WHO and public health authorities around the world are taking action to contain the COVID-19 outbreak. However, long term success cannot be taken for granted. All sections of our society – includi...ng businesses and employers – must play a role if we are to stop the spread of this disease.
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The Ministry of Public Health in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has reported the country’s first case of COVID-19. Health authorities... said tests found that a Congolese national, who had recently returned to Kinshasa from his residence in France had tested positive for the virus.
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Initial public health responses to control the pandemic focused on promoting protective behaviors among the general population, including frequent hand washing, physical distancing and the use of fa...ce masks in public spaces However, many saw these only as interim measures to reduce the spread of the virus and hopes for a return to a sense of ‘ rested on the development of a safe and effective vaccine.
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Suicide is a serious public health problem surrounded by stigma, myths, and taboos. With an annual average of 81,746 suicide deaths in the period 2010–2014 and an age-adjusted suicide rate of 9.3 ...per 100,000 population (age-unadjusted rate of 9.6), suicide continues to be a public health problem of great relevance in the Region of the Americas. Contrary to common belief, suicides are preventable with timely, evidence-based, and often low-cost interventions. It is estimated that for each suicide that occurs, there are more than 20 attempts. Suicide can occur at any age and it is the third highest cause of death among young people between the ages of 20 and 24 in the Region of the Americas.
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Climate change is a public health crisis – impacting our weather and environment, along with the quality of the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the food we eat. The most vulnerable members... of our communities – children, people of color, the poor, people with disabilities or chronic diseases, and the elderly – are the ones who suffer the most.
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The socioeconomic factors and public health inadequacies that facilitated the rapid spread of this infection continue to exist. As it is a new and emerging disease it has not received sufficient cov...erage yet in the medical curricula of Member States. Specific treatment is not available, and there is no vaccine for the prevention of chikungunya fever. It has therefore become imperative to develop guidelines, based on the limited clinical experience gathered from managing patients so far, for appropriate management of patients in communities and in health facilities. Experts engaged in managing patients with chikungunya fever in the Region were brought together by the WHO Regional Office for South-East Asia to outline guidelines for managing various situations and stages of the disease.
The socioeconomic factors and public health inadequacies that facilitated the rapid spread of this infection continue to exist. As it is a new and emerging disease it has not received sufficient coverage yet in the medical curricula of Member States. Specific treatment is not available, and there is no vaccine for the prevention of chikungunya fever. It has therefore become imperative to develop guidelines, based on the limited clinical experience gathered from managing patients so far, for appropriate management of patients in communities and in health facilities. Experts engaged in managing patients with chikungunya fever in the Region were brought together by the WHO Regional Office for South-East Asia to outline guidelines for managing various situations and stages of the disease. This publication is the end result of that exercise and is intended to assist health-care providers in planning and implementing appropriate care to patients with chikungunya fever according to their actual clinical conditions
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The Global Action Plan for Healthy Lives and Well-being for All (SDG3 GAP) is a set of commitments by 13 multilateral agencies to strengthen their collaboration. For this purpose several accelerators were created and an invitation for ...ttribute-to-highlight medbox">public comment was started. This document focuses on Accelerator Discussion Paper 1: Sustainable Financing.
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Anaemia is a global public health concern, especially afflicting adolescent girls, women 15–49 years of age, pregnant women, and children in low- and middle-income countries. WHO estimates that in... 2019 30% (571 million) of women aged 15–49 years, 37% (32 million) of pregnant women, and 40% (269 million) of children 6–59 months of age were affected by anaemia, with the WHO African Region and South-East Asia
Region being most affected(
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Prevention offers the greatest public health potential and the most cost-effective long-term cancer control strategy. However, with today’s multiple media streams, the general ...te-to-highlight medbox">public is often overwhelmed by an abundance of confusing or ambiguous messages and misinformation on disease prevention. Therefore, authoritative, clear, and evidence-based recommendations on how to actively contribute to cancer prevention are extremely valuable for the general public and equally valuable for health professionals and policy-makers worldwide.
Under the overall umbrella of a World Code Against Cancer Framework, using the methodology established by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) and the experience of developing and promoting the European Code Against Cancer 4th edition, Regional Codes Against Cancer are being developed to promote cancer prevention globally.
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These guidelines outline a public health approach to strengthening and expanding HIV testing services (HTS). They present and discuss key updates to WHO guidelines on HTS, with a focus on new eviden...ce, new recommendations, good practices and operational considerations that respond to the changing needs of national programmes.
