Health

STOP PRESS Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus was elected as the next Director General of the World Health Organization, by the World Health Assembly, as we headed to press. Dr Ghebreyesus, who was presented by the Ethiopian government, served as the country’s Minister of Health (2005 – 2012) and Minister of Foreign Affairs (2012 – 2016). On 1 July 2017, he will take over from Dr Margaret Chan. It is the first time that the WHO Director General has been directly elected by the World Health Assembly.

The two months since the publication of the debut edition of the Right to Health have been very encouraging, as you will read in this edition. The bi-monthly newsletter was launched during the PSI Africa and Arab Countries Regional Executive Committee (AFREC) meeting at Lagos, Nigeria in March.

PSI organized a regional meeting in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, 11-12 May, on the Human Right to Health with the invaluable support of the International Labour Organization (ILO), the National Committee of Health and Social Protection Workers Union of Tajikistan and the Independent Federation of Trade Unions of Tajikistan.

The world held its breath on 12 May 2017, when it was confirmed that the Democratic Republic of Congo was in the throes of an outbreak of the Ebola Virus Disease. It’s the eighth time the central African country has been hit by an Ebola epidemic since 1976.

#VoicetoLead #IND2017 - PSI affiliates, organising nurses across the world, commemorate today International Nurses Day. 12 May, which is the birth anniversary of Florence Nightingale - the founder of modern nursing, has been set aside since 1965 as “nurses day”. In 1975, it became “International Nurses Day” which is celebrated worldwide.

An important step forward was taken towards improving employment and working conditions in the health services with commitments jointly made by governments and social partners at a tripartite meeting held on 24-28 April, at the ILO.

6,300 people die every day due to accidents at the workplace or work-related diseases. This is more than 2.3 million deaths every year. Altogether over 317 million accidents take place during work annually, with many of these resulting in serious injuries or disabilities.

PSI's General Secretary was elected to serve as the Chairperson of the Workers’ group. Here is the speech she delivered on April 24.