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Though it does occupy itself most of the time with concerns such as preparedness for flu pandemics, some of its other priorities reflect its members' political agendas. For example, a large chunk of money is devoted every year to tackling the "social and economic factors that determine people's opportunities for health," such as poverty, education and climate change -- all worthy issues that would nevertheless seem well beyond the scope of an organization that should primarily be concerned with infectious diseases.
It gets worse: Like their U.N. colleagues, WHO bureaucrats spend much unnecessary time writing papers on legally dubious notions such as the "Right to Health"; others are scheming to create an international bureaucracy that would regulate all drug research and development; still others get sidetracked by issues such as obesity and automotive safety. The WHO's 2008-13 strategic plan speaks of promoting "programmes that enhance health equity and integrate pro-poor, gender-responsive, and human rights-based approaches," whatever that means. The organization is not exempt from other aspects of U.N. politics, either: Taiwan's repeated attempts to join the WHO are always vetoed by China, for example, and U.N. officials (speaking of human-rights-based approaches) routinely refuse Taiwanese journalists permission to cover WHO events. When the next epidemic starts in Taipei, we'll be sorry. . . .
Now, just as we might really be on the brink of an emergency, it is worth reminding ourselves that if we want the WHO to be there when we need it, the organization must be constantly monitored and fully funded. U.N. member governments should make absolutely sure it stays focused: After all, only the WHO is equipped to carry out the international monitoring of the spread of a new infectious disease. Let's cross our fingers and hope that this time, it hasn't been distracted by something else.
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Half measures are not enough. We urge the government of Pakistan to impose a complete ban on tobacco advertising; to withdraw the Statutory Regulatory Order allowing creation of Designated Smoking Areas as a prelude to creation of 100 percent smoke-free environments and to raise tobacco taxation.
The acting representative of the World Health Organisation (WHO), Ahmad Shadoul, expressed these views while addressing participants of a 'Youth Hike for Tobacco Control' that started from Trail 3 and ended at Gokina on the Margallas here on Sunday.
The hike, which was organised by the Tobacco Control Cell of the Ministry of Health, in collaboration with the National Volunteer Movement of the Ministry of Youth Affairs and WHO, was aimed at sensitising young people about the fact that they are the primary target of the tobacco industry in Pakistan.
The hike also served to awaken the country's policy-makers from their deep slumber.
Governments around the world, including Hong Kong's, should consider raising tobacco taxes in an effort to curb smoking-related diseases such as lung cancer, according to a director of the World Health Organisation.
"Tobacco tax is controversial," the WHO's chronic diseases and health promotion director, Fiona Adshead, said. "But there is good evidence to show that the best way to reduce smoking is to raise taxes, so the cost of smoking becomes so high that people have to quit."
According to customs statistics, a tobacco tax of 80 cents per cigarette levied in Hong Kong, unchanged since 2001, makes Hong Kong cigarettes among the cheapest in the developed economies. Last year a total of 3.79 billion cigarettes were consumed, 8 per cent more than in 2007.
Dr Adshead also said the government should provide more practical support in public hospitals for smokers who were trying to quit. But she said Hong Kong was a step ahead of many places trying to introduce smoking bans in public spaces.
Professor Elif Dağlı, a member of the National Cigarette and Health Committee (SSUK), has claimed that 100,000 people will die of smoking-related diseases in Turkey this year.
Speaking at a conference organized by the Health Ministry and World Health Organization (WHO), Professor Dağlı said the number of people dying of smoking-related diseases will reach 5 million in the world at the end of this year, while noting that Turkish people annually spend $20 billion for cigarettes. She predicted that 100,000 people will die from smoking in Turkey in 2009.
Commenting on the effects of the smoking ban implemented last year in closed public areas, she said: "It will only be the cigarette industry which will see losses. Doctors will see fewer patients at hospitals." She also said regulations made in Turkey to fight smoking are far better than those in most modern countries.
Tobacco epidemic carried away 100 million human lives in the 20th century and today smoking causes the premature death of 5.4 million people.
Unless decisive measures are taken, the figure will go up to 8 million in 2030, says a report on the global tobacco epidemic that was published here Thursday.
Experts of the World Health Organization say more than two thirds of smokers live in ten countries – China, India, Indonesia, Russia, the U.S., Japan, Brazil, Bangladesh, Germany, and Turkey.
Russia is ahead of the U.S. in what concerns the number of smokers although it has a much smaller population.
Michael Bloomberg and Bill Gates today announced joint efforts to combat the global tobacco epidemic. A combined investment of $500 million will help governments in developing countries implement proven policies and increase funding for tobacco control. Unless urgent action is taken, as many as one billion people this century Ð more than two-thirds in the developing world Ð could die from tobacco-caused illnesses. Paula Johns, executive director of Brazil's Alliance for the Control of Tobacco Use, and broadcast journalist Charlie Rose joined Bloomberg and Gates for the announcement.
Bloomberg's Initiative to Reduce Tobacco Use, which was established in 2005 and includes a $125 million commitment, will be extended with a new $250 million, four-year commitment.
This brings Bloomberg's total commitment to date to more than $375 million.
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announced that it will invest $125 million over five years to fight the tobacco epidemic, including a $24 million grant to the Bloomberg Initiative. In addition to the grant to Bloomberg, the Gates Foundation will support complementary efforts to reduce high rates of tobacco use in countries such as China and India, as well as to help prevent the tobacco epidemic from taking root in Africa. . . .
