Disease prevention

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• Adults in Europe consume three standard alcoholic drinks per day on average
  27-03-2012
  People in Europe consume more alcohol – 12.5 litres of pure alcohol equivalent per year on average – than in any other part of the world. How frequently, where and in what context alcohol is consumed influence the effect it has on health. “Alcohol in the European Union”, a new report by WHO co-sponsored by the European Commission, reveals significant subregional patterns of consumption and health effects across the European Union (EU).
• Antibiotic resistance: what is not measured, is not done. Surveillance to be strengthened throughout Europe
  17-11-2011
  The two most common antibiotic-resistant bloodstream infections – methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and resistant Escherichia coli – caused 8215 excess deaths (5503 and 2712, respectively) in 31 European countries in 2007.
• WHO's Health Economic Assessment Tool (HEAT) 'Highly Commended' at the UK National Transport Awards
  24-10-2011
  HEAT was praised for its contribution to sustainable transport at a ceremony held in London on 7 October 2011. By providing a methodology and a user-friendly tool that calculates in economic terms the health benefits of cycling or walking as a means of transport, HEAT supports policies to reduce the transport impact on health and the environment. HEAT also helps make the case for promoting physical activity as a means of transport, demonstrating that shifting the balance from motorized transport to cycling and walking brings additional benefits to health associated with increased physical activity.
• No tobacco at EURO 2012
  20-10-2011
  The 14th Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) European Football Championship (EURO 2012) will be totally tobacco free. UEFA’s decision to ban tobacco from the world’s third largest sporting event sends a strong message to football fans everywhere, reaffirming the link between football and good health.
• Violence and injuries: next steps in prevention
  17-10-2011
  The sixth meeting of the network of European health ministry focal persons for violence and injury prevention took place in Oslo, Norway on 11–12 October, attended by 70 participants from 37 countries in the WHO European Region. The plenary sessions focused on services for victims of violence, delivered by staff from the Norwegian Centre for Violence and Traumatic Stress Studies, and a WHO expert highlighted the global directions for the violence prevention networks, including the forthcoming survey for the global status report on violence prevention.
• Cervical cancer prevention – programme managers meet in Istanbul to strengthen decision-making and share experiences and best practice
  05-10-2011
  More than 40 Member States will meet in Istanbul to review progress and share experience, best practices and lessons learned within cervical cancer prevention. The meeting will take place 11-12 October 2011.
• How can physical activity be better promoted in your country? Find out through the HEPA new tool for policy audit of health-enhancing physical activity
  04-10-2011
  Promoting physical activity requires the involvement of multiple sectors in addition to health. This new HEPA policy audit tool (PAT) aims to help interested national agencies, institutes or other relevant groups promoting physical activity, to assess within their own country the scope for policy actions in this field. The tool, based on 17 successful elements for policy approaches to physical activity, is designed to capture physical activity-related policy from across a range of sectors, illustrating successful examples and identifying key learnings and failures.
• Bridging the gap between science and practice: annual meeting and third conference of HEPA Europe in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, 11-13 October 2011
  19-09-2011
  The next annual meeting and third conference of HEPA Europe take place in conjunction with the annual meeting of Agita Mundo, the Global Physical Activity Promotion Network. Conference topics include physical activity promotion policy, sedentary behaviour and the societal dimension of health-enhancing physical activity promotion.
• World No Tobacco Day, 31 May 2012 to focus on tobacco industry interference
  16-09-2011
  The tobacco industry makes the only legal consumer product that can harm everyone exposed to it - even non-users - and kills up to half of those who use it as intended.
• Europe fights back: WHO’s new action plan tackles antibiotic resistance
  15-09-2011
  Today, in Baku, Azerbaijan, at the WHO Regional Committee for Europe, 53 countries will discuss adopting a new European strategic action plan on antibiotic resistance. Developed by the WHO Regional Office for Europe following extensive consultation with experts and policy-makers and based on the latest research, the action plan builds on the momentum created by World Health Day 2011, with its slogan of “No action today, no cure tomorrow”.
• Noncommunicable diseases country profiles 2011 - WHO global report
  14-09-2011
• WHO's Health Economic Assessment Tool (HEAT) helps assessing the health benefits of public bicycle sharing scheme in Barcelona, Spain
  06-09-2011
  Bicing is a public bicycle sharing scheme in Barcelona, Spain, with about 182,000 subscribers. A health impact assessment study estimated the risks and benefits to health of travel by bicycle compared with travel by car in an urban environment. Results show that the public bicycle scheme brings benefits to health by increasing the levels of physical activity, and also through reducing carbon dioxide emission. The study used WHO guidance and HEAT, the Health Economic Assessment Tool, to estimate the health benefits of cycling.
• Opening of exhibition: “Antibiotics – an Endangered Treasure of Humankind": Prague, Czech Republic, 21 June 2011
  26-07-2011
  The opening ceremony and press conference of the exhibition, attended by WHO/Europe staff, were held at the National Museum of the Czech Republic in Prague.
• Prevention of acute drug-related mortality in prison populations during the immediate post-release period is now available in Russian
  22-06-2011
• In review: European Immunization Week 2011
  16-06-2011
  Millions of children were immunized, and campaigns, training, media outreach and advocacy activities, using traditional and new media, took place in 52 countries during European Immunization Week, 23–30 April 2011.
• New WHO/Europe report: an estimated 10 000 old people physically abused every day
  16-06-2011
  Every year at least 4 million older people in the WHO European Region are estimated to suffer physical abuse: being slapped, punched, kicked, burned, wounded with a knife or locked in their rooms. Research also indicates that as many as 2500 older people may die at the hands of family members. These are the main findings of the new European report on preventing elder maltreatment, released today by WHO/Europe at the 3rd European Conference on Injury Prevention and Safety Promotion, in Budapest, Hungary. The report gives the first description of the size, causes and consequences of elder maltreatment, and provides an overview of good practice in prevention.
