WHO & Regionals [to 14 March 2015]
:: WHO issues its first hepatitis B treatment guidelines
12 March 2015 — Today, WHO issued its first-ever guidance for the treatment of chronic hepatitis B, a viral infection which is spread through blood and body fluids, attacking the liver and resulting in an estimated 650 000 deaths each year. Worldwide, some 240 million people have chronic hepatitis B virus and are at increased risk of dying from cirrhosis and liver cancer. Effective medicines exist that can prevent people developing these conditions so they live longer.

:: Global Alert and Response (GAR): Disease Outbreak News (DONs)
– 13 March 2015 Meningococcal disease – Nigeria
– 11 March 2015 Human infection with avian influenza A(H7N9) virus – China
– 11 March 2015 Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) – Qatar
– 11 March 2015 Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) – Saudi Arabia
– 9 March 2015 Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) – Germany

:: The Weekly Epidemiological Record (WER) 13 March 2015, vol. 90, 11 (pp. 97–108) includes:
– Recommended composition of influenza virus vaccines for use in the 2015–2016 northern hemisphere influenza season

:: WHO Regional Offices
WHO African Region AFRO
:: WHO and World Food Programme join forces to reach zero Ebola cases
11 March 2015 ¦ GENEVA – WHO and the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) are combining their forces in a new partnership in the Ebola-affected countries of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. The arrangement combines the logistics strength of WFP with WHO’s public health expertise to help get the current Ebola outbreak down to zero cases in West Africa. The platform also establishes an alert and response infrastructure for future crises.

WHO Region of the Americas PAHO
:: PAHO and Latin American Society of Nephrology call for increased prevention and better access to treatment for kidney disease (03/09/2015)

WHO South-East Asia Region SEARO
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WHO European Region EURO
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WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region EMRO
:: WHO Regional Director inaugurates primary health care centre and hands over urgently needed mobile medical clinics and ambulances to health authorities in Dohuk, Iraq
Erbil, Iraq, 14 March 2015 – WHO’s Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean Dr Ala Alwan visited Dohuk governorate of the Kurdistan region of Iraq to officially hand over 15 ambulances and 2 mobile medical clinics to Dohuk health authorities. The donation will provide health services and medical treatments for more than 60 000 beneficiaries for three months.