WHOs Special Initiative for Mental Health has supported the availability of mental health services for more than 40 million more people. Learn about WHOs Special Initiative for Mental Health, which seeks to increase access to quality and affordable
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care for mental health conditions in 12 countries for 100 million more people. The initiative is advancing policies, advocacy and human rights, and scaling-up quality interventions and services for people with mental, neurological and substance use conditions.
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The document is part of the briefing package for Ethiopia's Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) Cluster, which consists of resources that provide greater clarity and guidance to the cluster partne
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rs and other humanitarian actors.
The document is divided into four sections. Each section represents the cluster’s coordination system (i) WASH Cluster coordination management, (ii) HPC process, (iii) Response monitoring, (iv) WASH response, and (v) Cluster meeting coordination.
Cluster Overview
The WASH Cluster in Ethiopia is part of and supports the Ministry of Water and Energy (MoWE). MoWE leads the WASH cluster emergency task force (ETF), which is co-led by the WASH Cluster secretariat hosted by UNICEF. In Ethiopia, the WASH Cluster was established with the activation of the cluster approach in 2006, and UNICEF, as the global Cluster Lead Agency, was assigned to appoint the WASH Cluster Coordinator.
The WASH Cluster aims to provide guidance and support to its partners to ensure well-coordinated, quality assistance reaches those in need in accordance with humanitarian standards and principles. Conflict, severe drought conditions, seasonal flooding, and Cholera remain the key drivers of WASH needs in Ethiopia.
In 2024, the WASH Cluster aims to work with 79 partners to preserve life, well-being, and dignity and reduce the risk of WASH-related disease through timely interventions to vulnerable populations and preparedness to respond to shocks. Significant humanitarian WASH needs in 2024 are projected with a rigorous HPC process in Ethiopia.
The Humanitarian Program Cycle
The humanitarian program cycle (HPC) is a coordinated series of actions to help prepare for, manage, and deliver humanitarian response. It consists of five coordinated elements, each step logically building on the previous and leading to the next. Successful implementation of the HPC depends on effective emergency preparedness, effective coordination with national/local authorities and humanitarian actors, and information management. Affected people are central to the response; preparedness, coordination, and information management processes continually occur.
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Global Situation Assessment of El Niño-related Health Risks
The aim of this publication is to provide practical guidance for public information officers on the preparation for and response to a nuclear or radiological emergency, and to fulfil in part functions assigned to the IAEA in th
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e Convention on Assistance in the Case of a Nuclear
Accident or Radiological Emergency (Assistance Convention), as well as meeting requirements stated in IAEA Safety Standards Series No. SF-1, Fundamental Safety Principles, and in IAEA Safety Standards No. GS-R-2, Preparedness and Response for a Nuclear or Radiological Emergency.
Also available in Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian and Spanish: https://www-pub.iaea.org/books/IAEABooks/8889/Communication-with-the-Public-in-a-Nuclear-or-Radiological-Emergency
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The aim of this guidance is to enhance the capacity of health care facilities to protect and improve the health of their target communities in an u
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nstable and changing climate; and to empower health care facilities to be environmentally sustainable, by optimizing the use of resources and minimizing the release of waste into the environment. Climate resilient and environmentally sustainable 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, therefore, an important component of universal health coverage (UHC).
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The target audience of this document (and the associated online companion tool) includes WHO country offices
in Member States of the African Region; Member States’ ministries
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of health and their public health emergency
operation centres; relevant external assessment teams; and partners looking to identify preparedness gaps and
support interventions that help address them. In the event of a suspected or confirmed VHF case, the document also serves to provide any intervening partner with a sense of what structures should be in place, in order to guide
scale-up activities in line with regional and national plans.
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From choice, a world of possibilities
Human rights must be at the centre of all prevention, preparedness, containment and treatment efforts from the start, in order to best protect public health and support the groups and people who are most at risk. States have an obligation to protect
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and guarantee everyone the right to the highest attainable standard of health.
All European states have committed to fulfilling the right to health and have signed international and regional human rights treaties to that purpose. In the context of the current pandemic, authorities should engage all available resources to counter the pandemic while fulfilling the right to health.
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April 2020
This Guidance Note offers a list of recommendations based on a combination of WHO guidelines, good practice and expert advice based on the latest scientific research. The situation wit
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h COVID-19 is evolving rapidly and the guidance will continue to be updated if and when new evidence or information becomes available.
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“2022 was an eventful year for the WHO Country Office in Ghana,” says Dr Francis Kasolo, WHO Representative to Ghana.
