New Delhi, India -- The World Health Organization opens a major conference on traditional medicine on Wednesday, arguing that new technologies, including artificial intelligence, can bring scientific scrutiny to centuries-old healing practices. The meeting in New Delhi will examine how governments can regulate traditional medicine while using emerging scientific tools...
Trump issues stark warning to Israel over annexing West Bank as Rubio begins visit
"It won't happen," Trump said when asked about calls in Israel to annex the Palestinian West Bank which has been occupied by Israel since 1967. "It won't happen because I gave my word to the Arab countries."Gaza hospital says 21 children dead from malnutrition and starvation
Gaza's population of more than two million people is facing severe shortages of food and other essentials, with residents frequently killed by Israeli forces as they try to collect humanitarian aid at a handful of distribution points.WHO says Gaza facilities attacked as Israel expands operations, calls for ceasefire
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the Israeli military had entered the UN agency's staff residence, forced women and children to evacuate on foot, and handcuffed, stripped and interrogated male staff at gunpoint.WHO delivers its first medical aid to Gaza since March 2
The shipment of supplies, plasma and blood will be distributed among hospitals in the Palestinian territory in the coming days, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.
Gaza’s Al-Amal hospital ‘virtually out of service’: WHO
The Al-Amal Hospital in Gaza, one of the few still operating in the Palestinian territory, is now "virtually out of service" due to intense military activity, the head of the WHO said Monday.WHO adopts landmark pandemic agreement after over 3 years of negotiations
Geneva, Switzerland - The World Health Organization's member states on Tuesday adopted a landmark Pandemic Agreement on tackling future health crises, after more than three years of negotiations sparked by the shock of Covid-19. The accord aims to prevent the disjointed responses and international disarray that surrounded the Covid-19 pandemic...Israel will ‘take control of all’ of Gaza, says Netanyahu as WHO warns of famine risk
After more than two months of a total blockade, the World Health Organization issued a stark warning on the humanitarian crisis in the besieged Gaza Strip, saying "two million people are starving".How much blood is enough to satisfy ‘political objectives’: WHO on Gaza
"We are breaking the bodies and the minds of the children of Gaza. We are starving the children of Gaza, because if we don't do something about it we are complicit in what is happening," WHO emergencies director Mike Ryan told reporters in Geneva.
US aid cuts strain response to health crises worldwide: WHO
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia -- The United States slashing foreign aid risks piling pressure on already acute humanitarian crises across the globe, a World Health Organization official said Sunday, also warning against withdrawing from the UN agency. Since taking office in January, President Donald Trump has effectively frozen foreign aid funding,...
WHO countries strike landmark agreement on tackling future pandemics
Geneva, Switzerland -- Years of negotiations culminated early Wednesday with countries agreeing the text of a landmark accord on how to tackle future pandemics, aimed at avoiding the mistakes made during the Covid-19 crisis. After more than three years of talks and one last marathon session, weary delegates at the...Accord reached ‘in principle’ over tackling future pandemics: negotiating body
WHO members on Saturday reached agreement over how to tackle future pandemics after three years of discussions, the co-chair of the negotiating body told AFP.Israeli forces killed 45,553 Palestinians since Oct 2023: Health ministry
Gaza, Palestinian Territories -- The Israeli forces have killed at least 45,553 Palestinian civilians and injured at least 108,379 others, most of them children, since the beginning of their onslaught on the occupied territory in Oct 2023. The Palestinian Ministry of Health said today that the Israeli forces committed two...Israeli raid puts last major Gaza health facility out of service: WHO
The World Health Organization said the operation had put the "last major health facility in north Gaza out of service". "Initial reports indicate that some key departments were severely burnt and destroyed during the raid," it added in a statement on X.Israel agrees ‘humanitarian pauses’ in Gaza to allow polio vaccinations
"The way we discussed and agreed, the campaign will start on the first of September, in central Gaza, for three days, and there will be a humanitarian pause during the vaccination," said Rik Peeperkorn, the agency's representative for Palestinian territories.Israeli strikes kill 5 Gaza municipal workers as fears grow of wider war
Palestinian Territories -- Israel bombed Gaza on Friday as exchanges of fire and threats over the Lebanon border raised fears of a wider war. Five municipal workers died "during an Israeli bombing" of a garage in Gaza City, said Mahmud Basal, spokesman for the civil defense agency in the territory. In...Gaza mothers search for milk as malnutrition hits amid Israeli siege on aid
Deir El-Balah, Palestinian Territories -- Amira al-Taweel scoured pharmacies in northern Gaza for milk to feed her child but could not find a single bottle to satisfy his hunger. "Youssef needs treatment and milk, but there' none available in Gaza," the 33-year-old mother told AFP at Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital in central...Medic says Gaza hospital under Israeli siege for fifth day
Soldiers are present in the hospital's courtyard and in nearby houses," said hospital's acting director, Dr Mohammad Saleh, adding that there was "continuous gunfire and shelling" towards it. Troops stormed the hospital building on Wednesday evening, he said.
