National action plans on antimicrobial resistance (AMR) often overlook the critical intersection of gender, despite evidence that exposure and susceptibility to infection, health-seeking behaviours, as well as antimicrobial prescribing and use patterns are all influenced by gender.
At the end of 2023, WHO convened our first-ever annual WHO Stakeholder Review Conference for Prevention and Response to Sexual Misconduct. Aimed at joint learning and frank discussion on challenges faced in the achieving zero tolerance for all forms of sexual misconduct by aid workers, the Conferenc
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e brought together Member States, Civil Society Organizations, United Nations Agencies and Programmes, academia and media joined by WHO personnel. A set of recommendations to support all agencies are documented in the Conference Report. In addition, WHO’s Director-General hosted a social engagement segment on the evening of Day 1 to further underscore the centrality of a victim and survivor-centred approach, to celebrate progress however small, and to reaffirm commitment and renew energy for the journey ahead. The Conference took place on 30 November and 1 December 2023 in Geneva, Switzerland
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This report provides an overview of the operations and activities of the WHO Country Office in Ukraine in 2023. Despite the acute health impacts of the war in Ukraine, the Country Office continued its work according to its core mandate. WHO supported the Government of Ukraine in managing the health
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emergency and pursued existing priorities set out in WHO’s Thirteenth General Programme of Work 2019–2023, the European Programme of Work 2020–2025, and the Biennial Collaborative Agreement 2022–2023 signed with the Government of Ukraine. The report presents the achievements of the WHO Country Office in Ukraine in 2023 in the context of the war’s impact on the lives, health, and well-being of Ukrainians.
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The key to a lasting world free of all forms of poliovirus lies in rapidly interrupting all remaining endemic transmission of WPV in the endemic areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan. This is the only way to ensure that such strains do not re-emerge globally through international spread. It lays the cor
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nerstone for the eventual cessation of all oral polio vaccine use, in order to eliminate the long-term risks associated with variant poliovirus strains, which is the GPEI’s top operational priority. The target for certifying the
world free of all WPV remains end-2026.
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Preparedness planning is essential in order to respond effectively to outbreaks, including single case occurrences of highconsequence infectious diseases (HCID), such as the importation of a viral haemorrhagic fever (VHF) case
The Country Cooperation Strategy is the World Health Organization (WHO)’s reference for country work guiding planning and resource allocation through alignment with national health priorities and harmonization with other development partners. It clarifies roles and functions of WHO in supporting t
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he national strategic plan for health through the Sector-Wide Approach and Malawi Growth and Development Strategy II. The Country Cooperation Strategy is based on a systematic assessment of the recent national achievements, emerging health needs,
challenges, government policies and expectations. An evaluation of the previous CCS was conducted and jointly discussed with the Ministry of Health as well as other key stakeholders. This process led to the identification of the, achievements, challenges and shortfalls of the previous CCS. Through this process the areas where WHO needed to focus on were also identified. The CCS development has also been done in parallel with the formulation of the new Health Sector Strategic Plan (HSSP) to ensure that there is a linkage between the two.
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On 14 August 2024, the Director-General of the World Health Organization determined that the upsurge of mpox in a growing number of countries in Africa constitutes a new public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC) under the International Health Regulations (IHR) (2005)
Since February 24th, 2022, the beginning of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, more than 80,000 women were expected to give birth. Therefore, understanding the impact of war on the perinatal health of women is an important requisite to improve perinatal care. This narrative synthesis has two mai
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n purposes: on one hand, it aims to summarize the current evidence available based on perinatal health outcomes and care among perinatal women; on the other, it attempts to identify the gaps still present in research in relation to perinatal care.
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Evidence- and rights-based national policies, guidelines and legislation play a key role in improving sexual, reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health (SRMNCAH), framing the enabling environment for equitable provision and accessibility of quality services. The SRMNCAH policy sur
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vey monitors the existence of national SRMNCAH laws, policies, strategies and guidelines and the extent to which they are aligned with WHO recommendations on SRMNCAH. This publication reports on the findings from the 2023 WHO SRMNCAH policy survey.
