August is National Immunization Awareness Month – a reminder to make sure that everyone is up to date on inoculations. Vaccines don’t protect just a single person – the more people who are vaccinated, the less likely a disease can spread.
A recent HealthDay article reports that a study of 27,000 people from around the world found that the majority of strokes are preventable. Further, the report cited the top 10 risk factors for strokes.
July 28 is World Hepatitis Day. According to a recent study, viral hepatitis is now a leading cause of death worldwide, killing as many people annually as malaria, tuberculosis or HIV/AIDS.
The Zika virus headlines the news today, but dengue fever is viewed by many as a greater threat to the global population. The overall incidence of dengue has grown dramatically in recent decades with half of the world’s population now at risk.
WiRED International is pleased to announce the translation into Spanish of its rheumatic heart disease (RHD) animation video. A Portuguese version will be available soon. Awareness about RHD educates people about this completely preventable disease that currently affects at least 15.6 million victims.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has called for an emergency-driven campaign to vaccinate people in Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda in response to yellow fever outbreaks in Africa.
The Zika virus continues to produce an ever-increasing number of unwelcome surprises for the global health community. A recent Scientific American article cites possible links between Zika and a new set of birth defects.
This June WiRED International Director Gary Selnow, Ph.D., and WiRED Armenia Director Sebouh Baghdoyan spent a busy week visiting facilities and attending meetings in Armenia.
Twenty-three-year-old Ochieng Wilbertforce lives in Obunga, one of the world’s poorest slums in the northwest part of Kisumu, Kenya. One day a friend told him about WiRED International’s Community Health Information Center in Kisumu. Feeling curious, he visited the Center and began his education in health.
The Zika virus is no longer a phenomenon found just in America’s Southern Hemisphere. On June 15 the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that 234 pregnant women in the continental United States have been infected with the Zika virus.