In the last quarter century, several projects emerged to reform mental health services in Latin American and Caribbean countries. Some did not survive the difficulties that inevitably arise in proce
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sses of change, and ended up disappearing before the intended changes could be introduced. Others, however, as shown in this publication, were able to overcome difficulties and meet intended objectives, effectively transforming the structure and quality of services. All these projects, including the many that did not survive, were part of one of the richest experiences in the transformation of mental health care worldwide - the experience of mental health reform in Latin America and the Caribbean
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Climate change is a major risk to good development outcomes, and the World Bank Group is committed to playing an important role in helping countrie
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s integrate climate action into their core development agendas. The World Bank Group is committed to supporting client countries to invest in and build a low-carbon, climate-resilient future, helping them to be better prepared to adapt to current and future climate impacts.
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Climate change is a major risk to good development outcomes, and the World Bank Group is committed to playing an important role in helping countrie
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s integrate climate action into their core development agendas. The World Bank Group is committed to supporting client countries to invest in and build a low-carbon, climate-resilient future, helping them to be better prepared to adapt to current and future climate impacts
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In 2024, we need US$1.5 billion to provide live-saving health care to millions of people in emergencies. An alarming combination of conflict, climate-related threats
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and increasing economic hardship mean an estimated 166 million people require health assistance.
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The Americas play a critical role in maintaining global food security while
helping to maintain the maximum levels of greenhouse gas concentrations
established by global climate conferences. This document prepared by the
Living Soils of the Ameri
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cas initiative presents technologies developed
and implemented in the region that can help in this huge global challenge
that is the preservation of food production and create favorable conditions
for the adaptation and mitigation of climate change through the adoption
of best agricultural practices
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As the war in Ukraine pushes food, fuel and fertilizer prices toward record levels putting food security in many of the world’s poorest countries at risk, the UN’s International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) today launched a Crisis Re
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sponse Initiative to ensure that small-scale farmers in high-risk countries can produce food over the next few months to feed their families and communities while reducing the threat to future harvests.
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The health sector In Ukraine is beginning to change in recent years. The sector, based on a system of health care (Semashko) originating from the S
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oviet Union, had been stagnant for many years. Remarkably little had changed since Independence and the health care system is as of today still characterized by a very hierarchical and territorial system with large numbers of beds in institutional care settings. At the same time the Government of Ukraine has only limited resources available that are spread thin over the existing infrastructure
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Asia remained the world’s most disaster-hit region from weather, climate and water-related hazards in 2023. Floods and storms caused the highest
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number of reported casualties and economic losses, whilst the impact of heatwaves became more severe, according to a new report from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).
The State of the Climate in Asia 2023 report highlighted the accelerating rate of key climate change indicators such as surface temperature, glacier retreat and sea level rise, which will have major repercussions for societies, economies and ecosystems in the region.
In 2023, sea-surface temperatures in the north-west Pacific Ocean were the highest on record. Even the Arctic Ocean suffered a marine heatwave.
Asia is warming faster than the global average. The warming trend has nearly doubled since the 1961–1990 period.
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This profile is part of a series of Climate Risk Country Profiles developed by the World Bank Group (WBG). The country profile
synthesizes most relevant data and information on
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climate change, disaster risk reduction, and adaptation actions and policies
at the country level. The country profile series are designed as a quick reference source for development practitioners to better
integrate climate resilience in development planning and policy making.
more
This profile is part of a series of Climate Risk Country Profiles developed by the World Bank Group (WBG). The country profile
synthesizes most relevant data and information on
...
climate change, disaster risk reduction, and adaptation actions and policies
at the country level. The country profile series are designed as a quick reference source for development practitioners to better
integrate climate resilience in development planning and policy making.
more
Practically, planetary health presents a new way to approach and solve problems. For example, there is
alignment at the highest levels with global policy frameworks – primarily the Convention on
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Biological
Diversity Aichi Biodiversity Targets, the Paris Climate Agreement, and the Sustainable Development
Goals – which will require collaboration across sectors to make progress. While this alignment validates
integrated concepts like planetary health, it also highlights the need for these concepts to be much
more actionable, so that they can be easily taken up by government decision makers as a way to
achieve goals.
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The booklet starts with a general overview of how illicit drugs and the environment are linked within the bigger picture of the Sustainable Development Goals, climate
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change and environmental sustainability. It highlights direct and indirect linkages and gives examples of the significant local and individual-level impact that drugs can have on the environment. This is followed by a more in-depth overview of the latest scientific evidence for plant-based drugs and for synthetic drugs. For plant-based drugs, for example, this includes an analysis of the relationship between illicit crop cultivation and deforestation. For synthetic drugs, it includes an analysis of waste composition, volumes, and dumping and discharge, as well as the relation with wastewater treatment.
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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
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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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People on the move – migrants, refugees, asylum seekers and other displaced populations – face extraordinary risks to their lives, safety, dignity, human rights and well-being.
