A handbook for leaders and managers
As countries aim to progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and achieving universal health coverage, health inequities driven by racial discrimination and intersecting factors rema
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in pervasive. Inequities experienced by indigenous peoples as well as people of African descent, Roma and other ethnic minorities are of concern globally; they are unjust, preventable and remediable.
Health systems themselves are important determinants of health and health equity. They can perpetuate health inequities by reflecting structural racism and discriminatory practices of wider society. For instance, systemic racism, implicit bias, misinformed clinical practice, or discrimination by health professionals contributes to health inequities. However, health systems can also be a leading force for tackling the inequities faced by populations experiencing racial discrimination.
Primary health care (PHC) is the essential strategy for reorientating health systems and societies to become healthier, equitable, effective and sustainable. In 2018, on the 40th anniversary of the Declaration of Alma-Ata, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) renewed the emphasis on PHC with their strategy,
WHO outlines 14 strategic and operational levers for policy-makers to strengthen PHC. Within each lever, there are multiple potential entry points for targeted actions to address racial discrimination, foster intercultural care, and reduce health inequities experienced by indigenous peoples as well as people of African descent, Roma and other ethnic minorities.
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Promoting health and preventing disease is a critical component of the effort required to achieve Universal Health Coverage (UHC). to date, efforts to achieve UHC have focused mostly on strengthenin
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g health systems and their capacities to provide curative care. However, experience from the COVID-19 pandemic has reaffirmed the need for resilient health systems, emphasizing primary health care, including preventive and promotive health and well-being.
Emerging from the eye of the storm as the global health lead agency during the pandemic, WHO is equipped with the required insights and actions for a holistic approach to “building back fairer and better” after COVID-19.
The Healthier Populations (UHP) Cluster in the African Region is designed to support Pillar 3 of WHO’s 13th Global Programme of Work (GPW13) which aims to make 1 billion people healthier by reducing health inequities, preventing diseases and injuries, addressing health determinants, and promoting partnerships for collaborative actions amongst all stakeholders.
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The World Health Organization Regional Office
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for Africa (WHO AFRO), in accordance with recommendations from various WHO committees, has developed three flagship programmes to support Member States in the African region to prepare for, detect and respond to public health emergencies. They are the result of extensive consultations with more than 30 African government ministers, technical actors, partners across the continent as well as regional institutions such as the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), whose contributions have shaped the priority activities. This report provides the second quarterly summary of progress in implementing the flagship programmes.
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“2022 was an eventful year for the WHO Country Office in Ghana,” says Dr Francis Kasolo, WHO
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Representative to Ghana.
In 2022, WHO Ghana collaborated with partners to deliver interventions in support of the Government of Ghana's health sector agenda to ensure healthy lives for all towards achieving Universal Health Coverage. This 2022 annual report highlights some of the achievements that were chalked in our efforts to help promote the health and wellbeing of Ghanaians
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To provide a foundation for the strategic policy and programme development needed to ensure the sustainable implementation of effective interventions for reducing the global burden of PPH
The Global Vaccine Action Plan (GVAP) 2011-2020, endorsed by Member States during the May 2012 World Health Assembly, has set ambitious targets to improve access to immunization and tackle vaccine-p
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reventable diseases. This responsibility has been translated into firm commitments in February 2016, through the signature of the Addis Declaration on Immunization (ADI) by African Ministers and subsequently endorsed by the Heads of States from across Africa at the 28th African Union Summit held in January 2017. This commitment from the highest level of government comes as a catalyst to immunization efforts on the continent to deliver on the promise of universal immunization
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Creating a common approach ro regulation, educational preparation and practice: future direction for nursing & midwifery development in the African Region
Guide for coordinators and data collectors - The WHO Operational Package for Assessing, Monitoring and Evaluating Country Pharmaceutical Situations
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is intended as a useful tool for researchers, policy-makers, planners and others who need to use standardized measurement tools to gather data and other information. In addition, the operational package can be used by international agencies and donors, by professional groups and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs).
