ECDC launched the HEPSA (Health Emergency Preparedness Self-Assessment) tool, in order to support countries in improving their level of public health...n> emergency preparedness. The tool is worksheet-based and is targeted at professionals in public health organisations responsible for emergency planning and event management. It consists of seven domains that define the process of public health emergency preparedness and response: 1) Pre-event preparations and governance; 2) Resources: Trained workforce; 3) Support capacity: Surveillance; 4) Support capacity: Risk assessment; 5) Event response management; 6) Post-event review; 7) Implementation of lessons learned.
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This report aims to raise awareness about the role that the reform of public health laws can play in advancing the right to health and in creating ...the conditions for people to live healthy lives. By encouraging a better understanding of how public health law can be used to improve the health of the population, the report aims to encourage and assist governments to reform their public health laws in order to advance the right to health.
The report highlights important issues that may arise during the process of public health law reform. It provides guidance about issues and requirements to be addressed during the process of developing public health laws. It also includes case studies and examples of legislation from a variety of countries to illustrate effective law reform practices and some features of effective public health legislation.
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Public Health is the science field dedicated to promoting health and well-being, and preventing disease within the human population to ultimately i...ncrease the quality of our livelihood and life span. Public Health does not focus on individual patients or diseases, but rather a given population and health system. The discipline is community-centered in its interventions and seeks to improve the health status of whole populations...
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Public health emergencies, including pandemics, highlight the need for health systems and services that are prepared, resilient and ready to respon...d to health security threats. Endorsed by Member States in 2023, the Asia Pacific Health Security Action Framework (APHSAF) is designed to engage multisectoral actors in health security, and to reflect the complex nature of current and future public health emergencies. The Framework presents six interconnected, multisectoral domains of work that together form a comprehensive, multi-hazard health security system — emphasizing the One Health approach. The Framework also supports progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals and universal health coverage while meeting the responsibilities and obligations of the International Health Regulations (2005).
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Comprehensive public health action on population ageing is urgently needed. This will require fundamental shifts, not just in the things we do, but in how we think about ageing itself. The World rep...ort on ageing and health outlines a framework for action to foster Healthy Ageing built around the new concept of functional ability. Making these investments will have valuable social and economic returns, both in terms of health and wellbeing of older people and in enabling their on-going participation in society
Executive summaries : Arabic; Chinese; English; French; German; Japanese; Portuguese; Russian; Spanish
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No Public Health without Refugee and Migrant health.
This report, the first of its kind, creates an evidence base with the aim of catalysing progr...ess towards developing and promoting migrant-sensitive health systems in the 53 Member States of the WHO European Region and beyond. This report seeks to illuminate the causes, conse-quences and responses to the health needs and challenges faced by refugees and migrants in the Region, while also providing a snapshot of the progress being made across the Region. Additionally, the report seeks to identify gaps that require further action through collaboration, to improve the collection and availability of high-quality data and to stimulate policy initiatives
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Some observers have described the coronavirus pandemic as an 'Anthropocene disease,' thereby highlighting its connection with this new ecological era that is characterised by the considerable pressure human activities are exerting on ecosystems and the consequences on ...ight medbox">public health, society and the environment. This article focuses on the recent emergence of the 'Planetary Health' paradigm. Launched by the Rockefeller Foundation and the medical journal The Lancet, Planetary Health is one of the most ambitious attempts in recent years to systematize global health in the Anthropocene. While recognising the interest and necessity of reflecting on human health and the health of the planet, this article aims to show, however, that the Planetary Health paradigm is problematic and aporetic for two reasons. First, because it is based on a scientistic and depoliticised conception of the Anthropocene, which obscures capitalism's responsibility for the contemporary global and, especially, ecological crisis. Second, because this conception leads to a promotion of solutions that are essentially based on the financialization and technoscientific management of the living world - precisely the underlying cause of the degradation of ecosystems and living conditions that created the Anthropocene in the first place. A different kind of 'planetary health' remains possible and desirable.
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Mental disorders are important public health concern in Bangladesh with a substantial treatment gap due to shortage of resources and trained relevant professionals, such as psychiatrists, psychologi...sts, social psychologists, psychiatric nurses and occupational therapists.
This manual is developed in Bangla focusing on common mental disorders prevailing in Bangladesh. The objective of the initiative is to build the capacity of nurses and paramedics to identify common mental disorders and to take appropriate steps including referral.
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Lancet Public Health 2019; 4: e89–96Published OnlineNovember 13, 2018 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/ S2468-2667(18)30203-2
Policy makers and public health professionals may be forced to weigh and prioritize potentially competing ethical values in the face of severe time and resource constraints. This video from the Worl...d Health Organisation explains that ethical concerns associated with the planning, preparedness and response to disease outbreaks are important to consider, ensuring that response efforts are not hindered in the event of a pandemic.
