Accelerating progress on child survival

13 September 2012 -- The pace of reducing child deaths has accelerated sharply since 2000, according to new data released today by UNICEF, WHO, the World Bank and the UN Population Division. An annual report by the UN Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation shows that in 2011, an estimated 6.9 million children died before their fifth birthday, compared to around 12 million in 1990.

• Read the joint news release

12 September 2012 -- Over the past 20 years, more than 14 million leprosy patients have been cured, about four million since 2000. This updated fact sheet on leprosy shows how early diagnosis and treatment with multidrug therapy (MDT) remain the key elements in eliminating the disease as a public health concern. MDT treatment has been made available by WHO free of charge to all patients worldwide since 1995.

• Read the leprosy fact sheet

7 September 2012 -- For World Suicide Prevention Day, 10 September, WHO is releasing a framework for addressing the underlying causes of suicide and for developing action plans to suit each country and its communities. Suicide, though largely preventable, is one of the three leading causes of death among those in the most economically productive age group (15-44 years), and the second leading cause of death of those 15-19. At the other end of the age spectrum, the elderly are also at high risk.

• Read the framework: Public health action for the prevention of suicide

4 September 2012 -- Health insurance systems hold untapped potential for achieving universal coverage of health services. A study of countries in Asia and Africa published in this month’s Bulletin of the World Health Organization, found that community and social health insurance schemes in these countries increase financial protection by reducing the need to pay for health services at the point of delivery.

• Read the note for media on prepayment
• Read the Bulletin article