Interim Version 24, February 2020
This checklist has been prepared with the aim of supporting hospital managers and emergency planners in achieving the above by defining and initiating actions ne...eded to ensure a rapid response to the COVID-19 outbreak. The checklist is structured on eleven key components; under each component, there is a list of questions regarding the status of implementation of the recommended action specific to that component. Hospitals at risk of increased health service demand should be prepared to initiate the implementation of each action promptly. The section on “Recommended reading” lists selected tools, guidelines and strategies relevant to each component, as well as other supporting documentation.
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A WHO Guideline for Emergency Risk Communication (ERC) policy and practice.
Recent public health emergencies, such as the Ebola virus disease outbreak in West Africa (2014–2015), the emergence o...f the Zika virus syndrome in 2015–2016 and multi-country yellow fever outbreaks in Africa in 2016, have highlighted major challenges and gaps in how risk is communicated during epidemics and other health emergencies. The challenges include the rapid transformation in communications technology, including the near-universal penetration of mobile telephones, the widespread use and increasingly powerful influence of digital media which has had an impact on ‘traditional’ media (newspapers, radio and television), and major changes in how people access and trust health information. Important gaps include considerations of context – the social, economic, political and cultural factors influencing people’s perception of risk and their risk-reduction behaviours.
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During the past five decades, the incidence of dengue has increased 30-fold. Some 50–100 million new infections are estimated to occur annually in more than 100 endemic countries, with a documented further spread to previously unaffected areas; every year hundreds of thousands of severe cases ari...se, including 20 000 deaths; 264 disability-adjusted life years per million population per year are lost , at an estimated cost for ambulatory and hospitalized cases of US$ 514–1394, often affecting very poor populations. The true numbers are probably far worse, since severe underreporting and misclassification of dengue cases have been documented.
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Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) October 4, 2019 / 68(39);851–854
Learnings from the COVID-19 evidence response and recommendations for the future.
Reflections and recommendations from the evidence synthesis community.
Operational Guidelines for the national and district health workers & planners.
These new approaches include use of selective chemotherapy, Rapid Diagnostic Tests (RDTs), Zinc for treatment of cholera in children ...ht medbox">and complementary use of OCV
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Successful detonation of an improvised nuclear device (IND) would be a catastrophic event, causing an unprecedented number of injuries and lives lost, as well as economic, political, and social disr...uption. However, an effective medical response and an infrastructure prepared to protect itself from fallout could save tens of thousands of lives. Since 2001, all levels of government, academic institutions, and professional organizations have done significant work to enhance our ability to prepare for and respond to a nuclear detonation. The following manual is intended to simplify and translate the necessary protective actions and medical response modalities in order to make them more accessible and easier to translate into practice. The approach of this manual is to provide a common baseline application for various allied response disciplines (to include senior operational responders, emergency managers, public health advisors, and municipal, State, and Federal executives and elected officials). This manual will enhance mutual understanding of the basics of nuclear response.
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The Strategy provides a high-level unifying framework to leverage existing capacities, address barriers and strengthen the use of genomic surveillance in the detection, monitoring and response to pu...blic health threats. Genomic surveillance is part of the broader surveillance and laboratory system, and its implementation should reinforce end-to-end capacities including sample collection, diagnostics, data sharing and analysis. The strategy aims to facilitate the connectivity between different disease control programs and surveillance networks. This interoperability will strengthen the cross-cutting essential public health laboratory functions underpinning genomics holistically. The strategy articulates the overarching goal, objectives and strategic actions needed. These are dependent on commitments from countries, partners and WHO for their implementation.
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Key facts about major deadly diseases.This manual provides concise and up-to-date knowledge on 15 infectious diseases that have the potential to become international threats, and tips on how to resp...ond to each of them.
You can download an interactive version directly at the website
http://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/managing-epidemics/en/
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Available in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish. You can download a summary of the main report and background documents!
The report demonstrates that the current system—at bot...h national and international levels— was not adequate to protect people from COVID-19. The time it took from the reporting of a cluster of cases of pneumonia of unknown origin in mid-late December 2019 to a Public Health Emergency of International Concern being declared was too long. February 2020 was also a lost month when many more countries could have taken steps to contain the spread of SARS-CoV-2 and forestall the global health, social, and economic catastrophe that continues its grip. The Panel finds that the system as it stands now is clearly unfit to prevent another novel and highly infectious pathogen, which could emerge at any time, from developing into a pandemic.
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Interim Guidance 7 March 2020
This document provides technical guidance for government authorities, health workers, and other key stakeholders to guide response to community spread. It will be updated as new information or technical guidance become... available. For countries that are already preparing or responding, this document can also serve as a checklist to identify any remaining gaps.
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A key purpose of the Recovery Toolkit is to support countries in the reactivation of health services which may have suffered as a result of the emergency. These services include ongoing programmes such as immunization and vaccinations, maternal ...n class="attribute-to-highlight medbox">and child health services, and noncommunicable diseases.
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access free courses in more than 60 languages
A toolkit for behavioural and social communication in outbreak response
The purpose of this report is to provide an overview of the issues in regulating and managing international emergency in a selection of large and small-scale sudden onset disasters (SODs). In doing ...so, it aims to contribute to several key international commitments as well as its objective in disasters and emergencies to “reduce the consequences the event may have on world health and its social and economic implications”.
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In this contingency planning guidance, a set of actions to prepare for emergencies from all hazards and to help minimize their impact, is proposed. These actions include the development, implementation, simulation, monitoring ...to-highlight medbox">and regular update of risks-based contingency plans.
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