Updated 20 Nov. 2020
Countries can use this checklist of hospital governance, structures, plans and protocols to rapidly determine the current capacities of hospitals to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic and to identify gaps and major areas that req
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uire investment and action for the development of hospital readiness improvement plans. The tool can be used periodically to monitor hospital emergency operational readiness capacity development
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this toolkit presents a structured, rating-based methodology designed to provide a rapid, comprehensive assessment of the capacity of the human resource support system for a country’s supply chain. Data are gathered from a document review, focus group discussions, and in-country stakeholder interv
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iews to identify the strengths, areas for improvement, opportunities, and challenges for a wide range of human resource inputs and components. The findings are transformed into specific recommendations and strategies for action based on an understanding of country priorities and programming gaps. It includes Word templates; PowerPoint templates and Exce-based Diagnostic Dashboard
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The purpose of this multi-year strategy is to guide the strategic direction for the collective work of the Protection against Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (PSEA) Programme in Ukraine. It replaces the 2017 HCT Framework on PSEA in Ukraine, incorporates the priorities set by the IASC Vision and Strat
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egy on Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse and Sexual Harassment 2022-26 and the key outcome areas and statements contained in the UNCT Ukraine Action Plan. The Strategy was endorsed by the Humanitarian Country Team in Ukraine and will be implemented through the adoption of annual workplans for the PSEA Network in Ukraine.
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General Objectives
1. Share information on the progress of your preparation, including response capabilities, plans and procedures to identify and respond to an imported case of COVID-19 in your country.
2. Identify areas of interdependence bet
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ween health actors and other sectors
3. Conduct gap analysis based on the COVID-19 Strategic Preparedness and Response Plan (SPRP)
4. Develop an action plan to enhance your level of readiness, based on the SPRP.
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The scale of international migration in the WHO European Region has increased substantially in the last decade. The dynamics of large-scale migration pose specific challenges and opportunities to health systems, and responses will differ from country to country. Strengthening health system responses
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is one of the priority areas in the 2016 Strategy and action plan for refugee and migrant health in the WHO European Region. Its agreed actions include the identification and mapping of practices for developing and delivering health services that respond to the needs of refugees, asylum seekers and migrants. This compendium aims to collect and present some of these practices in the form of case studies. Selected in 2016, the case studies reflect experience from different levels of administration in a variety of European countries, and during the different phases of the migration journey.
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Overcoming barriers in low- and middle-income countries
For the first time, this year’s report includes information on hepatitis C diagnostics. With a focus on selected countries with diverse HCV epidemics, the report provides updates on the various dimensions of access to HCV diagnostics and pha
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rmaceutical products, including product pricing, the regulatory environment and patent status, which together shape the national hepatitis response in different settings. It highlights key areas for action by ministries of health and other government decision-makers, pharmaceutical manufacturers and technical partners.
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The Health and Climate Change Country Profiles, developed in collaboration with national governments, are part of WHO’s monitoring of health sector response to climate change. The profiles summarize evidence of the climate hazards and health risks facing countries. They track national progress in
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addressing the health threats from climate change and highlight opportunities for gaining health benefits from climate mitigation action. The profiles provide an overview of key areas for taking action and provide links to available resources.
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El presente documento de trabajo fue elaborado en el marco de una investigación bibliográfica participativa y la experiencia acumulada por los técnicos de las áreas involucradas en la respuesta a las Infecciones Respiratorias Agudas (IRA) .
El
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documento constituye una guía orientativa de trabajo, que debe ser ajustado y adaptado a los niveles operativos, para garantizar el cumplimiento de los objetivos, ya que la vigilancia de esta infección está construyéndose a medida que la OMS comparte la información recabada y analizada. Puede ser revisado parcial o totalmente en el caso que la situación epidemiológica lo amerite.
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The menu was developed using the WHO-CHOICE methodology to prepare and update, as appropriate, WHO estimates of the cost-effectiveness of a range of mental health interventions, in line with the development of Appendix 3 to the global action plan fo
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r the prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases 2013–2020.
