This guide is an attempt to redress the deficit in understanding of implementation research and to encourage programme personnel and implementers to take a greater interest in the subject, recognizing that implementation research is in fact an integral part of programme planning and execution, rathe
...
r than something that happens once programmes are up and running. Intended for newcomers to the field, those already conducting implementation research, and those with responsibility for implementing programmes, the guide provides an introduction to basic implementation research concepts and language, briefly outlines what it involves, and describes the many exciting opportunities that it presents
more
This report presents, for the first time, a global assessment of the extent to which health care facilities provide essential water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services. Drawing on data from 54 l
...
ow- and middle-income countries, the report concludes that 38% lack access to even rudimentary levels of water, 19% lack sanitation and 35% do not have water and soap for handwashing. When a higher level of service is factored in, the situation deteriorates significantly. A number of areas require urgent action and WHO will work with UNICEF, Governments and other partners to develop a global plan to address the most pressing needs and ensure that all health care facilities have WASH services.
more
At least half of the world’s population does not have full coverage of essential health services. Health expenses push more than 100 million peop
...
le into extreme poverty each and every year, forcing them into terrible choices that no one should ever have to make: Buy medicine or food? Education or health care? These stark statistics make the case for universal health coverage compelling.
more
Over the past two decades, Afghanistan has depended on international donor support to fund essential services like health care. But this donor support has been falling for years and will likely to c
...
ontinue do so—perhaps precipitously—following the announcement by United States President Joe Biden that the US will withdraw all US forces from Afghanistan by September 11, 2021. This decline in funding has already had a harmful—and life-threatening—impact on the lives of many Afghan women and girls, as it affects access to, and quality of, health care.
more
UNAIDS is calling on governments to ensure that the right to health is realized by all by prioritizing public investments in health. At least half of the world’s population cannot access essential
...
health services. Every two minutes a woman dies while giving birth. Among the people being left behind are women, adolescents, people living with HIV, gay men and other men who have sex with men, sex workers, people who inject drugs, transgender people, migrants, refugees and poor people.
more
A consolidated set of reproductive health kits for use by humanitarian agencies. These kits are intended to speed up the provision of appropriate reproductive health
...
services in emergency and refugee situations.
more
For the Fiscal Year 2014-2015, the Health Sector continued to implement interventions and strategies meant to improve the availability, accessibility and utilization of quality healthcare services a
...
cross public and private health facilities; and to ensure the reduction of the burden of communicable and non-communicable diseases in Rwanda. This annual report highlights key achievements registered by the health sector during the Fiscal Year 2014-2015. Achievements are highlighted under three big components: Health Programs, Health Systems Support and Budget Execution.
more
September – December 2021
The funds will be used by WHO to ensure:
continued coordination with other agencies and health actors in the response to the crisis situation
continuity of health
...
services for the population of Afghanistan
provision of life-saving medical supplies
continued response to COVID-19
timely response to potential outbreaks
response to urgent trauma needs
more
Inequality of access to palliative care and symptom relief is one of the greatest disparities in global health care (1). Currently, there is avoidable suffering on a massive scale due to lack of access to palliative care and symptom relief in low- a
...
nd middle-income countries (LMICs) (1). Yet basic palliative care that can prevent or relieve most suffering due to serious or life-threatening health conditions can be taught easily to generalist clinicians, can be provided in the community and requires only simple, inexpensive medicines and equipment. For these reasons, the World Health Assembly (WHA) resolved that palliative care is "an ethical responsibility of health systems"(2). Further, most patients who need palliative care are at home and prefer to remain there. Thus, it is imperative that palliative care be provided in the community as part of primary care. This document was written to assist ministries of health and health care planners, implementers and managers to integrate palliative care and symptom control into primary health care (PHC).
more
WHO QualityRights is an initiative which aims to improve the quality of care in mental health and related services and to promote the human rights of people with psychosocial, intellectual and cogni
...
tive disabilities, throughout the world.
more
This training and guidance module addresses the use of coercive and violent practices in mental health and related services with a particular focus on seclusion and restraint. It aims to promote a g
...
reater understanding of why these practices are used and build practical skills to help end these practices. While the module itself focuses on ending these practices in the health care setting, much of the content can also be applied in other settings where seclusion and restraint occur, for example in the home and in the wider community.
more
This module has been developed to provide training and guidance to improve the quality of care and human rights conditions in inpatient, outpatient and community based mental health and related services
...
