Health | WPN World People News

The World Health Organization (WHO) Aug.,31 published a first indicative survey on the impact of COVID-19 on health systems based on 105 countries’ reports. Data collected from five regions over the period from March to June 2020 illustrate that almost every country (90%) experienced disruption to its health services, with low- and middle-income countries reporting the greatest difficulties. Most countries reported that many routine and elective services have been suspended, while critical care - such as cancer screening and treatment and HIV therapy – has seen high-risk interruptions in low-income countries.

Findings from a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) study show that CDC’s Tips From Former Smokers® (Tips®) campaign led more than 1 million U.S. adults to quit smoking and an estimated 16.4 million U.S. adults to attempt to quit smoking during 2012–2018.

An international team of scientists supported by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), part of the National Institutes of Health, has identified a novel association between the gene FAF2 and a reduced risk for alcohol-associated liver cirrhosis (ALC) in people who drink heavily. Also confirmed by the study were four additional genes, three previously found to be associated with an increased risk and one with reduced risk of ALC in people who drink heavily. All of the genes appear to be involved in fat metabolism in the liver.

Photograph of a Highland Wild Dog taken in Indonesia.

A young boy has a health check with a medical doctor amid cases of COVID-19 in Muntinlupa City, Philippines.

Six-year-old Payal in India uses a foot pedal sanitizer to practice hand hygiene.

Following a review under the recommendation on the gradual lifting of the temporary restrictions on non-essential travel into the EU, the Council updated the list of countries for which travel restrictions should be lifted. As stipulated in the Council recommendation, this list will continue to be reviewed regularly and, as the case may be, updated.

WHO/PAHO recommendations have been instrumental in the Juarez Hospital in Mexico City.

Across Central America and the Caribbean, more than 70 million children are directly or indirectly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Many of those children living in coastal areas of Central America and the Caribbean could face the additional threat of catastrophic storms as the 2020 hurricane season moves into a more active phase, UNICEF warned on Auguest 3.

A group of entrepreneurs believe their mobile crematorium is the solution to Bolivia's surge in coronavirus deaths.

Carlos Ayo, an environmental engineer, who is part of the group said, there are instances when dozens of bodies piled up in the street in Bolivia because families do not have the resources or aren't finding places to bury or cremate the bodies of loved ones and they end up throwing them in the streets to avoid contaminating themselves.