world health organization

PHOTOS: How aid groups are tackling Yemen's cholera outbreak

By Larisa Epatko

“At one hospital, we visited children who can barely gather the strength to breathe,” U.N. agency leaders said in a joint statement.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus becomes the first African director-general of the World Health Organization

By Helen Branswell, STAT

Ethiopia’s former health minister -- Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus -- has been elected to serve as the next director-general of the World Health Organization — the first African picked to lead the global health agency.

In Yemen conflict, preventable diseases are a deadly side effect for children

By Larisa Epatko

Health workers recently fanned across Yemen to vaccinate millions of children against polio, one of the disease risks in a country immersed in conflict.

Somalia drought forces thousands to leave home seeking food and water

By Larisa Epatko

The last famine to hit Somalia was in 2011 when 260,000 people died, about half of them children under 5. Humanitarian organizations fear this year’s drought could lead to something even worse.

Analysis: 10 elections to watch in 2017

By James M. Lindsay, Council on Foreign Relations

Millions of people around the world went to the polls this year. The results provided plenty of surprises. British voters defied the pollstersand voted to leave the European Union. Colombians did much the same in …

Ebola vaccine results are encouraging -- but preliminary

By PBS News Hour

On Thursday, results from the World Health Organization's two-year trial studying the Ebola virus were published. They indicate that the vaccine is effective -- but it still needs to be approved by regulatory agencies. Hari Sreenivasan speaks with Dr. Anthony…

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Airstrikes force hospitals to shut down in rebel-held Aleppo

By Michael D. Regan

Syrian government airstrikes forced most hospitals in rebel-held Aleppo to close. Hundreds of people have been killed by the strikes this week including more than a dozen children.

No longer an emergency, Zika virus is a long-term problem, says WHO

By Alison Thoet

After a nine-month emergency designation, the WHO reclassified Zika as a long-term epidemic similar to other mosquito-borne diseases like malaria and yellow fever.

One in seven of world's children breathe toxic air, UNICEF reports

By Ryan Connelly Holmes

Using satellite imagery, the children’s aid organization determined that 300 million children worldwide breathe air six times more polluted than the World Health Organization’s recommended limit.

In Haiti, are 1 million doses of cholera vaccine enough to stop an outbreak?

By Larisa Epatko

When Hurricane Matthew steamrolled southern Haiti earlier this month, it wiped out houses, bridges and roads. It also decimated sanitation systems, putting the Caribbean island nation at risk of worsening cholera outbreaks.