A lack of political will remains the greatest obstacle to efforts to drastically reduce the number of people without access to basic sanitation and clean, running water, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Saturday, calling on the international community to take firmer and faster steps to tackle the problem.

"If we take up the challenge, the positive impact will reverberate far beyond better access to clean water," the U.N. chief said in a message to mark World Water Day, which is celebrated on Saturday. This year's Day also coincides with the International Year of Sanitation

Cases of tuberculosis missing detection are slowing down efforts to cut new infections by 2015, especially in India and China, says the World Health Organization in its report on global tuberculosis control in Geneva.

In 2006, the detection rate went down to 3 percent from 6 percent between 2001 and 2005. For every five TB cases diagnosed globally, four cases were not detected. The WHO estimates that only 61 percent of all TB cases worldwide are registered

Swedish scientists have recently discovered a protein that could allegedly help fight off obesity. The discovery, if verified, could be considered one of the frontliners in the global cure for obesity, which many now consider a growing epidemic.

The protein, tartrate-resistant acide phosphates (TRAP), reportedly simulates the production of fat cells, identified as responsible for obesity, through the inflammation of fat tissues

About 1,500 delegates from 57 countries attending the World Health Organization's Global Health Workforce Alliance meeting in Kampala, Uganda agreed Thursday to a plan of action to solve the alarming worldwide shortage of health workers.

The agreement contained in the Kampala Declaration and Agenda for Global Action sets out a series of steps to be taken by the 57 countries over the next 10 years. The steps the countries should take include training and recruiting sufficient health personnel and providing adequate incentives and better working conditions to ensure the retention of health workers

With over 1,100 children being infected with HIV daily, United Nations organizations have appealed to countries to bolster efforts to prevent mother-to-child transmissions (PMTCT) of the virus.

The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the UN World Health Organization (WHO), along with the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, jointly called on authorities to step up protection for mothers and children at the end of a three-day global meeting on HIV/AIDS in Washington on Wednesday