The organization disclosed this in its new Global Status Report on Neurology, noting that common conditions include stroke, migraine, Alzheimer’s disease, diabetic neuropathy, meningitis, and epilepsy.

WHO Assistant Director-General for Health Promotion, Disease Prevention and Control, Dr Jeremy Farrar, said, “With more than one in three people in the world living with conditions affecting their brain, we must do all we can to improve the health care they need.”

WHO urged urgent, coordinated action, highlighting that most cases are either preventable or treatable, yet access to care remains limited, especially in low-income and rural areas.

According to reports, only one in three countries has national strategies for neurological care, and just 18% of WHO Member States allocate dedicated funding. Low-income nations face a severe shortage of neurologists, over 80 times fewer than high-income countries, despite bearing a heavier disease burden.

Read Also: Unicef Advocates Professionalism in Media To Shield Vulnerable Children

WHO warned that without immediate investment, awareness, and universal health coverage, the burden will keep rising, deepening global health inequalities.

In Nigeria, a leading neurologist warned that brain disorders are set to triple by 2030, largely driven by rising cases of hypertension and diabetes. Currently, one in four Nigerians has hypertension, while one in six has diabetes, both major risk factors for neurological conditions such as stroke, epilepsy, insomnia, and depression.

Source: Punch

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The Jigawa NOA Director, Ahmad Tijjani, made the address while speaking at the 2025 World Suicide Prevention Day in Dutse, stressed the need to raise awareness on suicide and break the stigma.

The WSPD commemorated has annually aims to raise public awareness about suicidal behaviours, providing worldwide commitment and action and highlighting the need to address mental health issues and reduce stigma.

He added that the agency joined the rest of the world to raise awareness, break the stigma, and remind Nigerians that suicide was preventable.

He further explained that every year, more than 720,000 lives are lost globally to suicide, with each loss deeply affecting families and communities.

The director also urged people to listen with patience and without judgment while also encouraging those struggling to seek professional help from doctors, counsellors, or hotlines, and share information on where support can be found.

Source: Punch

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The first medicines were being delivered to Mongolia and Uzbekistan, the WHO said, with further shipments planned for Ecuador, Jordan, Nepal and Zambia, as part of the project’s pilot phase.

The treatments are expected to reach around 5,000 children with cancer this year across at least 30 hospitals in those six nations.

The WHO said that childhood cancer survival rates in low- and middle-income countries were often below 30 percent, compared with around 80 percent in high-income countries.

A further six countries have been invited to join the platform, which hopes to reach 50 countries in the next five to seven years, providing medicines for approximately 120,000 children.

Read Also: Argentina moves to withdraw from WHO after US exit

An estimated 400,000 children worldwide develop cancer every year, most of them living in resource-limited settings, the WHO said.

The WHO said cost-free provision would continue beyond the pilot phase, and the platform is working on developing its sustainability over the longer term.

The plan to establish the platform was first announced in December 2021.

It is a joint enterprise between the WHO and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee in the United States.

The non-profit pediatric treatment and research institution has committed $200 million to its launch, the WHO said.

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This is following US President Donald Trump’s executive order last month to pull the United States out of the global health group.

Trump, who Argentina’s libertarian President Javier Milei considers a close ally, moved to exit the organization on his first day in office on January 20.

It was gathered that Milei ordered Argentina’s withdrawal because of deep differences regarding the WHO’s management of health issues.

Read Also: Trump signs order to pull US from WHO

According to the presidential spokesperson Manuel Adorni, notable among the issues was the COVID-19 pandemic, citing Argentina’s months-long lockdown under the previous leftist government.

Adorni also cited a lack of independence from the political influence of other states.

Recall that Trump had similarly said that the global health agency had mishandled the COVID-19 pandemic and other international health crises and that it required unfairly onerous payments from the United States, its biggest funder.

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He wrote that all meetings must be fully virtual by default unless exceptional approval is sought and granted, adding technical support missions should be limited to the most essential.

Read Also: Trump signs order to pull US from WHO

President Donald Trump had on Monday signed an executive order directing the United States to withdraw from the WHO, a body he has repeatedly criticised over its handling of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Tedros said the announcement has made the financial situation more acute, saying they know it has created significant concern and uncertainty for the WHO workforce.

He further said they are reviewing which activities to prioritise with a reduced resource envelope.

Tedros stressed that the UN health agency hoped the new administration would reconsider its decision, noting they were open to dialogue on preserving the relationship.

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President Donald Trump has signed an executive order directing the United States to withdraw from the World Health Organization, a body he has repeatedly criticised over its handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Speaking at the White House hours after his inauguration, Trump said the United States was paying far more to the UN body compared to China.

The United States, the largest donor to the Geneva-based organization, provides substantial financial support that is vital to the WHO’s operations.

Its withdrawal is expected to trigger a significant restructuring of the institution and could further disrupt global health initiatives.

This marks the second time Trump has sought to sever ties with the WHO.

