Manila, Feb 2 - The World Health Organization (WHO) warned Tuesday that annual global cancer deaths would jump to 17 million by 2030 from a projected 7.6 million this year if people do not take urgent action to avoid risk factors.

Cancer accounts for one in eight deaths worldwide - more than AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria combined - but many of these deaths can be avoided, the WHO said.

It added that each year, over 12 million people around the world are diagnosed with cancer.

Manila - Health authorities detected another contaminated Chinese milk product, the fourth to be found in the Philippines, a senior official said Wednesday.

Health Secretary Francisco Duque said the Lotte Strawberry Snack Koala Biscuit was found positive of containing traces of the industrial chemical melamine.

Health authorities earlier found traces of melamine in Jolly Cow Slender High Calcium Low Fat Milk, Greenfood Yili Pure Milk and Mengniu Original Drink Milk.

Manila  - South-East Asian health ministers Friday called for a study on the impact of trade liberalization on health to ensure that people are protected from harmful products that are easily distributed across borders.

Manila  - The United Nations' Children Fund (UNICEF) Friday launched a campaign to promote hand-washing with soap in the Philippines to prevent illnesses such as diarrhoea, which has killed over 70,000 children in the country in a span of seven years.

Manila  - A cholera outbreak in a remote southern Philippine town killed at least 18 people in the past two days, a local official said Wednesday.

Fifty people have also fallen ill due to the disease that struck residents in a village in Palimbang town in Sultan Kudarat province, 1,005 kilometres south of Manila, according to town Mayor Samrud Mamansual.

Manila  - The World Health Organization (WHO) raised alarm Friday over what it called the aggressive marketing ploys of tobacco companies to entice teenagers to smoke.

Giant multinational tobacco companies are targeting about half a billion young people in Asia and the Pacific to get hooked into smoking at an early age, according to WHO's Western Pacific Region office, which is based in Manila.

Manila - The Philippines on Tuesday banned organ transplants to foreigners in a bid to curb a thriving black market in the trade of organs in the country.

Under the Department of Health directive, all foreigners are banned from accessing organs from Filipino donors. Hospitals and individuals who violate the ban would face criminal charges.

Manila - Austria will contribute 5 million dollars to a regional fund aimed at providing safe drinking water and sanitation services in impoverished areas in Asia and the Pacific, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) said Monday.