• World No Tobacco Day, 31 May 2011
  31-05-2011
  World No Tobacco Day, 31 May 2011 focuses on the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control
• Road safety saves lives and money
  25-05-2011
  Road-traffic crashes kill over 350 Europeans every day, or over 120 000 per year. Almost half of them are pedestrians, motorcyclists and cyclists, and 6 out of 10 are aged 5–44 years. This unacceptable toll is particularly high in low- and middle-income countries.  At the 2011 summit of the International Transport Forum (ITF) in Leipzig, Germany, WHO/Europe is launching the Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011–2020 in the WHO European Region, along with the Global Plan for the Decade, which sets out how countries can save money, as well as lives.
• Road Safety Decade launches today
  11-05-2011
  Road traffic injuries kill some 127 000 people in the WHO European Region every year. WHO/Europe welcomes the Decade of Action on Road Safety 2011–2020, which aims to reduce road traffic deaths and injuries in the Region and the world.
• Experts agree on new European action plan on alcohol
  06-05-2011
  Countries’ experts on alcohol policy met in Zurich, Switzerland on 4–5 May 2011 to discuss the draft European alcohol action plan and a series of surveys planned on alcohol and health.
• WHO meeting of National Counterparts for Alcohol Policy in the WHO European Region
  04-05-2011
  National Counterparts for Alcohol Policy in the WHO European Region will meet in Zurich, Switzerland 4-5 May 2011 to discuss the draft European Alcohol Action Plan, the planned surveys on alcohol and health and to exchange information between Member States on alcohol policy developments.
• One road death affects thousands: road safety project in Turkey
  04-05-2011
  The road safety awareness campaign, "One road death affects thousands" was launched at an event on 2 May 2011 in Afyonkarahisar. 
• Noncommunicable diseases on global health agenda
  02-05-2011
  The First Global Ministerial Conference on Healthy Lifestyles and Noncommunicable Disease Control took place in Moscow, Russian Federation on 28–29 April 2011. European delegations met before the Conference to discuss the WHO European Region’s challenges in and solutions to the problem.
• Hungary’s public places and workplaces smoke free from January 2012
  28-04-2011
  The Hungarian Parliament passed legislation that will make public places, restaurants, bars and other workplaces in the country smoke free starting in January 2012.
• Complacency kills. Antibiotic resistance still on the rise in Europe
  07-04-2011
  Every year in the European Union alone it is estimated that over 25 000 people die of antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections, mostly acquired in hospitals. In the wider WHO European Region, which encompasses 53 countries, the full number is not known as data are not available, but the signs suggest that the situation is even worse. Doctors and scientists across the Region fear that with the reckless use of antibiotics, resulting in the emergence and spread of antibiotic-resistant infections, we could return to a pre-antibiotic era where simple infections do not respond to treatment, and routine operations and interventions may become life-threatening.
• Global status report on alcohol and health 2011
  11-02-2011
  The Global status report on alcohol and health (2011) presents a comprehensive perspective on the global, regional and country consumption of alcohol, patterns of drinking, health consequences and policy responses. In addition to the global perspective, the report contains country profiles for each European Member State.
• Being physically active helps prevent cancer
  04-02-2011
  On World Cancer Day on 4 February, WHO/Europe points at physical activity as an effective means to prevent cancer, together with avoiding tobacco and following a healthy diet, and invites policy-makers to strengthen efforts to encourage active transport.
• Cancer linked with poor nutrition
  04-02-2011
  Up to 30% of all cancer cases are linked to poor dietary habits, and are therefore preventable. World Cancer Day is 4 February.
• Containing antimicrobial resistance is the theme of World Health Day 2011
  22-12-2010
• Take the HEPA Europe online survey!
  10-12-2010
• Forty young Europeans are murdered each day, 16 of them with a knife. A new WHO report shows how these deaths can be avoided
  22-09-2010
  Interpersonal violence is the third leading cause of death among youth aged 10–29 years, killing over 15,000 young Europeans each year, 40% of them by a knife. Poorer young males are much more at risk of violence than those better off. The European report on preventing violence and knife crime among young people is the first comprehensive report published in Europe on young deaths from violence and stabbings. Launched today by WHO/Europe on the occasion of the Safety 2010 world conference in London, it highlights the enormous loss to society from youth violence in European countries and the huge benefits of a public health approach, complementing the criminal justice approach.
• HEPA Europe project on physical activity and sports promotion among children: exchange of experiences
  21-09-2010
  HEPA Europe project on physical activity and sports promotion among children: exchange of experiences
• Health benefits of cycling outweigh the risks, according to a scientific paper
  14-09-2010
  A Dutch study quantified the impact both on society and for individuals when 500,000 people would make a transition from car to bicycle for short trips on a daily basis in the Netherlands.  Results show that on average beneficial effects on individuals of increased physical activity are substantially larger than the potential mortality effect of increased inhaled air pollution and traffic crashes.
• WHO urges countries to take measures to combat antimicrobial resistance
  06-09-2010
  Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) - the ability of micro-organisms to find ways to evade the action of the drugs used to cure the infections they cause - is increasingly recognized as a global public health issue which could hamper the control of many infectious diseases.
• Marketing tobacco to women - Gender and tobacco
  09-05-2010
  The theme for World No Tobacco Day 2010 - Gender and tobacco with an emphasis on marketing to women - draws attention to the harmful effects of tobacco marketing towards women and girls.
• Progress in preventing violence and injuries: over 40 country assessments available
  02-05-2010
  These two-page summaries include a synthesis country profile and an assessment of the country’s progress in preventing violence and injuries based on the effectiveness of interventions in place.