Myanmar’s transition to a market‐based economy is accompanied by rapid development of the private manufacturing sector, which has large potential for improving economic growth. The overall success of the sector, however, should not be taken for granted. Future advances will greatly depend on th...e policy and business environment in which manufacturing activities take place. It is, therefore, important to better understand the business environment and help inform policies conducive to sustainable economic growth.
more
This Teacher’s Guide accompanies the WHO publication Management of wastes from health-care activities . It provides teaching materials and recommendations for a three day training course, designed mainly for managers of health-care establishments, public health professionals and policy makers
These guidelines provide a recommendation on iodine thyroid blocking (ITB), via oral administration of stable iodine, as an urgent protective action in responding to a nuclear accident. This recommendation aims to support emergency planners, policy makers, public health specialists, clinicians and o...ther relevant stakeholders, in order to strengthen public health preparedness for radiation emergencies in WHO Member States as required by the International Health Regulations (IHR) and in line with the international safety standards (GSR Part 7). The scope of the guidelines is confined to public health aspects of planning and implementation of ITB before and during a radiation emergency, such as dosage and timing of ITB administration, adverse effects of stable iodine, its packaging, storage, and distribution.
These guidelines supersede the 1999 WHO Guidelines for Iodine Prophylaxis following Nuclear Accidents.
more
The report offers an overview of the progress the humanitarian sector has made and the obstacles it has faced over the past 10 years. Accountability is no longer just a fashionable term, there is now a shared understanding of what it takes to be accountable. From changes at policy level, to concrete... actions taken in the field, this report documents this sector-wide shift. It also shows that being accountable to the people we aim to serve is not just the right thing to do, it is also the best way to ensure programmes are relevant, effective, efficient and sustainable
more
The State of the world’s nursing 2020 report provides the latest, most up-to-date evidence on and policy options for the global nursing workforce. It also presents a compelling case for considerable – yet feasible – investment in nursing education, jobs, and leadership.
The primary chapters... of the report outline the role and contributions of nurses with respect to the WHO “triple billion” targets; the health labour market and workforce policy levers to address the challenges to nurses working to their full potential; the findings from analysis of National Health Workforce Account (NHWA) data from 191 Member States and progress in relation to the projected shortfall of nurses by 2030; and forward-looking policy options for an agenda to strengthen the nursing workforce to deliver the Sustainable Development Goals, improve health for all, and strengthen the primary health care workforce on our journey towards universal health coverage.
more
19 March 2020
Technical documentation
The purpose of this document is to offer guidance to Member States on quarantine measures for individuals in the context of COVID-19. It is intended for those responsible for establishing local or national policy for quarantine of individuals, and adherence ...to infection prevention and control measures.
more
For COVID-19, as for many infectious diseases, the true level of transmission is frequently underestimated because a substantial proportion of people with the infection are undetected either because they are asymptomatic or have only mild symptoms and thus typically fail to present at healthcare fac...ilities. There may also be neglected or under-served segments of the population who are less likely to access healthcare or testing. Under-detection of cases may be exacerbated during an epidemic, when testing capacity may be limited and restricted to people with severe cases and priority risk groups (such as frontline healthcare workers, elderly people and people with comorbidities). Cases may also be misdiagnosed and attributed to other diseases with similar clinical presentation, such as influenza.
Differences in mortality between groups of people and countries are important proxy indicators of relative risk of death that guide policy decisions regarding scarce medical resource allocation during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. This document is intended to help countries estimate CFR and, if possible, IFR, as appropriately and accurately as possible, while accounting for possible biases in their estimation
more
The WHO Regional Office for Europe has established the Childhood Obesity Surveillance Initiative in more than half thecountries in the Region for routine monitoring of the policy response to the emerging obesity epidemic. The aim of the system is to measure trends in overweight and obesity in childr...en aged 6.0–9.9 years for accurate understanding of the epidemic and to allow inter-country comparisons. This document outlines the data collection procedures agreed for use in the Initiative.
more
Clinical Microbiology and Infection Volume 21, Issue 5, May 2015, Pages 433-443;
The neglected zoonotic diseases (NZDs) have been all but eradicated in wealthier countries, but remain major causes of ill-health and mortality across Africa, Asia, and Latin America. This neglect is, in part, a conse...quence of under-reporting, resulting in an underestimation of their global burden that downgrades their relevance to policy-makers and funding agencies. Increasing awareness about the causes of NZDs and how they can be prevented could reduce the incidence of many endemic zoonoses.
more
This thematic brief accompanies the Working for Health 2022–2030 Action Plan, providing a rationale for the related actions of the Working for Health progression model (see Annex). This brief aims to inform Member States, non-state actors and other stakeholders vested in implementing the Action ...Plan to consider the context of planning and financing for the health and care workforce, including the relevant policy landscape, key challenges and future directions.