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CHWs are trained public health workers who serve as a bridge between communities, health care systems, and state ...t medbox">health departments.
Resources on this page include:
Online courses, lessons learned, and best practices to help state health departments train and further build capacity for CHWs in their communities.
Training and education materials for CHWs to use within their communities.
accessed 23.07.2021
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BMC Public Health (2021) 21:299 https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-021-10296-9
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2018, 15(12), 2626; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15122626
Climate change is increasing risks to human health... and to the health systems that seek to protect the safety and well-being of populations. Health authorities require information about current associations between health outcomes and weather or climate, vulnerable populations, projections of future risks and adaptation opportunities in order to reduce exposures, empower individuals to take needed protective actions and build climate-resilient health systems. An increasing number of health authorities from local to national levels seek this information by conducting climate change and health vulnerability and adaptation assessments. While assessments can provide valuable information to plan for climate change impacts, the results of many studies are not helping to build the global evidence-base of knowledge in this area. They are also often not integrated into adaptation decision making, sometimes because the health sector is not involved in climate change policy making processes at the national level. Significant barriers related to data accessibility, a limited number of climate and health models, uncertainty in climate projections, and a lack of funding and expertise, particularly in developing countries, challenge health authority efforts to conduct rigorous assessments and apply the findings. This paper examines the evolution of climate change and health vulnerability and adaptation assessments, including guidance developed for such projects, the number of assessments that have been conducted globally and implementation of the findings to support health adaptation action. Greater capacity building that facilitates assessments from local to national scales will support collaborative efforts to protect health from current climate hazards and future climate change. Health sector officials will benefit from additional resources and partnership opportunities to ensure that evidence about climate change impacts on health is effectively translated into needed actions to build health resilience.
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Lancet Public Health 2022 Published Online October 25, 2022 https://doi.org/10.1016/S2468-2667(22)00197-9
Executive summary
In the past few decades, major ...x">public health advances have happened in Europe, with drastic decreases in premature mortality and a life expectancy increase of almost 9 years since 1980. European countries have some of the best health-care systems in the world. However,Europe is challenged with unprecedented and overlapping crises that are detrimental to human health and livelihoods and threaten adaptive capacity, including the
COVID-19 pandemic, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the fastest-growing migrant crisis since World War 2, population displacement, environmental degradation, and deepening inequalities. Compared with pre-industrial times, the mean average European surface air temperature increase has been almost 1°C higher than the average global temperature increase, and 2022 was the hottest European summer on record.
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Ethiopia faces unprecedented public health risks with over 17.4 million people in need of health assistance due to a compounded security, epidemiol...ogical, environmental and socio-economic hardships throughout the country. Specifically, the prolonged drought and localized conflicts have negatively impacted public health systems, whose access has become severely hindered because of physical constraints, infrastructure, equipment damages, lack of available healthcare workforce and negative coping mechanisms resulting from livelihoods deterioration. Whereas the World Health Organization (WHO) assistance has been critical to coordinate humanitarian efforts in affected areas, additional efforts are required in the coming months to address ongoing epidemic outbreaks and support the recovery process in conflict-affected areas (Afar, Amhara, Tigray and Gambelia) that are now accessible.
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WHO South-East Asia Journal of Public Health, April 2017, 6(1) 8 pp. 211 kB
Mental disorders are one of the top public health challenges in the WHO European Region, affecting about 25% of the population every year. In all countries, mental ...t medbox">health problems are much more prevalent among the people who are most deprived. The WHO European Region therefore faces diverse challenges affecting both the mental well-being of the population and the provision and quality of care for people with mental health problems.
The European Mental Health Action Plan focuses on seven interlinked objectives and proposes effective action to strengthen mental health and well-being. Investing in mental health is essential for the sustainability of health and socioeconomic policies in the European Region. The Action Plan corresponds to the four priority areas of the European policy framework for health and wellbeing, Health 2020, and will contribute directly to its implementation.
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Urban health / StadtGesundheit bezeichnet die Anwendung von Public Health -Theorie und - Praxis für die Gesundheit städtischer Bevölkerungen.
18 March 2020
WHO and public health authorities around the world are acting to contain the COVID-19 outbreak. However, this time of crisis is generating stress throughout the population. The cons...iderations presented in this document have been developed by the WHO Department of Mental Health and Substance Use as a series of messages that can be used in communications to support mental and psychosocial well-being in different target groups during the outbreak.
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18 March 2020
WHO and public health authorities around the world are acting to contain the COVID-19 outbreak. However, this time of crisis is generating stress throughout the population. The cons...iderations presented in this document have been developed by the WHO Department of Mental Health and Substance Use as a series of messages that can be used in communications to support mental and psychosocial well-being in different target groups during the outbreak.
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