The Clinical Times
The Front Page of Medicine

Public Health · page 18

Outbreaks, advisories, and public-health updates from the CDC, WHO, and NLM.

WHO · May 9, 2026

Message by the WHO Director-General to the people of Tenerife regarding the hantavirus response

To the people of Tenerife, My name is Tedros, and I serve as the Director-General of the World Health Organization, the United Nations agency responsible for global public health. It is not common for me to write directly to the people of a single community, but today I feel it is not only appropriate, it is necessary. I want to speak to you directly, not through press releases or technical briefings, but as one human being to another, because you deserve that. I know you are worried. I know that when you hear the word “outbreak” and watch a ship sail toward your shores, memories…

WHO · May 7, 2026

WHO’s response to hantavirus cases linked to a cruise ship

Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General, briefed media today on a cluster of hantavirus cases linked to a cruise ship, the MV Hondius. Eight cases have been reported so far, including three deaths. Five of the 8 cases have been confirmed as hantavirus. The hantavirus involved is the Andes virus, the only species known to be capable of limited transmission between humans, linked to close and prolonged contact. Describing the situation, Dr Tedros said, “While this is a serious incident, WHO assesses the public health risk as low.” He noted that given the incubation…

WHO · May 4, 2026

Joint call by the President of the ICRC, the Director-General of WHO and the International President of MSF

Ten years ago, the UN Security Council unanimously adopted Resolution 2286 on health care in armed conflicts. The situation is even worse compared to 10 years ago. Today, we mark not an achievement – we mark a failure. As violence affecting medical facilities, transport and personnel continues unabated, the harm this resolution sought to prevent has not diminished. It has continued and, in many contexts, intensified. As the heads of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the World Health Organization (WHO), and Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), we join others in the international…

WHO · May 1, 2026

WHO Member States agree to extend negotiations on Pathogen Access and Benefit Sharing annex

Member States of the World Health Organization (WHO) have progressed work on the Pathogen Access and Benefit Sharing (PABS) annex, a key part of the WHO Pandemic Agreement, and today agreed additional time was needed to finalize the framework for ensuring a better, more equitable, response to future pandemics. Countries today ended the resumed session of the sixth meeting of the Intergovernmental Working Group (IGWG) on the WHO Pandemic Agreement in Geneva, focused on the PABS system. The outcome of this work will be presented to the Seventy-ninth World Health Assembly (WHA) later this month…

WHO · Apr 29, 2026

Australia becomes the 30th country to eliminate trachoma as a public health problem

The World Health Organization (WHO) has validated Australia for eliminating trachoma as a public health problem, marking a significant milestone in the health of indigenous peoples and in global efforts to combat neglected tropical diseases (NTDs). Trachoma, the world’s leading infectious cause of blindness, no longer represents a public health problem in the country.

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