World Health Day – 7 April 2011

World Health Day – 7 April 2011

World Health Day 2011 Brochure (Pdf)

  

 

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR): no action today, no cure tomorrow

Antimicrobial resistance is not a new problem but one that is becoming more dangerous; urgent and consolidated efforts are needed to avoid regressing to the pre-antibiotic era.

To underline the importance of growing antimicrobial resistance, WHO has selected combating antimicrobial resistance as the theme for World Health Day 2011. On World Health Day 2011, WHO will introduce a six-point policy package to combat the spread of antimicrobial resistance.

Antimicrobial resistance and its global spread

We live in an era in which we depend on antibiotics, and other antimicrobial medicines to treat conditions that decades ago, or even a few years ago, as in the case of HIV/AIDS, would have proved fatal. When antimicrobial resistance - also known as drug resistance - occurs, it renders these medicines ineffective. For World Health Day 2011, WHO will be calling for intensified global commitment to safeguard these medicines for future generations. Antimicrobial resistance - the theme of World Health Day 2011 - and its global spread, threatens the continued effectiveness of many medicines used today to treat infectious diseases.

Considering the above, WHO will call on governments and stakeholders to implement policies and practices needed to prevent and counter the emergence of highly resistant microorganisms. More >..

Dengue

Dengue is an outbreak prone viral disease, transmitted to human beings by the bite of infected Aedes mosquitoes, principally Aedes aegypti.  In recent years there has been an increase in the number of dengue outbreaks across the world due to increasing mosquitogenic conditions in urban and peri-urban areas resulting from rapid urbanization, developmental activities and lifestyle changes.  Heavy rainfall adds to development of outbreak situations by increasing the number of breeding sites. Over 100 countries have reported dengue with more than 2.5 billion people at risk and an estimated 50 million infections every year. The major disease burden is found in countries of South-East Asia and the Western Pacific regions.