This integrated operational framework provides an overview of the connections between mental health, neurological and substance use (MNS) condition
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s, and their links to health, well-being and the broader public health and sustainable development agenda. The need for integrated approaches is increasingly recognized as critical to address the complex interactions between mental health, brain health, substance use, and physical health, particularly in light of global threats such as the COVID-19 pandemic. The framework also provides a series of actions for governments and health service planners and advisors to achieve integration across four domains: leadership and governance; care services; promotion and prevention; and health information systems, evidence generation and research.
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Guiding framework for development cooperation, Working paper 2017.
This document was drawn up on the basis of expert publications and inputs from partners in the
GIZ regional programme Psychosocia
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l Support for Syrian and Iraqi Refugees and Internally
Displaced People1 in order to serve as guidance in the design, implementation and assessment of
psychosocial support measures for refugees in the context of the crises in Syria and Iraq. It is
aimed at actors from the MHPSS sector working with refugees in the Middle East and at ministries
and academic/scientific institutions in the context of the Syria and Iraq crises.
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The report underscores that sexual and reproductive health and rights are often the first to be sacrificed during epidemics
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and that the gains of the past decade must be protected. The report also makes it clear that scarce resources must be focused on the most marginalized women and girls, including sex workers, gender diverse people, women in prison and migrants and others without proof of employment or residence.
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An interregional meeting on leishmaniasis among neighbouring endemic
countries in the Eastern Mediterranean, African and European regions was organized by the World Health Organization (WHO) Region
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al Office for the Eastern
Mediterranean in Amman, Jordan, from 23 to 25 September 2018. The meeting was attended by representatives from the health ministries of Albania, Georgia, Greece, Iran (Islamic Republic of), Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syrian Arab Republic and Tunisia. Representatives from Afghanistan, Algeria and Libya were unable to attend. The Secretariat comprised staff from WHO headquarters, WHO regional offices in the Eastern Mediterranean, Africa and Europe, WHO country offices in Iraq, Pakistan, Syrian Arab Republic and Yemen, and WHO temporary advisors from Spain and Tunisia.
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As part of the Mental Health Gap Action Programme, WHO has developed training manuals (Training of trainers
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and supervisors training manual and Training of health-care providers training manual) to support implementation of the mhGAP Intervention Guide for mental, neurological and substance use (MNS) disorders in non-specialized health settings, version 2.0. These manuals can be used to build capacity among non-specialist health-care providers in the assessment and management of people with priority MNS conditions in low resource settings.
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This paper reviews the effects of vertical responses to COVID-19 on health systems, services, and people’s access to
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and use of them in LMICs, where historic and ongoing under-investments heighten vulnerability to a multiplicity of health threats. We use the term ‘vertical response’ to describe decisions, measures and actions taken solely with the purpose of preventing and containing COVID-19, often without adequate consideration of how this affects the wider health system and pre-existing resource constraints.
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Updated with information on Ebola virus disease and Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus
A wide variety of health events ranging in severi
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ty may occur related to air transport, requiring different responses or, perhaps, no response at all. The target audience for this guidance document includes the national focal points (NFP) for the IHR and public health authorities at PoE, as well as national aviation regulatory authorities, airport operators and personnel, aircraft operators, air crew and other stakeholders involved in air transport and emergency preparedness and response to public health events
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In 2015, 5.9 million children under age five died (1). The major causes of child deaths globally are pneumonia, prematurity, intrapartum-related complications, neonatal sepsis, congenital anomalies, diarrhoea, injuries
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and malaria (2). Most of these diseases and conditions are at least partially caused by the environment. It was estimated in 2012 that 26% of childhood deaths and 25% of the total disease burden in children under five could be prevented through the reduction of environmental risks such as air pollution, unsafe water, sanitation and inadequate hygiene or chemicals.
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his document, a first of its kind, clearly sets out the standards for rehabilitation and provides guidance on building or strengthening the capacity
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of EMTs in this area.The importance of early rehabilitation for functional outcomes is well documented. Rehabilitation needs can persist far beyond the departure of EMTs; therefore, close, supportive collaboration must be established with local services. Emergency response presents an opportunity to rebuild devastated health systems and build local rehabilitation capacity. This document emphasizes the importance of aligning practices to the local context and maximizing opportunities for training and mentorship. The minimum standards and recommendations described will result in faster access of patients to rehabilitation services and equipment and a better transition between EMTs and local health facilities.
