UNHCR’s Public Health Strategy 2021-2025 is based on the lessons learnt, and builds on the achievements, of the Global Strategy for Public Health 2014-2018.
Progress was made on policies favouring inclusion and integration into national systems3 with 92% of 48 operations surveyed reporting refuge...es having access to national primary health care facilities under the same conditions as nationals and 96% reporting refugees having access to all relevant vaccines under the same conditions as nationals. While many refugee hosting countries have policies that allow refugees to access national health services, many face partial access, prohibitive out-of-pocket expenditures and other barriers including distance to facilities, language and provider acceptance. Furthermore, more work is needed on strengthening these systems to be able to meet the needs of both host communities and refugees.
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In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic impacted the world beyond imagination. To date, it has infected more than 135 million people, killed over 2.9 million people, and is projected to plunge up to 115 million people into extreme poverty.1 As countries have gone into lockdown, gender-based violence has incr...eased, unemployment has soared, and access to health care for the poorest and most vulnerable has been cut. COVID-19 has made people less likely to seek health care because they are afraid of getting infected with the virus. Fear and uncertainty surrounding COVID-19 have also increased stigma and discrimination. As frontline workers without enough access to personal protective equipment (PPE) risk their lives to treat patients, the virus pushes already fragile health systems to the brink.
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Drawing light from the pandemic: A new strategy for health and sustainable development (2021)
Available in English, French, German and Russian
In the Region of the Americas, the leishmaniases are a group of diseases caused by various species of Leishmania, which cause a set of clinical syndromes in infected humans that can involve the skin, mucosa, and visceral organs. The spectrum of clinical disease is varied and depends on the interacti...on of several factors related to the parasite, the vector, and the host. Cutaneous leishmaniasis is the form most frequently reported in the Region and nearly 90% of cases present single or multiple localized lesions. Other cutaneous clinical forms, such as disseminated and diffuse cutaneous leishmaniasis, are more difficult to treat and relapses are common. The mucosal form is serious because it can cause disfigurement and severe disability if not diagnosed and treated early on. Visceral leishmaniasis is the most severe form, as it can cause death in up to 90% of untreated people.
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One of the most important ways we feel we can help to reduce the burden of cancer in Africa is to work with African cancer advocacy organisations to help educate and advocate about cancer in their countries. To this end in 2010 we designed with our partners, 13 posters for use in Africa
giving heal...th and lifestyle tips on how to avoid cancer and highlighting the early warning sign and symptoms of common cancers in Africa
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Healthy people, healthy animals and a healthy environment worldwide with the One Health approach.
The COVID-19 pandemic has drastically demonstrated just how close the link is between humans, animals, and the environment, and has highlighted and aggravated existing challenges. The destruction of na...tural habitats and displacement of species, trade in wild animals, resource-intensive lifestyles and conditions, non-sustainable food systems and, in particular, industrial agriculture and intensive livestock farming are the causes of the emergence of zoonoses as well as numerous other communicable and non-communicable, chronic diseases.
The One Health approach focuses precisely on such interaction between humans, animals, and the environment.
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World Health Organization, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations & World Organisation for Animal Health. (2021). Antimicrobial resistance and the United Nations sustainable development cooperation framework: guidance for United Nations country teams. World Health Organization
Organización Mundial de la Salud, Organización de las Naciones Unidas para la Alimentación y la Agricultura & Organización Mundial de Sanidad Animal. (2021). La resistencia a los antimicrobianos y el marco de cooperación de las Naciones Unidas para el desarrollo sostenible: orientaciones ...para los equipos de las Naciones Unidas en los países. Organización Mundial de la Salud.
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This implementation brief addresses integration of HIV testing services into family planning (FP) services. It is intended as a practical resource for national health programmes seeking to introduce or scale up HIV testing and linkage to HIV prevention, sexually transmitted infection, and antiretrov...iral therapy services in FP.
This document highlights emerging good practices and country experiences of integrated HIV prevention and testing services within FP and advocates for increased linkage for FP clients to HIV services according to their needs. It also brings together information on models of integration of HIV testing into FP services, programme examples from east and southern Africa and guidance on the implementation monitoring process.
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As countries commit to achieving universal health coverage, it is imperative to ensure that the design and delivery of palliative care services place attention on quality of care, with action needed across all domains of quality health services: effectiveness, safety, people-centredness, timeliness,... equity, integration and efficiency. Providing compassionate, dignified and people-centred palliative care is an ethical responsibility of health systems.
