Health | WPN World People News

Between 70 and 80 percent of patients with the connective tissue condition Marfan syndrome have aortic-root dilation, which happens when the aorta, the main blood vessel between the heart and body, becomes too large and tears. This condition can result in serious illness and sometimes death.

Slow progress on sanitation and the entrenched practice of open defecation among millions around the world continue to put children and their communities at risk, UNICEF warned on World Toilet Day.

Kidneys affected by polycystic kidney disease.

Kidneys affected by polycystic kidney disease.

Ebola treatment centre outside an Ebola virus disease (EVD) case management centre run by Médecins Sans Frontières in the town of Guéckédou, Guinea.

Mali is on high alert after authorities in Bamako confirmed the fifth case of Ebola in the country. Malian President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita visited a treatment center Monday where the humanitarian medical group Doctors Without Borders is receiving patients.

Christos Stylianides, the commissioner for humanitarian aid, will discuss the situation in Ebola-affected countries with the EP's development committee, following his fact-finding mission to West Africa. The meeting focuses on assessing progress and identifying what further measures are needed to tackle the outbreak. Ahead of the debate we asked Gilles Pargneaux, a French member of the S&D group, his thoughts about the situation.

● Every hour, every day, more than 40 people lose their lives to drowning
● 372 000 people drown each year, with those under 5 years at greatest risk