New Delhi:

The World Health Organization on Monday called on countries in the WHO South-East Asia Region to accelerate measures to reduce road traffic deaths, a leading cause of mortality among young people aged 15-29.

“Vulnerable road users, including pedestrians, bicyclists and two or three-wheelers constitute 66 per cent of all reported road traffic deaths in our region,” said Saima Wazed, Regional Director, WHO South-East Asia, in her address at the 15th World Conference on Injury Prevention and Safety Promotion (Safety 2024) which began here today.

She emphasised that the roads and their networks need to be designed prioritising those most at risk — children and adolescents, people with disabilities, pedestrians and other vulnerable groups.

The WHO South-East Asia Region accounted for 330,223 of the 1.19 million estimated global road traffic deaths in 2021, representing 28 pc of the global burden, the WHO said in a statement.

With 70 per cent of the global population projected to live in urban areas by 2030, demand for public transport will surge. The WHO South-East Asia Region, amid rapid urbanisation, faces shared challenges — a high prevalence of motorised two and three-wheelers, inadequate traffic injury data, poor pedestrian and cyclist infrastructure, and limited emergency services, it said.

Unlike high-income countries, where road safety measures often focus on car occupants, low and middle-income countries need to prioritise the safety of vulnerable road users, such as pedestrians, cyclists and riders of two and three-wheelers who are disproportionately at higher risk.

Strengthening trauma and emergency care systems, enhancing road safety data, strong leadership and promoting collaboration among all stakeholders are essential for improving road safety, the statement said.

“I am a great believer in collaborations and partnerships — and expanding these to non-traditional stakeholders,” said the regional director.

“This can be our moment to rethink and redo mobility for healthy cities. A holistic approach requires a cross-cutting, multi-sectoral approach, requiring collaboration with local governments, urban planners, traffic policing, law enforcement and others,” she added.

Road safety, a public health and development priority, is crucial to achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In September 2020, the UN General Assembly launched the Decade of Action for Road Safety 2021-2030 which aims to reduce road traffic deaths and injuries by at least 50 per cent by 2030, Wazed said.

While the WHO South-East Asia Region saw a 2 per cent decrease in road fatalities in 2021, contributing to a global 5 per cent reduction, further efforts are needed to meet global targets.

At the World Conference, the regional director launched the ‘WHO South-East Asia Regional Status Report on Road Safety: Towards Safer and Sustainable Mobility.’ “This report outlines road traffic injury patterns in our countries and highlights best practices and country-specific interventions. It is both timely and essential for assessing our current position, and for guiding necessary actions to achieve global targets,” she stated.

Addressing these challenges and implementing recommended strategies will be key to advancing road safety and reaching the 2030 targets, Wazed stated.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Dr. Tresor Wakilongo, verifies the evolution of skin lesions on the ear of Innocent, suffering from mpox — an infectious disease caused by the monkeypox virus that sparks off a painful rash, enlarged lymph nodes and fever; at the treatment centre in Munigi, following mpox cases in Nyiragongo territory near Goma, North Kivu province, Democratic Republic of the Congo July 19, 2024.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

The World Health Organization has declared the mpox outbreaks in Congo and elsewhere in Africa a global emergency, with cases confirmed among children and adults in more than a dozen countries and a new form of the virus spreading. Few vaccine doses are available on the continent.

Earlier this week, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that the mpox outbreaks were a public health emergency, with more than 500 deaths, and called for international help to stop the virus’ spread.

Explained | Global mpox infections: Symptoms, treatment, and status of outbreak

“This is something that should concern us all … The potential for further spread beyond Africa and beyond is very worrying,” said WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

The Africa CDC previously said that mpox, also known as monkeypox, has been detected in 13 countries this year, and that more than 96% of all cases and deaths are in Congo. Cases are up 160% and deaths are up 19% compared with the same period last year. So far, there have been more than 14,000 cases and 524 people have died.

“We are now in a situation where (mpox) poses a risk to many more neighbors in and around central Africa,” said Salim Abdool Karim, a South African infectious diseases expert who chairs the Africa CDC emergency group. He noted that the new version of mpox spreading from Congo appears to have a death rate of about 3-4%.

