The World Health Organization has declared that the outbreak of Zika and congenital malformations and neurological disorders in newborns believed to be connected to the virus is a global public health emergency. Since the current outbreak began in Brazil in May 2015, nearly 1.5 million people are reported to have been affected. As of January … Continue reading Editorial: Gearing up for the Zika threat
Margaret Chan
Zika: ‘I think WHO should declare an emergency’
The World Health Organization faced flak for its delay by two months in 2014 in declaring the Ebola epidemic as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC). This might not happen in the case of Zika virus when the WHO convenes an emergency committee on Monday (February 1) to help determine the level of the … Continue reading Zika: ‘I think WHO should declare an emergency’
Keeping girls in school cuts child, maternal mortality
“Educate them [girls] and empower them and keep them in school as long as you can and those women are the best agents of change. No question about it,” said Margaret Chan, Director-General of WHO answering a question on how to reduce teenage pregnancy at a recently concluded Partners’ Forum conference in Johannesburg. Despite … Continue reading Keeping girls in school cuts child, maternal mortality
Editorial: Necessary but not good enough
Published in The Hindu on October 3, 2011 A political declaration adopted recently by more than 30 world leaders and 100 senior Ministers at the United Nations General Assembly is a welcome first step in tackling four non-communicable diseases (NCDs) — cardiovascular diseases, cancers, chronic respiratory diseases, and diabetes. The declaration calls on all governments … Continue reading Editorial: Necessary but not good enough
Editorial: WHO and conflicts of interest
Published in The Hindu on June 14, 2010 A year after the World Health Organisation declared an Influenza A(H1N1) pandemic, a joint investigation by the British Medical Journal (BMJ) and the Bureau of Investigative Journalism has raised “troubling questions about how WHO managed conflicts of interest among the scientists who advised its pandemic planning, and … Continue reading Editorial: WHO and conflicts of interest
Science Chronicle 