At least half of the world’s population does not have full coverage of essential health services. Health expenses push more than 100 million people 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.
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SDG Factsheet: Health-focused urban design can roll back the epidemic of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), making cities a bedrock for healthy lifestyles – as well as climate-friendly and resilient. WHO’s new Urban Health Initiative provides a model for the health sector to contribute to healthy ...urban planning and policies.
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Country Progress Report
Reporting Period
January – December, 2014
Accessed: 26.09.2019
22nd edition
Each of the 20 chapters deals with aspects of the UHC journey, dedicated towards an equitable and inclusive national health system that leaves no-one behind. While some authors describe the fundamental changes and practical considerations required to reconfigure the country's health sy...stem, others have reflected on specific programmatic areas and have made recommendations from a National Health Insurance (NHI)/UHC lens.
In addition, we are pleased to announce that this year's edition includes two innovations. First is the provision of concise summaries of the chapters in the form of 'chapters at a glance'. These are positioned together at the start of the publication for ease of reference and to give a quick overview. The second innovation is the introduction of our Healthcare Workers' Writing Programme (HCWWP), which provides support to first-time authors wanting to publish in the Review.
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22nd edition
The purpose of the SAHR has always been to analyse and assess progress and challenges in key areas of the health system, and to propose recommendations for improvement. We are pleased to continue this tradition in the 2019 edition, which presents a unique collection of perspectives on ...the key challenges in implementing universal health coverage (UHC) in South Africa, as analysed by experts in various fields.
Each of the 20 chapters deals with aspects of the UHC journey, dedicated towards an equitable and inclusive national health system that leaves no-one behind. While some authors describe the fundamental changes and practical considerations required to reconfigure the country's health system, others have reflected on specific programmatic areas and have made recommendations from a National Health Insurance (NHI)/UHC lens.
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Accessed: 07.03.2020
A Review of Community Health Worker (CHW) knowledge, attitudes and practices relating to the sexual health of MSM, including existing training materials and manuals in Europe and neighbouring countries (D5.1)
Contract 2015 71 01 A behavioural survey for HIV/AIDS and assoc...iated infections and a survey and tailored training for community based health workers to facilitate access and improve the quality of prevention, diagnosis of HIV/AIDS, STI and viral hepatitis and health care services for men who have sex with men (MSM).
Pubic Health
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The “United Nations Framework for the immediate socio-economic response to COVID-19: Shared responsibility, global solidarity and urgent action for people in need” calls for protecting jobs, businesses and livelihoods to set in motion a safe recovery of societies and economies as soon as possibl...e for a more sustainable, gender-equal, and carbon-neutral path—better than the “old normal”.
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This policy paper underscores that, although children do not represent a high-risk group for direct COVID-19 fatality, the pandemic posts far-reaching secondary impacts that heighten risks to African children’s rights and wellbeing.
The WHO Quality Health Services: a planning guide focuses on actions required at the national, district and facility levels to enhance quality of health services, providing guidance on implementing key activities at each of these three levels. It highlights the need for a health systems approach to ...enhance quality of care, with a common understanding on the activities needed by all stakeholders. The guide articulates the key actions required to improve the quality of health services for the entire population. It recognizes that the path varies for each country, district and facility – stimulating the reader to consider multiple factors and entry points for action. This planning guide is for staff working at all levels of the health system (i.e. national, district and facility) who have a role in enhancing the quality of health services. It is also relevant to all stakeholders initiating and supporting action at facility, district and/or national levels both in the public and private sectors.
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9 September 2020
In a snapshot, fair allocation of vaccines will occur in the following way:
An initial proportional allocation of doses to countries until all countries reach enough quantities to cover 20% of their population
This document is also available in Arabic | Chinese | French | R...ussian | Spanish | Portuguese
A follow-up phase to expand coverage to other populations. If severe supply constraints persist, a weighted allocation approach would be adopted, taking account of a country’s COVID threat and vulnerability.
The document is a final working document and may be adjusted in the future as new information about the vaccines and the epidemiology of COVID-19 becomes available.
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To guide One Health capacity building efforts in the Republic of Guinea in the wake of the 2014–2016 Ebola virus disease (EVD) outbreak, we sought to identify and assess the existing systems and structures for zoonotic disease detection and control. We partnered with the government ministries resp...onsible for human, animal, and environmental health to identify a list of zoonotic diseases – rabies, anthrax, brucellosis, viral hemorrhagic fevers, trypanosomiasis and highly pathogenic avian influenza – as the country's top priorities. We used each priority disease as a case study to identify existing processes for prevention, surveillance, diagnosis, laboratory confirmation, reporting and response across the three ministries. Results were used to produce disease-specific systems “maps” emphasizing linkages across the systems, as well as opportunities for improvement. We identified brucellosis as a particularly neglected condition. Past efforts to build avian influenza capabilities, which had degraded substantially in less than a decade, highlighted the challenge of sustainability. We observed a keen interest across sectors to reinvigorate national rabies control, and given the regional and global support for One Health approaches to rabies elimination, rabies could serve as an ideal disease to test incipient One Health coordination mechanisms and procedures. Overall, we identified five major categories of gaps and challenges: (1) Coordination; (2) Training; (3) Infrastructure; (4) Public Awareness; and (5) Research. We developed and prioritized recommendations to address the gaps, estimated the level of resource investment needed, and estimated a timeline for implementation. These prioritized recommendations can be used by the Government of Guinea to plan strategically for future One Health efforts, ideally under the auspices of the national One Health Platform. This work demonstrates an effective methodology for mapping systems and structures for zoonotic diseases, and the benefit of conducting a baseline review of systemic capabilities prior to embarking on capacity building efforts.
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The One Health approach can help achieve progress and promotes synergies on national and global priorities by generating synergies at the human-animal-environmental interface. While evidence is still scare, it is likely that the approach is highly cost-effective and improves effectiveness of core pu...blic health systems, through reducing morbidity, mortality, and economic costs of disease outbreaks. It also contributes to economic development through strengthening public health systems at the human-animal-environment interface protects health, agricultural production, and
ecosystem services
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In 2018, the WHO European Healthy Cities Network adopted the political vision of the Network until 2030 that is fully aligned with the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development: the Copenhagen Consensus of Mayors: Healthier and Happier Cities for All. The vision is built around six them...es. This compendium comprises tools, resources and networks that are related to one of the themes - place - from across the WHO European Healthy Cities Network and wider from 2010 to 2020. It is part of the support package for implementation of the place theme in Phase VII (2019–2024) of the WHO European Healthy Cities Network.
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Childhood cancer is curable for the vast majority of children when essential diagnostic, therapeutic and supportive care services are accessible. However, profound inequalities in outcomes exist within and between countries with as few as 20% or 30% of children living in low- and middle-income count...ries surviving.
The Global Initiative for Childhood Cancer Overview document presents the CureAll approach to support governments, partners and communities achieve the best possible cancer care for all children. This approach, summarized as four pillars of action supported by three enablers, will improve the care for children with cancer around the world.
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