During the global 2022 mpox outbreak that affected more than 70 countries, fewer than 1% of people died.

Michael Marks, a professor of medicine at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said declaring the mpox outbreaks in Africa an emergency is warranted if that might lead to more support to contain them.

“It’s a failure of the global community that things had to get this bad to release the resources needed,” he said.

Officials at the Africa CDC said nearly 70% of cases in Congo are in children younger than 15, who also accounted for 85% of deaths.

Jacques Alonda, an epidemiologist working in Congo with international charities, said he and other experts were particularly worried about the spread of mpox in camps for refugees in the country’s conflict-ridden east.

“The worst case I’ve seen is that of a six-week-old baby who was just two weeks old when he contracted mpox,” Mr. Alonda said, adding the baby has been in their care for a month. “He got infected because hospital overcrowding meant he and his mother were forced to share a room with someone else who had the virus, which was undiagnosed.”

Save the Children said Congo’s health system already had been “collapsing” under the strain of malnutrition, measles and cholera.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said officials were facing several outbreaks of mpox outbreaks in various countries with “different modes of transmission and different levels of risk.”

The U.N. health agency said mpox was recently identified for the first time in four East African countries: Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda. All of those outbreaks are linked to the one in Congo. In the Ivory Coast and South Africa, health authorities have reported outbreaks of a different and less dangerous version of mpox that spread worldwide in 2022.

Unlike in previous mpox outbreaks, where lesions were mostly seen on the chest, hands and feet, the new form causes milder symptoms and lesions on the genitals. That makes it harder to spot, meaning people might also sicken others without knowing they’re infected.

In 2022, WHO declared mpox to be a global emergency after it spread to more than 70 countries that had not previously reported mpox, mostly affecting gay and bisexual men. Before that outbreak, the disease had mostly been seen in sporadic outbreaks in central and West Africa when people came into close contact with infected wild animals.

Western countries mostly shut down the spread of mpox with the help of vaccines and treatments, but very few of those have been available in Africa.

Marks of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine said that in the absence of mpox vaccines licensed in the West, officials could consider inoculating people against smallpox, a related disease. “We need a large supply of vaccine so that we can vaccinate populations most at risk,” he said, adding that would mean sex workers, children and adults living in outbreak regions.

Congolese authorities said they have asked for 4 million doses of mpox vaccine, Cris Kacita Osako, coordinator of Congo’s Monkeypox Response Committee, told AP. Mr. Osako said those would mostly be used for children under 18.

“The United States and Japan are the two countries that positioned themselves to give vaccines to our country,” Mr. Osako said.

Although WHO’s emergency declaration is meant to spur donor agencies and countries into action, the global response to previous emergency designations has been mixed.

Dr. Boghuma Titanji, an infectious diseases expert at Emory University, said the last WHO emergency declaration for mpox “did very little to move the needle” on getting things like diagnostic tests, medicines and vaccines to Africa.

“The world has a real opportunity here to act in a decisive manner and not repeat past mistakes, (but) that will take more than an (emergency) declaration,” Dr. Titanji said.

Critical priority pathogens present major global threats due to their high burden and ability to resist treatment and spread resistance to other bacteria, the World Health Organization noted. File

Critical priority pathogens present major global threats due to their high burden, and ability to resist treatment and spread resistance to other bacteria, noted the latest Bacterial Pathogens Priority List (BPPL) updated by the World Health Organization (WHO). This includes gram-negative bacteria resistant to last resort antibiotics, and Mycobacterium tuberculosis resistant to the antibiotic Rifampicin. The list features 15 families of antibiotic-resistant bacteria grouped into critical, high and medium categories for prioritisation.

Seven years since it published the last such list, the WHO stated that high priority pathogens, including salmonella and shigella, are of particularly high burden in low- and middle-income countries, along with Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus, which pose significant challenges in healthcare settings. Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) occurs when bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites no longer respond to medicines, making people sicker and increasing the risk of disease spread, illness and deaths. “AMR is driven in large part by the misuse and overuse of antimicrobials,’’ the document says.

