The postpartum period is a critical time for mothers and newborns, who require essential hygiene and personal items, such as menstrual pads, clothes, and diapers, to ensure their well- being and health. Although these items are simple, they can significantly enhance well- being. Conversely, lacking
...
these essentials can increase the risk of infections for mothers and newborns.
In Gaza, the current emergency situation has meant women face significant limitations in accessing these essential items due to market unavailability, financial constraints, high security risks, and border closures.
In response, organizations working in sexual and reproductive health in Gaza have united to provide postpartum kits (PPKs) to mothers and newborns effectively.
With approximately 4,000 live births occurring in Gaza each month, it is crucial for partners to collaborate in advocating for resources and ensuring timely procurement and distribution of these kits.
Moreover, to ensure equitable access and consistent quality of the kits for all women, partners have agreed on a unified set of criteria for their composition and distribution.
more
17 February 2021
This article is part of a series of explainers on vaccine development and distribution. Learn more about vaccines – from how they work and how they’re made to ensuring safety and equitable
...
access – in WHO’s Vaccines Explained series.
more
4th edition
The WHO Laboratory Biosafety Manual (LBM) has been in broad use at all levels of clinical and public health laboratories, and other biomedical sectors globally, serving as a de facto global standard that presents best practices and sets trends in biosafety.
LBM encouraged countries t
...
o accept and implement basic concepts in biological safety and to develop national codes of practice for the safe handling of biological agents in laboratories within their geographical borders.
This fourth edition of the manual builds on the risk assessment framework introduced in the third edition. A thorough, evidence-based and transparent assessment of the risks allows safety measures to be balanced with the actual risk of working with biological agents on a case-by-case basis.
This novel evidence- and risk-based approach will allow optimised resource use and sustainable laboratory biosafety and biosecurity policies and practices that are relevant to their individual circumstances and priorities, enabling equitable access to clinical and public health laboratory tests and biomedical research opportunities without compromising safety.
more
Join the campaign to call on countries and companies to ensure that by the time World Health Day arrives on 7 April, COVID-19 vaccines are being administered in every country, as a symbol of hope for overcoming both the pandemic and the inequalities that lie at the root of so many global health chal
...
lenges.
This call to action can be fulfilled through supporting COVAX and the ACT Accelerator to equitably distribute vaccines, treatments and diagnostics globally.
Sign the declaration!
more
1 March 2021
This article is part of a series of explainers on vaccine development and distribution. Learn more about vaccines – from how they work and how they’re made to ensuring safety and equitable
...
access – in WHO’s Vaccines Explained series.
more
Slum population in India is growing fast (25.1% decadal growth – Census 2011). Its health and nutrition indicators are worse than that of the non slum urban areas and comparable to that of rural India.
The National Urban Health Mission (HUHM), launched in 2013, focuses on improving the health of
...
urban slum population through a needs based, city-specific urban health care system that includes a revamped primary care system, targeted outreach, equitable access, and involvement of the community and urban local bodies (ULBs).
The HUHM recognizes that lack of disaggregated data collected at local and/or city level impedes efficient planning with focus on the urban poor, and that data availability is a critical need.
more
The PIP Framework is premised on two equally important public health objectives:
-to ensure the sharing of influenza viruses with human pandemic potential through a WHO coordinated network of public health laboratories called the “Global Influenza Surveillance and Response System” (GISRS), and
...
-to promote the fair and equitable access to benefits, such as vaccines and antiviral medicines, that arise from such sharing.
more
31 March 2021
This article is part of a series of explainers on vaccine development and distribution. Learn more about vaccines – from how they work and how they’re made to ensuring safety and equitable
...
access – in WHO’s Vaccines Explained series.
