Health

US drives surge of COVID cases in the Americas, PAHO says

COVID-19 cases in the Americas surged 27.2 percent last week from the prior one, driven primarily by a spike in infections in the United States, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) said on Wednesday.

More than half of a total 918,000 infections came from North America as US cases jumped by 33 percent to 605,000 in the last week, PAHO said.

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Infections in North America have now been climbing for the past seven weeks, it said.

PAHO Director Dr. Carissa Etienne noted that many countries and local governments are abandoning masking and social distancing requirements and have reopened borders after a period of lower transmission.

However, too many people remain at risk as only 14 of the 51 countries and territories in the Americas have reached the World Health Organization's goal of vaccinating 70 percent of their population, she added during a news conference.

Health

Violations of women’s reproductive health rights trigger rise in preventable deaths

African women are 130 times more likely to die due to pregnancy or childbirth complications than women in Europe and Northern America, the UN sexual and reproductive health agency (UNFPA) said in a new report published on Wednesday.

Health

Nigeria first country to introduce ‘revolutionary’ meningitis vaccine

Nigeria has become the first country to roll out a “revolutionary” five-in-one vaccine against meningitis, the World Health Organization (WHO) said in a statement on Friday.

Health

Hepatitis killing thousands daily, WHO warns in new report

The number of lives lost due to viral hepatitis infections is increasing and already accounts for 3,500 deaths daily, according to a report by the World Health Organization (WHO) released on Tuesday.