Other high priority pathogens such as antibiotic-resistant Neisseria gonorrhoeae and Enterococcus faecium, present unique public health challenges, including persistent infections and resistance to multiple antibiotics, necessitating targeted research and public health interventions.

“By mapping the global burden of drug-resistant bacteria and assessing their impact on public health, this list is key to guiding investment and for grappling with the antibiotics pipeline and access crisis. Since the first Bacterial Priority Pathogens List was released in 2017, the threat of antimicrobial resistance has intensified, eroding the efficacy of numerous antibiotics and putting many of the gains of modern medicine at risk,” Yukiko Nakatani, the WHO’s Assistant Director-General for Antimicrobial Resistance ad interim, said.

The pathogens include those that cause respiratory infections, for example, COVID-19, influenza, measles, MERS, SARS, and tuberculosis, among others. Image for representation.
| Photo Credit: Getty Images

Pathogens that transmit through the air will be described by the term ’infectious respiratory particles’ or IRPs, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). The world health body has thus ended the lack of a common terminology to describe the transmission of these pathogens, which was particularly challenging during the global COVID-19 pandemic. The announcement on Thursday came following wide-ranging consultations across multiple steps in 2021-2023.

“The challenge became particularly evident during the COVID-19 pandemic as experts from various sectors were required to provide scientific and policy guidance. Varying terminologies highlighted gaps in common understanding and contributed to challenges in public communication and efforts to curb the transmission of the pathogen,” the WHO noted.

The pathogens include those that cause respiratory infections, for example, COVID-19, influenza, measles, Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), and tuberculosis (TB), among others.

In its communication, the WHO said that individuals infected with a respiratory pathogen can generate and expel infectious particles containing the pathogen through their mouth or nose by breathing, talking, singing, spitting, coughing, or sneezing, and these particles should be described with the term IRPs. Also, IRPs exist on a continuous spectrum of sizes, and no single cut-off points should be applied to distinguish smaller from larger particles. 

The WHO said this facilitates moving away from the dichotomy of previously used terms — ‘aerosols’ (generally smaller particles) and ‘droplets’ (generally larger particles).

The WHO has published a global technical consultation report introducing the updated terminology for pathogens that transmit through the air following consultations with public health agencies and experts. The publication titled ‘Global technical consultation report on proposed terminology for pathogens that transmit through the air’ is the result of an extensive, multi-year, collaborative effort, and reflects shared agreement on terminology between the WHO, experts, and four major public health agencies — the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, and the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“Together with a very diverse range of leading public health agencies and experts across multiple disciplines, we are pleased to have been able to address this complex and timely issue and reach a consensus,” Jeremy Farrar, Chief Scientist, WHO, said. “The agreed terminology for pathogens that transmit through the air will help set a new path for research agendas and implementation of public health interventions to identify, communicate and respond to existing and new pathogens,” Dr. Farrar added.

The health agency added that the descriptor ‘through the air’ can be used in a general way to characterise an infectious disease, where the main mode of transmission involves the pathogen travelling through the air or being suspended in the air. Under the umbrella of ‘through the air transmission’, two descriptors can be used — airborne transmission or inhalation, and direct deposition.

“This global technical consultation process was a concerted effort of many influential and experienced experts,” Gagandeep Kang, Christian Medical College, Vellore, and co-chair of the WHO Technical Working Group, said.

The consultation was the first phase of global scientific discussions led by WHO. Next steps include further technical and multidisciplinary research, and exploration of the wider implementation implications of the updated descriptors.

Saima Wazed and Dr. Shambhu Acharya seen together at a meet in New Delhi.
| Photo Credit: Special arrangement

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s daughter, Saima Wazed, was on Wednesday nominated as the next Regional Director for the World Health Organization’s South-East Asia region.

She defeated Shambu Acharya, a public health veteran from Nepal, in a vote held here during the 76th session of the WHO Regional Committee for South-East Asia Region. 

