Hypertension, or high blood pressure, is a condition which generally has no symptoms and if left untreated, can lead to heart attacks, heart failure, stroke, kidney failure and blindness. Risk factors include older age, overweight or obesity, lack of...> physical activity, high salt/sodium intake, and high alcohol intake.
Hypertension affects around 1 in 6 adults in the Americas and is the main risk factor for cardiovascular diseases, which are the leading cause of death in the region, responsible for around 2 million lives lost each year.
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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 ...o-highlight medbox">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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This report is one of the first major products of the newly established Precision Public Health Metrics unit ...dbox">of the UCN cluster of the WHO Regional Office for Africa. The report presents national trends in communicable and non-communicable disease burden and control in the WHO African region. It tracks progress made with respect to disease burden reduction, elimination and eradication. It also highlights major emerging threats, opportunities and priorities in the fight against commu- nicable and non-communicable diseases in the region. It covers the period 2000-2022, but for some indicators, information is available only up to 2021.
The report shows the number of reported cases for malaria and vaccine preventable diseases (meningitis, measles, yellow fever, pertussis, diphtheria, tetanus, and polio); disease incidence due to HIV, tuberculosis and four major noncommunicable diseases (cardiovas- cular diseases, cancers, diabetes and chronic respira- tory diseases).
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Review of International, Regional and National Policies and Legal Frameworks that Promote Migrants and Mobile Populations' Access to Health and Malaria Services in the Greater Mekong Subregion (Camb...odia, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Myanmar, Thailand and Viet Nam)
Migrants and mobile populations face many obstacles in accessing equitable essential health care services due to factors such as living and working conditions, education level, gender, irregular migration status, language and cultural barriers, anti-migrant sentiments, and lack of migrant-inclusive health policies among others. Despite significant progress having been made in the context of malaria control in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS), human movements can impact malaria transmission patterns and potentially introduce drug-resistant parasites. This legal framework review therefore serves as a guidance document on approaches to address malaria and malaria elimination for migrant and mobile populations (MMPs) in five countries of the GMS.
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Recommendations on the inclusion of people with disabilities in eye care made by CBM's Medical Eye Care Advisory Group as a result of
a meeting in Hydrabad, India, in 2012.
The Country Cooperation Strategy is the World Health Organization (WHO)’s reference for country work guiding planning and resource allocation through alignment with national health priorities and ...harmonization with other development partners. It clarifies roles and functions of WHO in supporting the national strategic plan for health through the Sector-Wide Approach and Malawi Growth and Development Strategy II. The Country Cooperation Strategy is based on a systematic assessment of the recent national achievements, emerging health needs,
challenges, government policies and expectations. An evaluation of the previous CCS was conducted and jointly discussed with the Ministry of Health as well as other key stakeholders. This process led to the identification of the, achievements, challenges and shortfalls of the previous CCS. Through this process the areas where WHO needed to focus on were also identified. The CCS development has also been done in parallel with the formulation of the new Health Sector Strategic Plan (HSSP) to ensure that there is a linkage between the two.
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Report of a regional workshop, New Delhi, India, 29–30 September 2014
To reduce the burden of cardiovascular disease and its subsequent problems, the WHO Regional Office for South-East Asia o...rganized a regional workshop on sodium intake and iodized salt for Member States in the South-East Asia Region. The general objective of the workshop was to strengthen an integrated approach for sodium reduction and salt iodization programmes in the Member States of the Region. The specific objectives included reviewing the current sodium reduction and salt iodization strategies in the Member States of South-East Asia, provide training to the participants in standardized approaches for dietary estimation of salt/sodium and urinary iodine estimation.
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“Continuum of HIV services refers to a comprehensive package of HIV prevention, diagnostic, treatment, care and support services provided for people at risk ...box">of HIV infection or living with HIV and their families”
August, 2018
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The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela has been facing a sociopolitical and economic situation that has negatively impacted social and health indicators. There have been intensified population movemen...ts both within the country and to other countries, particularly to Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Curaçao, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guyana, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Trinidad and Tobago, and Uruguay. Since 2017, an estimated 5.2 million Venezuelans have migrated to other countries, including an estimated 4.3 million who have gone to countries in Latin America and the Caribbean.
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Humanitarian crises exacerbate nutritional risks and often lead to an increase in acute malnutrition. Emergencies include both manmade (conflict) and natural disasters (floods, drought, cyclones, typhoons, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, etc.). Complex emergencies are combinations ...ibute-to-highlight medbox">of both manmade and natural disasters, often of a protracted nature. Millions of people are affected by humanitarian crises every year. The increasing frequency and scale of emergencies requires nutrition to be addressed in all phases of a response.