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Men are less likely than women to seek help for mental health issues and are much more likely to commit suicide. This scoping review examined recent evidence published in English and Russian on the
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role of socially constructed masculinity norms in men’s help-seeking behaviour for mental health issues. The key sociocultural barriers to men’s help-seeking pertaining to masculinity norms were identified as self-reliance, difficulty in expressing emotions and self-control.
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A study conducted by the World Health Organisation Regional Office
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for Africa. The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on older persons both globally and in the African region. Although overall the region’s population is younger relative to many other world regions, the WHO AFRO region has a population just over 62 million older people and is ageing rapidly, with the number of older people expected to triple in the next three decades (Aboderin et al., 2020).
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The brief concludes that sustaining the continuity of EHS requires policies that ensure a whole-society and systems strengthening approach. This involves increased health care investment, community engagement, disease control regulations, and multis
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ector approaches to improve resilience, EHS quality, and equity.
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This annual report highlights the work of the WHO from January to June 2021 ( December 2021). The activities featured herein are by no means exhausted but implemented with technical and financial support through
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WHO in Nigeria; facilitated by its presence at all levels of governance (national, state, local government, and wards).
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3rd edition. In 2001, Uganda adapted the Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response (IDSR) developed by World Health Organization (
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WHO) for member states in African region. The Ministry of Health has been implementing the IDSR strategy since then with success across the country. This strategy provides the opportunity for rational use of resources and maximises investments in health surveillance systems. The 3rd edition IDSR guidelines incorporates lessons learnt from previous
epidemics, new frameworks like the Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA), One Health, Disaster Risk Management (DRM), the WHO regional strategy for health security and emergencies, and the rising non-communicable diseases, and aims to strengthen implementation of IHR (2005) core surveillance and response capacities. These guidelines have been adapted to reflect national priorities, policies and public health structures; and shall be used in conjunction with other similar
guidelines/strategies or initiatives.
Overall, the 3rd edition technical guidelines will incorporate the following:
• Strengthening Indicator Based Surveillance
• Strengthening Event Based Surveillance
• Improving community-based disease surveillance
• Improving Cross Border Surveillance and response
• Scaling up e-IDSR implementation
• Improving reporting and information sharing platforms
• Improved data sharing across sectors
• Tailoring IDSR to Emergency or Disaster contexts
The 3rd edition guidelines are intended for use as:
• A general reference for surveillance activities across all levels
• A set of definitions for thresholds that trigger some action for response
• A stand-alone reference for level-specific guidelines on surveillance and response
• A resource for developing training, supervision and evaluation of surveillance activities
• A guide for improving early detection and preparedness for outbreak response.
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WHO Guideline. Since 2010, countries in the meningitis belt have started to introduce a new serogroup A meningococcal conjugate vaccine conferring individual protection and herd immunity. Following the successful roll-out of this vaccine, epidemics
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due to Neisseria meningitidis serogroup A (NmA) are disappearing, but other serogroups (e.g. NmW, NmX and NmC) still cause epidemics, albeit at a lower frequency and of a smaller size. Due to these changes, WHO organized the review of the evidence to provide recommendations for epidemic control, related to operational thresholds for investigation and response to outbreaks, the use of rapid diagnostic tests, antibiotic regimens in epidemics, and prophylaxis for household contacts of cases
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This updated step by step guide aims to assist the ministries of health (MoHs) in developing the national action plans for noma prevention and control, with a view to sustainably reducing the incide
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nce of noma as a public health problem through programmes that are fully integrated with national health planning, strengthening of primary health care (PHC) and attainment of universal health coverage (UHC).
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This companion document to Ending the neglect to attain the Sustainable Development Goals: a road map for neglected tropical diseases 2021-2030 ("the road map") aims to support a range of stakeholders - including countries in which neglected tropica
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l diseases (NTDs) are endemic, international organizations and non-State actors - to achieve the road map targets through a transdisciplinary, cross-cutting One Health approach. Specifically, it provides guidance on the One Health actions needed by major stakeholders and how to support a paradigm shift towards One Health in national NTD programmes. Examples of common One Health challenges and how they can be overcome as well as illustrative cases studies are provided throughout. The companion document was developed through a global consultative process involving stakeholder interviews, interactive workshops, and online public consultation.
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