The report reflects on the trends, achievements and challenges in global health over the past decade during which Dr Margaret Chan has been Director-General of WHO. It discusses the role of WHO in d...ealing with such issues as the rise of noncommunicable diseases, leaps in life expectancy, and emerging threats like climate change and antimicrobial resistance.
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WHOs Special Initiative for Mental Health has supported the availability of mental health services for more than 40 million more people. Learn about WHOs Special Initiative for Mental ...attribute-to-highlight medbox">Health, which seeks to increase access to quality and affordable care for mental health conditions in 12 countries for 100 million more people. The initiative is advancing policies, advocacy and human rights, and scaling-up quality interventions and services for people with mental, neurological and substance use conditions.
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The Guidance Notes seek to help operationalize, simplify and standardize the collection and reporting of data through the application of common language a...nd methods. They provide information on the key issues to take into account in the collection of health data and the types of data that should be collated, and potential stakeholders to engage with. They adapt and complement the UNDRR/UNISDR Technical guidance for monitoring and reporting on progress in achieving the global targets of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, which has a multisectoral target audience.
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Pakistan is on the verge of a public health disaster as a result of the massive monsoon rainfalls and unprecedented levels of flooding that are affecting 33 million people across the country.
The r...isk of disease outbreaks is extremely high and malnutrition rates are rising.
WHO requires US$ 81.5 million to respond to this health crisis in flood-affected Pakistan, to ensure a coordinated delivery of essential health care services, efficient management of severe acute malnutrition, and stronger outbreak detection and control.
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The Report describes the evaluation of WHO's contribution to the Maternal Health Program in South-East Asia Region. This was an independent evaluation conducted in 2015 by Amaltas, a Delhi based organizati...on. The evaluation highlights the progress in five countries, namely Bangladesh, Indonesia, Myanmar, Nepal and Sri Lanka and provides specific recommendations for Organizational Learning and Development. This report will be useful for all those interested in WHO's work on Maternal Health Program in the Region.
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This guide presents a basis for understanding how diarrhoeal diseases are currently influenced by climate and weather, and may be further exacerbated by climate change. It is a technical guide on ho...w to conduct a Vulnerability & Adaptation assessment for diarrhoeal diseases and climate change, and provides guidance on how to:
identify populations and regions vulnerable to diarrhoeal diseases and the reasons for their vulnerability;
establish relevant baselines that can be analysed and monitored;
conduct analyses to project how diarrhoeal diseases may be impacted in the future due to climate change; and
identify appropriate responses to mitigate and monitor these risks over time.
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A public health emergency operations centre (EOC) is a central location for coordinating operational information and resources for strategic management of pugencies ...ht medbox">and events. EOCs provide communication and information tools and services blic health emer-
and a management system during a response to an emergency or event. This report lays out components and characteristics of an emergency operations plan, providing a suggested structure for plans and procedures. The planning process, and that of coducting a hazard analysis or needs assessment, are also discussed as key steps
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These guidelines – an update to the World Health Organization’s 2015 publication Consolidated strategic information guidelines – present a se...t of essential aggregate indicators and guidance on choosing, collecting and systematically analysing strategic information to manage and monitor the national health sector response to HIV.
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Overwhelming evidence shows that a range of health concerns—mental illness, substance dependence, HIV/AIDS, and noncommunicable diseases—affect prisoners disproportionately. But, while incarcera...tion poses risks to health—including inadequate nutrition and exposure to violence—prisons also present important opportunities to promote health and risk reduction that need to be tapped.
Some recommended remedies:
Health ministries, not ministries of justice, should manage health care responsibilities
Ensure that testing is available, but not mandatory, for infectious diseases
Make prison health part of the broader public health agenda
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WHO needs US$2.54 billion to provide life-saving assistance to millions of people around the world facing health emergencies. WHO’s Health Emerge...ncy Appeal is a consolidation of WHO’s priorities and financial requirements for 2023 to carry out health interventions in emergency and humanitarian responses. The number of people in need of humanitarian relief has increased by almost a quarter compared to 2022, to a record 339 million. WHO is responding to an unprecedented number of intersecting health emergencies: climate change-related disasters such as flooding in Pakistan and food insecurity across the Sahel in the greater Horn of Africa; the war in Ukraine; and the health impact of conflict in Yemen, Afghanistan, Syria and north eastern Ethiopia – all of these emergencies overlapping with the health system disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and outbreaks of measles, cholera, and other killers. Contributions to the appeal can be fully flexible, flexible across a region, or flexible within a country appeal.