In 2022, WHO Ghana collaborated with partners to deliver interventions in support of the Government
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of Ghana's health sector agenda to ensure healthy lives for all towards achieving Universal Health Coverage. This 2022 annual report highlights some of the achievements that were chalked in our efforts to help promote the health and wellbeing of Ghanaians
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The immediate objective of the country visit to Cameroon was to ensure that the country is as operationally ready as possible to effectively and safely detect, investigate and report potential Ebola virus disease cases and to mount an effective res
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ponse that will prevent a larger outbreak. After technical working group meetings, field visits, a “table-top” exercise and a hospital-based simulation exercises were undertaken.
Key strengths and weaknesses were identified, and the following areas for improvement were proposed to the Ministry of Health: coordination, surveillance, contact tracing, infection prevention and control, rapid response teams, case management, social mobilization, laboratory, points of entry, budget, logistics.
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The handbook is the first comprehensive collection of practical tips for journalists on how to report on GBV in the context of Syria crisis, building upon internationally recognised ethical principl
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es. It gives an overview of techniques to guarantee the safety, confidentiality and dignity of survivors, their families and communities. It includes terms, ethical questions and practical concerns associated with covering GBV, as well as an overview of some of the organisations involved in both combatting GBV and providing support services for survivors.
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The rise of the discourse of 'trauma' as a major articulator of suffering within Western culture is a facet
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of the medicalization of life that has gathered pace in the last century. In recent years, Western mental health professionals have been increasingly involved in services addressing the plight of war-affected populations - largely non-Western - in war zones or as refugees. Querying the extent to which their experiences can be reduced to a matter of mental health, this article addresses child refugees from war via three questions that go to the heart of the debate about how they are to be understood, the implications for their future maturation as individuals and citizens, and the role of psychological therapies aimed at catharsis of 'traumatic' memory.
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Gender-based Violence Area of Responsibility Working Group July 2010
The growing understanding of how sequence information can contribute to improved public health is driving global investments in sequencing facilities and programmes. The falling cost and complexity of
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generating GSD provides opportunities for expanding sequencing capacity; however, challenges to widespread implementation remain. This document provides policy-makers and stakeholders with guidance on how to maximize the public health benefit of SARS-CoV-2 genomic sequencing activities in the short and long term as the pandemic continues to unfold. Practical considerations for the implementation of a virus genomic sequencing programme and an overview of the public health objectives of genomic sequencing are covered. This guidance focuses on SARS-CoV-2 but is applicable to other pathogens of public health concern.
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The growing understanding of how sequence information can contribute to improved public health is driving global investments in sequencing facilities and programmes. The falling cost and complexity of
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generating GSD provides opportunities for expanding sequencing capacity; however, challenges to widespread implementation remain. This document provides policy-makers and stakeholders with guidance on how to maximize the public health benefit of SARS-CoV-2 genomic sequencing activities in the short and long term as the pandemic continues to unfold. Practical considerations for the implementation of a virus genomic sequencing programme and an overview of the public health objectives of genomic sequencing are covered. This guidance focuses on SARS-CoV-2 but is applicable to other pathogens of public health concern.
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This guide provides a comprehensive overview of essential information related to immunization, including technical information about vaccines, a review of immunization program management best practi
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ces, guidance on the delivery of immunization services, monitoring and evaluation, disease surveillance, and the role of behavior change.
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A manual intended for medical and other personnel responsible for humanitarian activities in armed conflicts. It covers the following topics: setting up a health-care system that meets the essential needs of war victims, particularly
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of displaced persons; public health tools most frequently used for evaluation, establishment of priorities, analysis of possible activities and their follow-up; protecting war victims and aspects of humanitarian law related to health; and lastly, ethical problems
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The report offers an overview of the progress the humanitarian sector has made and the obstacles it has faced over the past 10 years. Accountability is no longer just a fashionable term, there is now a shared understanding
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of what it takes to be accountable. From changes at policy level, to concrete actions taken in the field, this report documents this sector-wide shift. It also shows that being accountable to the people we aim to serve is not just the right thing to do, it is also the best way to ensure programmes are relevant, effective, efficient and sustainable
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Manual Logistical Management of Humanitarian Supply
The flood of relief supplies that arrive in the aftermath of large-scale disasters often poses
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serious logistic and management problems for national authorities. SUMA is a tool for the management of humanitarian relief supplies, from the time pledges are made by donors, to their entry into the disaster area and their storage and distribution.
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