Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) – chief among them, cardiovascular diseases (heart disease and stroke), cancer, diabetes and chronic respiratory diseases – along with mental health, cause nearly three quarters of deaths in the world. Their drivers are social, environmental, commercial and geneti...c, and their presence is global. Every year 17 million people under the age of 70 die of NCDs, and 86% of them live in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).
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Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) – chief among them, cardiovascular diseases (heart disease and stroke), cancer, diabetes and chronic respiratory diseases – along with mental health, cause nearly three quarters of deaths in the world. Their drivers are social, environmental, commercial and geneti...c, and their presence is global. Every year 17 million people under the age of 70 die of NCDs, and 86% of them live in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).
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Asthma is the most common chronic disease in children, imposing a consistent burden on health system. In recent years, prevalence of asthma symptoms became globally increased in children and adolescents, particularly in Low-Middle Income Countries (LMICs). Host (genetics, atopy) and environmental fa...ctors (microbial exposure, exposure to passive smoking and air pollution), seemed to contribute to this trend. The increased prevalence observed in metropolitan areas with respect to rural ones and, overall, in industrialized countries, highlighted the role of air pollution in asthma inception. Asthma accounts for 1.1% of the overall global estimate of “Disability-adjusted life years” (DALYs)/100,000 for all causes. Mortality in children is low and it decreased across Europe over recent years. Children from LMICs particularly suffer a disproportionately higher burden in terms of morbidity and mortality. Global asthma-related costs are high and are usually are classified into direct, indirect and intangible costs. Direct costs account for 50–80% of the total costs. Asthma is one of the main causes of hospitalization which are particularly common in children aged < 5 years with a prevalence that has been increased during the last two decades, mostly in LMICs. Indirect costs are usually higher than in older patients, including both school and work-related losses. Intangible costs are unquantifiable, since they are related to impairment of quality of life, limitation of physical activities and study performance. The implementation of strategies aimed at early detect asthma thus providing access to the proper treatment has been shown to effectively reduce the burden of the disease.
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An interdisciplinary approach to address global health challenges such as the Covid-19 pandemic, climate change, loss of biodiversity, human migration has been framed by the One Health approach. This approach is promoted at global level by the Tripartite of the World Health Organisation, the World A...nimal Health Organisation, the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, recently joint by the United National Environment Program to form the Quadripartite. The German government through its Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development supports this approach with its One Health strategy and investment in several technical cooperation projects.
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Long-term polio vaccine security – the timely, sustained, and uninterrupted supply of suitable types of affordable, quality-assured polio vaccines – is essential in the global effort to achieve and maintain a polio free world. However, fragmented approaches and short-term planning pose considera...ble challenges to securing long-term polio vaccine security.
This framework is designed to enhance the efforts of existing structures and workstreams within the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) and other stakeholders by improving communication and coordination on vaccine security. Ensuring vaccine security is crucial for maintaining a timely, sustained, and uninterrupted supply of affordable, quality-assured polio vaccines in the global fight to achieve and sustain a polio-free world. However, challenges such as fragmented approaches, short-term planning, a dynamic policy environment, and a diverse product pipeline present significant risks to long-term vaccine security. This framework emphasizes the need for alignment and coordination across key polio operational domains, including Poliovirus Containment, Research and Development, and Vaccine Manufacturing and Supply. It also underscores the critical role of normative frameworks and policies in shaping long-term vaccine strategies that guide these operational areas. Additionally, it highlights the importance of cross-cutting elements such as financing and access to resources, along with the integration of communication, coordination, and advocacy efforts, as essential enablers for achieving vaccine security. To secure long-term vaccine supply, it is imperative to enhance alignment and strengthen coordinated efforts across workstreams and with stakeholders, including vaccine manufacturers.
Recognizing that vaccine security is an ongoing endeavor, requiring continuous monitoring and adaptation, this framework will undergo regular updates and revisions. Initially, the management of the framework will be carried out by the GPEI Vaccine Supply Group (VSG).
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This document sets out Rwanda's Maternal, Neonatal Child Health (MNCH) national strategy (July 2013- June 2018). The MNCH strategy provides a framework for addressing maternal, neonatal and child health challenges currently facing Rwanda. It is an overarching strategy for scale up of the national re...sponse to reduce the current levels of maternal, neonatal and child mortality and morbidity in line with the
MDG health related targets and HSSP III targets. The life cycle approach and continuum of care concept, starting with care from the home environment to health facility, guided the development of this roadmap. It aims also to maintain and expand the coverage of cost effective and high impact interventions for maternal, neonatal and child survival in order to achieve national and international targets.
