In the 21 worst-affected countries, close to 5% of death and disease is caused by indoor air pollution, according to new estimates published by the World Health Organization (WHO).

The first-ever country-by-country estimates of the burden of disease due to indoor air pollution highlight the heavy toll solid fuel use takes on the health and well-being of people around the world.. The countries most affected are Afghanistan, Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Pakistan, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo and Uganda.

In 11 countries - Afghanistan, Angola, Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, China, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, India, Nigeria, Pakistan and the United Republic of Tanzania - indoor air pollution is to blame for a total of 1.2 million deaths a year. Globally, reliance on solid fuels is one of the ten most important threats to public health.

Every year, at least 200 000 people die from cancer related to their workplace, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Saturday is World Day for Safety and Health at Work. Millions of workers run the risk of developing cancers such as lung cancer and mesothelioma (a malignant cancer of the internal lining of the chest cavity) from inhaling asbestos fibres and from tobacco smoke, or leukemia from exposure to benzene at their workplaces. Yet, the risks for occupational cancer are preventable.

Lung cancer, mesothelioma, and bladder cancer are among the most common types of occupational cancers. Every tenth lung cancer death is closely related to risks in the workplace. Currently about 125 million people around the world are exposed to asbestos at work, and at least 90 000 people die each year from asbestos-related diseases. Thousands more die from leukemia caused by exposure to benzene, an organic solvent widely used by workers, including in the chemical and diamond industries. 

The World Health Organization (WHO) is committed to work towards universal access, by 2010, to HIV prevention services and to treatment and care for people living with HIV/AIDS.

Encouragingly, the number of people being treated with antiretroviral therapy (ART) continues to grow in low and middle income countries. This trend is also resulting in a growing number of people who require access to "second-line" ART, as they develop resistance to "first-line" treatments.

In this context, WHO welcomes the decision of Abbott Laboratories to significantly reduce the price of lopinavir/ritonavir (LPV/r, marketed as Kaletra/Aluvia®). LPV/r is considered particularly effective as second-line ART, and the demand for it has been growing.

XDR-TB, HIV/AIDS and other obstacles still thwarting progress

The global tuberculosis (TB) epidemic has levelled off for the first time since the World Health Organization (WHO) declared TB a public health emergency in 1993. The Global Tuberculosis Control Report released today by WHO finds that the percentage of the world's population struck by TB peaked in 2004 and then held steady in 2005.

"We are currently seeing both the fruits of global action to control TB and the lethal nature of the disease’s ongoing burden," said United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. "Almost 60 per cent of TB cases worldwide are now detected, and out of those, the vast majority are cured. Over the past decade, 26 million patients have been placed on effective TB treatment thanks to the efforts of governments and a wide range of partners. But the disease still kills 4400 people every day."

Pasadena, Calif. -- New measurements of Mars' south polar region indicate extensive frozen water. The polar region contains enough frozen water to cover the whole planet in a liquid layer approximately 11 meters (36 feet) deep. A joint NASA-Italian Space Agency instrument on the European Space Agency's Mars Express spacecraft provided these data.

This new estimate comes from mapping the thickness of the ice. The Mars Express orbiter's radar instrument has made more than 300 virtual slices through layered deposits covering the pole to map the ice. The radar sees through icy layers to the lower boundary, which is as deep as 3.7 kilometers (2.3 miles) below the surface.

24th March - World TB Day

Tuberculosis is one of the world's leading infectious killers - second only to HIV/AIDS. The 2007 WHO Global TB Control Report, issued Thursday 22 March 2007, updates the current trends on the airborne disease, with all the very latest data from nearly 200 countries.

In the wake of the newly identified extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB), drug resistance and continuing challenges such as TB and HIV co-infection, the 2007 WHO Global TB Control Report underlines the major issues affecting TB patients, health workers and governments today. This year's report also highlights achievements in reaching global 2005 TB targets set by the World Health Assembly.

The launch coincides with World TB Day (24 March) and its theme: "TB Anywhere is TB Everywhere".

More than twenty technology companies are responding to a call to support the fight against counterfeit medicines spearheaded by the IMPACT task force set up by the World Health Organization (WHO) and partners.* They will join the IMPACT Working Group on Technology today for a one-day meeting in Prague to assess technologies which could improve the global prevention, tracking and detection of counterfeit medicines.

"Technologies can speed up health results in all sorts of ways," said Dr Howard Zucker, Assistant Director-General for Health Technology and Pharmaceuticals at WHO and Chair of IMPACT. "In the case of anti-counterfeiting, the challenges we face are finding technologies that cannot themselves be counterfeited and transferring them to resource poor settings at an affordable cost. While technology alone cannot solve the problem, some of these solutions could greatly enhance the ability to detect and deter the distribution of counterfeit medicines."

The World Health Organization (WHO) today publishes guidelines for the cultivation and collection of Artemisia annua L, a Chinese traditional medicinal plant which is the source of artemisinin, used to produce the most effective medicines for malaria. The guidelines will contribute to improving the quality of Artemisia annua L to further develop artemisinin-based medicines, and help ensure a sustainable supply to meet market demand.

Artemisia annua L, used in Chinese traditional medicine for centuries, is today considered part of the solution where malaria has become resistant to other medicines. Artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs) have been recommended by WHO since 2001 in all countries where falciparum malaria - the most resistant form of the disease - is endemic. 

Are countries doing enough to reduce the negative effects of unhealthy environments on children? Preparations are now under way for an intergovernmental review, to take place on 13–15 June in Vienna, Austria. Countries in the WHO European Region will assess their progress in implementing the commitments that they made in the Children’s Environment and Health Action Plan for Europe (CEHAPE), adopted at the Fourth Ministerial Conference on Environment and Health in 2004.

This week, Member States set the agenda for the Vienna review at the twenty-third meeting of the European Environment and Health Committee (EEHC) in Brussels, Belgium. In addition, Member States and stakeholders discussed the latest developments in organizing the review and made decisions on how to carry forward the European environment and health process. 

New rules also proposed for elephant ivory and dozens of threatened plants and animals

The Secretariat of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) has published a provisional scientific and technical assessment of some 40 new government proposals for amending wildlife trade rules. Governments will accept or reject these proposals at the next triennial CITES conference, to be held in The Hague from 3 to 15 June.

Many of the proposals reflect growing international concern about the accelerating destruction of the world's marine and forest resources through overfishing and excessive logging. Others seek to advance the protection or sustainable use of diverse plants, reptiles, birds and mammals. Still others aim to recognize conservation successes by removing from the CITES Appendices species that are no longer endangered.