Today is World No Tobacco Day. Facts: Tobacco KILLS 1 person every 4 seconds ? There are much greater things in life to take your breath away!  "Say #NoTobacco! 🚭" Fact: Tobacco KILLS 8 million people each year. This includes 1 MILLION deaths from second-hand smoking exposure. Today and every day, don't let tobacco take your breath away! Fact: Tobacco smokers are up to 22 times more likely to develop lung cancer in their lifetime, compared to non-smokers. Fact: 1 in 5 tobacco smokers will develop chronic bronchitis and/or emphysema in their lifetime, resulting in agonizing breathing difficulties. Fact:  Children who breathe second-hand smoke are more likely to develop #asthma and experience frequent and more severe asthma attacks. Fact: Exposure to tobacco smoking impacts greatly on the lung health of people around the world, including: 1. Lung cancer 2. Chronic respiratory disease 3. Across the life-course 4. Tuberculosis 5. Air pollution Fact: ...

              Image: Daily Sabah More than a century after the malaria parasite was first discovered in Algeria by a French physician, the country is now rid of the deadly disease. After last reporting a malaria case in 2013, Algeria has joined 37 other countries globally that have been certified malaria-free by the World Health Organization (WHO). Algeria becomes the third African country to be certified malaria-free following Mauritius in 1973 and Morocco in 2010. In Lesotho, Libya, Tunisia, Seychelles and La Réunion, the other African territories declared free of the disease, malaria either never existed or disappeared without specific measures. WHO says French physician Dr Charles Louis Alphonse Laveran discovered the malaria parasite in Algeria in 1880. By the 1960s Algeria was reporting 80,000 malaria cases annually. Argentina was also certified malaria-free alongside Algeria. For its part, Algeria’s journey to being malaria-...

Health, environment and climate change Member States agreed a new global strategy on health, environment and climate change: the transformation needed to improve lives and well-being sustainably through healthy environments. The strategy provides a vision and way forward on how the world and its health community need to respond to environmental health risks and challenges until 2030. Risks include environmental physical, chemical, biological and work-related factors.  They also agreed a plan of action on climate change and health in small island developing States. The plan has four strategic lines of action: empowerment (supporting health leadership in small island developing States); evidence (building the business case for investment); implementation (preparedness for climate risks, adaptation and health-promoting mitigation policies); resources (facilitating access to climate and health finance).  Noncommunicable diseases Member States agreed a decision...

The number of mental health nurses in England has slumped by more than a tenth over the past decade, new figures have revealed. This is despite  commitments from both Theresa May  and her predecessor,  David Cameron , to boost resources for mental health services, which many medical professionals say are now in crisis. The total mental health nursing workforce has decreased by 10.6% since 2009, according to the Royal College of Nursing(RCN). While numbers of mental health nurses have grown in some areas, such as community care, they have fallen elsewhere. Numbers are down by a quarter (25.9%) in acute care and inpatient care – where the number of mental health nurses has fallen by more than 6,000 over the decade. Donna Kinnair, appointed as RCN chief executive and general secretary last month, will use a speech to the group’s annual congress on Monday to call on ministers to address England’s 40,000 nursing vacancies, and point out the new figures on the r...