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The Second Economic Development and Poverty Reduction Strategy (EDPRS 2) is a launch into the home straight of our Vision 2020. We are faced with new challenges of ensuring greater self-reliance and developing global competitiveness. Conscious of these challenges, we forge ahead knowing that by work...ing together, we always overcome. The EDPRS 2 period is the time when our private sector is expected to take the driving seat in economic growth and poverty reduction. Through this strategy we will focus government efforts on transforming the economy, the private sector and alleviating constraints to growth of investment. We will develop the appropriate skills and competencies to allow our people particularly the youth to become more productive and competitive to support our ambitions. We will also strengthen the platform for communities to engage decisively and to continue to develop home grown solutions that have been the bedrock of our success. These are fundamental principles as we work to improve the lives of all Rwandans in the face of an uncertain global economic environment.
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The Federal Ministry of Health (FMOH) has been coordinating sector wide reforms that aim to improve equity and quality of health services. It is widely known that; the sector is growing in line the overall growth and transformation plan of the country and the sector is bein...g guided by the health sector transformation plan (HSTP). As part of these efforts, to achieve the targets set, the sector identified information revolution as one of the transformational agendas. In the meantime, Appropriate and timely use of health and health-related information is an essential element in the process of transforming the health sector.
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Young people living in the Central African Republic, Chad, Nigeria, Guinea, and Guinea-Bissau are the most at risk of the impacts of climate change, threatening their health, education, and protection, and exposing them to deadly diseases. The report is the first comprehensive analysis of climate ri...sk from a child’s perspective. It ranks countries based on children’s exposure to climate and environmental shocks, such as cyclones and heatwaves, as well as their vulnerability to those shocks, based on their access to essential services.
Additional translations of the Executive Summary are available in the following languages, with thanks to Climate Cardinals: English, French, Arabic, Hausa, Portuguese, Spanish, Somali, Yoruba
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Schistosomiasis is widely recognized as a disease that is socially determined. An understanding of the social and behavioural factors linked to disease transmission and control should play a vital role in designing policies and strategies for schistosomiasis prevention and control. To this must be a...dded the awareness that schistosomiasis is also a disease of poverty. It still survives in poverty-stricken, remote areas where there is little or no safe water or sanitation, and health care is scarce or non-existent. For a variety of complex reasons, many of which are addressed in this book, the disease is particularly prevalent in sub-Saharan Africa, and persists in certain areas of rural China. This concern for human behaviour in an environment of poverty echoes the concerns of the new research priority for “diseases of poverty” identified by the Special Programme for Research & Training in Tropical Diseases.
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Schistosomiasis is widely recognized as a disease that is socially determined. An
understanding of the social and behavioural factors linked to disease transmission and
control should play a vital role in designing policies and strategies for schistosomiasis
prevention and control. To this must b...e added the awareness that schistosomiasis is
also a disease of poverty. It still survives in poverty-stricken, remote areas where there
is little or no safe water or sanitation, and health care is scarce or non-existent. For
a variety of complex reasons, many of which are addressed in this book, the disease
is particularly prevalent in sub-Saharan Africa, and persists in certain areas of rural
China. This concern for human behaviour in an environment of poverty echoes the
concerns of the new research priority for “diseases of poverty” identified by the
Special Programme for Research & Training in Tropical Diseases.
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The threat climate change poses to health, equity, and development has been rigorously documented. However, in an era marked by economic crisis, regional conflicts, natural disasters and growing disparities between rich and poor, the joint global actions required to address climate change have been ...vigorously debated – and critical decisions postponed.
This document, part of WHO’s Health in the Green Economy series, describes how many climate change measures can be “win-wins” for people and the planet.
These policies yield large, immediate public health benefits while reducing the upward trajectory of greenhouse gas emissions. Many of these policies can improve the health and equity of people in poor countries and assist developing countries in adapting to climate change that is already occurring, as evidenced by more extreme storms, flooding, drought and heatwaves.
WHO’s Department of Public Health and Environment launched the Health in the Green Economy initiative in 2010 to review potential health and equity “co-benefits” of proposed climate change measures – as well as relevant risks.
This review examines mitigation strategies discussed in the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change which constitutes the most broad-based global review of mitigation options by scientific experts.
