The Global Soap Project recycles partially used hotel soap to save lives in impoverished countries.
Actress Kristin Davis introduces Top 10 CNN Hero Robin Lim, who helps poor women in Indonesia have healthy pregnancies.
In Niger, a woman gives birth to an average of nearly eight children. Countries like Uganda, Mali and Somalia are close behind, with an average of six to seven children per woman.
An outbreak of polio has been confirmed in China for the first time since 1999, leaving one person dead and hospitalizing another nine, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
The worldwide burgeoning of obesity and diabetes, including in developing nations, is causing increasing alarm. This week, the United Nations is bringing attention to these and other noncommunicable diseases at the General Assembly meeting in New York on the prevention of noncommunicable diseases.
To decrease deaths from noninfectious diseases, countries should pass excise taxes on tobacco and alcohol, encourage smoke-free public places, reduce salt and trans fat in foods, and increase awareness of diet and physical activity, according to a World Health Organization report.
People who have trouble sleeping rarely see their problem as an illness that requires treatment, or as an acceptable reason to call in sick. That mind-set may be hurting employers and employees alike by compelling people with insomnia to drag themselves to work and sleepwalk through the day, a new study suggests.
On Tuesday, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors passed a new ordinance requiring cell phone retailers to display and distribute a state-produced fact sheet that explains radio frequency emissions from cell phones and how consumers can minimize their exposure.
San Francisco is once again moving forward with its controversial plan to warn consumers about potential health risks related to cell phone use.
Four more people have died in Germany, health officials said Sunday, bringing the total number of deaths from an E. coli outbreak to 35.
An outbreak of a virulent strain of E. coli has killed 19 people in Europe and infected more than 2,000 in at least 12 countries, the World Health Organization said on Saturday.
Despite complaints from Europeans, Russia will keep intact its ban on vegetables from the European Union because of the outbreak of a rare strain of E. coli, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said Friday.
World Health Organization says cell phone radiation could cause cancer. CNN's Nicole Collins reports.
Following the World Health Organization's announcement that radio frequency emissions from cell phones may increase the risk of some kinds of brain cancer, what do you need to know about the radiation coming from your phone?
CNN's Anderson Cooper and Dr. Sanjay Gupta discuss manufacturers' guidance for using cell phones.
A World Health Organization panel announced this week that microwave radiation from cell phones may cause cancer, and that people should use them less.
Cell phone users -- a group that, these days, means practically everybody -- are no doubt concerned about Tuesday's news that the World Health Organization (WHO) classifies cell phones as "possibly carcinogenic to humans."
Radiation from cell phones can possibly cause cancer, according to the World Health Organization. The agency now lists mobile phone use in the same "carcinogenic hazard" category as lead, engine exhaust and chloroform.
Radiation from cell phones can possibly cause cancer, according to the World Health Organization.
"Killer apps," so the technological jargon goes, can transform the fortunes of businesses while improving the lives of the people that use them. But very few can claim to improve the worldwide provision of healthcare.
When I first came to China 39 years ago, airlines distributed cigarettes free of charge during flights. Hotel rooms were invariably furnished with free packs of cigarettes. At meetings and conferences, filter-tipped cigarettes were standard features on the podium alongside writing pads, pencils and ashtrays. Non-smoking cars were unheard of on trains.
The World Health Organization endorsed a new, rapid test for tuberculosis Wednesday that cuts the diagnosis time for patients from months to hours.
The Pan American Health Organization announced Tuesday it is increasing its planning to treat 400,000 cholera cases within the next year, up from a previous estimate of 270,000 over several years, as a result of the outbreak in Haiti.
CNN's Ivan Watson reports from a Haitian town gripped by fear and disease.
The death toll has risen to at least 1,344 in the cholera outbreak in Haiti that has sickened nearly 57,000 people, the Haitian government said Monday.
Good news for everyone who loves a barbecue: soon you could be helping save the world as you flip your burgers.
For the last several days, I have been in beautiful Kobe, Japan, reporting about the World Health Organization forum on urbanization and health.
World health agencies plan to launch a massive polio vaccination in three West African nations, following a fast-moving and especially virulent outbreak that has already killed 97 people.
Scores of people in the Republic of Congo have died in a polio outbreak, and health providers are gearing up to thwart the flare-up, the United Nations' health agency said Wednesday.
Julian Treasure says our increasingly noisy world is gnawing away at our mental health and has an 8-step plan to fix it.