Available in English, German, Arabic, Chinese
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The message contained in this publication is clear: countries need a
public health system that can respond to the deliberate release of
chemical and
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biological agents. Regrettable though this message may
be, the use of poison gas in the war between Iraq and the Islamic
Republic of Iran in the 1980s, the recent anthrax incidents in the United
States, and the attack with sarin nerve agent, six years earlier, on the
Tokyo underground, illustrate why it is necessary to prepare.
Russian and Japanese version available:
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WHO published the first COVID-19 Strategic Response and Preparedness Plan (SPRP) on 3 February, 2020. This report highlights the main points of progress that were made up to 30 June 2020 under the t
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hree objectives outlined in the SPRP: scaling up international coordination and support; scaling up country preparedness and response by pillar; and accelerating research and innovation. The report also discusses some of the key challenges faced so far, and provides an update on the resource requirements for the next phase of WHO’s response as part of an unprecedented whole-of-UN approach to the pandemic.
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Ensuring mental health and well-being has become a worldwide imperative and an important target of
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the Sustainable Development Goals. But in all countries around the world, our response has been woefully insufficient, and we have made
little progress to advance mental health as a fundamental human right.
One in ten people are affected by a mental health condition, up to 200 million people have an intellectual disability and an estimated 50 million people have dementia. Many persons with mental health conditions, or psychosocial, intellectual, or cognitive disabilities lack access to quality mental health services that respond to their needs and respect their rights and dignity.
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The key updates include: content update in various sections based on new evidence; design changes for enhanced usability; a streamlined and simplified clinical assessment that includes an algorithm for follow-up; inclusion
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of two new modules
- Essential Care and Practice that includes general guidelines and Iminterventions and implementation module to support the proposed interventions by necessary infrastructure and resources; and, revised modules for Psychoses, Child and Adolescent Mental and Behavioural Disorders and Disorders due to Substance Use
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This checklist is for any organization or person supporting the routine use of evidence in
the process of policy-making. Evidence-informed policy-making (EIPM) is essential for achieving the Sustai
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nable Development Goals (SDGs) and universal health coverage (UHC). Its importance is emphasized in WHO’s Thirteenth General Programme of
Work 2019–2023 (GPW13). This checklist was developed by the WHO Secretariat of Evidence-Informed Policy Network (EVIPNet) to assist its Member countries in institutionalizing EIPM. Government agencies (i.e. the staff of the Ministry of Health),
knowledge intermediaries and researchers focused on strengthening EIPM will find in this checklist some key steps and tools to help their work. While the health sector is a key target group for EVIPNet, this tool can be applied by stakeholders from
different social sectors
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Experience of national TB partnerships
Despite the significant role of vector control in national leishmaniasis control programmes, the programmatic community perceives vector control as the weakest component of leishmaniasis control str
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ategies in terms of resources, scientific evidence of the usefulness of interventions and capacity for quality-assured implementation. Therefore, the main objective of this manual is to provide practical tools, techniques and procedures to strengthen sand fly control and surveillance in order to improve implementation of leishmaniasis control programmes. The manual provides a rationale for programme managers in different geographical regions on the types of vector control interventions to be used in different epidemiological and environmental settings and also how to measure their impact.
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A systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019. The Lancet Vol.399 Issue 10341 p.2129-2154
Human resources for health (HRH) include a range
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of occupations that aim to promote or improve human health. The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the WHO Health Workforce 2030 strategy have drawn attention to the importance of HRH for achieving policy priorities such as universal health coverage (UHC). Although previous research has found substantial global disparities in HRH, the absence of comparable cross-national estimates of existing workforces has hindered efforts to quantify workforce requirements to meet health system goals. We aimed to use comparable and standardised data sources to estimate HRH densities globally, and to examine the relationship between a subset of HRH cadres and UHC effective coverage performance.
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