South Gaza hospitals have only three days’ fuel left: WHO
Despite international objections, Israel sent tanks into the overcrowded southern city of Rafah on Tuesday and seized the nearby crossing into Egypt that is the main conduit for aid into the besieged Palestinian territory.Deadly chaos at Gaza aid distribution as WHO renews hospital warning
UN agencies have warned repeatedly that northern Gaza is on the verge of famine and called it a man-made crisis because aid lorries are backed up on the Egypt-Gaza border awaiting long checks by Israeli officials. Israel has denied responsibility.WHO says 9,000 patients need emergency evacuation from Gaza
"Around 9,000 patients urgently need to be evacuated abroad for lifesaving health services, including treatment for cancer, injuries from bombardments, kidney dialysis and other chronic conditions," WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus wrote on X. It is is up from 8,000 in the WHO's previous assessment at the beginning of...Syria strikes kill 17 including Iran Guard, WHO worker
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor, an Iranian Revolutionary Guards adviser, his two Iranian security escorts, and four Syrian and nine Iraqi fighters with pro-Iran groups were killed in strikes on a villa in Deir Ezzor city and on the town of Albu Kamal on the Iraqi...
Middle East poised to lead global crypto surge as Bitcoin eyes $100,000
Geneva, Switzerland - A major new study released by The Lancet Neurology shows that, in 2021, more than 3 billion people worldwide were living with a neurological condition. The World Health Organization (WHO) contributed to the analysis of the Global Burden of Disease, Injuries, and Risk Factor Study (GBD) 2021 data. Neurological...Gaza a death zone, its humanitarian situation inhumane: WHO chief
"What type of world do we live in when people cannot get food and water, or where people who cannot even walk are not able to receive care? "What type of world do we live in when health workers are at risk of being bombed as they carry out their...UN agencies warn of ‘explosion’ in Gaza child deaths
Twenty weeks into Israel's war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, UN agencies warned that food and safe water had become "incredibly scarce" in the Palestinian territory, adding that virtually all young children had infectious illnesses. UN assessment indicated that more than 15 percent of children under the age of...Fear pervades West Bank hospital after deadly Israeli raid
Jenin, Palestinian Territories - A climate of fear pervades a hospital in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin, where patients and doctors are reeling from last month's deadly raid by Israeli agents disguised as medics. At the rehabilitation ward at Jenin's Ibn Sina hospital, two patients recalled hearing the screams...5 die in Israeli-raided hospital after oxygen cut: Gaza ministry
Palestinian Territories -- The health ministry in Gaza said five patients died Friday due to lack of oxygen at one of the war-torn Palestinian territory's few operating hospitals that had been raided by Israeli forces. "A fifth patient at Nasser hospital was martyred as a result of the stopping of...Israel sends troops into besieged Nasser hospital in Gaza’s Khan Yunis
The raid came after days of intense fighting between troops and Hamas around the Nasser hospital in Khan Yunis -- one of the largest medical sites in southern Gaza, and one of the few hospitals that are still operational in the territory. The health ministry in Gaza reported that thousands...Hamas head due in Cairo for truce discussions
As Qatari and Egyptian-led mediation efforts intensified, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was due in Cairo on Thursday to discuss a truce proposal thrashed out in Paris last weekend with CIA chief William Burns. Israel's withering air, land and sea offensive has killed at least 26,900 people in Gaza, most of...Efforts to pause Israel-Palestine war gain pace amid fierce fighting
Palestinian Territories - International efforts towards a new pause in the devastating Gaza war gathered pace Wednesday, as Israel bombarded the Palestinian territory during fierce fighting with Palestinian fighters. Hamas was reviewing a proposal for a six-week truce in its war with Israel, a source told AFP, after mediators gathered...
Saudi products declared free from artificial trans fats
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia - The World Health Organization (WHO) has recognized the Saudi Food and Drug Authority (SFDA) for its efforts in ensuring that food products in Saudi Arabia are free from industrially produced trans-fatty acids (ITFA) or artificial trans fats. This places Saudi Arabia among the top five countries...
WHO chief warns pandemic accord hangs in the balance
Shaken by the Covid-19 pandemic, the WHO's 194 member states decided more than two years ago to start negotiating an international accord aimed at ensuring countries are better equipped to deal with the next health catastrophe, or to prevent it altogether. The plan was to seal the agreement at the...Denial of Palestinian statehood ‘unacceptable’, says UN chief
In its final summit communique, the Non-Aligned Movement on Saturday "strongly condemned the illegal Israeli military aggression against the Gaza Strip", and called for "a lasting humanitarian ceasefire". The assembled leaders in Kampala also called for "the independence and sovereignty of the State of Palestine, with East Jerusalem as its...
Israel to allow flour shipments for Gaza through key port: US
Three UN agencies -- the World Food Program (WFP), UNICEF and the World Health Organization (WHO) -- pushed for the opening of Ashdod in a joint statement on Monday. The use of Ashdod, located some 25 miles (40 kilometers) north of the Gaza border, is "critically needed by aid agencies,"...WHO official terms Gaza hospitals in ‘rapid deterioration’
Emergency medical team coordinator Sean Casey said that during some five weeks he spent in Gaza, he saw hospital patients "every day with severe burns, with open fractures waiting hours or days" for treatment. "They would often ask me for food or water -- that demonstrates the level of desperation...WHO chief deplores ‘unconscionable’ strikes on Red Crescent in Gaza
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus reiterated his call for an immediate ceasefire, alongside urgent action to get food, medical supplies and water to Gazan civilians "forced to live in unspeakable conditions of hunger, disease spread, and lack of hygiene and sanitation". Tedros added that only a "fraction" of Gazans needing...