In part this i
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s connected to the core reasons that lead to migration and displacement, ranging from violence, persecution, conflict, poverty, political and social issues, as well as disasters and the adverse effects of climate change. In 2021, we are seeing the compounding factors of the COVID-19 pandemic and the climate crisis driving higher numbers of people to migrate, exacerbating risks and vulnerabilities.
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The Planetary Health Education Framework is a project of the Planetary Health Alliance (planetaryhealthalliance.org). The Planetary Health Alliance
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is a consortium of over 250 partners from around the world committed to understanding and addressing the human health impacts of global environmental change
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This version of the glossary is substantially changed from the original. Some terms have been omitted, many have been modified in light of practical experiences and the evolution in concepts, and ne
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w terms have been added. The list of terms is not intended to be either exhaustive or exclusive, and draws upon the wide range of disciplines in which health promotion has its roots. Wherever possible, definitions are sourced or derived from existing, publicly accessible WHO documents. Specific sources are referenced, and where possible a web link is also provided to facilitate access to source documents. Hyperlinks were correct at the time of publication but are subject 2 Health Promotion Glossary of Terms 2021 to inevitable change. In some examples the definitions have been adapted to reflect the application of a term to the current health promotion context. Where relevant, this focus is acknowledged in individual definitions.
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The 2019-2023 Strategy for UNU-IIGH, developed in
2018, built on UNU-IIGH’s strategic advantage and
position vis-à-vis the UN and global health
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ecosystem.
The Strategy set a goal to advance evidencebased policy on key issues related to sustainable
development and health and shifted the Institute’s
body of work from investigator-driven global health
projects to three priority-driven, policy-relevant pillars
of work, each reflecting UNU-IIGH’s unique value
position.
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020, the
Institute adapted and reprioritised its areas of work
while continuing to deliver on the main strategic
objectives of translating evidence to policy, generating
policy-relevant analyses on gender and health, and
strengthening capacity for local decision making
especially in the Global South.
The new strategic plan encompasses four work packages:
1. Gender Equality and Intersectionality: through this work, we will aim to improve the quality of health care through a human-centred approach, by ensuring the health system is responsive to the needs of structurally excluded individuals and communities; and by advancing a positive and enabling environment for the frontline health workforce—e.g. addressing the experience of gender-based violence.
2. Power and Accountability: through this work, we will catalyse equitable shifts in power and address key accountability deficits that prevent the equitable and effective functioning of the global health system and prevent adequate responsiveness to the needs of states and populations in the Global South.
3. Digital Health Governance: through this work, we will address the colonial legacies and power asymmetries that negatively impact robust digital health governance, identify ways to strengthen health data governance with a particular focus on SRHR and promote diversity in technology design and development.
4. Climate Justice and Determinants of Health: through this work we will leverage UNU-IIGH's position within the UN and network of UNU institutes, network experts, practitioners, policy-makers, and academics to advance evidence-based policy on the different dimensions of the climate emergency and its impact on health.
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This profile is part of a series of Climate Risk Country Profiles developed by the World Bank Group (WBG). The country profile synthesizes most relevant data and information on
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climate change, disaster risk reduction, and adaptation actions and policies at the country level. The country profile series are designed as a quick reference source for development practitioners to better integrate climate resilience in development planning and policy making. This effort is managed and led by Veronique Morin (Senior Climate Change Specialist, WBG) and Ana E. Bucher (Senior Climate Change Specialist, WBG)
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The scope of this PPC document is to serve as a guide to address the unmet public health need for a PPE system that protects the HW-F in tropical climate
s while caring for patients
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and providing heavy duty essential health services.
The characteristics described in this guidance are targeted for PPE used in
health clinics, hospitals and communities in low resource settings where there is lack of advanced environmental controls and equipment. The purpose is to ensure harmonization in PPE design and its use to avoid confusion and exacerbating the risk of infections in HW-F. The principles of this PPC document can also be considered in risk reduction strategies
in other healthcare settings.
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This is the seventeenth annual publication of the Global Hunger Index (GHI), a report jointly published by Concern Worldwide and Welthungerhilfe.
The 2022 Global Hunger Index (GHI) brings us face to face with a grim reality. The toxic cocktail of
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conflict, climate change, and the COVID-19 pandemic had already left millions exposed to food price shocks and vulnerable to further crises. Now the conflict in Ukraine—with its knock-on effects on global supplies of and prices for food, fertilizer, and fuel—is turning a crisis into a catastrophe. But the speed and severity of the global food crisis reflects the fact that millions of people were already living on the precarious edge of hunger—a legacy of past failures to build more just, sustainable, and resilient food systems. This year’s report therefore focuses on food systems transformation and local governance.
According to the 2022 GHI, Hunger is at alarming levels in 5 countries—Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Madagascar, and Yemen— and is provisionally considered *alarming *in 4 additional countries— Burundi, Somalia, South Sudan, and Syria. In a further 35 countries, hunger is considered serious, based on 2022 GHI scores and provisional designations.
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