News & Perspective

(CIDRAP News) – The world has made "unprecedented" progress in the last few years in the battle against neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), with two maladies targeted for eradication within the next 7 years, the World Health Organization (WHO) said in a report released today.

(CIDRAP News) – Polio cases in Africa were almost halved in 2011, but the disease shows worrisome trends in some countries, health officials reported today as the continent geared up to vaccinate 111 million children against the disease.

(CIDRAP News) – Flu activity remained low in the Northern Hemisphere last week, with only a few countries, such as Costa Rica and Cameroon, reporting spikes in the number of cases, the World Health Organization (WHO) said today.

Costa Rica is the only tropical country in the Americas to report increasing numbers of cases, which are primarily influenza A/H3N2, the WHO said.

(CIDRAP News) – Local or regional influenza outbreaks in a handful of countries were the only exceptions to a global pattern of low flu activity in recent weeks, the World Health Organization (WHO) said in its biweekly flu update today.