Health | WPN World People News

The World Health Organization (WHO) on Aug 22 calls for a further assessment of microplastics in the environment and their potential impacts on human health, following the release of an analysis of current research related to microplastics in drinking-water. The Organization also calls for a reduction in plastic pollution to benefit the environment and reduce human exposure.

The World Health Organization (WHO) says accelerated research and development (R&D) in new tools for malaria prevention and treatment is key if the world is to eradicate malaria in the foreseeable future: today less than 1% of funding for health R&D investment goes to developing tools to tackle malaria.

Colorized scanning electron micrograph of a T cell.

The All of Us Research Program(link is external), part of the National Institutes of Health, has awarded $4.6 million in initial funding to Color(link is external), a health technology company in Burlingame, California, to establish the program’s nationwide genetic counseling resource. With the goal of speeding up health research breakthroughs, All of Us plans to sequence the genomes of 1 million participants from diverse communities across the United States. Through this funding, Color’s network of genetic counselors will help participants understand what the genomic testing results mean for their health and their families.

WHO Director-General, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has completed a two-week mission to Pacific Island countries and reiterated WHO’s unflagging commitment to supporting their efforts to advance health and well being.

In a mouse model of stuttering (lower panel), there are fewer astrocytes, shown in green, compared to controls (upper panel) in the corpus callosum, the area of the brain that enables the left and right hemispheres to communicate.

A new study analyzing samples from patients with and without acute flaccid myelitis (AFM) provides additional evidence for an association between the rare but often serious condition that causes muscle weakness and paralysis, and infection with non-polio enteroviruses. The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, funded the research, which was conducted by investigators at Columbia University’s Center for Infection and Immunity and investigators from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

NIH researchers found that dark rimmed spots representing ongoing, “smoldering” inflammation, may be a hallmark of more disabling forms of multiple sclerosis.

On 13th August, the Ministry of Public Health and AIDS Control kicked off the vaccination campaign for front-line staff against the Ebola virus disease. The campaign started at the Gatumba entry point at the Border with the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Long-term exposure to air pollution was linked to increases in emphysema between 2000 and 2018, according to a new study. Emphysema, usually associated with cigarette smoking, is a chronic disease in which lung tissue is destroyed and unable to effectively transfer oxygen in the body.