A major problem facing the world is how to build peace following the ravages of increasingly protracted armed conflict. Armed conflicts leave behind shattered, divided societies that are at risk of repeating cycles of violence, and therefore need concerted peacebuilding efforts. Conflicts also take ...a heavy toll on people’s mental health and psychosocial well-being. One in five people who live in a war zone will likely develop a mental disorder, and many others suffer from painful everyday stresses associated with multiple losses, family separation, gender-based violence (GBV), disability, climate change and ongoing insecurity, among other issues.
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This document contains guidance for strengthening the disability inclusiveness of MHPSS responses and programmes in emergency settings. It is intended to supplement the IASC Guidelines on Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Emergency Settings (2007).
Overall Objective
To consider and add...ress the mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) requirements of persons living in emergency settings with all types of disabilities on an equal basis to the MHPSS requirements of all persons, using a human rights-based approach and implementing social-ecological frameworks.
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The ERF provides WHO staff with essential guidance on how the Organization manages the assessment, grading and response to public health events and emergencies with health consequences, in support of Member States and affected communities. The ERF adopts an all-hazards approach and it is therefore a...pplicable in all acute public health events and emergencies.
This version (2024) of the WHO ERF has been developed following extensive consultation across the three levels of the Organization and response experiences over the last five years of emergency response. Key areas have been updated to improve the accountability, predictability, timeliness and effectiveness of WHO’s response to emergencies.
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The war in Gaza has resulted in many hundreds of spinal cord injuries (SCI), which will have a devastating impact on those injured and their families for the rest of their lives.
The optimal management of SCI requires effective pre-hospital care, early specialized imaging (using CT or MRI) and in... many cases early surgical interventions by a highly specialised neurosurgical team. Surgery requires many hours of use of a sterile operating room environment and supportive critical care capacity, as well as intensive post-operative care – none of which is currently possible due to the ongoing war, destruction, and disruption of health services in Gaza.
An alternative to surgery is conservative management – this requires intensive nursing care under full spinal precautions for many weeks in order to allow for bone and soft tissue healing and prevent further injury to the spinal cord. The patient is unable to move independently in bed during this period. Those caring for the patient need to be able to safely reposition them every 2 hours, and manage all their bowel and bladder care needs. The patient needs good nutrition and hydration at all times, as well as access to medication to support bowel care, manage pain (including neuropathic pain). A caregiver must remain with the patient to be trained to provide ongoing care and assist with daily care.
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The war in Gaza has resulted in thousands of amputations, including early estimates of over 1000 children, all of whom have immediate and life-long needs. Surgical amputations performed under extremely difficult conditions are likely to be sub-optimal, meaning many of those amputated will require fu...rther surgery. People with amputations also require early and ongoing rehabilitation and access to a long-term prosthetics service. In Gaza, at present, none of this is possible due to damage or destruction of services, premises, displacement and scattering of rehabilitation professionals around Gaza strip and abroad and insecurity.
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Flexible Approaches to Status for Displaced Syrians, Venezuelans, and Ukrainians
Beyond territorial asylum: Making protection work in a bordered world
In 2023, the World Health Organization was responding to 72 health emergencies, including 19 grade-3 emergencies which required the highest level of activation, reaching millions of people. The annual report on WHO’s response to health emergencies in 2023 outlines the increasingly critical role of... WHO at global, regional and country levels, and across the key elements of effective emergency response, including emergency coordination and planning, operational and logistic support, and community engagement and protection. The huge scale and complexities of health emergencies in the 21st century require a strategic shift towards not only meeting the immediate needs of vulnerable communities, but also building community and health system resilience to all hazards – a challenge that both WHO and its partners must continue to meet.
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At the end of 2023, an estimated 117.3 million people worldwide were forcibly displaced due to persecution, conflict, violence, human rights violations and events seriously disturbing the public order. The latest Global Trends report, published in June 2024, provides key statistical trends on forc...ed displacement. It includes the latest official statistics on refugees, asylum-seekers, internally displaced and stateless people, as well as the number of refugees who have returned home
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The aim of the Technical Brief is to offer guidance to education professionals on how to integrate Mental Health and Psychosocial Support into Education in Emergencies programming. An overview of Mental Health and Psychosocial Support activities that can be implemented in Education in Emergencies co...ntexts is detailed, in line with the MHPSS Minimum Service Package. Country examples and case studies are featured.
