In September 2021, the UN and its partners presented a response plan to mitigate the impact of the water crisis in northern and north-east Syria which requested US$200 million to assist up to 3.4 million of the over five million people estimated to be affected by the water crisis in northern Syria b
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etween September 2021 and February 2022. Under the auspices of the 2022-2023 Syria Humanitarian Response Plan, this updated water response plan presents the most recent needs based on latest forecasts and is a continuation of the earlier plan presented in 2021. It covers the needs from all response modalities/areas1 for Syria, aims to assist 5 million people until December 2022 and requests $226.2 million.
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Conflict, climate change, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the economic effects of the Ukraine crisis are interacting to create new and worsen existing hunger hotspots, reversing the gains families had made to escape poverty.
Pakistan, one of the countries that is most vulnerable to climate change, received more than three times its usual rainfall in August 2022. Torrential rains and flash-flooding began in early July 2022, severely damaging living areas, schools and other communal buildings in refugee villages and host
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communities. Unprecedented and unrelenting rainfall and flooding in late August 2022 worsened the already fragile humanitarian situation. Nearly 1,700 people are reported to have died, and over 12,800 were injured, including at least 4,000 children
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On 15–16 December 2020, WHO and the Medicines for Malaria Venture co-convened a technical consultation to consider the preferred product characteristics (PPCs) for drugs used in malaria chemoprevention. The main goal of the technical consultation was to agree on the most important PPCs for drugs t
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o protect populations from malaria (chemoprevention), while considering relevant measures of efficacy and the safety data needed to support WHO policy recommendations.
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Patient safety standards are critical for the establishment and assessment of patient safety programmes within hospitals. This third edition of the Patient safety assessment manual provides an updated set of standards and assessment criteria that reflect current best practice and WHO guidance. The m
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anual will support the implementation of patient safety assessments and improvement programmes within hospitals as part of the Patient Safety Friendly Hospital Framework to ensure that patient safety is prioritized and facilities and staff implement best practices. The manual is a key tool for use by professional associations regulatory accrediting or oversight bodies and ministries of health to improve patient safety.
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The "Questions and Answers on Prevention and control of Alcohol related harm" has been developed by WHO country office in Viet Nam with technical contribution from national and international experts in the field. This publication provides scientific evidences on harms of alcohol use to the health of
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users as well as to others and society at large. It provides WHO recommendations for the most effective prevention measures in Viet Nam and will also help answer questions that policy makers may have on how to develop effective policies for prevention and control of alcohol related harms.
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SAMS team rose to meet these challenges, delivering world class COVID treatment with four newly established COVID hospitals complete with 100 ICU beds and state of the art equipment like ventilators, monitors, and oxygen generators. By using innovative technologies, SAMS’ physicians were able to s
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hare the knowledge they gained treating
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The QualityRights training and orientation modules have been developed to enhance the knowledge, skills and understanding of key stakeholders on how to promote the rights of people with psychosocial, intellectual or cognitive disabilities, improve the quality of services and support provided in the
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field of mental health and related areas, in line with international human rights standards, in particular the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the recovery approach.
mental health and related fields, in accordance with international human rights standards, in particular the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the recovery approach.
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Over the last decade, there have been numerous disasters and major emergencies that have profoundly impacted the lives of millions of people worldwide. To support these crises, national and international emergency medical teams (EMTs) are often deployed to assist disaster affected populations. EMTs
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are teams of healthcare professionals composed most frequently of doctors, nurses, psychologists and others to provide direct clinical care to people affected by disasters and conflicts and to support local health systems. In agreement with the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Global Health Emergency Health Workforce programme, any health professional coming from another country to practice health care in a disaster setting must be part of a team that is qualified, trained, equipped, resourced, and meets minimum acceptable standards to practice.
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This policy brief aims to provide a review of the current progress on implementing the Kenya national action plan on AMR, identifies critical gaps, and highlights findings to accelerate further progress in the human health sector. The target audience includes all those concerned with implementing ac
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tions to combat antimicrobial resistance in Kenya.
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The development of this Operational Roadmap has been driven by a growing consensus in Ukraine on the need to prioritize activities that are urgently required to address the mental health and psychosocial needs of the country’s population and also the importance of basing the response on existing s
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tructures, resources and innovations introduced in reforms in past years.
According to this consensus, new resources mobilized by and for Ukraine should complement existing ones, in line with the national vision and with best international standards, and should be planned in a way that further strengthens the country’s mental health system.
The Government of Ukraine is committed to urgently addressing the mental health and psychosocial needs of the population, under the auspices of the First Lady of Ukraine and the leadership of the recently established Intersectoral Coordination Council for Mental Health and Psychological Assistance to Victims of the Armed Aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine (referred to in this document as the Intersectoral Coordination Council).
This Roadmap has been developed following a series of consultations with Ukrainian authorities and national and international agencies working in the area of mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) and engaged in emergency response in Ukraine. The consultation process was organized by the Ministry of Health of Ukraine (MOH) and supported by WHO Ukraine, under the auspices of the First Lady of Ukraine and in collaboration with the MHPSS Technical Working Group of Ukraine (MHPSS TWG Ukraine) and the IASC MHPSS Reference Group (IASC MHPSS RG), and building on substantial advances in the mental health sector under existing programmes in the country.
The Roadmap is informed by international technical guidance and national policies and plans, including the IASC Guidelines on MHPSS in Emergency Settings, the Minimum Services Package for MHPSS in Emergencies (MHPSS MSP), the IASC Common Monitoring and Evaluation Framework, the World Health Organization (WHO)’s Comprehensive Mental Health Action Plan 2013– 2030, the WHO European Framework for Action on Mental Health, the Concept for Development of Mental Health Care in Ukraine until 2030, the National Mental Health Action Plan for 2021–2023 and the National Recovery and Development Plan.
