Latest news with #WHO
Times of Oman
27 minutes ago
- Health
- Times of Oman
Iran urges WHO Chief to condemn "deliberate" military attacks on civilians, hold Israel and US accountable for war crimes
Geneva: Iran has urged World Health Organisation (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus to "strongly and unequivocally" condemn the deliberate military attacks on civilians and healthcare infrastructure and hold Israel and the United States regimes accountable for these alleged war crimes, under international law. In a letter addressed to Ghebreyesus on June 27, the Permanent Mission of Iran to the United Nations Office and other international organisations in Geneva detailed the casualties that occurred in Iran during 12 days of the ongoing conflict. "I write to formally bring to your attention the unlawful and reckless military attacks carried out by the Israeli regime and the United States of America against the Islamic Republic of Iran between 13 and 24 June 2025. These reprehensible actions, which during the war of aggression deliberately targeted civilian populations, healthcare facilities, and Iran's safeguarded nuclear infrastructure, constitute flagrant violations of international law, including the UN Charter and "its vision and principles of lasting peace," the letter read. According to the letter, the attacks resulted in 627 fatalities, including women, children, and medical personnel, while 4,935 individuals were injured. The letter further highlighted that 29 relief workers from the Iranian Red Crescent Society (IRCS) were among the injured. "The 12 days of war of aggression have resulted in 627 civilian losses of life, including women and children and medical personnel and 4,935 civilians' injuries, including 29 IRCS relief workers," the letter stated. "In light of these violations, the Islamic Republic of Iran urgently calls upon the World Health Organization (WHO) to strongly and unequivocally condemn these deliberate attacks on civilians and healthcare infrastructure, Hold the Israeli regime accountable for these war crimes under international law, and Enforce steps to prevent further breaches of international humanitarian law," it added. In the letter, Iran's Permanent Mission described the attack against women, healthcare workers, medical centres and essential civilian infrastructure as "war crimes under international law." In the letter, it said, "The premeditated, unprovoked and unjustified assault against my country and attacking women. Children, healthcare workers, medical centres, and essential civilian infrastructure amount to war crimes under international law. Among the seriously affected healthcare facilities are: 1. Hakim Children's Hospital (Tehran); 2. Labbafi-nejad Hospital(Tehran); 3. Farabi Hospital (Kermanshah): 4. Healthcare Center (Mianrahan City): 5. Ghasr-e-Shirin Rehabilitation Center, 6. Central Building of the Iranian Red Crescent Society (IRCS, Tehran): 7. Eleven ambulances and numerous other medical and civilian sites." It also mentioned that the attacks by the US and Israel on Iran's International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)-safeguarded nuclear facilities posed a "grave danger, risking radiological disaster and endangering civilian lives in Iran and the region" and stressed that these actions "contravene the WHO Constitution, which opposes threats to public health, as affirmed by numerous WHO resolutions, including WHA78(28)." On June 13, Israel launched "Operation Rising Lion," targeting Iranian military and nuclear sites. Iran retaliated with "Operation True Promise 3," a drone and missile campaign targeting Israeli infrastructure. The US joined the conflict early Sunday (local time) with "Operation Midnight Hammer," targeting Iranian nuclear facilities, which prompted Iran to strike US bases in Qatar and Iraq. Hours after Iran targeted American airbases in the West Asia, Trump announced that Israel and Iran had agreed to a "complete and total ceasefire."
South China Morning Post
32 minutes ago
- Health
- South China Morning Post
How to age well? Specialist in healthy ageing gives his tips on adding life to your years
He did not win the US$250,000 prize, but Jed Ray Gengoba Montayre was one of 10 finalists out of 100,000 candidates for the 2025 Aster Guardians Global Nursing Award. The award recognises outstanding contributions to the nursing field. Montayre, a gerontologist – or healthy ageing specialist – and associate professor at Hong Kong Polytechnic University's School of Nursing, was considered for the award for his groundbreaking research. He has spent half his life doing research on ageing, from how to counter loneliness to interventions for cognitive impairment. He has pioneered innovative care models for older people and worked on World Health Organization projects. He is also currently writing a book on how to age well. To help others age well, Montayre promotes maintaining social connections and building healthy habits like exercising. Photo: Shutterstock With all this under his belt, one might expect Montayre to be long in the tooth himself, but he is just 38. Montayre has been a keen learner since his childhood in the Philippine province of Cebu.