Israel bombs Gaza as UN warns civilians face ‘grave peril’
Ashraf al-Qudra, spokesman for the health ministry in Gaza, reported more than 200 deaths "including entire families" over the past 24 hours in strikes across the territory. An AFP correspondent reported heavy artillery strikes overnight particularly on Khan Yunis. The Israeli army has deployed an additional brigade to Khan Yunis,...WHO urges pandemic plans as ‘painful’ Covid ends
Geneva, Switzerland - The head of the WHO said on Tuesday the world needs to properly prepare for future pandemics after finally ending three years of Covid "crisis, pain and loss." In his end-of-year message, World Health Organization director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said 2023 had marked a turning point in fighting...WHO decries deadly strike on Gaza refugee camp
Rows of victims' bodies, shrouded in white bags, lined the ground at Al-Aqsa hospital in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza, ahead of a mass funeral. WHO has warned that only nine of Gaza's original 36 hospitals remain even partially functional. It has termed the situation as unacceptable, demanding a ceasefire.Acute hunger, healthcare collapse worsen Gaza crisis
The situation in Gaza is a humanitarian catastrophe, with hospitals like Al-Shifa and Al-Sahaba facing dire shortages of medical supplies and staff, and the population grappling with acute hunger and the threat of famine, adds the World Health Organization Director-General.Gaza toll 20,674 as Netanyahu vows to intensify fighting in coming days
The Gaza health ministry said an Israeli strike late Sunday killed at least 70 people in Al-Maghazi refugee camp, in the territory's center. Camp resident Zeyad Awad said Israel's army had sown "panic in the hearts of my children" and accused it of targeting civilians "indiscriminately, without mercy".Israel faces mounting outrage over Gaza war
The Israeli government has come under growing pressure from the international community to pause the fighting and do more to protect civilians. The United Nations estimates that 1.9 million Gazans -- around 80 percent -- have been displaced by the war.WHO denounces ‘destruction’ of Gaza hospital
All health care facilities in the Gaza Strip have been hit hard by the bombardments and ground invasion launched by Israel following Hamas's unprecedented attack October. Israel's retaliatory strikes on the crowded enclave have killed 18,800 people, of which three-fourths are children, according to the Hamas-run health services.Battles continue across Gaza as UN holds vote on ceasefire
Israeli forces maintained a relentless bombardment and ground invasion across Gaza two months after Hamas's deadly attack sparked a war that has decimated the Palestinian territory and triggered an extraordinary UN bid for a ceasefire. The fighting has left 17,487 people dead in Gaza, mostly women and children, said the...Climate change is the single biggest health threat facing humanity, says WHO
PARIS, FRANCE - Growing calls for the world to come to grips with the many ways that global warming affects human health have prompted the first day dedicated to the issue at crunch UN climate talks starting next week. Extreme heat, air pollution and the increasing spread of deadly infectious diseases...WHO expresses concern over fate of Gaza hospital chief
The WHO said the head of the biggest hospital in Gaza was arrested on Wednesday along with five other health workers, while they were taking part in a UN mission to evacuate patients. The Israeli forces detained three medical personnel from the Palestine Red Crescent Society and three from the...250,000 people died in Europe due to air pollution, says agency
Stockholm, Sweden - Fine particle pollution caused the deaths of over 250,000 people in the European Union in 2021, according to a report by the European Environment Agency (EEA) published on Friday. Fine particulate matter, or PM2.5, is a term for fine particulates that are typically the by-product of car exhausts...Iraqis haunted by war battle mental health issues
Ravaged by war and rocked by Islamic State group attacks, Iraq's demand for mental health professionals is great, but help is hard to come by. Baghdad's Al-Rashad psychiatric hospital receives patients suffering from serious psychological illnesses, such as schizophrenia, and offers outpatient treatment for depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder.WHO calls Gaza’s Al-Shifa hospital death zone
The UN health agency said that it led an assessment mission to the hospital and determined it was a "death zone", calling for a full evacuation. It said that the agency is developing plans for the immediate evacuation of the remaining patients, staff and their families, adding that 291 patients...UN appalled by Israeli military raid on Gaza’s Al Shifa hospital
UNICEF's executive director Catherine Russell, on a rare visit to the Palestinian territory by a top UN official, said she witnessed devastating scenes and urged Israel and Hamas to "stop this horror".Biden exhorts Israel to protect Gaza’s Al-Shifa hospital
Speaking to the reporters in the Oval Office, US president said he hoped and expected "that there will be less intrusive action relative to the hospital," adding that he was in touch with the Israelis on the matter. According to MSF, hundreds of people are stranded in the hospital complex...
