Scienceonline

31 October, 2008 ¦ GOMA/GENEVA -- The World Health Organization and Italy will be sending 10 tonnes of medical supplies to help the tens of thousands of people affected by the ongoing insecurity in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. Intensive efforts are needed to prevent the spread of communicable diseases among the fleeing population and to treat the physical trauma caused by the violence.

Padua Working Group on Female Genital Mutilations .University of Padua

Genital Stretching (GS) is an expansive genital modification improperly classified by WHO inside the Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) forms (4th type)1. Ritual GS2 is a traditional practice of the Central-Eastern and Southern African populations settled on the migration ways of the ancient Khoisanid populations3, who possessed labia minora elongation as an hereditary trait.

UNESCO and the Education Minister of Iraq yesterday launched the Iraqi Educational TV Channel, IRAQI EDU. The channel is a response to the difficult security conditions in the country that keep many children away from school, and will provide support to students through distance learning.

A symposium on Freedom of Expression: Development, Democracy and Dialogue will be held at UNESCO Headquarters on 29 October as part of celebrations of the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights whose 19th article enshrines freedom of expression as a fundamental, inalienable human right.

A specialised training course for the Maghreb media on the climate change will take place from 13 to 17 October 2008 in Rabat, Morocco. This session is being organized by UNESCO, ISESCO, the French Embassy in Morocco and the Moroccan Ministry of Energy, Mines, Water and Environment in the framework of the Arab Environment Day celebrated every year on 14 October.

A new series of online training on FOSS in Arabic and French starts today and inscriptions are open for registration. It has been set up by UNESCO’s Office in Rabat in cooperation with ISESCO, the association Tanmia.ma and the Moroccan Department of Post, Telecommunications and New Technologies.

WHO calls for urgent scaling up of services for mental disorders

9 October/Geneva: More than 75% of people suffering from mental disorders in the developing world receive no treatment or care. A new WHO programme launched today, on World Mental Health Day 2008 highlights the huge treatment gap for a number of mental, neurological and substance use disorders. Across Africa for example, nine out of ten people suffering from epilepsy go untreated, unable to access simple and inexpensive anticonvulsant drugs which cost less than US$5 a year per person.

The workshop on “Humanizing technology for rural development” was recently co-organized by UNESCO, InfoDesarrollo Network and IICD in Riobamba, Ecuador.

GENEVA -- Contrary to what some marketers of the electronic cigarette imply in their advertisements, the World Health Organization (WHO) does not consider it to be a legitimate therapy for smokers trying to quit.

Geneva – A new report released today by the World Health Organization (WHO) finds that the global burden of malaria remains enormous, but that access to malaria control interventions, especially bed nets in Africa, increased sharply between 2004 and 2006, the period covered in the report.