While the COVID-19 pandemic threatens all members of society, persons with disabilities are disproportionately impacted due to attitudinal, environmental and institutional barriers that are reproduc
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ed in the COVID-19 response.
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A short Guide for Health Practitioners
Social Determinants of Health Discussion Paper 1 (Debates). This paper was prepared for the launch of
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the Commission on Social Determinants of Health (CSDH) by its secretariat based at WHO in Geneva. It was discussed by the Commissioners and then revised considering their input.
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A new report by the world’s largest humanitarian network warns that the number of people needing humanitarian assistance every year as a result
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of climate-related disasters could double by 2050. It estimates that the number of people in need of humanitarian assistance as a result of storms, droughts and floods could climb beyond 200 million annually – compared to an estimated 108 million today.
It further suggests that this rising human toll would come with a huge financial price tag, with climate-related humanitarian costs ballooning
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This document outlines why and how nurses and midwives are important, not only for individual health optimization but also to achieve the thematic priorities of For
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the Future. More specifically, it provides case studies to showcase the amazing work that nurses and midwives across the Region are doing to improve health. The document also provides future policy directions to strengthen the scope and leadership of the nursing and midwifery workforce, alongside actions to accelerate investment in their education, skills and employment.
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The International Forum of Indigenous Women (IIWF) has prepared this report in order to have a
document for analysis and systematization of
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the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the lives
of Indigenous Women, and to identify the strategies promoted by them. This document is expected
to serve as a political tool for advocacy. The methodology used in this analysis is a gender and
Indigenous Women’s collective and individual human rights approach. The results are mainly based
on a global, participatory survey, conducted in English, French and Spanish languages, aimed at
indigenous women’s organizations and leaders.
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The threat climate change poses to health, equity, and development has been rigorously documented. However, in an era marked by economic crisis, regional conflicts, natural disasters and growing disparities between rich and poor,
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the joint global actions required to address climate change have been vigorously debated – and critical decisions postponed.
This document, part of WHO’s Health in the Green Economy series, describes how many climate change measures can be “win-wins” for people and the planet.
These policies yield large, immediate public health benefits while reducing the upward trajectory of greenhouse gas emissions. Many of these policies can improve the health and equity of people in poor countries and assist developing countries in adapting to climate change that is already occurring, as evidenced by more extreme storms, flooding, drought and heatwaves.
WHO’s Department of Public Health and Environment launched the Health in the Green Economy initiative in 2010 to review potential health and equity “co-benefits” of proposed climate change measures – as well as relevant risks.
This review examines mitigation strategies discussed in the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change which constitutes the most broad-based global review of mitigation options by scientific experts.
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Ocean plastic pollution has reached crisis level: every minute, more than an entire garbage truck of plastic makes its way into the world’s oceans—roughly 11 million metric tons annually. While
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plastic waste presents an immediate threat to marine wildlife and ecosystems, this global challenge also has implications for major industries such as fishing and tourism, impacting the livelihoods of millions of people. The drivers and impacts of ocean plastic pollution also contribute to global challenges in food security, human health, and climate change.
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To support the achievement of health equity in the Region, the regional inter-agency movement Ev
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ery Woman Every Child Latin America and the Caribbean (EWEC-LAC) advocates for and supports the use of equity and evidence-based policies, strategies and interventions to accelerate equitable progress in the health of women, children and adolescents. Although progress has been made, great inequities persist. Women from the LAC region’s poorest countries are almost four times more likely to die due to complications during childbirth than those living in the wealthiest countries. Through the years, several tools, instruments and methods (TIMs) have been developed by global, regional and country partners that can be used to conduct systematic equity-based analyses and/or re-designs of health systems, programs, strategies and interventions. The main purpose of this document is to present an overview of existing TIMs that can be used by policymakers, program managers, development partners, nongovernmental organizations, academia and civil society partners to strengthen systematic identification, analysis and responding to social inequities in the health of women, children and adolescents in LAC. The TIMs included were identified through a systematic search process
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mnesty International’s annual report on the state of the world’s human rights in 2021, published in March 2022, shows that promises to “build
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back better” after the Covid-19 pandemic were little more than lip service. Hopes of global cooperation withered in the face of vaccine hoarding and corporate greed.
Governments suppressed independent and critical voices, with some even using the pandemic as a pretext to shrink further the civic space. New and unresolved conflicts erupted or persisted. Those forced to flee were subjected to a litany of abuses, including pushbacks by countries in the Global North. But hopes for a better post-pandemic world were kept alive by courageous individuals, social movements and civil society organizations.
The report is available in different languages
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In 2014, the World Heart Federation (WHF) launched
an initiative to develop a series of Roadmaps [1e6]. Their
aim is to identify potential roadblocks on
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the pathway to
effective prevention, detection, and management of cardiovascular disease (CVD), along with evidence-based
solutions to overcome them. The resulting documents
provide a framework to translate strategic intent into action
on integrating epidemiology, population, and cardiovascular outcome trial data into national plans for optimal
CVD management.
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A step towards implementation of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD
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) related to personal mobility.
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