025 Global Tobacco Epidemic report, unveiled at the World Conference on Tobacco Control in Dublin.

The report focused on six proven WHO MPOWER measures designed to curb tobacco use, which caused more than seven million deaths annually.

The MPOWER measures included monitoring tobacco use, protecting people from smoke through smoke-free laws, offering help to quit, warning about tobacco dangers via labels and media, enforcing advertising bans, and raising tobacco taxes.

Since 2007, 155 countries had implemented at least one MPOWER measure at the best-practice level, protecting more than 6.1 billion people worldwide, up from just one billion in 2007.

”Only four countries, Brazil, Mauritius, the Netherlands, and Türkiye, have fully implemented all six measures.

“Seven others, including Ethiopia, Ireland, and Mexico, are close to full implementation.

“However, WHO notes significant gaps remain: 40 countries have no best-practice MPOWER measures, and more than 30 countries still permit cigarette sales without mandatory health warnings.”

WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus said that while successes had been made since the 2003 Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, the evolving tobacco industry required equally evolving responses.

“By uniting science, policy, and political will, we can create a world where tobacco no longer claims lives, damages economies, or steals futures,” he said.

The report, supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies and launched during the 2025 Bloomberg Philanthropies Awards for Global Tobacco Control, also celebrated governments and NGOs making progress in tobacco reduction.

Michael Bloomberg, founder of Bloomberg LP and WHO Global Ambassador for Noncommunicable Diseases, said significant progress had been made, especially in graphic health warnings.

“110 countries now require them, up from just nine in 2007, protecting 62 per cent of the global population.

“However, enforcement remains inconsistent, and smokeless tobacco packaging is poorly regulated,” he noted.

Bloomberg also highlighted persistent challenges: only 36 per cent of the global population lived in countries with best-practice anti-tobacco campaigns.

“Taxation efforts are lagging, with only three countries raising taxes to best-practice levels since 2022, and only 33 per cent of people have access to cost-covered quit services.

“Around 1.3 million deaths from second-hand smoke occur annually. Currently, 79 countries have implemented comprehensive smoke-free laws, covering a third of the world’s population.

“Since 2022, six additional countries have adopted strong smoke-free laws in spite of industry opposition.

“Regulation of e-cigarettes and electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) is increasing, with the number of countries regulating or banning ENDS rising from 122 in 2022 to 133 in 2024.

“Still, more than 60 countries lack any ENDS regulations.”(NAN)(www.nannews.ng)

Edited by Abiemwense Moru

WHO declares Mpox public health emergency concern

Lydia Beshel
Jun, Tue, 2025

Defence/Security

WHO declares Mpox public health emergency concern

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mpox

By Franca Ofili

The World Health Organisation (WHO), says the Mpox upsurge has continued to meet the criteria of a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) set forth in the International Health Regulations (IHR).

Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General said this in a statement.

Ghebreyesus said the announcement followed the fourth meeting of the IHR emergency committee regarding the upsurge of mpox, held on June 5.

According to him, the committee, recognising progress in the capacity to respond in certain countries, advised the WHO boss that the event continues to constitute a PHEIC.

He said that it was based on the continuing rise in number of cases, including a recent increase in West Africa, and likely ongoing undetected transmission in some countries beyond the African continent

“Ongoing operational challenges in responding to the event, including concerning surveillance and diagnostics, as well as a lack of funding, make prioritising response interventions challenging and require continued international support,” he said.

Ghebreyesus concurred with the committee’s advice and issued the committee’s revised temporary recommendations to Member States experiencing mpox outbreaks.

He said the recommendations will guide countries’ efforts to prevent and control spread of the disease.

According to him, the full report of the fourth meeting will be issued in the third week of June.

“The upsurge of mpox in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and its spread to neighbouring countries was first determined to be PHEIC by Ghebreyesus on Aug. 14, 2024.