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An estimated 1.3 billion people globally experience significant disability. This figure has grown over the last decade and will continue to rise due to demographic and epidemiological changes. In 2022, the World Health Organization launched the Global report on health equity for persons with disabil
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ities. This report demonstrated that many persons with disabilities are still being left behind. Experiencing persistent health inequities, persons with disabilities die earlier, they have poorer health and functioning, and they are more affected by health emergencies than the general population. These differences are largely associated with unjust factors both inside and beyond the health sector and are avoidable. The Global Report called upon Member States to take actions to make health sector more inclusive for persons with disabilities through the primary health care approach. This will be essential for countries to make health coverage truly universal and to progress towards other health-related targets in the sustainable development goals.
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The guide aims to provide health and DRM practitioners, planners and policymakers across sectors with targeted information to help them strengthen national health systems and integrate the risks of disease outbreaks in national DRR strategies
The following are some of the principles and approache
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s that have been based on lessons learned to date and may be considered to ensure effective all-hazards health EDRM, including prevention and preparedness for disease outbreaks, are addressed as part of the multihazard, multisectoral approach to developing or updating DRR strategies
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Antimicrobials are medicines, including antibiotics, antivirals, antifungals, and antiparasitics, that are used to prevent and treat infections in humans, animals, and plants. Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) arises when bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites no longer respond to these medicines, ren
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dering them ineffective and making infections more difficult to treat. This resistance increases the risk of disease spread, severe illness, disability, and death. Although AMR is a natural phenomenon driven by genetic
changes in pathogens, it is significantly accelerated by human activities such as the misuse and overuse of antimicrobials in healthcare, agriculture, and animal husbandry.
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Caring for burns patients from the incident scene to definitive treatment can be a complex, resource-consuming process with the potential to overwhelm health system capacity.This document provides practical guidance for building capacity and capability for burns care from clinical, human resources a
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nd operational perspectives. It is therefore recommended that guidance in this document be applied to any contexts in which the local health system might struggle to cope and require surge support.
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The target audience of this document (and the associated online companion tool) includes WHO country offices
in Member States of the African Region; Member States’ ministries of health and their public health emergency
operation centres; relevant external assessment teams; and partners looking
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to identify preparedness gaps and
support interventions that help address them. In the event of a suspected or confirmed VHF case, the document also serves to provide any intervening partner with a sense of what structures should be in place, in order to guide
scale-up activities in line with regional and national plans.
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An Infographic Guide to Technology-facilitated Gender-based Violence (TFGBV) offers a visually engaging toolkit designed to raise awareness and deepen understanding of the pervasive and harmful impact of TFGBV on women and girls in all their diversity.
The World Health Organization provides regional and national strategies and operational plans that aim to support countries in work to achieve measles control and elimination. These are guided by high level frameworks including the Immunization Agenda 2030 and the Measles and Rubella Strategic Frame
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work 2021–2030. These frameworks promote improvements in routine immunization programmes to reach all children, reduce immunity gaps and prevent outbreaks within the context of universal health care.
This interim guidance on Targeted and selective strategies in measles and rubella vaccination campaigns adds to the suite of guidance documents. It provides expanded description of methods to determine age groups for inclusion in preventive and outbreak response measles and rubella vaccination campaigns; and operational considerations that are specific to targeted and selective strategies in measles and rubella vaccination campaigns. This guidance also updates definitions for tailored, targeted and selective campaigns.The World Health Organization provides regional and national strategies and operational plans that aim to support countries in work to achieve measles control and elimination. These are guided by high level frameworks including the Immunization Agenda 2030 and the Measles and Rubella Strategic Framework 2021–2030. These frameworks promote improvements in routine immunization programmes to reach all children, reduce immunity gaps and prevent outbreaks within the context of universal health care.
This interim guidance on Targeted and selective strategies in measles and rubella vaccination campaigns adds to the suite of guidance documents. It provides expanded description of methods to determine age groups for inclusion in preventive and outbreak response measles and rubella vaccination campaigns; and operational considerations that are specific to targeted and selective strategies in measles and rubella vaccination campaigns. This guidance also updates definitions for tailored, targeted and selective campaigns.
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