Yes — it comes from the World Health Organization and is refreshed on a schedule.

How is this different from the Outbreak News saver?

That one carries only the formal Disease Outbreak News notifications. This is the general newsroom — guidance, campaigns and statements.

No. This source is fully key-less.

Yes — free, no download, in your browser.

Who writes the items in this feed?

WHO itself. The text reflects the organisation’s own framing of its work, so it is an official source but not an independent one.

Does a headline here mean there is a new health emergency?

Not by itself. The newsroom carries statements, speeches, campaigns and feature stories, while disease events are described separately in Disease Outbreak News.

What is Disease Outbreak News?

A separate WHO publication about confirmed and potential acute public health events, issued under Article 11.4 of the International Health Regulations (2005). It is not part of this general news feed.

WHO Newsroom Screensaver

The WHO Newsroom screensaver shows headlines from the World Health Organization's general news feed, gathered key-less by the pipeline. Distinct from the Outbreak News saver, which carries only the formal disease notifications. It's free, runs in your browser, and ESC exits.

How the WHO Newsroom screensaver works

The background pipeline reads this from the World Health Organization and saves a snapshot the saver loads.

Headlines from the World Health Organization's general news feed, gathered key-less by the pipeline.

It refreshes on a schedule, so what you see stays current.

Colours can be changed in settings; nothing is stored beyond your own browser.

Reading the WHO's general newsroom

The World Health Organization is the United Nations agency for international public health. Its newsroom carries several kinds of item, including news releases, statements, campaigns, events, feature stories, speeches and commentaries. These are written by WHO itself, so they describe what the organisation is saying or doing rather than independent reporting on it.

Each entry in a listing has a date, a title and a short summary. Because the feed is editorial rather than epidemiological, it says little about case counts or how an outbreak is progressing, and a headline here should not be read as medical guidance for an individual.

Formal alerts about specific disease events are published separately as Disease Outbreak News. WHO issues these under Article 11.4 of the International Health Regulations (2005), which covers confirmed and potential acute public health events of concern, usually when authoritative independent information is needed. That is a different channel from the general newsroom.

A worked example

Headlines from the World Health Organization's general news feed, gathered key-less by the pipeline. Distinct from the Outbreak News saver, which carries only the formal disease notifications.

Settings & tips

Accent and Background recolour the display.
Run automation/run.py whonews to refresh the feed.
Press ESC to leave fullscreen.

Frequently asked questions

Is this real data?: Yes — it comes from the World Health Organization and is refreshed on a schedule.
How is this different from the Outbreak News saver?: That one carries only the formal Disease Outbreak News notifications. This is the general newsroom — guidance, campaigns and statements.
Is a key needed?: No. This source is fully key-less.
Is it free?: Yes — free, no download, in your browser.
Who writes the items in this feed?: WHO itself. The text reflects the organisation’s own framing of its work, so it is an official source but not an independent one.
Does a headline here mean there is a new health emergency?: Not by itself. The newsroom carries statements, speeches, campaigns and feature stories, while disease events are described separately in Disease Outbreak News.
What is Disease Outbreak News?: A separate WHO publication about confirmed and potential acute public health events, issued under Article 11.4 of the International Health Regulations (2005). It is not part of this general news feed.

← All Health & Medicine screensavers