Bangladesh, Bhutan, DPR (North) Korea, India, Indonesia, Maldives, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Timor-Leste — 10 of the 11 member countries — took part in the vote. Myanmar did not send a delegation to the meeting. 

The nomination will be submitted to the WHO Executive Board during its 154th session, which is scheduled to take place on January 22-27 in Geneva, Switzerland, the WHO regional office said in an official communication.

The newly appointed Regional Director will take over from the present incumbent, Poonam Khetrapal Singh, on February 1.

Ms. Wazed, in a statement, said the WHO South-East Asia Region was home to over two billion people — more than a quarter of the people of the planet — and that the region represented a diversity with often differences existing within the boundaries of single member states themselves. She said that her priority areas of work would include universal health coverage (UHC), emergency response and pandemic preparedness, collaboration and partnerships (regional and multi-sectoral), and mental health.

“We will work to promote community-based mental healthcare services in member countries, encourage prevention and promotion in mental health while expanding efforts to include mental health in the public health agenda,” Ms. Wazed said.

Reacting to the result, Swarup Sarkar, former Director of WHO SEARO, said the election demonstrated the collective resolve of member states to move forward with the vision set out by Ms. Wazed.

“As a former WHO staff, I would look forward to a stronger, responsive, and responsible WHO working at the global, regional and country levels, on the principle of one WHO and more participation of civil society at all stages of WHO work,” he said.

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s daughter Saima Wazed. File
| Photo Credit: Twitter/drSaimaWazed

The contest between Bangladesh and Nepal for the regional head of the World Health Organization (WHO) has become increasingly heated, with allegations of “nepotism” and “sexism” being hurled at the candidates, and the election to be held in Delhi less than two weeks away. 

In an interview to The Hindu, Bangladesh’s Foreign Minister has demanded that Nepal, whose candidate Shambhu Acharya is a WHO veteran, withdraw its candidate for the post, in favour of Bangladesh’s candidate Saima Wazed, who is Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s daughter, defending her against the charges of “nepotism”. Ms. Wazed has also alleged that the opposition to her candidature denotes a “vicious strain of sexism” against women competing for “positions of power”. 

“[Nepal’s candidate] had been working in the WHO for the last 30 years and was in a decision-making position. So why have [health indices] not improved in the whole of the South East Asian region, even though he himself is a person of South Asian origin?” Bangladesh Foreign Minister A.K. Abdul Momen asked, adding that the Nepali candidate should “step down” from the election race.

Mr. Acharya refuted the allegations of inefficacy, saying that in fact “the world has made substantial progress in health”. “The responsibility in achieving health for all is a shared responsibility as mentioned in the UNGA (United Nations General Assembly) SDG (Sustainable Development Goals) review,” he added.

When asked about the Bangladesh government’s call to withdraw, Nepal’s Health Minister said that Mr. Acharya is the “most eligible” candidate, pitting his experience in public health against Ms. Wazed’s, who is a psychologist, an activist on autism, and a government advisor.

“Dr. Shambhu Acharya has obtained advanced public health degree and possesses profound experience in public health working in different agencies and at different levels…The Regional Director position requires skills in human resource management, institutional management etc. among others which Dr. Acharya has been doing for more than two decades,” Nepal’s Health Minister Mohan Bahadur Basnet said in a written response.

As The Hindu had reported last month, both countries had forwarded their candidatures for Director of the WHO’s South East Asian Regional Office (SEARO) earlier this year. The post will go to the candidate receiving the majority of votes after a secret ballot by 11 regional members — Bangladesh, Bhutan, North Korea, India, Indonesia, the Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Timor-Leste.  After it became clear that there would be a contest during the upcoming SEARO meeting in Delhi from October 30-November2, an unusually high-profile campaign has followed with Ms. Wazed accompanying Ms. Hasina to a number of international conferences, including the BRICS summit in South Africa, the G-20 summit in Delhi, and the UNGA summit in New York, posting photographs with many world leaders, including U.S. President Joe Biden, Chinese President Xi Jinping, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

After a number of articles in public health journals, including The Lancet and Health Policy Watch, criticised her for using Ms. Hasina’s clout in the campaign, Ms. Wazed hit back in a piece entitled ‘Setting the Record Straight’ last week, where she accused the articles against her of reflecting “damaging biases, that perpetuate harmful stigmas and stereotypes”, adding details of her own experience in advocating for awareness on autism and mental health.