WHO-CHOICE is a programme that helps countries to identify priorities based on health impact and cost-effectiveness. It can be applied to a wide range of strategies relevant to policies affecting health outcomes. All options are compared to a common comparator, a null scenario in which the impacts of currently implemented interventions are removed, thereby enabling comparison of interventions across geographical areas and aspects of health.
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Nigeria is Africa’s most populous nation and accounts for nearly one quarter of the continent’s maternal, newborn and child deaths. In the spirit of the global Countdown to 2015 for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health and the Nigerian Saving One Million Lives Initiative, these state data profiles
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have been designed to prompt and inform policy and programme action.
Without data there can be no accountability. Without accountability we risk making no progress for Nigeria’s women and children. The data included in these profiles come mainly from large-scale, periodic household surveys. Continued efforts are needed to strengthen civil registration, vital statistics and health management information systems, as well as the institutional capacity to gather and use these data.
Updated from 2011, these data profiles can be used to compare progress in different areas, identify opportunities to address specific coverage gaps, and monitor implementation.
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General Objectives
1. Share information on practices on IPC for endemic colonization in a tertiary facility and how those precautions could evolve based on the progress of the event, then further integrating response capabilities, plans and procedures to triage and implement source control measure
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s for case of COVID-19 in your facility.
2. Identify challenges in bed occupancy and staff management between different departments.
3. Conduct gap analysis through reflection on how the scenario could play out in your countries.
4. Identify areas for action in your facilities based on the issues explored in the scenario.
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This publication summarizes the facilitators and barriers that will be encountered in the deinstitutionalization process and identifies useful and proven interventions in Latin American and Caribbean countries. Four areas of work are identified with
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the respective guidelines or suggestions for action, which should provide an operational guide for countries that are restructuring mental health services and moving toward the deinstitutionalization of psychiatric care.
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The report offers an analysis of the broader challenges to securing humanitarian action and recommends areas for improvement. This study will contribute to improving the way humanitarians ‘do busi
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ness’ in complex security environments.
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The World Health Organization (WHO) has developed this report to monitor progress and identify areas for action in the implementation of sodium reduction policies and other measures within Member St
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ates and across WHO regions and World Bank income groups. For the first time, a Sodium Country Score from 1 (the lowest level) to 4 (the highest level) is allocated to each Member State based on the level of implementation of sodium reduction policies and other measures. The Sodium Country Score is used to estimate the impact of policy progress on population dietary sodium intake and cardiovascular disease.
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The International Network on Explosive Weapons (INEW) is an NGO partnership calling for immediate action to prevent human suffering from the use of explosive weapons in populated areas. The homepage
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of INEW offers various information such as reports, news, events and other related information.
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HelpAge has been raising awareness among humanitarian actors and government institutions about the vulnerabilities of older men and women during humanitarian crises in the region since 2009.
This digital learning platform was established for the purpose of remote humanitarian response for hard to r
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each areas. HelpAge International is utilizing expertise to train international and national organizations, government agencies, and the private sector on Age Inclusive Interventions.
These series of trainings on 'Helping Older People in Emergencies (HOPE)' is designed to strengthen the capacity of humanitarian actors to ensure that their humanitarian action is evidence-based and responds to the distinct needs and priorities of crisis-affected to older men, women, and other vulnerable groups.
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Background
Access to medicines is important for long‐term care of cardiovascular diseases and hypertension. This study provides a cross‐country assessment of availability, prices, and affordability of cardiovascular disease and hypertension medicines to identify
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areas for improvement in access to medication treatment.