Malay Mail
an hour ago
- Health
- Malay Mail
Spillover from animals or lab leak? WHO says Covid-19 origins still unknown as lack of data hampers four-year investigation
GENEVA, June 28 — All hypotheses on how the Covid-19 pandemic began remain open, the World Health Organization said yesterday, following an inconclusive four-year investigation that was hamstrung by crucial information being withheld. The global catastrophe killed an estimated 20 million people, according to the WHO, while shredding economies, crippling health systems and turning people's lives upside-down. The first cases were detected in Wuhan in China in late 2019, and understanding where the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes Covid came from is key to preventing future pandemics. However, a lengthy investigation launched by the UN's health agency said that pending further data, the origin of Covid and how it first spread remains elusive. 'As things stand, all hypotheses must remain on the table, including zoonotic spillover and lab leak,' WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a press conference, referring to the two main hypotheses as to how the pandemic began. Expert investigation An initial WHO-Chinese joint report in March 2021 concluded that the virus most likely jumped from bats to humans via an intermediate animal. It deemed a leak from Wuhan's virology laboratories — known for their research on coronaviruses — to be 'extremely unlikely'. However, that investigation faced harsh criticism for lacking transparency and access, and for not seriously evaluating the lab-leak theory. Tedros launched another investigation, setting up the Scientific Advisory Group for the Origins of Novel Pathogens (SAGO), comprising 27 international experts, in July 2021. Their 78-page report was published on Friday. It said the weight of available evidence suggests a spillover from animals — either directly from bats, or through an intermediate host. However, it could not conclude with certainty where and when this happened, nor whether the Wuhan wet market was where the virus first spilled over into humans. That said, the market 'appears to be the location for amplification of infection in humans', leading to widespread transmission. 'Evidence for widespread infections or cases in any other countries prior to December 2019 is lacking,' it added. While spillover was the best supported theory on the evidence currently available, 'until further requests for information are met, or more scientific data becomes available, the origins of SARS-CoV-2 and how it entered the human population will remain inconclusive,' SAGO chair Marietjie Venter said at the press conference. Lab leak theories 'could not be investigated or excluded', she said, because much of the needed information had not been made available. The experts requested unpublished information from other countries, notably Germany and the United States, but without success, she said. Earlier this week, one SAGO member resigned and three others asked for their names to be removed from the report. 'Crucial question' 'Over the past five years, we have learned a lot about Covid-19 but there is one crucial question about the pandemic that we have not yet answered: how it started,' Tedros said. 'Despite our repeated requests, China hasn't provided hundreds of viral sequences from individuals with Covid-19 early in the pandemic, more detailed information on animals sold at markets in Wuhan, and information on work done and biosafety conditions at laboratories in Wuhan,' he said. He said WHO has requested access to intelligence reports by governments around the world on the origins of Covid-19. US President Donald Trump's administration has officially embraced the lab leak theory. Moral imperative Tedros said finding out how Covid-19 started was a moral imperative for those who lost their lives in the pandemic and to prevent further outbreaks. He said the virus was continuing to evolve, take lives and leave people suffering with post-Covid conditions, or so-called long Covid. Tedros said the WHO is appealing to countries with information about the origins of Covid-19 to share information. SAGO said it would continue to evaluate any new, sound scientific evidence and update its findings accordingly. — AFP
Express Tribune
an hour ago
- Health
- Express Tribune
WHO says all Covid origin theories still open
All hypotheses on how the Covid-19 pandemic began remain open, the World Health Organization said Friday, following an inconclusive four-year investigation that was hamstrung by crucial information being withheld. The global catastrophe killed an estimated 20 million people, according to the WHO, while shredding economies, crippling health systems and turning people's lives upside-down. The first cases were detected in Wuhan in China in late 2019, and understanding where the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes Covid came from is key to preventing future pandemics. However, a lengthy investigation launched by the UN's health agency said that pending further data, the origin of Covid and how it first spread remains elusive. "As things stand, all hypotheses must remain on the table, including zoonotic spillover and lab leak," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a press conference, referring to the two main hypotheses as to how the pandemic began. An initial WHO-Chinese joint report in March 2021 concluded that the virus most likely jumped from bats to humans via an intermediate animal. It deemed a leak from Wuhan's virology laboratories — known for their research on coronaviruses — to be "extremely unlikely". However, that investigation faced harsh criticism for lacking transparency and access, and for not seriously evaluating the lab-leak theory. Tedros launched another investigation, setting up the Scientific Advisory Group for the Origins of Novel Pathogens (SAGO), comprising 27 international experts, in July 2021. Their 78-page report was published on Friday.