The Ministry of External Affairs declined to comment on India’s choice in the subcontinental tussle. However, officials have said that the Bangladesh candidate has “the edge” given close ties, and Mr. Modi’s promise of support during his visit to Dhaka in 2021 that was mentioned in the India-Bangladesh joint statement at the time. However, the joint statement issued subsequently, during Ms. Hasina’s visit to Delhi in 2022, does not mention the WHO contest. India’s Poonam Khetrapal has been the WHO SEARO Director since 2014, and will hand over the post to the nominated candidate chosen at the Delhi meeting this month, following a ratification of the nomination in January 2024.

Rescuers and relatives sit in front of the collapsed buildings after the recent flooding caused by Mediterranean storm Daniel, in Derna, Libya.
| Photo Credit: AP

Abdel-Hamid al-Hassadi survived the devastating flooding in eastern Libya, but he lost some 90 people from his extended family.

The 23-year-old law graduate rushed upstairs along with his mother and his elder brother, as heavy rains lashed the city of Derna on the evening of September 10. Soon, torrents of water were washing away buildings next to them.

“We witnessed the magnitude of the catastrophe,” Mr. al-Hassadi said in a phone interview, referring to the massive flooding that engulfed his city. “We have seen our neighbours’ dead bodies washing away in the floods.”

Heavy rains from Mediterranean storm Daniel caused the collapse of the two dams that spanned the narrow valley that divides the city. That sent a wall of water several metres high through its heart.

Ten days after the disaster, Mr. Hassadi and thousands of others remain in Derna, most of them waiting for a word about relatives and loved ones. For Mr. Hassadi, 290 relatives are still missing.

“The floods inundated as much as a quarter of the city,” officials say. Thousands of people were killed, with many dead bodies still under the rubble or at sea, according to search teams. Government officials and aid agencies have given varied death tolls.

The World Health Organization says a total of 3,958 deaths have been registered in hospitals, but a previous death toll given by the head of Libya’s Red Crescent said at least 11,300 were killed. The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says at least 9,000 people are still missing.

Bashir Omar, a spokesman for the International Committee of the Red Cross, said the fatalities are in the thousands, but he didn’t give a specific toll for the number of retrieved bodies, since there are many groups involved in the recovery effort.

Many Derna residents, including women and children, are spending all their time at collection points of bodies. They are desperate to know who is inside body bags carried by ambulances. Inside a school in the western part of the city, authorities posted photos of the retrieved bodies.

Anas Aweis, a 24-year-old resident, lost two brothers and is still searching for his father and four cousins. He went to the Ummul Qura school in the Sheiha neighbourhood to inspect the exhibited photos.

“It’s chaos,” he said after spending two hours waiting in lines. “We want to know where they buried them if they died.”

The floods have displaced at least 40,000 people in eastern Libya, including 30,000 in Derna, according to the U.N.’s migration agency. Many have moved to other cities across Libya, hosted by local communities or sheltered in schools. There are risks to staying, including potential infection by waterborne diseases.

Rana Ksaifi, assistant chief of mission in Libya for the U.N.’s refugee agency, said the floods have left “unfathomable levels of destruction,” and triggered new waves of displacement in the already conflict-stricken nation.

The houseplants on the rooftop of Abdul Salam Anwisi’s building survived the waters that reached up to his 4th-floor apartment. Anwisi’s and a few other families rode out the deluge on the roof, which overlooks the Mediterranean Sea. They thought they wouldn’t live to see daylight. Now, as he sifts through the water-damaged debris of his home, it’s unclear what comes next. “God predetermined and he did what he wanted,” he said.

Others across the country are calling for Libya’s leaders to be taken to task. Hundreds of angry protesters gathered on Monday outside Derna’s main mosque, criticising the government’s lack of preparation and response. They lashed out at the political class that controls the oil-rich nation since the ouster and killing of longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi in 2011.

