WHO is testing an innovative way to improve outbreak detection, notification and response through an interactive ‘7-1-7 Strategy Game’. The 7-1-7 target calls for detecting a suspected outbreak within seven days, notifying public health authorities within one day, and mounting an effective response within seven days. Achieving these benchmarks requires coordinated action across surveillance, laboratories,…
Nipah is a highly lethal virus that causes severe illness with a high fatality rate, and there are currently no approved vaccines or specific treatments. Scientists are increasingly seeing it as a potential global threat. The World Health Organization (WHO) has classified Nipah infection as a high-priority pathogen. There is an urgent need for a vaccine…
A fire outbreak on Thursday has disrupted activities at the Blue zone axis of the ongoing United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP30) in Belém, Brazil, forcing the temporary closure of the Blue Zone where formal negotiations are taking place. Organisers said emergency responders swiftly evacuated delegates and contained the blaze within minutes. In a joint…
Nairobi — Africa is facing the worst cholera outbreak in 25 years, Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director General Jean Kaseya said in an online briefing. According to him, the continent has recorded over 300,000 cholera cases since the beginning of the year, marking a 30% rise from 2024. Kaseya attributed the situation…
UN agency confirms 48 cases since the outbreak was declared early this month, the first time in three years. Published On 18 Sep 202518 Sep 2025 Click here to share on social media share2 Share The World Health Organization (WHO) has announced that 31 people have died from Ebola in the Democratic Republic of the…
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has declared a new Ebola outbreak in Kasai Province. It’s caused by the most severe strain: Zaire Ebola virus. This outbreak began with a 34-year-old pregnant woman who was admitted to hospital on August 20 and died five days later. Two health workers who treated her also became…
Johannesburg — The Minister of Health for the Democratic Republic of Congo, Samuel Roger Kamba, confirmed last week an outbreak of the highly infectious Zaire strain of Ebola virus disease in the country’s Central Kasai Province. He said 16 deaths and 28 suspected cases had been confirmed, including four suspected infections among health care workers. World…
The mosquito-borne virus has crossed the Taiwan Strait from southern China, where confirmed cases of chikungunya top 8,000. Taiwan has reported its first confirmed case of chikungunya fever, imported from China, where a historic outbreak of the mosquito-borne virus is under way. Chikungunya has swept through southern China in recent weeks, primarily in the manufacturing…
Some 80,000 children are estimated to be at high risk of cholera in West and Central Africa as the rainy season begins across the region, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said on Wednesday. “The heavy rains, widespread flooding, and the high level of displacement are all fuelling the risk of cholera transmission and putting the…
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has issued a global health alert over a fast-moving outbreak of chikungunya, a mosquito-borne viral disease, that is sweeping across the Indian Ocean islands and making inroads into mainland Africa and South East Asia. Speaking at a media briefing in Geneva on Tuesday, Dr Diana Rojas Alvarez, WHO’s lead on…