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Health
- Yahoo
Covid origins investigation inconclusive, says WHO
A long-running World Health Organization investigation into the origins of Covid-19 has been unable to conclude where the virus came from because of a refusal to share information by China and intelligence agencies. An independent panel found that the most likely scientific explanation for the emergence of Covid-19 was direct transmission from bats to humans, or via an intermediary animal sold at the Wuhan wet market where the first cases emerged in December 2019, the WHO announced on Friday. 'Most scientific data and accessible published scientific evidence currently supports this hypothesis, however [we] are not currently able to conclude when, where and how Sars Cov-2 entered the human population,' Dr Marietjie Venter, Chair The Scientific Advisory Group for the Origins of Novel Pathogens (SAGO), told a press conference. Dr Venter added that the Wuhan Huanan seafood market had played a 'significant role' in the spread of the virus, and that 60 per cent of early cases could conclusively be traced back to the site. She added that no widespread human or animal cases had been recorded anywhere else before December 2019. The pandemic killed an estimated 20 million people while shredding economies and crippling health systems, according to the WHO. Understanding its origins is seen as key to preventing future pandemics. The panel was unable to rule out the possibility that the virus emerged from a laboratory leak in Wuhan due to a lack of cooperation from Chinese authorities and other governments who had been unwilling to share intelligence reports, the health agency said. 'Much of the information needed to investigate this hypothesis has not been made available to WHO or SAGO, despite repeated requests to the government of China,' said Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus, the WHO's Director General. 'Despite our repeated requests, China hasn't provided hundreds of viral sequences from individuals with Covid-19 early in the pandemic, more detailed information on animals sold at markets in Wuhan, and information on work done and biosafety conditions at laboratories in Wuhan,' he said. The CIA said in January that Covid-19 was 'more likely' to have leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, a highly secure laboratory located in the heart of the city where the first cases of Covid-19 were recorded, than to have come from animals. Germany's foreign intelligence service, the BND, believes there is an 80-90 per cent chance that coronavirus accidentally leaked from a Chinese lab, German media reported earlier this year. Dr Tedros said: 'WHO is also aware of intelligence reports performed by other governments around the world on the origins of Covid-19, we have also requested access to those reports [....] and have not had access to [them] or their underlying data.' As well as the lab leak and zoonotic spillover explanations, the committee also investigated two other hypotheses. One, which was promoted by Beijing in the early days of the pandemic, is the claim that Covid-19 was transmitted via frozen food products imported into China. Dr Venter said that 'more data is required to prove this hypothesis'. A fourth theory – popular on social media – is that the pandemic was the result of a deliberate laboratory manipulation of the virus. 'SAGO analysed the genomic structure of the virus and did not find scientific evidence supporting this hypothesis. There's also evidence that these mutations and recombinations occur in nature,' Dr Venter said. The WHO's efforts to uncover the origins of Covid have long been shrouded in doubt, largely because of China's refusal to share information with investigators. After four years of investigation, 'all hypotheses remain on the table,' said Dr Tedros. He added that the WHO continued to appeal to Beijing and other countries with information about the origins of Covid-19 to share the information openly, in the interests of protecting the world from future pandemics. The full SAGO report was published on Friday. Its authors concluded that 'although evidence exists that has improved our understanding of the early and subsequent evolution of the virus in humans and animals, significant data gaps remain which preclude SAGO from concluding with certainty how SARS-CoV-2 initially entered the human population'. The panel urged China and the global scientific community to 'prioritise further work on understanding the origins of Covid-19 and for all countries to comprehensively study future emergences of unknown pathogens'. The full SAGO report was being published on Friday. Protect yourself and your family by learning more about Global Health Security Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