Informed by the overall goal of MHPSS assistance in Ukraine – to reduce suffering and improve the mental health and psychosocial well-being of the affected population – the Roadmap aims to provide a consolidated overview of envisioned MHPSS priorities, informed by the local context and the vision of the Government of Ukraine together with national and international partners, and with the best available evidence and resources, to all MHPSS stakeholders already engaged in or joining emergency response and recovery efforts in Ukraine.
As well as information on the context in Ukraine, the Roadmap includes:
• a list of evidence-based MHPSS interventions and services contextualized and introduced in Ukraine in recent years (described in Table 1) and
• a set of multisectoral actions to scale up MHPSS services in both the short and longer terms, informed by available evidence, international technical guidance and expert consensus (described in Table 2).
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As countries aim to progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and achieving universal health coverage, health inequities driven by racial discrimination and intersecting factors remain pervasive. Inequities experienced by indigenous peoples as well as people of African descent, Roma
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and other ethnic minorities are of concern globally; they are unjust, preventable and remediable.
Health systems themselves are important determinants of health and health equity. They can perpetuate health inequities by reflecting structural racism and discriminatory practices of wider society. For instance, systemic racism, implicit bias, misinformed clinical practice, or discrimination by health professionals contributes to health inequities. However, health systems can also be a leading force for tackling the inequities faced by populations experiencing racial discrimination.
Primary health care (PHC) is the essential strategy for reorientating health systems and societies to become healthier, equitable, effective and sustainable. In 2018, on the 40th anniversary of the Declaration of Alma-Ata, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) renewed the emphasis on PHC with their strategy,
WHO outlines 14 strategic and operational levers for policy-makers to strengthen PHC. Within each lever, there are multiple potential entry points for targeted actions to address racial discrimination, foster intercultural care, and reduce health inequities experienced by indigenous peoples as well as people of African descent, Roma and other ethnic minorities.
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Overview
Epilepsy is one of the most common neurological disorders globally. The WHO epilepsy technical brief aims to strengthen action for epilepsy and complements the Intersectoral global action plan on epilepsy and other neurological disorders 2022–2031.
The technical bri
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ef presents the key information on epilepsy and recommends actions to policy makers and other stakeholders. Using the concept of levers for change introduced by the Operational Framework for Primary Health Care, it identifies actions on the policy and operational levels that stakeholders should take to strengthen services for people with epilepsy using a person-centered approach based on human rights and universal health coverage.
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This manual provides a framework for morbidity management and disability prevention of patients affected by NIDs and gives specific guidance for the proper care of patients suffering from chronic conditions caused by lymphatic filariasis, leprosy, trachoma, and Chagas disease. It is intended to be u
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sed mainly by health care workers at the primary health care level, but health workers at more complex and specialized levels may also find it useful.
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This new guidance aims to support programme implementers, coordinators and others in humanitarian settings in their actions to counter suicide and self-harm in humanitarian contexts and to save lives.
Trachoma is an eye infection that for thousands of years caused many people to go blind across all continents. As the result of development and targeted interventions, trachoma is now limited to an estimated 57 countries, often affecting the poorest
populations of the world. Today, more than 2 mill
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ion people are either blind or suffer from a very painful disability as the result of trachoma.
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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 of the BMGF-funded project for human and dog rabies elimination in developing countries, held at WHO headquarters, Geneva,
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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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Mem Inst Oswaldo Cruz, Rio de Janeiro, Vol. 117: e200460, 2022
Integrating the multiple dimensions of the problem into a coherent approach adapted to field realities and needs represents an immense challenge, but the payoff is more effective and sustainable experiences, with higher social awareness
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, increased case detection and follow-up, improved adherence to care, and integrated participation of various actors from multiple action levels. Information, Education, and Communication (IEC) initiatives have great potential for impact in the implementation of multidimensional programs of prevention and control successfully customised to the diverse and complex contexts where Chagas disease persists.
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After five consecutive below-average rains, the humanitarian crisis in the Horn of Africa is expanding and deepening.
Combined with insecurity and macroeconomic volatility, the impact of the drought on food and nutrition security has been devastating. Across Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia, an estima
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ted 22 million people are now acutely food insecure because of the drought. The malnutrition situation is also critical. Some 5.1 million children across drought-affected areas of the three countries are acutely malnourished in 2023, with dire implications for their health, growth and survival. Concerningly, the upcoming March-May 2023 rains are also forecast to be below-average. Should these rains fail, and humanitarian assistance not be delivered at scale, food insecurity will continue to deteriorate.
Regardless of how the 2023 rains perform, extremely high humanitarian needs will persist through 2023 while a full recovery from a drought of this magnitude will take years. To address the devastating drought-induced hunger and malnutrition across the region, WFP is pursuing an integrated dual track approach; meeting immediate life-saving food and nutritional needs while simultaneously building resilience to extreme climate variability.
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The domestic regulation of public health emergencies (PHEs) is inextricably linked to the regulation of other types of disaster. PHEs are usually governed at least partly by general disaster and emergency laws. Moreover, there is significant overlap in the legal mechanisms used to respond to PHEs an
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d other types of disaster, including the declaration of a state of disaster or emergency and the use of emergency powers. Even where PHEs are regulated by separate instruments, those instruments must surmount many of the same policy and practical challenges as general disaster laws, such as finely balancing competing considerations (e.g. speedy response versus due process), facilitating the coordination of a multitude of actors, and protecting the most vulnerable within society. Finally, many contemporary developments in disaster risk management (DRM), such as a greater emphasis on risk reduction and preparedness, are just as pertinent to PHEs as to other types of disaster.
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