The two-year impact report for the Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator details impact, case studies and timelines of key milestones for the Diagnostics, Therapeutics and Vaccines pillars, as well as the Health Systems and Response Connector.
This publication was developed in response to the need for a reference list of priority medical devices required for management of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), focusing on cardiovascular diseases and diabetes, especially for low- and middle-income countries to support universal ...ibute-to-highlight medbox">health coverage actions.
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21 January 2022
The overall threat posed by Omicron largely depends on four key questions: (i) how transmissible the variant is; (ii) how well vaccines and prior infection protect against infection, transmission, clinical disease and death; (iii) how virulent the variant is compared to other varian...ts; and (iv) how populations understand these dynamics, perceive risk and follow control measures, including public health and social measures (PHSM).
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In the early morning of 6 February 2023, a magnitude 7.8 earthquake occurred in southern Türkiye near the
northern border of Syria. The earthquake was followed 11 minutes later by a magnitude 6.7 aftershock. Many
aftershocks are still being felt across the region. Whilst the impact is still bei...ng assessed, initial reports evidence
significant damage in the areas of southern Türkiye and northern Syria.
In response, the Syria Ministry of Health (MoH) activated its emergency operations centre (EOC) on 6 Feb 2023
under the chairmanship of the Deputy Minister. In all affected governorates, public and private health facilities
and medical convoys have been repurposed to support the response and are being managed by the National
Ministry of Health (MoH) and Directorate of Health (DoH) at governorate level. Support has been directed to
affected areas, with medical convoys including 28 ambulances and 7 mobile clinics, deployed from the health
directorates of Damascus, Rural Damascus, Quneitra, Homs, Tartous, Aleppo and Latakia
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TUATION UPDATE
In the early morning of 6 February 2023, a magnitude 7.8 earthquake occurred in southern Türkiye near the
northern border of Syria. The earthquake was followed 11 minutes later by a magnitude 6.7 aftershock. Many
aftershocks are still being felt across the region. Whilst the imp...act is still being assessed, initial reports evidence
significant damage in the areas of southern Türkiye and northern Syria.
In response, the Syria Ministry of Health (MoH) activated its emergency operations centre (EOC) on 6 Feb 2023
under the chairmanship of the Deputy Minister. In all affected governorates, public and private health facilities
and medical convoys have been repurposed to support the response and are being managed by the National
Ministry of Health (MoH) and Directorate of Health (DoH) at governorate level. Support has been directed to
affected areas, with medical convoys including 28 ambulances and 7 mobile clinics, deployed from the health
directorates of Damascus, Rural Damascus, Quneitra, Homs, Tartous, Aleppo and Latakia. At the same time, 4
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The WHO continuously reviews available data on SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern. For this version, the global epidemiological
situation of the COVID-19 pandemic as of 21 January 2022 – at a time when the Omicron VOC had been identified in 171
countries across all six WHO Regions and was rapidly re...placing Delta worldwide – was considered Omicron has a substantial growth advantage, higher secondary attack rates and a higher observed reproduction number than Delta.
There is now significant evidence that immune evasion contributes to the rapid spread of Omicron. Other factors may be a shorter
serial interval (by about 0.8 to 1.2 days compared to Delta) and potential increased intrinsic transmission fitness . There is
growing evidence that with Omicron, there is lower vaccine effectiveness (VE) against infection and symptomatic disease soon after vaccination compared to Delta. There is also evidence of accelerated waning of VE over time of the primary series against infection and symptomatic disease for the studied vaccines. Further studies are required to better understand the drivers of transmission and declining incidence in various settings. These factors include the intrinsic transmission fitness properties of the virus, degree of immune evasion, vaccination coverage and level of vaccine-derived and post-infection immunity, levels of social mixing and degree of application of public health and social measures (PHSM).
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“2022 was an eventful year for the WHO Country Office in Ghana,” says Dr Francis Kasolo, WHO Representative to Ghana.
