Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) – chief among them, cardiovascular diseases (heart disease and stroke), cancer, diabetes and chronic respiratory diseases – along with mental health, cause nearly three quarters
...
of deaths in the world. Their drivers are social, environmental, commercial and genetic, and their presence is global. Every year 17 million people under the age of 70 die of NCDs, and 86% of them live in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).
more
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2020, 17(23), 8849; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17238849
The aim of building climate resilient and environmentally sustainable
...
health care facilities is: (a) to enhance their capacity to protect and improve the health of their target communities in an unstable and changing climate; and (b) to empower them to optimize the use of resources and minimize the release of pollutants and waste into the environment. Such health care facilities contribute to high quality of care and accessibility of services and, by helping reduce facility costs, also ensure better affordability. They are an important component of universal health coverage.
more
Improvements in water sanitation and hygiene (WASH) and wastewater management in all sectors are critical elements of preventing infections and reducing the spread of antimicrobial resistance (AMR)
...
as identified in the Global Action Plan to combat AMR. Yet, at present, WASH and wastewater management actors and improvement actions are under-represented in AMR multi-stakeholder platforms and national action plans (NAPs). This WHO/FAO/OIE technical brief on WASH and wastewater management to reduce the spread of AMR provides a summary of evidence and rationale for WASH and wastewater actions within AMR NAPs and sector specific policy to combat AMR. Evidence and actions are presented in the domains of; coordination and leadership, households and communities, health care facilities, animal and plant production, manufacturing of antimicrobials, and surveillance and research.
more
The Faster We Go, the Health We'll Be.
The report outlines five climate solutions that research shows will deliver immediate, often localized, health and equity benefits. Our focus is on the soluti
...
ons that proactively advance both health and health equity, recognizing that some of us face greater health risks than others.
more
Supportive supervision is considered critical to community health worker programme performance, but there is relatively little understanding of how it can be sustainably done at scale. Supportive su
...
pervision is a holistic concept that encompasses three key functions: management (ensuring performance), education (promoting development) and support (responding to needs and problems). Drawing on the experiences of the ward-based outreach team (WBOT) strategy, South Africa’s national community health worker (CHW) programme, this paper explores and describes approaches to supportive supervision in policy and programme guidelines and how these are implemented in supervision practices in the North West Province, an early adopter of the WBOT strategy. Outreach teams typically consist of six CHWs plus a nurse outreach team leader (OTL).
more
The global emergence of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is posing a threat to human health. Putting resources into the containment of AMR – includ
...
ing surveillance – is one of the highest-yield investments a country can make to mitigate its impact. In 2015, WHO launched the Global Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance System (GLASS), the first global collaborative effort to foster AMR surveillance in bacteria causing acute infections. As of December 2018, 71 countries are enrolled in GLASS. The aim of this report is to document participation efforts and outcomes across these countries, and highlight differences and constraints identified to date. This report follows on from the first GLASS Report – Early implementation 2016-17, published in January 2018, and drawing on data from GLASS first data call in 2017.
more
The meningitis road map has been designated as a flagship global strategy of the WHO’s Thirteenth General Programme of Work, 2019–2023 and is an essential component in achieving universal
...
health coverage.
The road map will reinforce and combine with wider initiatives, such as those aimed at strengthening primary health care and health systems, increasing immunization coverage, improving global health security, fighting antimicrobial resistance and advocating for the rights of persons with disabilities. It will complement other global control strategies, such as those addressing sepsis, pneumonia, tuberculosis and HIV. Implementation will be a challenge for all countries across the world, but especially in resource-poor settings where the burden of meningitis is greatest. The targets for the visionary and strategic goals will be adapted to regional and local contexts.
more
This report summarizes the latest scientific knowledge on the links between exposure to air pollution and adverse health effects in children. It is intended to inform and motivate individual and collective action by
...
health care professionals to prevent damage to children’s health from exposure to air pollution.
Air pollution is a major environmental health threat. Exposure to fine particles in both the ambient environment and in the household causes about seven million premature deaths each year. Ambient air pollution alone imposes enormous costs on the global economy, amounting to more than US$ 5 trillion in total welfare losses in 2013.
This public health crisis is receiving more attention, but one critical aspect is often overlooked: how air pollution affects children in uniquely damaging ways. Recent data released by the World Health Organization (WHO) show that air pollution has a vast and terrible impact on child health and survival. Globally, 93% of all children live in environments with air pollution levels above the WHO guidelines (see the full report, Air pollution and child health: prescribing clean air. More than one in every four deaths of children under 5 years of age is directly or indirectly related to environmental risks. Both ambient air pollution and household air pollution contribute to respiratory tract infections that resulted in 543 000 deaths in children under the age of 5 years in 2016.
more
Trainer Manual Introduction (Section 1-3)
A Training Curriculum for Multidisciplinary Healthcare Teams. This innovative training package aims to empower multidisciplinary health workers to have the confidence and skills to provide comprehensive, youth-friendly HIV services that support adol
...
escents’ healthy development, psychosocial well being, retention, adherence, sexual and reproductive health, and eventual transition to adult HIV services.
more
Snakebite envenoming affects millions of people worldwide annually and is a significant source of mortality. Preventing and treating the problem is complex and requires collaboration among the field
...
s of public health, medicine, ecology, and laboratory science. After being removed from the category A neglected tropical disease (NTD) list in 2013, snakebite envenoming was reinstated in 2017 in response to antivenom shortages and advocacy from researchers and international NGOs. In 2019, the World Health Organization (WHO) set a target to halve the number of deaths and cases of snakebite envenoming by 2030.
more
Executive summary On 27th and 28th April 2021, the division of Disease Control and Prevention in collaboration with Public Health England, organized a virtual consultative meeting as part
...
of the consultations with Member States and partners for the development of the Africa CDC five years strategic plan for the prevention and control of Non-communicable Diseases … Report: Expert and stakeholder virtual consultation meeting to develop the Africa CDC Non-Communicable Diseases and Mental Health Strategy
more
4th edition 2022 of the Handbook includes new WHO recommendations that expand contraceptive choices. Also, guidance on starting ongoing contraception following emergency contraception is provided.
Drawing on lessons from rec
...
ent outbreaks, this new edition details tangible measures for frontline health workers to protect access to family planning services during emergencies, such as wider access to self-administered contraceptives and the use of digital technologies by providers. It also expands guidance for women and young people at high risk of HIV.
more