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Best practices for communicating with the public during an outbreak
Early detection, assessment and response to acute public health events:
Zika and dengue viruses remain significant public health threats. These viruses share the same Aedes (Stegomyia) mosquito vectors and geographic distributions but infections cannot be readily distin...guished clinically and need to be differentiated from each other, and from other circulating arboviral and non-arboviral pathogens, using laboratory tests. This document provides guidance on current testing strategies for Zika and dengue virus infections with updates to the previous interim guidance for laboratory testing for ZIKV, addressing pregnant and non-pregnant patients respectively, and incorporates current guidance for dengue virus diagnostic testing. The choice of laboratory assays and interpretation of test results require careful consideration of epidemiology, patient history, and limitations of existing diagnostic tests.
This interim guidance is for use by staff of laboratories testing for Zika and dengue virus infections and for clinical practitioners and public health professionals providing clinical management or surveillance.
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Cholera epidemics continue to be a major public health problem in many countries around the
world. When epidemics strike, they can spread rapidly. The disease can also evolve quickly;
patients wit...h severe disease can die of dehydration hours after showing the first symptoms of
cholera.
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Risk communication is a core public health intervention in any disease outbreak and health emergency. It refers to the real-time exchange of inform...ation, advice and opinions between experts, officials and people who face a threat to their wellbeing, to enable informed decision-making and to adopt protective behaviors.
Learning objective: By the end of this course, participants should be able to understand the core principles of risk communication and its application to disease outbreaks and health emergencies.
Course duration: This course consists of an introductory video lecture, presentation slides that can be downloaded and reviewed at your own pace, and instructions for simulation exercises. Course duration may vary. It will take most participants approximately 8 hours to thoroughly complete all components.
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Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a serious public health concern with economic, social and political implications that are global in scope, and cross all environmental and ethnic bounda...ries. As a global threat, AMR risks the achievements of modern medicine, and has the potential to impact overall global development. It is important, therefore, to elevate AMR beyond health as part of a larger development agenda in the context of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This report provides in-depth technical discussions in areas that have direct implications to the containment of AMR as a development agenda. The report is organized in five chapters which served as the technical background documents for the Biregional Technical Consultation on AMR in Asia, 14-15 April 2016. More information from the meeting is available in the WHO Meeting Report: Biregional Technical Consultation on Antimicrobial Resistance in Asia. The meeting was the first time senior officials from the Ministry of Health and Ministry of Agriculture across Asia came together to tackle AMR
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WHO has a unique combination of technical public health and scientific expertise, and a global operational footprint, with field offices in more than 150 countries. In 2020, this global, technical, ...and operational reach meant WHO was able to support countries around the world in every aspect of COVID-19 public health response, from surveillance and laboratory testing to maintaining essential health services in the most vulnerable and fragile contexts.
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Ethiopia GATS was implemented by Ethiopia Public Health Institute (EPHI) in collaboration with the Ethiopian Food, Medicine, Health...pan> Care Administration and Control Authority (FMHACA), CSA, FMOH and the World Health Organization (WHO)country office. Technical assistance for the implementation of the survey was provided by the WHO, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and RTI International. Program support was provided by the CDC Foundation.Financial support for Ethiopia GATS was provided by the CDC Foundation with a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.GATS enhances countries’ capacity to design, implement and evaluate tobacco control programs. It also assistscountries to fulfill their obligations under the WHO FCTC to generate comparable data within and across countries. In addition,it allows countries to implement the WHO MPOWER policy package. WHO MPOWERisa technical packagedevelopedtoassist countries in implementing selected demand reduction measures contained in the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control(FCTC)(5).The six MPOWER evidence-based measures contained in the FCTC;
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Epidemic meningitis is a major public health challenge in the African 'meningitis belt', an area that extends from Senegal to Ethiopia with an estimated total population of 500 million. Since 2002, ...the World Health Organization (WHO), in collaboration with its collaborating centres for meningitis, has progressively supported countries in implementing a strategy of ES for meningitis. The strategy is the recommended standard for all countries of the Belt and it is now actively being implemented at different levels in all countries.
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This chronology of facts has challenged public health systems worldwide and regulatory bodies are no exception. Regulatory authorities with mechanisms in place to authorize the use of investigationa...l products had to development guidelines and procedures, create task forces and alliances to maximize the efficiency of assessment, review and authorizations of medical products. Vaccines are undoubtedly the most complex medical products to develop, from concept to a stage where sufficient evidence of quality, safety and efficacy are collected to provide an assurance that their use will provide more benefits than risks when used in the context of a public health emergency.
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