WHO & Regionals [to 1 August 2015]

The Weekly Epidemiological Record (WER) 31 July 2015, vol. 90, 31 (pp. 381–392) includes:
:: Health conditions for travellers to Saudi Arabia for the pilgrimage to Mecca (Hajj), 2015
:: Meeting of the International Task Force for Disease Eradication, April 2015

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Global Immunization Meeting: “Protect, Innovate, Accelerate”
23-25 June 2015, Sitges/Barcelona, Spain.
:: Report pdf, 618kb
:: Conference guide pdf, 1.05Mb

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World Breastfeeding Week: 1-7 August
31 July 2015 — The theme for this year’s World Breastfeeding Week is, “Breastfeeding and Work. Let’s make it work!”, to encourage family-friendly policies in the workplace. Breastfeeding is the key to a child’s survival, health, growth and development. WHO recommends exclusive breastfeeding in the first hour of life and the following 6 months to stimulate brain development, and to prevent childhood obesity and non-communicable diseases later in life.

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WHO Fact sheet: Cholera 29 July 2015
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:: WHO Regional Offices
WHO African Region AFRO
:: World on the verge of an effective Ebola vaccine
:: WHO calls for urgent action to curb hepatitis – 28 July 2015
:: WHO and Gates Foundation agree on ways to strengthen collaboration to improve health in the African Region – 27 July 2015

WHO Region of the Americas PAHO
:: Support for mothers’ breastfeeding can benefit employers’ bottom line (07/31/2015)
:: PAHO/WHO calls for urgent action to curb hepatitis (07/27/2015)
:: Experts seek answers to increasing rates of HPV-related oral cancer (07/27/2015)

WHO South-East Asia Region SEARO
:: WHO sets up advisory group to guide post-quake recovery support in Nepal
The World Health Organization has set up an advisory group to guide its support to earthquake-hit Nepal for rebuilding resilient health systems. Over 80% health facilities have been damaged in 14 districts worst hit by earthquakes that rocked Nepal on 25 April and 12 May this year.
“Improving health system in Nepal as it goes through recovery, requires all of us to rethink and innovate. Long-term development and scaling up risk reduction and preparedness for the health sector are key features of WHO’s ongoing engagement in Nepal, ” Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh, Regional Director, WHO South-East Asia, told the first meeting of the advisory group in New Delhi on July 31.
The advisory group, comprising of academicians, policy makers, social scientists, economists, epidemiologists and other experts, will advise on WHO strategic approaches to ensure that the needs of the affected people are met through the process of transition from response to recovery and development…
:: WHO calls for strengthening malaria elimination strategy, says 3.2 billion people still at risk
29 July 2015

WHO European Region EURO
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WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region EMRO
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WHO Western Pacific Region
:: Intensified public health measures help control MERS-CoV outbreak in the Republic of Korea
Web update
MANILA, 28 July 2015 – Intensified public health measures, including contact tracing, quarantine and isolation of all contacts and suspected cases, and infection prevention and control have brought the Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) under control in the Republic of Korea. Since 4 July no new cases have been reported. Yesterday, all remaining contacts were released from quarantine symptom-free, following 14 days of isolation and monitoring…