This document provides a practical resource to support implementation of sustainable improvements in the quality of palliative care. It describes approaches to quality policy, strategy and planning for palliative care programmes and services, presents learning on quality of care arising from palliative care programmes, and offers considerations on measurement of quality palliative care services at all levels of the health system. The document also highlights relevant WHO resources available that further support the development of quality palliative care services.
The audience for this document is a general one that includes policy-makers, palliative care service planners, managers, practitioners and health care providers at all levels.
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The second edition of the joint WHO, WIPO and WTO
publication “Promoting Access to Medical Technologies
and Innovation: Intersections between public health,
intellectual property and trade” (the Trilateral Study),*
published in 2020, included a special insert mappi...ng the
challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic in relation
to the integrated health, trade and IP policy framework set
out in the study. The Trilateral Study and the special insert
were designed to serve as background reference for policy-
makers in the widest sense – lawmakers, government
officials, delegates to international organizations, non-
governmental organizations (NGOs) and researchers
who seek a comprehensive presentation of the full range
of issues, including institutions and legal concepts with
which they may be unfamiliar. It is also designed to serve
as a factual resource for the three organizations’ technical
cooperation activities.
This update revises the information contained in that
insert in the light of more recent developments as of
30 August 2021. Further updates will be made to reflect
subsequent developments.
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This Fiji contextualized manual was initially drafted for CANDO partners as a result of the work done by the humanitarian arms of the various Christian denominations. However as the work progressed it became evidently clear that the training was needed for all responders, and not only Christian resp...onders, and as such, the Christian component has been added as an Annex to this manual, whilst the entire manual is relevant and can be used to train all first responders in Fiji.
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SBMFC Recommendations for PHC during the Pandemic of COVID-19 (edition 4)
This document answers questions and gives recommendations so that the Brazilian PHC can quickly receive the best possible scientific synthesis on the current situation of the pandemic of COVID-19
These WHO interim recommendations for use of the BBV152 COVAXIN vaccine were developed on the basis of advice issued by the Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization (SAGE) and the evidence summary included in the background document and annexes referenced below.
This document has been ...updated: version 15 March 2022.
The vaccine is formulated from an inactivated SARS-CoV-2 antigen and is presented in single dose vials and multidose vials of 5, 10 and 20 doses.
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Healthy communities rely on well-functioning ecosystems. They provide clean air, fresh water, medicines and food security. They also limit disease and stabilize the climate. But biodiversity loss is happening at unprecedented rates, impacting human health worldwide, according to a new state of knowl...edge review of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and WHO.
The report synthesizes the available information on the most important inter-linkages between biodiversity, ecosystem stability, and epidemic infectious diseases such as the Ebola virus; and the connection between biodiversity, nutritional diversity and health. It also covers the potential benefits of closer partnerships between conservation and health, from improved surveillance of infectious diseases in wildlife and human populations, to promoting access to green spaces to promote physical activity and mental health. It also highlights the many areas in which further research is needed.
The Joint report hopes to provide a useful reference for the Sustainable Development Goals and post-2015 development agenda, which represents an unique opportunity to promote integrated approaches to biodiversity and health by highlighting that biodiversity contributes to human well-being, and highlighting that biodiversity needs protection for development to be sustainable.
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Urbanization, land use, global trade and industrialization have led to profound and negative impacts on nature, biodiversity and ecosystems across the world. The ongoing depletion of natural resources not only afects environmental conditions but also has an enormous impact on the well-being and secu...rity of societies.
This report provides an overview of the impacts of the natural environment on human health. It presents the ways nature and ecosystems can support and protect health and well-being, and describes how nature degradation and loss of biodiversity can threaten human health.
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The European Resuscitation Council Guidelines for Resuscitation provide specific instructions for how resuscitation should be practiced and take into account ease of teaching and learning, as well as the science. They were developed by Europeans and have been specifically written with European pract...ice in mind.
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Joint actions by the Global Fund and UNAIDS are guided by a strong alignment of strategies, goals and targets. UNAIDS has worked with all stakeholders to set a common agenda and targets within the Global AIDS Strategy 2021–2026, and the United Nations General Assembly confirmed this strategy and i...ts ambitious targets within its 2021 Political Declaration on HIV and AIDS: Ending Inequalities and Getting on Track to End AIDS by 2030.
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