"When I announced this initiative, I said that I hoped others would step forward," said Bloomberg. "I'm delighted Bill and Melinda Gates are supporting one of the most important public health efforts of our time. Our commitments will help governments confront the tobacco epidemic by implementing the proven MPOWER package . . .
¥ The Bloomberg Initiative to Reduce Tobacco Use is implemented though five partner organizations: the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Foundation, the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, the World Health Organization and the World Lung Foundation.
The World Health Organisation warned Monday the global financial crisis may spark a rise in mental illness and health problems as people turn to alcohol, tobacco and drugs to get through the downturn.
"This has happened in the past," said the UN agency's Director-General Margaret Chan at the launch of a conference on the financial crisis' effects on health.
"In times of economic crisis, people tend to forego private care and make more use of publicly financed services," she said, adding that many country's public health systems are already "overstretched and underfunded."
The Health Education Unit in collaboration with the World Health Organisation and RAID-The Gambia last Thursday held a day sensatisation for some members of the Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) and the traditional rulers (chiefs) on the prohibition of smoking in public place Act 1998 at the governor's Bantaba in Janjangbureh, Central River Region.
In his opening remarks at the sensitisation, Lamin Darboe, the deputy governor of the region underscored the importance of the sensisation. He noted that such educative forums will go a long way in increasing public awareness on the prohibition of smoking in public place Act 1998 passed by the National Asembly as well as the health hazards associated with smoking.
The national campaign of the Serbian Health Ministry and the Institute "Dr Milan Jovanovic Batut", focused on consequences of the passive smoking, has commenced today and will last for a year, it was announced at the press conference. Djuro Malobabic has more.
The campaign is directed at all social categories and will be accompanied by promotional and printed material, ads, TV spots, jingles, billboards and branded buses. The action will be carried out in two parts – the first one will be under the slogan "Tobacco smoke is a serial killer " by August, while the latter part of 2009 will be marked by the motto "Get tobacco smoke out". Health Minister Prof. Dr Tomica Milosavljevic said that a new law is being prepared on ban of smoking in closed premises, which envisages gradual banning of smoking in restaurants that will primarily protect health of the employees and non-smoking visitors.
About 57,000 people die for using tobacco every year in the country, while 3.62 lakh become infected.
National Professor Dr MR Khan yesterday informed this while inaugurating a eight-day workshop on 'Training of NGO watchdogs to prevent violation of tobacco control law' in the city.
He said joint efforts between the government and the non-government organisations (NGOs) is necessary to speed up the tobacco control movement.
Dhaka Ahsania Mission (DAM) organised the workshop in cooperation with the World Health Organisation (WHO) at its auditorium in the city.
Each year on 4 February, WHO joins with the sponsoring International Union Against Cancer to promote ways to ease the global burden of cancer. Preventing cancer and raising quality of life for cancer patients are recurring themes.
By 2010, cancer will be the leading killer in the world, surpassing heart disease, causing more deaths than AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined.
Unless new treatments are found, there could be 27 million people with cancer by 2030, and 17 million cancer deaths annually. And, there could be 75 million people living with cancer within five years after diagnosis, according to a new report, 2008 World Cancer Report, released Tuesday by the World Health Organization.
"The burden of cancer is shifting from developed countries to developing nations," Dr. Otis Webb Brawley, chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society, said during a teleconference. "And with a growing and aging population, we must take steps to address this problem now."
Cancer is on pace to supplant heart disease as the No. 1 cause of death worldwide in 2010, with a growing burden in poor countries thanks to more cigarette smoking and other factors, global health experts said on Tuesday.
Globally, an estimated 12.4 million people will be diagnosed with some form of cancer this year and 7.6 million people will die, the U.N. World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer said in a report.
"The global cancer burden doubled in the last 30 years of the 20th century, and it is estimated that this will double again between 2000 and 2020 and nearly triple by 2030," according to the report.
By 2030, 26.4 million people a year may be diagnosed with cancer, with 17 million people dying from it, the report forecast. . . . "There are more deaths in the world from cancer than from AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria combined," Boyle said.
-- New cases of cancer are forecast to rise by 1 percent per year, with larger increases in China, Russia and India. Cancer is becoming an increasing burden in poor countries.
-- In 2008, 12.4 million new cases of cancer (6.7 million men and 5.8 million women) will be diagnosed.
-- 7.6 million people will die of cancer (4.3 million men and 3.3 million women) from cancer in 2008.
Cancer will surpass heart disease as the world's number one killer by 2010, with poorer countries set to suffer most from the trend due to smoking, high-fat diets and other factors, international health experts warned Tuesday.
Some 12 million new cancer cases will be diagnosed this year and more than seven million people will die from the disease, according to a World Health Organization (WHO) report.
A projected 38 percent population increase in less developed countries between 2008 and 2030 was identified among several demographic changes underlying these trends.
The report estimates that between 20 and 26 million new cancer diagnoses will be made in 2030, with between 13 and 17 million cancer-related deaths.
"The rapid increase in the global cancer burden represents a real challenge for health systems worldwide," Peter Boyle, director of the WHO's International Agency for Research on Cancer, said in a statement introducing the report.