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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 and increasing economic hardship... mean an estimated 166 million people require health assistance.
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This draft Roadmap for the Global Health for Peace Initiative has been developed in response to decision WHA75(24) of the 75th World Health Assembl...y (2022), which requested that WHO develop, in full consultation with Member States and Observers, and in full collaboration with other organizations of the United Nations system and relevant non-State actors in official relations with WHO, a Roadmap, if any, for the Global Health and Peace Initiative.
It incorporates feedback received from Member States through a first round of consultation carried out at the end of 2022. This (second) draft is being made available ahead of the 152nd session of the Executive Board, that will consider the draft Roadmap.
The Roadmap for the Global Health for Peace Initiative aims to provide a framework for the Initiative at global level, defining concepts, establishing principles, setting strategic goals and objectives as well as operational priorities. It also describes the “Health for Peace approach” to programming, which lies at the core of the Global Health for Peace Initiative (GHPI). The GHPI is a global initiative of WHO that aims to enhance the existing links between health (and health interventions) and peace
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This policy brief has been developed in response to the contemporary challenge of antibiotic resistance (ABR). ABR poses a formidable threat to global health and sustainable development. It is... now increasingly recognized that the systematic neglect of cultural factors is one of the biggest obstacles to achieving better health outcomes and better standards of living worldwide. Using a cultural contexts of health approach, the policy brief explores the centrality of culture to the challenge of ABR. The brief examines how the prescription and use of antibacterial medicines, the transmission of resistance, and the regulation and funding of research are influenced by cultural, social and commercial, as well as biological and technological factors. The brief moves beyond the ready equation of culture with individual behaviours and demonstrates how culture serve as an enabler of health and provide new possibilities for change.
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The humanitarian-development-peace nexus (HDPNX) is a new way of working that offers a framework for coherent joined-up planning and implementation of shared priorities between humanitarian development ...x">and peacebuilding actors in emergency settings. To advance the HDPNx in a given country a shared foundational understanding of the current situation is needed. However it can be challenging to find such a resource perpetuating poor understanding planning and operationalization. This is one of a series of country profiles that have been developed by WHO to address that need. Each profile provides an overview of health-related nexus efforts in the country and will be updated regularly.
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This document aims to assist policy‑makers, health care providers and researchers to understand key concepts in health ethics ...ute-to-highlight medbox">and to identify basic ethical questions surrounding health and health care. It illustrates the challenges of applying ethical principles to global public health and outlines practical strategies for dealing with those challenges.
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The 2023 meeting of the WHO Clinical Consortium on Healthy Ageing (CCHA) was the group’s ninth gathering and took place in Geneva 5–7 December 2023. The meeting was structured around seven panel...s, with a series of technical presentations, plenary discussions and group work, and a final session outlining the work programme for 2024.
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"This is the final report of the six-year collaboration between the WHO Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse and the Gulbenkian Global M...ental Health Platform, an initiative of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation aimed at reducing the global burden of mental health through the development and application of evidence and good practices to global mental health."
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This timely report comes at a decisive moment in history where
we can reshape urban environments and health systems for the
majority of the world...’s population that live in cities. Enabling
this transformation are the SDGs, which have reconfigured how
governments and the international community need to plan and
implement actions to eradicate poverty and inequality, create
inclusive economic growth, preserve the planet and improve
population health. Central to this quest is to create equitable,
healthier cities for sustainable development.
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n 2015, Member States of the United Nations adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its accompanying Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), with the third goal of the agenda focusing on heal...th – good health and well-being. This has the attainment of universal health coverage (UHC) as its umbrella target. Since then, the WHO Regional Office for Africa has been supporting countries plan, and monitor progress towards this goal. This report represents an analysis of the evidence so far countries are making towards this goal, and includes the effect COVID-19 has had on its attainment so far. It also makes recommendations on how countries can prioritize their health actions post COVID-19, in a manner that allows acceleration of progress towards UHC.
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Every year, around 830 000 children die from unintentional or "accidental" injuries. The vast majority of these injuries occur in low-income and middle-income countries. However, dozens of prevention strategies ...dbox">and programmes exist. If they were integrated into other child survival programmes and implemented on a larger scale, many of these deaths and much of the injury-related disability could be prevented.
The report documents the magnitude, risks and prevention measures for child injuries globally –particularly for drowning, burns, road traffic injuries, falls and poisoning.
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