Most of us have become so used to suppressing noise that we don't think much about what we're hearing, or about how we listen. Yet our well-being is now being seriously damaged by modern sound. Here are 10 things about sound and health that you may not know:
The number of women dying in pregnancy and childbirth has dropped by a third in the past two decades, according to a report out Wednesday from four world bodies including Unicef and the World Health Organization.
Authorities have seized 9,072 kilograms (20,000 pounds) of counterfeit medicine and arrested 80 people suspected of illegal trafficking in six East African nations, Interpol said Thursday.
CNN's Kyung Lah reports from Shahdodkot, Pakistan, where residents are evacuating houses engulfed by rising floodwater.
For almost a million Pakistanis, the misery of epic flooding covering one-fifth of the country has now taken the form of communicable illnesses.
The massive flooding that has covered about one-fifth of Pakistan has claimed the lives of more than 1,500 people, authorities said Saturday.
The global H1N1 pandemic is over, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization said Tuesday.
The American Embassy in Honduras has issued a warning about classic dengue and hemorrhagic dengue fever, which have killed 21 people in the country this year. Five more deaths are under investigation.
In Kuwait, at family gatherings and social events, food is always at the top of the menu.
The World Health Organization commended China for repealing a 20-year-old ban on foreigners with HIV and AIDS from entering the country.
The ash from the volcanic eruption in Iceland this week is paralyzing air travel because it is too dangerous for aircraft to fly through it. Those on the ground may be concerned about health effects when the ash falls to Earth, but experts say there is little to worry about.
Germany closes much of its airspace due to fears over volcanic ash.
It's World Health Day on Wednesday, which this year has a special focus on urbanization and health.
Since 1980, one disease has been erased from the face of the Earth: smallpox. Health officials believe Guinea worm disease will soon be next.
They are normally transmitters of the disease, but mosquitoes could one day be used to tackle malaria after scientists developed a genetically engineered version of the species that can deliver a vaccine.
Last spring, U.S. doctors' offices were barraged with phone calls and worried patients packed into hospitals. Schools closed. Face masks and Tamiflu were suddenly in short supply. The country verged on an H1N1 panic.
Surviving the massive quake that rocked Haiti was just the beginning. Experts say the new dangers -- among them, deaths from untreated wounds and disease outbreak -- may be compounded by Haiti's old problem: poverty.
Off the coast of Haiti, CNN's Sanjay Gupta is leading surgery on a 12-year old girl aboard the USS Vinson.
Four days after Haiti's massive earthquake, efforts are under way to bury the dead as thousands of bodies crumpled in the streets of Port-au-Prince lay exposed to the sun or draped in sheets and cardboard.
Twenty-two people, mainly children below the age of 5, have died of measles in Zimbabwe, the country's state media reported.
The World Health Organization (WHO) held a "side event" for public health officials in Copenhagen, Thursday, in an effort to put public health at the center of the climate-change debate.
CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta leads a panel of experts in discussing challenges facing the battle against cancer.
On Sunday, CNN.com broadcast a special live edition of The Clinic from Dublin, Ireland focusing on cancer.
Forget stampedes, fires and terrorist attacks. The big fear this year concerning the Hajj, the annual millions-strong pilgrimage to Mecca, is swine flu.
In Lebanon, you're never far from the whiff of cigarette smoke.
Some people in Beirut, Lebanon, are trying to reduce smoking and the risks that come with it. CNN's Schams Elwazer reports
Societies fail women at key moments in their lives by not offering them quality health care, which undermines their ability to reach their full potential, the World Health Organization says in a new report.
The H1N1 virus has now become the dominant influenza virus around the globe, with high levels and an increase of activity in many regions, the World Health Organization said Thursday.
Demand for hand sanitizer has gone through the roof since the first cases of swine flu broke out earlier this year, and some makers of the germ-fighting gels are scrambling to keep up.
The United States stepped up preparations for a possible swine flu epidemic, and Canada confirmed its first cases on Sunday as researchers worked to determine how contagious the virus could be.
Tracy Wilkinson of the Los Angeles Times reports on the Mexican government's efforts to contain the swine flu outbreak.
There will be more than enough doses of the H1N1 vaccine to go around in the United States, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said Thursday.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta talks to Anderson about his Swine Flu diagnosis while reporting in Afghanistan.
A restaurateur has gone to great lengths to tackle the spread of the H1N1 virus in his eatery, including taking staff's temperatures before they start work and preventing them from touching plates directly.
