Prepared by the Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response for the WHO Executive Board, January 2021
“The world was not as prepared as it should have been, and it must do better,” concludes a WHO panel reviewing the ..."attribute-to-highlight medbox">pandemic response "
more
Testing coverage is a critical component of pandemic response, providing a view on the data available to inform policy and monitor the effectiveness of public health measures. While many countries do not publish official numbers of tests conducted, ...others are doing this across individual websites, statistical reports and press releases, often in multiple languages and updated with different periodicity. FIND is working to build a global picture of the testing coverage for COVID-19 and facilitate the accurate interpretation and study of case and death numbers.
more
Initial public health responses to control the pandemic focused on promoting protective behaviors among the general population, including frequent hand washing, physical distancing and the use of face masks in public spaces However, many saw these o...nly as interim measures to reduce the spread of the virus and hopes for a return to a sense of ‘ rested on the development of a safe and effective vaccine.
more
Over 18 months into the pandemic, WHO continues to conductglobal surveillance of COVID-19as part of activities on preparedness, readiness and response activities. The need for global surveillance of COVID-19 is greater than ever, asthe implementatio...n of vaccination campaigns and the appearance of variants are prone to impact the course of the epidemic, as transmission patterns evolve. Timely and complete surveillance data are key to monitoring these changes.
Features include stratification by age and sex, trends over time, case fatality ratios by age, testing, hospitalization, and data on health workers –all visible at country and regional levels. The dashboard provides the ability for users to conduct further analyses by country and selected time period.
more
Background paper 7
The Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response
May 2021
Background paper 8
The Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response
May 2021
Background paper 13
The Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response
May 2021
Since the start of the pandemic, the region has been hit by multiple natural and biological disasters. At the same time, climate change has continued to warm the world, exacerbating the impacts of many of these disasters. The *Asia-Pacific Disaster ...Report 2021, *also launched today, shows that the pandemic, combined with the persistent reality of climate change, has reshaped and expanded the disaster “riskscape” in Asia and the Pacific.
more
In the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, the technology industry has played an unprecedented role in building solidarity and supporting the WHO to keep people safe and informed about the virus. Tech partnerships have enabled WHO to reach diverse global... audiences in the palm of their hands with life-saving health information translated into local languages. This broad portfolio of work can be categorized into WHO’s three-pillared-approach to improving health for everyone, everywhere through digital solutions:
WHO is actively promoting science-based health messages around the world to fill the vacuum with trusted health information
WHO is working with tech companies to fight misinformation and falsehoods, which are a threat to people everywhere
To help disseminate critical messages, WHO is creating tools, applications and channels to amplify accurate information
more
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has created a global and gendered crisis that is compounding existing inequalities and disproportionately affecting girls and women. Emerging evidence from the COVID-19 crisis in 2020 shows school clo...sures, disruptions in essential services and rising poverty contributed to girls’ increased risk of female genital mutilation (FGM). School closures limited the monitoring and reporting of cases of FGM. Rising household monetary poverty may have contributed to families adopting negative coping mechanisms, including having girls undergo FGM as a precursor to marriage to reduce household costs. A report from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) estimates 2 million additional cases of FGM by 2030 due to the pandemic.
more
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has created a global and gendered crisis that is compounding existing inequalities and disproportionately affecting girls and women. Emerging evidence from the COVID-19 crisis in 2020 shows school clo...sures, disruptions in essential services and rising poverty contributed to girls’ increased risk of female genital mutilation (FGM). School closures limited the monitoring and reporting of cases of FGM. Rising household monetary poverty may have contributed to families adopting negative coping mechanisms, including having girls undergo FGM as a precursor to marriage to reduce household costs. A report from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) estimates 2 million additional cases of FGM by 2030 due to the pandemic.
more
From the start of the COVID-19 pandemic until August 2021, extreme weather events have affected at least 139.2 million people and killed at least 17,242 people in at least 433 unique events. These figures are certainly an underestimate, as they do n...ot include estimates of numbers of people affected by extreme temperatures, or mortality during drought events.
One dimension of the compound risk of COVID-19 and climate extremes was the additional challenge of preparing for and responding to disasters during the pandemic, such as the constraints of physical distancing during evacuations and response operations.
more
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 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.
more
Even before the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, it was apparent that the world’s
directing and coordinating authority on international health work needed sustainable financing in order for Member States to address the evolving global hea...lth threats, ranging from those rooted in climate change and social and financial conditions to emerging infectious diseases
more
The Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has revealed the fragility of pre-crisis African health systems, in which too little was invested over the past decades. Yet, development assistance for health (DAH) more than doubled between 2000 and 2020..., raising questions about the role and effectiveness of DAH in triggering and sustaining health systems investments.
more
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic revealed systemic weaknesses in health-care systems
worldwide. The breadth of challenges left health workers overwhelmed and overstretched, reducing their professional efficacy and causing long-term ...issues with retention, recruitment and education of future cohorts
more
Disposiciones provisionales en el marco de la Pandemia por COVID-19 en Honduras
AGOSTO – DICIEMBRE 2020
La evolución de la pandemia COVID-19 desde el mes de marzo que se reportó el primer caso ha impactado muy fuertemente al sistema de salud pública y privada del país debido principalmente al número de casos y personas ...fallecidas.
more
Aunque en mayo de 2023 la pandemia de COVID-19 ya no se consideraba una emergencia de salud pública de alcance internacional, no debemos pasar por alto los profundos problemas estructurales que ha puesto de manifiesto en nuestra economía. La salud... es un derecho humano fundamental, y actualmente es necesario reorientar y transformar la economía con el fin de lograr el objetivo de garantizar la Salud para Todos.
more
While the world was gripped by the unfolding COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, children continued to face the same crisis they have for decades: intolerably high mortality rates and vastly inequitable chances at life. In total, more than 5.0 million childr...en under age 5, including 2.4 million newborns, along with 2.2 million children and youth aged 5 to 24 years – 43 per cent of whom are adolescents – died in 2020. This tragic and massive loss of life, most of which was due to preventable or treatable causes, is a stark reminder of the urgent need to end preventable deaths of children and young people.
more