Methods and Results
We used the World Health Organization online repository of national essential medicines lists (EMLs) for 53 countries to transcribe the information on the inclusion of 12 cardiovascular disease/hypertension medications within each country's essential medicines list. Data on availability, price, and affordability were obtained from 84 surveys in 59 countries that used the World Health Organization's Health Action International survey methodology. We summarized and compared the indicators across lowest‐price generic and originator brand medicines in the public and private sectors and by country income groups. The average availability of the select medications was 54% in low‐ and lower‐middle‐income countries and 60% in high‐ and upper‐middle‐income countries, and was higher for generic (61%) than brand medicines (41%). The average patient median price ratio was 80.3 for brand and 16.7 for generic medicines and was higher for patients in low‐ and lower‐middle‐income countries compared with high‐ and upper‐middle‐income countries across all medicine categories. The costs of 1 month's antihypertensive medications were, on average, 6.0 days’ wage for brand medicine and 1.8 days’ wage for generics. Affordability was lower in low‐ and lower‐middle‐income countries than high‐ and upper‐middle‐income countries for both brand and generic medications.
Conclusions
The availability and accessibility of pharmaceuticals is an ongoing challenge for health systems. Low availability and high costs are major barriers to the use of and adherence to essential cardiovascular disease and antihypertensive medications worldwide, particularly in low‐ and lower‐middle‐income countries.
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The Financing for Sustainable Development Report is produced in collaboration with over 60 agencies of the United Nations system and other international organizations. It brings together a wide range of expertise and perspectives to provide recommendations for countries and the international communi
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ty. The report begins with an assessment of the global macroeconomic context (Chapter I). The thematic chapter (Chapter II) explores how countries can finance sustainable industrial transformations through a new generation of sustainable industrial policies, in response to requests included in the outcome of the 2022 ECOSOC Financing for Development Forum. The remainder of the report (Chapters III.A to III.G and IV) discusses progress in the seven action areas of the Addis Agenda, and on data.
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The Safe Delivery App is a smartphone application that provides skilled birth attendants with direct and instant access to evidence-based and up-to-date clinical guidelines on Basic Emergency Obstetric and Neonatal Care. The App leverages the growing ubiquity of mobile phones to provide life-saving
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information and guidance through easy-to-understand animated instruction videos, action cards and drug lists. It can serve as a training tool both in pre- and in-service training, and equips birth attendants even in the most remote areas with a powerful on-the-job reference tool.
Accessed 3rd April 2019
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Beat the heat: child health amid heatwaves in Europe and Central Asia finds that half of these children died from heat-related illnesses in their first year of life. Most children died during the summer months.
"Around half of children across Europe and Central Asia – or 92 million children –
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are already exposed to frequent heatwaves in a region where temperatures are rising at the fastest rate globally. The increasingly high temperatures can have serious health complications for children, especially the youngest children, even in a short space of time. Without care, these complications can be life-threatening,” said Regina De Dominicis UNICEF Regional Director for Europe and Central Asia.
Heat exposure has acute effects on children, even before they are born, and can result in pre-term births, low birth weight, stillbirth, and congenital anomalies. Heat stress is a direct cause of infant mortality, can affect infant growth and cause a range of paediatric diseases. The report also notes that extreme heat caused the loss of more than 32,000 years of healthy life among children and teenagers in the region.
As the temperatures continue to rise, UNICEF urges governments across Europe and Central Asia to:
- Integrate strategies to reduce the impact of heatwaves including through National Determined Contributions (NDC), National Adaptation Plans (NAP), and disaster risk reduction and disaster management policies with children at the centre of these plans
Invest in heat health action plans and primary health care to more adequately support heat-related illness among children
- Invest in early warning systems, including heat alert systems
- Adapt education facilities to reduce the temperatures in the areas children play in and equip teachers with skills to respond to heat stress
- Adapt urban design and infrastructure including ensuring buildings, particularly those housing the most vulnerable communities are equipped to minimize heat exposure
- Secure the provision of safe water, particularly in countries with deteriorating water quality and availability.
UNICEF works with governments, partners and communities across the region to build resilience against heatwaves. This includes equipping teachers, community health workers and families with the skills and knowledge to respond to heat stress.
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