Mr. Hassadi, the law graduate, blamed local authorities for giving conflicting warnings to residents, leaving many defenceless. They asked residents to evacuate areas along the Mediterranean coast, but at the same time, they imposed a curfew, preventing people from leaving their homes. “It was a mistake to impose a curfew,” he said.

The dams, Abu Mansour and Derna, were built by a Yugoslav construction company in the 1970s. They were meant to protect the city against heavy flooding, but years of no maintenance meant they were unable to keep the exceptional influx of water at bay.

Many Libyans are now calling for an international investigation and supervision of aid funds. “All are corrupt here … without exception,” said rights activist Tarik Lamloum.

The Global Fund announced on August 30 a deal with generic pharmaceutical manufacturers to significantly slash the price of a cutting-edge HIV drug, in a move it said would save lives.

The Global Fund, a partnership set up in 2002 to battle AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, said the agreement would make it possible to provide the advanced pill known as TLD for under $45 per person per year.

“This improved pricing— a 25% reduction— will allow governments in resource-limited settings to expand access to critical HIV services,” it said in a statement.

The three-in-one pill bands together the drugs tenofovir disoproxil fumarate, lamivudine and dolutegravir.

The World Health Organization has recommended it as the preferred first-line HIV treatment for adults and adolescents since it rapidly suppresses the virus that causes AIDS, has fewer side effects and is easy to take, the statement pointed out.

“The countries most affected by HIV face enormous fiscal constraints, and there are still millions of people who are HIV-positive who don’t have access to quality treatment,” Global Fund chief Peter Sands said in the statement.

“Reduced pricing for TLD means governments and other implementers of Global Fund grants can expand treatment programmes and invest more in prevention, saving more lives and reducing new infections.”

August 30th’s announcement comes after the Global Fund, along with UNAIDS, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and other partners in 2017 secured licensing agreements ensuring that TLD could be made available in low and middle-income countries for up to $75 per person per year at the time an unprecedented pricing level.

Thanks to that deal, around 19 million more people living with HIV in resource-constrained settings are today receiving TLD, according to the Clinton Health Access Initiative.

Vehicles move on a dusty road as air pollution worsens during winters in Tongi area of Gazipur, Bangladesh. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Rising air pollution can cut life expectancy by more than five years per person in South Asia, one of the world’s most polluted regions, according to a report published on August 29 which flagged the growing burden of hazardous air on health.

The region, which includes the world’s most polluted countries of Bangladesh, India, Nepal, and Pakistan, accounts for more than half of the total life years lost globally to pollution, the University of Chicago’s Energy Policy Institute (EPIC) said in its latest Air Quality Life Index.

Rapid industrialisation and population growth have contributed to declining air quality in South Asia, where particulate pollution levels are currently more than 50% higher than at the start of the century and now overshadow dangers posed by larger health threats.

People in Bangladesh, the world’s most polluted country, stands to lose 6.8 years of life on average per person, compared to 3.6 months in the United States, according to the study, which uses satellite data to calculate the impact of an increase in airborne fine particles on life expectancy.

India is responsible for about 59% of the world’s increase in pollution since 2013, the report said, as hazardous air threatens to shorten lives further in some of the country’s more polluted regions. In the densely populated New Delhi, the world’s most polluted mega-city, the average life span is down by more than 10 years.

“Reducing global levels of lung-damaging airborne particles, known as PM 2.5, to levels recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) could raise average life expectancy by 2.3 years, or a combined 17.8 billion life years,” the report said.

“An average resident of Pakistan would gain 3.9 years from meeting the WHO guidelines of limiting average annual PM 2.5 concentration to 5 micrograms per cubic metre, while someone in Nepal would live 4.6 years longer if the guideline was met,” according to the report.

China, meanwhile, has worked to reduce pollution by 42.3% between 2013 and 2021, the report said, highlighting the need for governments to generate accessible air quality data to help bridge global inequalities in accessing tools to combat pollution.