In 2022, WHO Ghana collaborated with partners to deliver interventions in support of the Government of Ghana's health sector... agenda to ensure healthy lives for all towards achieving Universal Health Coverage. This 2022 annual report highlights some of the achievements that were chalked in our efforts to help promote the health and wellbeing of Ghanaians
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The Country Cooperation Strategy is the World Health Organization’s corporate framework developed in response to a country’s needs and priorities. The 2022–2025 CCS is the fourth for WHO in Sierra Leone. It is a medium-term strategic document ...that defines a broad framework for WHO’s work, at all levels, with the Government of Sierra Leone and all health partners for the next four years. This document is guided by the country’s major policy and strategy documents including the 2020 National Health and Sanitation Policy (NHSP); the 2021–2025 National Health Sector Strategic Plan (NHSSP); and the 2019–2023 National Medium-term Development Plan (NMTDP). The current CCS also reflects the broad priorities of WHO as outlined in its Thirteenth General Programme of Work (2019–2023, extended to 2025) with a focus on improving access to universal health coverage, protecting people from health emergencies, and improving people’s health and well-being. The CCS priorities are also in alignment with the United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF) in Sierra Leone and will contribute to attaining the country's SDG targets
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This document provides technical guidance on concepts, definitions, indicators, criteria, milestones and tools to assist leprosy programmes in their journey towards the goals of interruption of transmission and elimination of leprosy disease and through the post-elimination period. Importantly, it p...rovides criteria with benchmarks, where possible, for all key aspects of leprosy programmes and services. Not only those related to elimination efforts, but also those related to diagnosis and management of leprosy, leprosy-related disabilities, mental wellbeing, stigma and discrimination and inclusion and participation of persons affected by leprosy. The document emphasises that the elimination of leprosy is a long-term, continuous journey on the one hand, while, on the other, clear milestones can be recognised on the way and programme implementation can be assessed against benchmarks, guiding appropriate action to keep the programme on track.
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The key actions, activities, and approaches in this document are organized within each of the 5Cs (see Table 1 in the PDF) and those of the Strategic preparedness and response plan (SPRP) pillars as follows:
National action plan key activities, prioritized for the current context and the current ...understanding of the threat of SARS-CoV-2
A. Transition from emergency response to longer term COVID-19 disease management.
B. Integrate activities into routine systems.
C. Strengthen global health security.
Special considerations for fragile, conflict-affected and vulnerable (including humanitarian) settings
WHO global and regional support to Member States to implement their national action plans
Key guidance documents for reference
This is a living document that will be updated to incorporate new technical guidance in response to the evolving epidemiological situation. National plans should be implemented in accordance with the principles of inclusiveness, respect for human rights, and equity.
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The "Stories from the field" document by the WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean shares effective strategies from the Eastern Mediterranean Region for addressing noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) and mental health challenges, particularl...y during the COVID-19 pandemic. It highlights regional success stories in mitigating NCDs and mental health conditions through innovative, country-specific interventions. The report emphasizes multisectoral collaboration, community engagement, and resilience in public health responses. It aims to inspire further action and knowledge-sharing to enhance health outcomes in challenging settings across the region.
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National action plans on antimicrobial resistance (AMR) often overlook the critical intersection of gender, despite evidence that exposure and susceptibility to infection, health-seeking behaviours, as well as antimicrobial prescribing and use patte...rns are all influenced by gender.
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Revised National TB Control Programme. Annual Status Report
Saving Lives Through Safe Surgery (SaLTS)
This manual for trainers outlines the information and materials required to undertake training in line with the WASH FIT Guide, including background documents, the content of the recommended training modules and training evaluation approaches. The modular approach outlined enables trainers to decide... on all topics that are most useful to support the delivery of targeted training at the local level. It also provides sample training schedules, evaluation forms and is linked to a full set of interactive, adult-learning focused, training slides.
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