Read Also: Trump pardons 1,500 Capitol rioters

During his first term, the United States issued a notice of intent to withdraw, accusing the organization of being overly influenced by China during the pandemic’s early stages.

That move was later reversed under former president Joe Biden’s administration.

The administration also announced plans to review and rescind Biden’s 2024 US Global Health Security Strategy, which was designed to prevent, detect, and respond to infectious disease threats, as soon as practicable.

The timing of the US withdrawal comes amid mounting fears over the pandemic potential of the current bird flu outbreak – H5N1, which has infected dozens and claimed one life in the United States.

Meanwhile, WHO member states have been negotiating the world’s first treaty on pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response since late 2021 — negotiations now set to proceed without US participation.

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The WHO in a statement on X  said that initial reports indicate that some key departments were severely burned and destroyed during the raid.

Gaza health officials said that Israeli forces had detained the director of the hospital.

The Palestinian Health Ministry in the Hamas-run territory said that occupation forces have taken dozens of the medical staff from Kamal Adwan Hospital to a detention centre for interrogation, including the director, Hussam Abu Safia.

Read Also: Israeli airstrike in Beirut kills Hezbollah media chief

The ministry had earlier quoted Abu Safia as saying the military had set on fire all surgery departments of the hospital and that there were a large number of injuries among the medical team.

The WHO reiterated its call for a ceasefire.

Israel’s military began a renewed ground offensive in northern Gaza in October and has claimed that the hospital had become a key stronghold for terrorist organisations and continues to be used as a hideout for terrorist operatives.

Before initiating the latest attack on the hospital, the Israeli military said its soldiers had facilitated the secure evacuation of civilians, patients, and medical personnel.

Hamas denied its fighters were present in the hospital and urged the UN to set up an investigation committee to examine the scale of crime being committed in northern Gaza.

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The talks at the World Health Organization’s headquarters in Geneva opened three years on from the decision to draft a new accord on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response taken in the heat of Covid-19 crisis.

Concluding an international agreement in little over three years would be exceptionally fast, given the typical glacial pace of striking treaties.

Read Also: WHO, Africa CDC strengthen Mpox vaccination in Nigeria, 16 others

While countries agree on the broad scope of what they want, the fine details remain in contention.

WHO director-general, Tedros Ghebreyesus, warned that for the pandemic agreement to be meaningful, provisions of strong prevention is needed, for continued preparedness, and for robust, resilient and equitable response.

Tedros noted that an imbalanced pandemic agreement is not an agreement.

Reports show that Monday’s talks focused on research and development, sustainable financing, transfer of technology and know-how for the production of pandemic-related health products, prevention and surveillance, and on the heart of the agreement -the proposed pathogen access and benefit-sharing system.

However, on Friday, countries will take stock and decide if they have made sufficient progress to call a special session of the World Health Assembly in order to adopt a finalised agreement.

A special session of the WHO’s top decision-making body takes 35 days to arrange.

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The Africa CDC, in a statement , noted that with anticipated mpox vaccine deliveries to the
African region in the coming months, countries had requested support in identifying and mapping mpox hotspots based on local epidemiology and planning targeted vaccination strategies to reach populations  at risk of mpox.

More than 120 participants from 17 countries, along with partners from Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance,  UNICEF, the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the United States Agency for  International Development, and with support from Canada, attended the Regional Mpox Vaccine  Preparedness and Deployment Plan Development meeting, which took place from November 5-7, 2024.

Read Also : US Donates 10,000 Mpox Vaccines To Nigeria, Vaccination Set To Begin This Week

It added that mpox vaccine deployments had faced delays on the continent and that supply would likely remain limited in the near- to medium-term. However, recently, three countries in the African region—Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Nigeria—received a total of 280,000 doses.

Initial vaccination efforts have begun in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda, with more  than 50,000 doses administered.

Four countries (South Africa, Guinea,   Cameroon, and Gabon) moved to the ‘controlled phase’ in October 2024 after reporting no new cases for six weeks. Fourteen other countries are currently experiencing active outbreaks in Africa.

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Mary Brantuo, who represented the WHO country representative, Walter  Molumbo, explained that the WHO team was in Maiduguri to commiserate with the government and the people of the state who were affected by the devastating flood.

Presenting the items to the state’s commissioner for health and human resources, Baba Gana, she noted that the situation was urgent and required immediate attention.

She added that it was the reason the WHO, in collaboration with partners, remained committed to providing technical and material support to the affected people.

According to Brantuo, the recent flooding had brought untold hardship to the people of Borno State, stressing that the disaster had not only displaced families but also heightened the risk of deadly diseases, such as cholera and worsened the nutritional status of children already vulnerable to malnutrition.

She explained that the cholera kits donated would be essential in preventing and controlling potential outbreaks, adding that the kits would help frontline health workers combat malnutrition among children, giving them a fighting chance for a healthy future.

In his remarks, the commissioner thanked the WHO for the donation, saying the flood caused health challenges affecting mostly women and children.

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