Introduction: Considering the global prevalence of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), a vaccine is being developed to control the disease as a complementary solution to hygiene measures—and better, in social terms, than social distancing. Given that a vaccine will eventually be produced, informa...tion will be needed to support a potential campaign to promote vaccination.
Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the variables affecting the likelihood of refusal and indecision toward a vaccine against COVID-19 and to determine the acceptance of the vaccine for different scenarios of effectiveness and side effects.
Materials and Methods: A multinomial logistic regression method based on the Health Belief Model was used to estimate the current methodology, using data obtained by an online anonymous survey of 370 respondents in Chile.
Results: The results indicate that 49% of respondents were willing to be vaccinated, with 28% undecided or 77% of individuals who would potentially be willing to be inoculated. The main variables that explained the probability of rejection or indecision were associated with the severity of COVID-19, such as, the side effects and effectiveness of the vaccine; perceived benefits, including immunity, decreased fear of contagion, and the protection of oneself and the environment; action signals, such as, responses from ones' family and the government, available information, and specialists' recommendations; and susceptibility, including the contagion rate per 1,000 inhabitants and relatives with COVID-19, among others. Our analysis of hypothetical vaccine scenarios revealed that individuals preferred less risky vaccines in terms of fewer side effects, rather than effectiveness. Additionally, the variables that explained the indecision toward or rejection of a potential COVID-19 vaccine could be used in designing public health policies.
Conclusions: We discovered that it is necessary to formulate specific, differentiated vaccination-promotion strategies for the anti-vaccine and undecided groups based on the factors that explain the probability of individuals refusing or expressing hesitation toward vaccination.
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Small island developing states (SIDS) are a set of islands and coastal states that share similar sustainable development challenges, as a result of their size, geography and vulnerability to climate change. Thirty-nine WHO member states in four regions – the African Region, the Region of the Ameri...cas, the South-East Asian Region, and the Western Pacific region – are classified as SIDS. Whilst the individual countries differ in many respects, collectively they face unique social, economic and environmental challenges.
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Accessed: 10.03.2019
mhGAP Training Manual for the mhGAP Intervention Guide for mental, neurological and substance use disorders in non-specialized health settings – version 2.0 (for field testing)
Session outline
•Introduction to depression
•Assessment of depression
•Management of depression
•Follow-up
•Review
Session outline
•Introduction to psychoses.
•Assessment of psychoses.
•Management of psychoses.
•Follow-up.
•Review.
Older people, and people of all ages with pre-existing medical conditions (such as diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, lung disease, or cancer) appear to develop serious illness more often than others. Here's how you can protect yourself.
This article is part four in a series of explainers on vaccine development and distribution
Available in different languages
This article is part two in a series of explainers on vaccine development and distribution. Part one focused on how vaccines work to protect our bodies from disease-carrying germs. This article focuses on the ingredients in a vaccine and the three clinical trial phases. Part three outlines the nex...t part of the vaccine journey: the steps from completing the clinical trial phases through to distribution
Available in English, French, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese and Russian
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Asthma is a long term illness of the lungs that causes the tubes that carry air into and out of the lungs (airways) to become swollen (inflamed) and produce lots of thick mucus.
In a person with asthma, the lung swelling (inflammation) makes the airways “twitchy”; this means they close easily... with certain things like viral infections, cold air, allergens, exercise, and smoke.
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Humanitarian emergencies result in a breakdown of critical health-care services and often make vulnerable communities dependent on external agencies for care. In resource-constrained settings, this may occur against a backdrop of extreme poverty, malnutrition, insecurity, low literacy and poor infra...structure. Under these circumstances, providing food, water and shelter and limiting communicable disease outbreaks become primary concerns. Where effective and safe vaccines are available to mitigate the risk of disease outbreaks, their potential deployment is a key consideration in meeting emergency health needs. Ethical considerations are crucial when deciding on vaccine deployment. Allocation of vaccines in short supply, target groups, delivery strategies, surveillance and research during acute humanitarian emergencies all involve ethical considerations that often arise from the tension between individual and common good. The authors lay out the ethical issues that policy-makers need to bear in mind when considering the deployment of mass vaccination during humanitarian emergencies, including beneficence (duty of care and the rule of rescue), non-maleficence, autonomy and consent, and distributive and procedural justice
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Pneumonia kills more children than any other illness – more than AIDS, malaria and measles combined. Over 2 million children die from pneumonia each year, accounting for almost 1 in 5 under five deaths worldwide. Yet, little attention is paid to this disease. This joint UNICEF/WHO report examines ...the epidemiological evidence on the burden and distribution of pneumonia and assesses current levels of treatment and prevention. It is a call to action to reduce pneumonia mortality, a key step towards the achievement of the millennium development goal on child mortality.
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Examining the needs of at‐risk youth in the Middle East and North Africa: A multi‐method landscape analysis and systematic literature review
Improving the management of childhood tuberculosis within national tuberculosis programmes: research priorities based on a literature review
WHO/HTM/TB/2007.381, 07.02
Article published in: Journal of Intensive Care (2015) 3:16
The purpose of this document is to provide a comprehensive overview of existing institutional arrangement for disaster management in Myanmar at all levels with an aim to make information available to all stakeholders involved in disaster risk management in Myanmar.
The Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study, a collaborative endeavour of the World
Health Organization (WHO), the World Bank and the Harvard School of Public Health,
drew the attention of the international health community to the burden of neurological
disorders and many other chronic conditions. T...his study found that the burden of neurological
disorders was seriously underestimated by traditional epidemiological and health
statistical methods that take into account only mortality rates but not disability rates. The
GBD study showed that over the years the global health impact of neurological disorders
had been underestimated.
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Brief review of selected topics
The following pages provide a focus on selected areas in relation to neurology. The specialists who contributed the reviews are listed in the Project Team and Partners
Neurology Atlas (2004)
26 March 2021 Slideset updated regularly to include the latest data on the evolution and duration of COVID-19 symptoms and prevalence and duration of natural immunity.
WHO's Health in the Green Economy sector briefings examine the health impacts of climate change mitigation strategies considered by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in their Fourth Assessment Report.
Extreme heat events (EHEs) are a leading cause of weather-related injury and death in the United States, and under a changing climate, these meteorological episodes are predicted to increase in both frequency and intensity. Prolonged heat exposure from EHEs places an increased strain on the heart an...d may lead to heat-related illness if the cardiovascular system fails to properly thermoregulate internal body temperature. Every individual is susceptible to heat-related illness, however, those with reduced cardiovascular function and pre-existing cardiovascular diseases are at a greater risk for morbidity and mortality during EHEs. This document gives an overview of our current understanding of heat exposure and its impact on cardiovascular health outcomes, an overview of the medications that may exacerbate heat-related cardiovascular illness, and asummary of the interaction between extreme heat and air pollutants, and their collective impact on cardiovascular health. Additionally, this document summarizes epidemiologic evidence and identifies gaps in the extant peer-reviewed literature on the effectiveness of strategies and interventions to protect against heat-related cardiovascular disease and death. This information is intended to aid health departments and other health professionals in understanding and responding to the impacts of heat exposure on cardiovascular health.
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