In doing so, it provides an expanded exploration of the themes beyond what is provided in the Action Plan Itself, and reflects the topical issues and considerations that shaped its design, including those issues identified in the World Health Assembly Resolution WHA74.14 to protect, safeguard and invest in the health and care workforce. The importance of these themes was again emphasized at the Seventy-fifth WHA, when Resolution WHA75.17: Human resources for health, was co-sponsored by over 100 Member States, calling for the adoption and implementation of the Working for Health 2022–2030 Action Plan and utilization of the related Global Health and Care Worker Compact.
more
Neglected tropical diseases tend to cluster in the same poor populations, and to make progress with their control, they will have to be dealt with in an integrated manner. Peptide microarrays may be a solution to tese problems, where diagnosis for co-infection can be detected simultaneously using th...e one tool.
more
The Quadripartite organizations have developed the One Health Priority Research Agenda for AMR report, this is a joint initiative to assist in directing and catalysing scientific interest and financial investments for the priority research agenda across sectors for countries and funding bodies. The ...research agenda also serves as a guide to mitigate One Health AMR that will help policymakers, researchers, and a multidisciplinary scientific community work together on solutions to prevent and mitigate AMR within the One Health approach.
more
The objective of Critical Considerations and Actions for Achieving Universal Access to Sexual and Reproductive Health in the Context of Universal Health Coverage through a Primary Health Care Approach is to provide guidance to WHO Member States for ensuring progress towards universal access to compr...ehensive sexual and reproductive health (SRH) in the context of primary health care (PHC)- and universal health coverage (UHC)-related policy and strategy reforms.
more
The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in a double shock - health and economic. As of March 1, 2021, COVID-19 has cost more than 2.5 million lives and triggered an economic recession surpassing any economic downturn since World War II.
Part I of this paper explores the impact of this current macro-fisc...al outlook on the three primary sources of health spending. Drawing on experiences from previous economic crises, scenario analyses suggest a fall in government per capita spending on health in 2021 and 2022 unless governments make bold choices to increase the share of health in general government spending.
Part II of the paper discusses policy options to meet the spending needs in health. These options encompass strategies to make fiscal adjustments work and channel funds where they are most needed, as well as policies to stabilize the balance sheets of social health insurance (SHI) schemes. The paper explains how the health sector can play an active role in expanding fiscal space, contributing to tax reforms, most importantly pro-health taxes, and mobilizing and absorbing external financing, including debt relief.
more
The 2022 Financing for Sustainable Development Report identifies a “great finance divide” as a main driver of the divergent recovery. Developed countries were able to borrow record sums at ultra-low interest rates to support their people and economies, but the pandemic response and investment in... recovery of poor countries was limited by fiscal constraints. This joint report, by over 60 agencies of the United Nations system and partner international organizations, provides analysis and puts forward policy recommendations to overcome this “finance divide” and enhance developing countries’ access to financing for recovery and productive and sustainable investment.
more
The Mapping Antimicrobial Resistance and Antimicrobial Use Partnership (MAAP) project has conducted a multi-year, multi-country study that provides stark insights on the under-reported depth of the antimicrobial resistance (AMR) crisis across Africa and lays out urgent policy recommendations to addr...ess the emergency.
MAAP reviewed 819,584 AMR records from 2016-2019, from 205 laboratories across Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Eswatini, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. MAAP also reviewed data from 327 hospital and community pharmacies and 16 national-level AMC datasets.
more
The Mapping Antimicrobial Resistance and Antimicrobial Use Partnership (MAAP) project has conducted a multi-year, multi-country study that provides stark insights on the under-reported depth of the antimicrobial resistance (AMR) crisis across Africa and lays out urgent policy recommendations to addr...ess the emergency.
MAAP reviewed 819,584 AMR records from 2016-2019, from 205 laboratories across Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Eswatini, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. MAAP also reviewed data from 327 hospital and community pharmacies and 16 national-level AMC datasets.
more
This document lays out economic arguments for investing in the Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator (ACT-Accelerator). Framed within an overall context that recognizes the broader human health and societal impacts of the COVID-19 crisis, ACT-Accelerator's Economic Investment Case argues that investm...ent in ACT-Accelerator is the world’s best bet and most viable solution for restarting the global economy. It is intended for governments, multilaterals, civil society, businesses and foundations and all those interested in the work required to change the course of the pandemic. The global deployment of ACT-Accelerator’s comprehensive package of tools will reduce the severity of COVID-19 disease, enabling countries to transition out of the crisis thereby restarting domestic and international economic engines driving our global economy.
more
The guide to implementing the One Health Joint Plan of Action (OH JPA) at national level provides practical guidance on how countries can adopt and adapt the OH JPA to strengthen and support national One Health action.
Building on the OH JPA theory of change, this guide describes three pathways a...nd five key steps to implement the OH JPA at national level:
Pathway 1 -- Governance, policy, legislation, financing and advocacy
Pathway 2 -- Organizational and institutional development, implementation and sectoral integration
Pathway 3 -- Data, evidence, information systems and knowledge exchange.
The stepwise approach comprises:
Situation analysis including stakeholder mapping and review of existing assessment results
Set-up/strengthening of a multisectoral, One Health coordination mechanism
Planning for implementation, including activity prioritization and leveraging of resources
Implementation of national One Health action plans
Review, sharing and incorporation of lessons learned.
more
After introducing Ethiopia's WASH sector challenges and trends, the plan describes IRC Ethiopia's vision and strategy which draws from IRC and Water For People's joint framework - Destination 2030. It then details the organisational changes and business development needed to implement the strategic ...plan. Detailed targets are provided in the annexes.
At IRC, we believe that turning on a working tap should not be a surprise or cause for celebration. We believe in a world where water, sanitation and hygiene services are fundamental utilities that everyone is able to take for granted. For good.
We face a complex challenge. Every year, thousands of projects within and beyond the WASH sector fail – the result of short-term targets and interventions, at the cost of longterm service solutions.
This leaves around a third of the world’s poorest people without access to the most basic of human rights, and leads directly to economic, social and health problems on a global scale. IRC exists to continually challenge and shape the established practices of the WASH sector.
Through collaboration and the active application of our expertise, we work with governments, service providers and international organisations to deliver systems and services that are truly built to last.
more