COVID-19 vaccines are safe, and getting vaccinated will help protect you against developing severe COVID-19 disease and dying from COVID-19. You may experience some mild side effects after getting vaccinated, which are signs that your body is building protection.
more
31 March 2021
This article is part of a series of explainers on vaccine development and distribution. Learn more about vaccines – from how they work and how they’re made to ensuring safety and equitable
...
access – in WHO’s Vaccines Explained series.
Vaccines are a critical tool in the battle against COVID-19, and getting vaccinated is one of the best ways to protect yourself and others from COVID-19.
more
31 March 2021
This article is part of a series of explainers on vaccine development and distribution. Learn more about vaccines – from how they work and how they’re made to ensuring safety and equitable
...
access – in WHO’s Vaccines Explained series.
Countries around the world are rolling out COVID-19 vaccines, and a key topic of interest is their safety. Vaccine safety is one of WHO’s highest priorities, and we’re working closely with national authorities to develop and implement standards to ensure that COVID-19 vaccines are safe and effective.
more
This article is part of a series of explainers on vaccine development and distribution. Learn more about vaccines – from how they work and how they’re made to ensuring safety and equitable access
...
– in WHO’s Vaccines Explained series.
Vaccines are supported by decades of medical research. They work by preparing the body's own immune system to recognise and defend against a specific disease. The volume of information available about vaccination can be overwhelming, so it’s important to talk through the topic.
Available in different languages
more
14 July 2021 This article is part of a series of explainers on vaccine development and distribution. Learn more about vaccines – from how they work and how they’re made to ensuring safety and equitable
...
access – in WHO’s Vaccines Explained series.
COVID-19 vaccines have proven to be safe, effective and life-saving. Like all vaccines, they do not fully protect everyone who is vaccinated, and we do not yet know how well they can prevent people from transmitting the virus to others. So as well as getting vaccinated, we must also continue with other measures to fight the pandemic.
Available in English, French, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese and Russian
more
An interactive tool for partners, manufacturers, and countries to follow the developments of the COVID-19 vaccine market with up-to-date information.
As the designated COVAX procurement coordinator and procurement agent, UNICEF has launched the COVID-19 Vaccine Market Dashboard – an interactive
...
tool for countries, partners and industry to follow the developments of the rapidly evolving COVID-19 vaccine market and the efforts of the COVAX Facility to ensure fair and equitable access for every country in the world.
In this first release, the dashboard provides a regularly updated overview of the global research and development pipeline, the projected production capacity, publicly announced bilateral and multilateral supply agreements, as well as reported price points.
more
This resource presents a comprehensive framework designed to enhance and streamline telemedicine services within health-care systems. It addresses the critical need for accessible and effective telemedicine solutions, especially in the face of global health challenges and the evolving demands on hea
...
lth-care infrastructures. It outlines a multidimensional strategy that includes an assessment of the current health-care ecosystem, strategic visioning for telemedicine integration, organizational change management, development of telemedicine services, and continuous monitoring, evaluation, and optimization. It emphasizes the importance of considering the unique needs of diverse populations and ensuring equitable access to telemedicine technologies. By leveraging global best practices and empirical evidence, the document aims to guide stakeholders through the lifecycle of telemedicine service implementation—from conceptualization to maturity. Intended for health-care decision-makers, policy-makers, and telemedicine practitioners, the framework supports the development of high-quality telemedicine services at various levels of the health system. It facilitates a collaborative approach, encouraging alignment and coordination among different stakeholders to achieve a common goal: building a resilient, patient-centred, and technologically advanced health-care system.
more
Providing financial protection to the population for larger health care expenses arising out of hospital-based care, has come forth as a crucial element in the attainment of Universal Health Coverage (UHC) through the recent health financing reforms of low-and middle-income countries (LMIC). Over th
...
e last decade, the state of Assam in India, in an effort to ensure equitable health care access, has formulated multiple health protection schemes at different points of time. This has resulted in several such schemas which have had their own objectives, designs, institutional setups, and governance mechanisms. Moreover, they have reportedly been operating in relative silos.
more
Press Release 14 June 2021