Every day, tens of thousands of fertilized hen eggs are delivered to Sinovac laboratories in Beijing. Each egg is infected with the H1N1 virus, then incubated for three days. White-coated employees examine every egg individually before the virus is extracted and used to make a vaccine.
CNN's Emily Chang reports cases of swine flu in China are accelerating as the country begins vaccinations.
China has developed a vaccine for swine flu and is set to become the first country in the world to begin mass inoculations, but there are concerns over possible side effects, the World Health Organization (WHO) has said.
A White House panel estimates 90,000 people could die from swine flu. CNN's Elizabeth Cohen reports.
The world will soon see an "explosion" of swine flu cases as the H1N1 virus spreads rapidly around the world, a top World Health Organization official said Friday.
Officials in Mexico's Chiapas state postponed classes Friday for more than 1 million students in an effort to avoid a resurgence of H1N1 flu, which has sickened thousands throughout Mexico this year.
More than 1,100 people worldwide have died from swine flu since it emerged in Mexico and the U.S. in April, according to the latest figures from the World Health Organization.
Australia starts vaccine trials for the H1N1 virus. SBS's Jenny Lavelle reports.
Sales of the flu drug Relenza shot up 1,900 percent from a year ago as governments around the world stockpiled in preparation for a swine flu pandemic, drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline said Wednesday.
The first human trials of a swine flu vaccine are expected to start in Australia Wednesday, as the World Health Organization confirmed that more than 700 people had died from the virus worldwide.
Two pilgrims from Iran have contracted the H1N1 virus, according to reports from the country's official news agency.
British airlines have put into effect measures to stop people with swine flu boarding flights in a bid to prevent the virus from spreading further.
The World Health Organization raises the threat level, indicating a global pandemic. CNN's Atika Shubert reports.
A nine-year-old girl has died in Britain from the H1N1 virus, commonly known as swine flu, as authorities reported a jump in the number of cases in the country.
CNN's Errol Barnett shows swine flu information sharing from Twitter.
An online map showing where swine flu -- or H1N1 virus-- is spreading has gone viral, so to speak.
A person with swine flu died in Scotland on Sunday, the government announced, marking the first known death of a swine flu patient outside of the Americas, according to the latest World Health Organization information.
The number of swine flu cases is closer to reaching 30,000, the World Health Organization reported Friday, a day after declaring the start of a global pandemic.
The World Health Organization raised the swine flu alert Thursday to its highest level, saying the H1N1 virus has spread to enough countries to be considered a global pandemic.
CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta provides a close-up view of the anxiety inside and outside one of Mexico City's biggest hospitals.
The World Health Organization has raised its pandemic alert level in response to the outbreak of swine flu that originated in Mexico.
A sharp increase in the number of reported cases of the H1N1 virus in Australia may prompt the World Health Organization (WHO) to declare the first global pandemic in over forty years.
The World Health Organization announced Tuesday it is still considering increasing its pandemic alert level to phase 6 because of growing worldwide cases of the H1N1 virus, or swine flu.
The World Health Organization on Friday reported 2,500 confirmed cases of swine flu in 25 countries, with 44 deaths from the disease.
The World Health Organization has called it a "public health emergency of international concern."
Martin Blaser of New York University gives advice on how to protect yourself from the swine flu virus.
The outbreak of swine flu, which appears to have originated in Mexico, has crossed borders and datelines, spooked the travel industry -- and thrown up some unfamiliar and uncertain terminology.
More than 200 people have died of meningitis in the past week alone in Niger and Nigeria, according to the World Health Organization.
As consumers everywhere look to scale back their discretionary spending, many people are cutting corners in what could turn out to be the worst possible place - their drugs - and falling prey to a dangerous new breed of pharmaceutical counterfeiters. Thanks to a spiraling economy and the loss of health insurance that typically accompanies job loss (not to mention huge profits for perpetrators) the global market for knock-off drugs is expected to reach a staggering $75 billion next year, according to a recent report by The Center for Medicine in the Public Interest. The World Health Organization estimates that 10% of the global pharmaceutical supply is counterfeit, and the number is accelerating, especially in developing nations.
Fortune: One-shot dealupdated: Wed Jan 17 2007 15:25:00
Problem: AIDS and hepatitis are spread by reused needles.
The World Health Organization says a cluster of bird flu cases in Indonesia may have been caused by human-to-human transmission.
While health officials have serious concerns about the H5N1 bird flu virus becoming a pandemic, they say it won't be a worldwide threat until the virus is able to spread easily between people.
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