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The active participation and engagement of health and care workers (HCWs) in health emergency preparedness, readiness and response is crucial to support risk communication, community engagement and infodemic management (RCCE-IM) interventions during emergencies. HCWs hold unique position...s in society – repeatedly being identified among the main influencers of people’s behaviours: they are one of the most trusted sources of health information and advice in communities and role models for the acceptance and uptake of protective measures during health emergencies. On the frontline, HCWs have valuable insights and knowledge that can be harnessed to support health emergencies across the entire emergency cycle. Between October and December 2023, the WHO Regional Office for Europe interviewed key informants on strategies and experiences to meaningfully engage HCWs during emergencies
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The acute food insecurity and malnutrition situation in South Sudan is deteriorating as a result of the economic crisis, repeated climatic shocks – primarily widespread flooding – and conflict and insecurity. The inflow of returnees and refugees fleeing the conflict in Sudan is exacerbating the ...situation – putting additional pressure on an already fragile country.
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The postpartum period is a critical time for mothers and newborns, who require essential hygiene and personal items, such as menstrual pads, clothes, and diapers, to ensure their well- being and health. Although these items are simple, they can significantly enhance well- being. Conversely, lacking ...these essentials can increase the risk of infections for mothers and newborns.
In Gaza, the current emergency situation has meant women face significant limitations in accessing these essential items due to market unavailability, financial constraints, high security risks, and border closures.
In response, organizations working in sexual and reproductive health in Gaza have united to provide postpartum kits (PPKs) to mothers and newborns effectively.
With approximately 4,000 live births occurring in Gaza each month, it is crucial for partners to collaborate in advocating for resources and ensuring timely procurement and distribution of these kits.
Moreover, to ensure equitable access and consistent quality of the kits for all women, partners have agreed on a unified set of criteria for their composition and distribution.
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Caring for burns patients from the incident scene to definitive treatment can be a complex, resource-consuming process with the potential to overwhelm health system capacity.This document provides practical guidance for building capacity and capability for burns care from clinical, human resources a...nd operational perspectives. It is therefore recommended that guidance in this document be applied to any contexts in which the local health system might struggle to cope and require surge support.
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This Guidance Note is meant to help protection cluster coordinators apply nexus approaches in a practical way by, providing concrete steps and means to address prevalent or longstanding protection issues, risk patterns, trends and chronic vulnerabilities. The guidance calls for a practical, problem-...solving approach that seeks opportunities to identify and collaborate with actors beyond the humanitarian sphere to address deep-rooted protection issues
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This Guide responds to requests from practitioners and country teams who have learned about the Nurturing care framework and want to understand how to adapt health and nutrition services to be supportive of nurturing care and strengthen caregivers’ capacity.
This document provides an overview of WHO's Refugee and migrant health toolkit, a web-based one-stop comprehensive platform of tools and resources to support the global, regional, and country efforts in implementing health and migration-related activities.
The domestic regulation of public health emergencies (PHEs) is inextricably linked to the regulation of other types of disaster. PHEs are usually governed at least partly by general disaster and emergency laws. Moreover, there is significant overlap in the legal mechanisms used to respond to PHEs an...d other types of disaster, including the declaration of a state of disaster or emergency and the use of emergency powers. Even where PHEs are regulated by separate instruments, those instruments must surmount many of the same policy and practical challenges as general disaster laws, such as finely balancing competing considerations (e.g. speedy response versus due process), facilitating the coordination of a multitude of actors, and protecting the most vulnerable within society. Finally, many contemporary developments in disaster risk management (DRM), such as a greater emphasis on risk reduction and preparedness, are just as pertinent to PHEs as to other types of disaster.
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Medical care for people caught up in armed conflict and other insecure environments saves lives and alleviates suffering. It is one of the most immediate and high priority needs of an affected population and is often the first type of response activated and/or requested by authorities and affected c...ommunities. Medical teams working in armed conflict and other insecure environments
frequently face serious threats to their security and safety, challenges to patient access, and at times limited acceptance by affected communities in which they work and parties to the conflict. Such difficulties are likely to increase (6) and
thereby creating a critical need to establish contact and trust with all sides in conflicts and in other insecure environments to ensure operational continuity. This trust can best be achieved when all sides perceive the medical teams to be neutral, impartial, and independent, and specifically not aiding (or being perceived to aid) any one party to achieve a military, political or economic
advantage. For medical teams that are deploying increasingly closer to the frontlines, the implications of and consequences for both staff and patients of teams not being fully prepared, and/or not fully comprehending the context in which they work, can be severe. Medical response can easily be hindered or compromised by intentional or unintentional acts and the behaviour and
conduct of the teams themselves
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Відчувати наш Гнів, Смуток або Страх і добре обходитися з цими відчуттями - це справа тренування особливо для дітей, тому що вони як раз тільки знайомляться зі своїм...и почуттями. Завдяки Папіліо – гіду почуттів ми б хотіли Тебе підтримати зануритися разом зі своєю дитиною у її та Твої відчуття світу.
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