This status report shows how far we have come—and how much further we must go—if we hope to meet the global commitments to end AIDS in children. It offers a snapshot of global progress and permi...ts an early assessment of the impact of the Global Alliance’s work.
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The report reflects on the trends, achievements and challenges in global health over the past decade during which Dr Margaret Chan has been Directo...r-General of WHO. It discusses the role of WHO in dealing with such issues as the rise of noncommunicable diseases, leaps in life expectancy, and emerging threats like climate change and antimicrobial resistance.
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The ninth WHO report on the global tobacco epidemic tracks the progress made by countries in tobacco control since 2008 and, marks 15 years since <...span class="attribute-to-highlight medbox">the introduction of the MPOWER technical package which is designed to help countries implement the demand-reduction measures of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. The report shows that many countries continue to make progress in the fight against tobacco, but efforts must be accelerated to protect people from the harms of tobacco and second-hand smoke.
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The WHO End TB Strategy aims to end the global TB epidemic by 2030, in alignment with Goal 3 of the...an> United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Member States of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the UN committed to ending the TB epidemic through adoption of WHO’s End TB Strategy and the UN SDGs in 2014 and 2015, respectivel
Almost half of the deaths worldwide caused by TB in 2019 occurred in the WHO South-East Asia Region, home to around a quarter of the global population. Maintaining robust progress in this Region is therefore essential if the global goal of ending the TB epidemic is to be realized. Despite substantial gains made in the Region, the threat to
health worldwide posed by the COVID-19 pandemic has the potential to reverse these gains and eclipse the focus on the global TB emergency.
While continuing to tackle COVID-19-related challenges, countries will need to rapidly and urgently deploy supplementary measures to address the large numbers of missed cases, poor treatment outcomes and, potentially, a higher TB burden.
The Regional Strategic Plan towards Ending TB in the Region 2021–2025 clearly articulates priority interventions, analyses the challenges, bottlenecks and opportunities, and focuses on implementation considerations in the Region.
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The major neglected tropical diseases, Taenia solium taeniosis/cysticercosis and schistosomiasis caused by Schistosoma mansoni or S. haematobium are presumed to be widely distributed in Africa. Taenia solium taeniosis/ cysticercosis has been reporte...d as an emerging disease in different regions of Africa [1, 2], but currently the exact distribution remains unclear. Reported prevalences of T. solium taeniosis and cysticercosis in African countries are not extensive and are further complicated by the lack of ‘gold standard’ tests for diagnosis.
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The 2021 Report examines country health spending patterns and trends over the past 20 years, before the COVID-19 pandemic, with greater focus on pu...blic spending on health. The report also presents spending on primary health care, preliminary health expenditure in 2020 for a small set of countries (including their health spending on COVID-19) and an analysis of high-income countries spending patterns, in particular during the global financial crisis. The report also points out the need for more public investment in health to get progress towards UHC back on track and strong health security.
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Globally, in low-income countries, the average newborn mortality rate is 27 deaths per 1,000 births, the report says. In high-income countries, that rate is 3 deaths per 1,000. Newborns from ...lass="attribute-to-highlight medbox">the riskiest places to give birth are up to 50 times more likely to die than those from the safest places.
The report also notes that 8 of the 10 most dangerous places to be born are in sub-Saharan Africa, where pregnant women are much less likely to receive assistance during delivery due to poverty, conflict and weak institutions. If every country brought its newborn mortality rate down to the high-income average by 2030, 16 million lives could be saved.
More than 80 per cent of newborn deaths are due to prematurity, complications during birth or infections such as pneumonia and sepsis, the report says. These deaths can be prevented with access to well-trained midwives, along with proven solutions like clean water, disinfectants, breastfeeding within the first hour, skin-to-skin contact and good nutrition.
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Tuberculosis (TB) control in the African Region has evolved since the disease was declared a global emergency by the World Health Organization (WHO...) in 1993. Member States have adopted and implemented successive global and regional strategies and resolutions, with demonstrable positive impacts on incidence, prevalence and mortality, albeit with variations across countries. By the end of 2015, the Region as a whole met the key Millennium Development Goal (MDG) target of halting and beginning to reverse TB incidence. However only 35 of the 47 Member States met the MDG target.
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Using data from two surveys and 164 countries, this research brief describes the educational strategies countries are putting into place, or plan to, in order to mitigate learning impacts of extende...d school closures, particularly for the most vulnerable children. In addition, it highlights emerging good practices.
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Towards a Healthier Botswana