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The UNICEF-GAIN Partnership Project
The report notes that iodine deficiency is a leading cause of preventable brain damage worldwide. Insufficient iodine during pregnancy and infancy results in neurological and psychological deficits, reducing a child’s IQ by 8 to 10 points. This translates ...into major losses in the cognitive capital of entire nations and thus their socio-economic development.
The report outlines urgent steps to reduce the risk of mental impairment to babies’ growing brains:
• Integrate salt iodization into national plans to support children’s nutrition and brain development in early childhood;
• Align salt iodization and salt reduction agendas;
• Establish surveillance systems to identify unreached populations;
• Strengthen regulatory systems to enforce existing legislation on salt iodization;
• Recognize the growing importance of fortified foods as potential sources of iodized salt.
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This paper explores the effect of inherent social inequalities on disability rights movements and their political activities in India and Nepal. The situation for persons with disabilities is similar in both countries. Many social and cultural phenomena coincide, and laws and policies are currently ...being formulated in line with the human rights agenda. In order to understand the current situation and the envisioned future for persons with disabilities, it is important to probe how, and under what circumstances, the disability issue is framed.
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In April 2018, Refugees International (RI) conducted a mission to Bangladesh, to research the GBV (gender-based violence) response for Rohingya women and girls. RI found that the entire humanitarian system is struggling under tremendous constraints in Bangladesh, and protection and health actors do ...deliver lifesaving services to survivors in an incredibly challenging environment. This report, however, focuses on key gaps and challenges in GBV programming, as communicated by practitioners deployed to Bangladesh at various stages of the emergency, by local organizations, and by the affected women and girls themselves.
In the analyses and recommendations provided in this report, RI draws in part from the framework of the international initiative to safeguard women and girls in emergencies — the Call to Action on Protection from Gender-Based Violence in Emergencies — and urges the donors and humanitarian organizations that are Call to Action partners to implement it more effectively and with urgency during this emergency.
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The objectives of this guidance document are to:
1. Strengthen the capacity of country teams to effectively scale up and manage programmes to address severe acute malnutrition
2. Extend the geographic reach of quality treatment for SAM to all vulnerable communities in need
3. Maximize... access to appropriate and quality treatment for SAM among all eligible children in the community at all times
4. Aid the formulation and implementation of national policies and strategies that support objectives 1 to 3
5. Aid the creation of an enabling environment that supports objectives 1 to 3 through advocacy, documentation of successful practices, support for operational research, mobilization of resources and collaboration with partners
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The management of information and logistics is an essential component of health product systems. In a context of limited financial resources and morbidity and mortality sustained by persistent diseases, it is necessary to strengthen health systems through competent resources, especially human resour...ces (HR), to ensure performance, sustainability and independence from external funding. In Burkina Faso, a strong and lasting partnership between the Ministry of Health and the Bioforce Institute has existed since 2005 to address this issue. This partnership has created a favorable environment for the professionalization of health logistics and for the recognition of its significant role in health system performance.
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Following the high-level meeting of the UN General Assembly on antimicrobial resistance held in September 2016 which called for national, regional and international political commitment to address the issue, member countries agreed on the importance of moving forward to develop national action plans... by May 2017.
Iraq; represented by the Ministry of Health (MOH) and Ministry of Agriculture (MOA); responded by developing a comprehensive plan to control AMR by analysing the current situation of health, veterinary and environment and determining the strategic priorities for Iraq, which are in accordance with the WHO Global Action Plan objectives
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The State of the world’s nursing 2020 report provides the latest, most up-to-date evidence on and policy options for the global nursing workforce. It also presents a compelling case for considerable – yet feasible – investment in nursing education, jobs, and leadership.
The primary chapters... of the report outline the role and contributions of nurses with respect to the WHO “triple billion” targets; the health labour market and workforce policy levers to address the challenges to nurses working to their full potential; the findings from analysis of National Health Workforce Account (NHWA) data from 191 Member States and progress in relation to the projected shortfall of nurses by 2030; and forward-looking policy options for an agenda to strengthen the nursing workforce to deliver the Sustainable Development Goals, improve health for all, and strengthen the primary health care workforce on our journey towards universal health coverage.
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Overcoming barriers in low- and middle-income countries
For the first time, this year’s report includes information on hepatitis C diagnostics. With a focus on selected countries with diverse HCV epidemics, the report provides updates on the various dimensions of access to HCV diagnostics and pha...rmaceutical products, including product pricing, the regulatory environment and patent status, which together shape the national hepatitis response in different settings. It highlights key areas for action by ministries of health and other government decision-makers, pharmaceutical manufacturers and technical partners.
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