“Since then, the committee has met on three additional occasions, each time, advising the director general that the event continues to constitute a PHEIC,” he said. (NAN) (www.nannews.ng)

Edited by Chioma Ugboma

WHO decries 33-year life expectancy gap between rich, poor countries

Ismail Abdulaziz
May, Tue, 2025

General News

WHO decries 33-year life expectancy gap between rich, poor countries

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By Tiamiyu Arobani

The World Health Organization (WHO) says on Tuesday that more than 30-year difference in life expectancy between the richest and the poorest countries highlights global health inequities.

The global health body stated this in its ‘World Report on Social Determinants of Health Equity’ launched on Tuesday by its Director-General, Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus.

The report revealed that where one was born could be the difference between living over three decades longer than someone else from a poorer country lacking safe housing, good educational opportunities and access to decent jobs.

According to the report, people in the country with the highest life expectancy will, on average, live for 33 years more than those born in the country with the lowest life expectancy.

It further revealed that lack of safe housing, good educational opportunities and access to decent jobs could be responsible for a reduction in life expectancy in both rich and poor countries alike.

“Our world is an unequal one. Where we are born, grow, live, work and age significantly influences our health and well-being,” said Ghebreyesus.

The report found that inequities in health were closely linked to degrees of social disadvantage and levels of discrimination.

“Health follows a social gradient whereby the more deprived the area in which people live, the lower their incomes are,” the UN global health agency said.

It stated that inequities’ were exacerbated in populations that face discrimination and marginalisation, such as Indigenous Peoples, who had lower life expectancies than their non-Indigenous counterparts.

According to the report, this is the case in both high and low-income countries.

The study was the first to be published since 2008 when the WHO Commission on Social Determinants of Health released its final report.

The report laid out targets for 2040 for reducing gaps between and within countries in life expectancy, childhood and maternal mortality.

It showed that these targets were likely to be missed and in spite of a scarcity of data, there was sufficient evidence to show that health inequities were often widening.

“For example, children born in poorer countries are 13 times more likely to die before their fifth birthday than in wealthier countries.

“Moreover, modelling shows that the lives of nearly two million children annually could be saved by closing the gap and enhancing equity between the poorest and wealthiest sectors of the population within low- and-middle-income countries.”

Additionally, while maternal mortality declined by 40 per cent between the years 2000 and 2023, the majority of deaths, 94 per cent, still occurred in low and lower-middle-income countries.

WHO called for collective action to address economic inequality and invest in social infrastructure and universal public services.

The agency also recommended other steps, including overcoming structural discrimination and the determinants and impacts of conflicts, emergencies and forced migration. (NAN)

Edited by Ismail Abdulaziz

WHO: 25 countries to add malaria vaccines to immunisation by 2025

Lydia Beshel
Mar, Tue, 2025

Health

WHO: 25 countries to add malaria vaccines to immunisation by 2025

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Malaria

By Franca Ofili

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has announced that up to 25 countries are expected to include malaria vaccines in their childhood immunisation programmes by the end of 2025.

Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus, the WHO’s Director-General, shared this update on Monday during an online media conference focused on global health issues.

He emphasised that these vaccines could save tens of thousands of young lives annually.

However, Ghebreyesus also raised concerns over the risks posed by recent cuts to U.S. funding for global health initiatives.

“Many of the gains in malaria that have been made over the past 20 years are now at risk due to these funding cuts,” he said.

While he refrained from commenting on the U.S. withdrawal from WHO, Ghebreyesus clarified that the cuts he referred to were those affecting direct U.S. funding.

According to him, this includes funding through agencies such as USAID and the U.S. Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Ghebreyesus warned that the impact of these cuts was already being felt, with severe disruptions in the supply of malaria diagnostics, medicines, and insecticide-treated bed nets due to stockouts and delayed deliveries.

“The U.S. has been the largest bilateral donor to the fight against malaria for the past two decades, helping to prevent an estimated 2.2 billion cases and 12.7 million deaths.”

If disruptions continue, he predicted an additional 15 million cases of malaria and 107,000 deaths this year alone, potentially reversing 15 years of progress.

A similar situation is unfolding with HIV, where the suspension of most funding to the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) has halted services for HIV treatment, testing, and prevention in more than 50 countries.

Ghebreyesus noted that eight countries were facing severe disruptions to antiretroviral therapy, with some likely to run out of medicine in the coming months.

