World Health Organization

In Africa, stigma surrounding coronavirus hinders response

3:15 pm August 2, 2020

Kampala: After 23 days in quarantine in Uganda — far longer than required — Jimmy Spire Ssentongo walked free in part because of a cartoon he drew. It showed a bound prisoner begging for liberation after multiple negative tests, while a health minister demanded to know where he was hiding the virus. “The impression was that we were a […]

Biden shores up fragile 'blue wall' in industrial north

Biden eyes major foreign policy shifts if he wins

11:43 pm August 1, 2020

Washington: Should former Vice President Joe Biden win the White House in November, America will likely be in for a foreign policy about-face as Biden reverses, dismantles or severely curtails many of President Donald Trump’s most significant and boldest actions. From the Middle East to Asia, Latin America to Africa and, particularly, Europe, and on issues including trade, terrorism, arms control and immigration, the presumptive Democratic nominee and his […]

WHO report on Wuhan virus mission expected soon

WHO chief upbraids Pompeo over ‘unacceptable’ allegations

11:40 pm July 23, 2020

Geneva: The director-general of the World Health Organization has upbraided US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for making “untrue and unacceptable” allegations, responding to media reports saying Pompeo had claimed the health agency chief was “bought” by China. Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus insisted WHO was focusing on “saving lives” as he lashed out Thursday at the comments that British media said Pompeo had […]

64% children in childcare institutions sent home: UNICEF

UN warns COVID-19 has threatened child vaccination programmes

11:37 pm July 15, 2020

Dakar: The United Nations warned Wednesday about an alarming decline in childhood vaccinations because of the COVID-19 pandemic, saying that the likelihood a child born today will have all recommended vaccines by the age of 5 is less than 20 percent. Most of the 82 countries surveyed in May reported vaccination campaigns being disrupted because of coronavirus, […]

Germany laments US exit from WHO, says EU seeks to reform it

11:29 pm July 8, 2020

Geneva: Germany’s health minister on Wednesday lamented the formal US notification of its withdrawal from the World Health Organization as a “setback for international cooperation” and said Europe would work to reform the UN health agency. The comments from German Health Minister Jens Spahn epitomized concerns in Europe over the WHO’s largest contributor preparing to pull out following the Trump administration’s complaints that the agency […]