Content about World Health Organization

NEW YORK — "Who are you?" That question probably won't be necessary as the famous frontman of British Invasion band The Who takes the stage at the National Association of Chain Drug Stores' Total Store Expo in August.

The NACDS said it had hired Roger Daltrey to perform at the show, which takes place in Las Vegas from Aug. 10-13 and combines the group's Pharmacy and Technology, Marketplace and Supply Chain and Logistics shows. Daltrey will perform on Aug. 12.

HAIFA, Israel — The makers of a new app say that it increased users' medication adherence rate to more than 80%.

The MediSafe Project said Tuesday that users reported medication adherence rates of 81%, while the rate was 84.25% for patients using statins.

CHICAGO — As part of a meta-analysis spanning 70,000 patients, a study published in the Sept. 12 issue of JAMA determined supplementation with omega-3 fish oils was not associated with a lower risk in heart disease. Lead researcher Evangelos Rizos of the University Hospital of Ioannina in Greece, concluded that omega-3 supplement recommendations may be overblown.

DEERFIELD, Ill. — Walgreens on Wednesday donated 375,000 doses of seasonal flu vaccine to Lao People’s Democratic Republic.

Lao PDR health officials have designated the 375,000 doses of donated flu vaccine for people at high risk of flu complications in that country, including pregnant women, seniors and people with such chronic health conditions as heart and lung disease. The Walgreens donation was the result of a longstanding collaboration between the Lao MOH, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization.

PITTSBURGH — The World Health Organization has approved three generic second-line treatments for HIV made by Mylan, the drug maker said Tuesday. The drugs will be delivered to people in developing countries living with HIV and AIDS.

BALTIMORE — Nearly one-fifth of all Americans ages 12 years and older have hearing loss so severe that it may make communication difficult, according to a new study led by Johns Hopkins researchers and published in the Nov. 14 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine. The findings, thought to be the first nationally representative estimate of hearing loss, suggest that many more people than previously thought are affected by this condition.


A worldwide flood of counterfeit and unsafe medications is seeping into the United States and other developed countries via the Internet and porous borders, threatening public health and the security of the pharmaceutical supply chain. In response, federal drug safety overseers and such drug manufacturers as Pfizer are working to shore up the integrity of drug supplies and stop production of fake and adulterated pharmaceuticals at their source.


NEW YORK — Researchers from the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston found that patients with diabetes are at higher risk of contracting tuberculosis, a deadly bacterial disease, than nondiabetics.

The study investigators discovered among 233 patients that were diagnosed with TB between March 2006 and March 2008 — which included 61 patients in southern Texas and 172 in northeastern Mexico — 25% of TB cases were attributed to the presence of diabetes, while 6% of TB cases were caused by HIV.

NEW YORK — A new Harris Poll published Tuesday suggested that many doctors are doing little or nothing to help their overweight patients to lose weight.

Using classifications defined by the World Health Organization, 19% of those who are morbidly obese (with a body mass index of 35 or greater), 46% of those who are obese (BMI of between 30 and 34) and 72% who are overweight but not obese (BMI of between 25 and 29), said that their doctors have never told them to lose weight.