, following the conduct of a comprehensive assessment using the WHO QualityRights assessment toolkit.
more
This document provides training and guidance on the key standards related to the physical and social environment within mental health and related services that need to be met to promote good outcome
...
s, independent living and community inclusion.
more
Every year, an estimated 15 million babies are born preterm – before 37 weeks of pregnancy. That is more than 1 in 10 live births. Approximately 1 million children die each year worldwide due to complications from their early birth. Those that survive often face a lifetime of ill-
...
health including disability, learning difficulties, and visual and hearing problems.
Half of the babies born at or below 32 weeks (2 months early) die in low-income settings, due to a lack of feasible, cost-effective care, such as warmth, breastfeeding support, and basic care for infections and breathing difficulties. In high-income countries, almost all these babies survive.
more
This paper reviews the effects of vertical responses to COVID-19 on health systems, services, and people’s access to and use of them in LMICs, where historic and ongoing under-investments heighten
...
vulnerability to a multiplicity of health threats. We use the term ‘vertical response’ to describe decisions, measures and actions taken solely with the purpose of preventing and containing COVID-19, often without adequate consideration of how this affects the wider health system and pre-existing resource constraints.
more
These Blended Learning Modules cover the full range of health promotion, disease prevention, basic management and essential treatment protocols to improve and protect the
...
health of rural communities in Ethiopia. A strong focus is on enabling Ethiopia to meet the Millennium Development Goals to reduce maternal mortality by three-quarters and under-5 child mortality by two-thirds by the year 2015. The Modules cover antenatal care, labour and delivery, postnatal care, the integrated management of newborn and childhood illness, communicable diseases (including HIV/AIDS, malaria, TB, leprosy and other common infectious diseases), family planning, adolescent and youth reproductive health, nutrition and food safety, hygiene and environmental health, non-communicable diseases, health education and community mobilisation, and health planning and professional ethics.
more
The Department of Health is committed to providing the best quality care to patients and users of health services, in order to meet their expectati
...
ons and needs, and to improve service delivery.
The main purpose of the National Core Standards is to:
• Develop a common definition of quality of care, which should be found in all health establishments in South Africa as a guide to the public and to managers and staff at all levels;
• Establish a benchmark against which health establishments can be assessed, gaps identified, strengths appraised; and
• Provide a national framework to certify health establishments as compliant with standards
more
Community health nurses have the potential to make significant contributions to meet the health care needs of various population groups in a variety of community settings. In order to assess the ext
...
ent to which CHNs are achieving this potential, WHO conducted a study between 2010 and 2014 that examined the status of community health nursing in 22 countries, 13 of which were experiencing a critical shortage of health care workers. The study revealed that the countries surveyed had the basic and operational framework for optimizing CHN in their health systems as evidenced by the availability of PHC structures to guide interventions. However, challenges were identified related to the education, practice and management of CHNs in these countries. The major challenges identified were: Limited availability of career opportunities; poor worker retention; low recognition for CHNs; inadequate and unsupportive working conditions and environments; absence of educational standards; varying educational entry-level requirements for CHN programmes; and a lack of consensus on the scope of practice for CHNs.
more
This policy paper outlines key health financing policy actions for countries to ensure universal access to health services and financial protection
...
for people fleeing conflict. It focuses on three policy areas – granting entitlement and ensure access to the full range of needed health services for people fleeing conflict, making additional funding available and strengthening purchasing arrangements. Policy guidance is illustrated using country examples from Europe. The paper’s recommendations are relevant to all countries in Europe.
more
The full-scale invasion of Ukraine has caused a deterioration in the level of access to health-care services and medicines in the country, particularly for people living in regions close to the fron
...
t line and areas that are not partially or fully controlled by the Government of Ukraine, and for people who have been internally displaced. Cost and time constraints involved in getting to and from health facilities, as well as limited transportation options were the main barriers to accessing essential health-care services. At the same time, the findings show that the country’s health system remains resilient and that overall access to health services is fairly high.This report is based on data collected through a quantitative cross-sectional survey of self-reported health needs of the general population in Ukraine. It presents results of the first round survey conducted in September 2022 and could help to address the specific health-care needs of the population groups concerned.
more