He said this could lead to more than 10 million additional cases of HIV and three million HIV-related deaths.

The WHO Director-General also highlighted the impact on tuberculosis (TB) programmes, with 27 countries in Africa and Asia facing significant disruptions.

“These include shortages of healthcare workers, diagnostic tools, and collapsing data systems.

“Nine countries have already reported problems with the procurement and supply chains for TB drugs, threatening the lives of affected individuals.

”Over the past two decades, U.S. support for TB services has saved nearly 80 million lives, but this progress is now at risk.

”Additionally, the WHO’s Global Measles and Rubella Network, funded solely by the U.S., faces an imminent shutdown, just as measles outbreaks are increasing globally.

”In 2024, 57 large or disruptive measles outbreaks were reported, continuing a trend from the previous three years,” he said.

Ghebreyesus warned that these cuts were also affecting efforts to eradicate polio, monitor emerging diseases like avian influenza, and respond to disease outbreaks and humanitarian crises.

”Nearly 24 million people living in such crises are at risk of losing access to essential health services.”

Ghebreyesus stressed that other donors must step up, and countries that have relied on U.S. funding must also increase their domestic health spending to maintain progress in disease control and health services.(NAN)

Edited by Abiemwense Moru

Lydia Beshel
Feb, Tue, 2025

Foreign , Health

WHO says breast cancer cases projected to rise by 38% by 2050

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Cancer

By Cecilia Ologunagba

World Health Organisation (WHO) says in a new report that breast cancer cases are expected to increase by 38 per cent globally by 2050.

The findings from a report from the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), a specialised branch of WHO, also projected annual deaths from the disease to rise by 68 per cent.

It warned that if the current trend was not checked, the cases would continue to rise.

The findings were published in Nature Medicine on Monday.

They warn further that if current trends continued, the world will see 3.2 million new breast cancer cases and 1.1 million related deaths each year by mid-century.

“The burden will be disproportionately felt in low- and middle-income countries, where access to early detection, treatment and care remains limited,” the findings indicate.

“Every minute, four women are diagnosed with breast cancer worldwide and one woman dies from the disease, and these statistics are worsening,” the report, quoted Dr. Joanne Kim, an IARC scientist and co-author of the report, as saying.

“Countries can mitigate or reverse these trends by adopting primary prevention policies, such as WHO’s recommended ‘best buys’ for non-communicable disease prevention, and by investing in early detection and treatment,” she added.

Kim noted that breast cancer remained the most common cancer among women worldwide and the second most common cancer overall.

In 2022 alone, an estimated 2.3 million new cases were diagnosed, with 670,000 deaths reported.

However, the report highlights significant disparities across regions.

The highest incidence rates were recorded in Australia, New Zealand, North America and Northern Europe, while the lowest rates were found in South-Central Asia and parts of Africa.

Meanwhile, the highest mortality rates were reported in Melanesia, Polynesia and Western Africa, where limited access to healthcare contributes to poorer outcomes.

The link between breast cancer survival and economic development is stark.

In high-income countries, 83 per cent of diagnosed women survive, whereas in low-income countries, more than half of women diagnosed with breast cancer die from it.

WHO launched the Global Breast Cancer Initiative in 2021, aiming to reduce breast cancer mortality rates by 2.5 per cent per year, which can prevent 2.5 million deaths by 2040.

The initiative focuses on early detection, timely diagnosis and access to quality treatment.

Dr. Isabelle Soerjomataram, Deputy Head of IARC’s Cancer Surveillance Branch, emphasised the need for high-quality cancer data to drive better policies in lower-income regions.

“Continued progress in early diagnosis and improved access to treatment are essential.

“These will help to address the global gap in breast cancer and ensure that the goal of reducing suffering and death from breast cancer is achieved by all countries worldwide,” she said.

The report underscores the importance of stronger health systems, increased funding for breast cancer screening and treatment and the adoption of cost-effective prevention policies.

With the projected rise in cases and deaths, the international community faces an urgent challenge.

This is the one that requires coordinated action to ensure millions of lives are not lost to a disease that is increasingly preventable and treatable.(NAN)
(Edited by Olawale Alabi)