Climate-related disasters, heatwaves, climate-sensitive diseases, and severe droughts and floods are taking lives and harming health, livelihoods, and ecosystems across the countries of the Caribbean, as in other Small Island Developing States (SIDS) around the world. In recognition of the high vuln...erability of those countries, the World Health Organization launched in 2017 the Special Initiative on Climate Change and Health in Small Island Developing States, aiming to increase the resilience of these countries and territories to climate variability and climate change
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Strengthening the capacities of SUN Countries by sharing and disseminating good practices in the fight against malnutrition.
This report is a summary of the results of the preparation and implementation of the Learning Route (LR) organized jointly by the SUN (Scaling Up Nutrition) Movement’s S...ecretariat, the Fight Against Malnutrition Unit (CLM, Cellule de Lutte contre la Malnutrition) and PROCASUR Corporation; this Learning Route was held in Senegal from the 26th of May to the 1st of June, 2014. The aim of this publication is to illustrate the experience, its main outcomes, and the lessons learned.
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Senegal’s substantial and sustained progress against malaria is an inspiring public health success story, and a source of potential lessons for other countries on the path to elimination. This case study describes three major success factors—(1) outstanding leadership and partner engagement, (2)... the achievement and maintenance of high intervention coverage levels, and (3) a thriving data culture—and explores several exciting new opportunities to consolidate and expand upon Senegal’s two decades of impact.
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22nd edition
The purpose of the SAHR has always been to analyse and assess progress and challenges in key areas of the health system, and to propose recommendations for improvement. We are pleased to continue this tradition in the 2019 edition, which presents a unique collection of perspectives on ...the key challenges in implementing universal health coverage (UHC) in South Africa, as analysed by experts in various fields.
Each of the 20 chapters deals with aspects of the UHC journey, dedicated towards an equitable and inclusive national health system that leaves no-one behind. While some authors describe the fundamental changes and practical considerations required to reconfigure the country's health system, others have reflected on specific programmatic areas and have made recommendations from a National Health Insurance (NHI)/UHC lens.
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Confronted with the important issue of patient safety, in 2002 the Fifty-fifth World Health Assembly adopted a resolution urging countries to pay the closest possible attention to the problem and to strengthen safety and monitoring systems. In May 2004, the Fifty-seventh World Health Assembly approv...ed the creation of an international alliance as a global initiative to improve patient safety. The World Alliance for Patient Safety was launched in October 2004 and currently has its place in the WHO Patient Safety programme included in the Information, Evidence and Research Cluster.
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Produced by Training and Research Support Centre for the Regional Network for Equity in Health in east and southern Africa (EQUINET), March 20, 2020.
This brief summarises and provides links to official, scientific and other resources to support an understanding of and individual to regional level... responses to the epidemic of ‘novel coronavirus’, also known as COVID-19.
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The Global Antibiotic Resistance Partnership (GARP)-Mozambique team, in partnership with the Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics & Policy (CDDEP), has produced this report as part of a solid com-mitment to develop actionable policy proposals to tackle antibiotic resistance and improve appropriate... antibiotic access. It is the result of a thorough review of published and unpublished data on antibiotic resistance and a long internal consultation effort that engaged academic scientists, health professionals and other stakeholders within Mozambique.
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interim guidance, 14 June 2021
This document is intended for national authorities and decision makers in countries that have introduced large scale public health and social measures. It offers guidance for adjusting public health and social measures, while managing the risk of a resurgence of cases....
Available in English, Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian and Spanish
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Based on Human Rights Watch (HRW)'s reporting on the human rights dimensions of the COVID-19 pandemic (see Related Summary, and the video, below), this document presents 40 questions to provoke thinking about a rights-respecting response to the crisis. The questions address the needs - including aro...und issues of information and communication - of groups most at risk, such as people living in poverty, ethnic and religious minorities, women, people with disabilities, older people, migrants, refugees, children, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people. The resource also identifies a variety of responses to the crisis, some of which are positive and others problematic - with many links to related stories and resources online.
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A comprehensive briefing by Half of Syria
April 2020
A comprehensive briefing on the critical challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic to Syrians, as reported by Syrian civil society organisations. These challenges have been collated following extensive interviews with the teams of member and partner... organisations working in the field in various sectors: health, child care, education, women’s empowerment, media and culture, research, human rights and accountability, relief and social services, and local governance.
This comprehensive briefing also include concrete recommendations formulated by the Syrian civil society.
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The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is stepping up its work on mapping zoonotic threat and protecting the environment to reduce the risk of future pandemics, such as the COVID-19 crisis currently sweeping the globe.
Reusing a legacy interactive audio instruction (IAI) program to provide education in a humanitarian crisis is a quick solution and a smart use of previous investments (“Learning in the Time of Ebola”). This article highlights and advises on the issues that relate to adapting and updating previou...sly developed IAI programs, including how to orient current audiences to listen and learn in new ways.
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COVID-19 disproportionately affects the poor and vulnerable. Community health workers are poised to play a pivotal role in fighting the pandemic, especially in countries with less resilient health systems. Drawing from practitioner expertise across four WHO regions, this article outlines the targete...d actions needed at different stages of the pandemic to achieve the following goals: (1) PROTECT healthcare workers, (2) INTERRUPT the virus, (3) MAINTAIN existing healthcare services while surging their capacity, and (4) SHIELD the most vulnerable from socioeconomic shocks. While decisive action must be taken now to blunt the impact of the pandemic in countries likely to be hit the hardest, many of the investments in the supply chain, compensation, dedicated supervision, continuous training and performance management necessary for rapid community response in a pandemic are the same as those required to achieve universal healthcare and prevent the next epidemic.
BMJ Global Health2020;5:e002550. doi:10.1136/bmjgh-2020-002550
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Policy Brief 2 June 2020
The COVID-19 pandemic is a health and human crisis threatening the food security and nutrition of millions of people around the world. Hundreds of millions of people were already suffering from hunger and malnutrition before the virus hit and, unless immediate action is tak...en, we could see a global food emergency. In the longer term, the combined effects of COVID-19 itself, as well as corresponding mitigation measures and the emerging global recession could, without large-scale coordinated action, disrupt the functioning of food systems. Such disruption can result in consequences for health and nutrition of a severity and scale unseen for more than half a century.
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Today, more children than ever before are displaced within their own countries. Their harrowing stories of displacement are unfolding every day, and with increasing frequency. At the end of 2019, approximately 45.7 million people were internally displaced by conflict and violence (Fig. 1.1). Nearly ...half – 19 million – were estimated to be children. And millions more are displaced every year by natural disasters.
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The current effort on fighting COVID-19 cannot conceal the fact that climatic and geological hazards affect Latin-America and the Caribbean every year. At a time when countries of the region are actively responding to the pandemic, they also need to prepare for and implement actions to mitigate the ...potential impacts of other recurrent hazards. For instance, countries like Guatemala and El Salvador have been recently hit by tropical storm Amanda and, as the Caribbean region faces its annual hurricane season, countries are enhancing climate-hazard preparedness. Many countries are bracing for a two-tier crisis as they grapple with complicated logistics, limited resources and scant supplies.
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