Crisis situations, whether acute or protracted, impact on a range of factors that can increase the risk of undernutrition, morbidity, and mortality. They may involve: the large-scale destruction of property and infrastructure; the erosion of livelihood strategies and purchasing power; a breakdown of and reduced access to essential services, including health services, water supply, and sanitation; and the displacement of large numbers of people. Emergencies can also disrupt social systems and the quality of care/feeding practices. Household access to food may be negatively affected and people may find themselves in overcrowded settlements with their families divided. As a result, at the individual level, there is often an increased risk of deteriorating health and nutritional status, resulting in a greater likelihood of death.
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Community Health Committee Training
The Global Campaign Against Epilepsy “Out of the Shadows”
The harmful use of alcohol causes approximately 3 million deaths every year and the overall burden of disease and injuries attributable to alcohol consumption remains unacceptably high. The pace ...an class="attribute-to-highlight medbox">of development and implementation of alcohol policies has been uneven in WHO regions, and resources and capacities for implementation of the WHO Global strategy to reduce the harmful use of alcohol 10 years after its endorsement do not correspond to the magnitude of the problems. On this basis, the WHO Executive Board in its decision EB146 (14) called for accelerated action to reduce the harmful use of alcohol.
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Report of the WHO/Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Consultation. The Consultation was organized back-to-back with the first annual meeting of the International Coordinating Group ...te-to-highlight medbox">of the BMGF-funded project for human and dog rabies elimination in developing countries, held at WHO headquarters, Geneva, Switzerland, from 5 to 7 October 2009. This allowed the Consultation to benefit from the participation of the national coordinators and advisers of the BMGF-funded projects in the Philippines, South Africa (KwaZulu-Natal) and the United Republic of Tanzania
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The purpose of this booklet is to assist WHO and other
Public Health workers in the field when an emergency
occurs. The booklet provides technical hints on how to
carry out a rapid ...ttribute-to-highlight medbox">health assessment, how to facilitate
coordination, how departments in WHO can assist, etc.
Standard formats for reporting and reference indicators
are provided
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Preliminary overview of refugees and migrants self-reported impact of COVID-19
The study surveyed over 30,000 refugees and migrants living in 170 countries. Many ... medbox">of the respondents had fled war or dire economic conditions in their home country only to be faced with the additional challenges posed by COVID-19. Travel restrictions including border closures, suspension of resettlement travel, and last-minute deportation left many stranded or forced to stay in cramped, makeshift shelters or detention centers. Amid these uncertain, precarious conditions, many migrants described either a lack of access to health services or a fear of seeking them out — even if they were experiencing COVID-19 symptoms.
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TUATION UPDATE
In the early morning of 6 February 2023, a magnitude 7.8 earthquake occurred in southern Türkiye near the
northern border of Syria. The earthquake was followed 11 minutes later by ...a magnitude 6.7 aftershock. Many
aftershocks are still being felt across the region. Whilst the impact is still being assessed, initial reports evidence
significant damage in the areas of southern Türkiye and northern Syria.
In response, the Syria Ministry of Health (MoH) activated its emergency operations centre (EOC) on 6 Feb 2023
under the chairmanship of the Deputy Minister. In all affected governorates, public and private health facilities
and medical convoys have been repurposed to support the response and are being managed by the National
Ministry of Health (MoH) and Directorate of Health (DoH) at governorate level. Support has been directed to
affected areas, with medical convoys including 28 ambulances and 7 mobile clinics, deployed from the health
directorates of Damascus, Rural Damascus, Quneitra, Homs, Tartous, Aleppo and Latakia. At the same time, 4
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Review of disability issues and rehabilitation services in 29 african countries.
After more than 3 years with no cases of cholera reported in Haiti, on 2 October
2022, the national authorities reported two confirmed cases of Vibrio cholerae O1
in the greater Port-au-Prince are...a.
On this platform you can find the latest situation updates.
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In the early morning of 6 February 2023, a magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck southern Türkiye near the northern
border of Syria. The earthquake was followed 11 minutes later by a magnitude 6.7 after...shock. Many aftershocks
continue to be felt across the region. Whilst the impact is still being assessed, initial reports evidence significant
damage in the areas of southern Türkiye and northern Syria.
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