WHO-OHCHR launch new guidance to improve laws addressing human rights abuses in mental health care
Ahead of World Mental Health Day, the World Health
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Organization (WHO) and the Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights (OHCHR) are jointly launching a new guidance, entitled "Mental health, human rights and legislation: guidance and practice", to support countries to reform legislation in order to end human rights abuses and increase access to quality mental health care.
Human rights abuses and coercive practices in mental health care, supported by existing legislation and policies, are still far too common. Involuntary hospitalization and treatment, unsanitary living conditions and physical, psychological, and emotional abuse characterize many mental health services across the world.
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An interdisciplinary approach to address global health challenges such as the Covid-19 pandemic, climate change, loss of biodiversity, human migration has been framed by the One Health approach. Thi
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s approach is promoted at global level by the Tripartite of the World Health Organisation, the World Animal Health Organisation, the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, recently joint by the United National Environment Program to form the Quadripartite. The German government through its Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development supports this approach with its One Health strategy and investment in several technical cooperation projects.
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The health of the people and health services are in crisis, and together as partners this plan c
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ommits us to strategies aimed at achieving our goal of:
Strengthened primary health care for all, and improved service delivery for the rural majority and the urban disadvantaged.
Original file: 67 MB
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The combined effects from ambient (outdoor) air pollution and indoor (household, in particular) air pollution cause approximately 7 million premature deaths every year, largely as a result of increased mortality from stroke, IHD, COPD, lung cancer
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and acute respiratory infections (1). Air pollution can occur in both the outdoor and indoor environments. Cook-stoves in homes, motor vehicles, industrial facilities and forest fires are common sources of air pollution. Air pollutants with the strongest evidence for adverse health outcomes include particulate matter (PM; both PM 2.5 (i.e. particles with an aerodynamic diameter
equal to or less than 2.5 μm) and PM10 (i.e. particles with an aerodynamic diameter equal to or less than 10 μm), ozone (O 3), nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ), sulfur dioxide (SO 2 ) and carbon monoxide (CO). Air pollution is however composed of many more pollutants (1).
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This guidance note is intended primarily for health actors working in emergency and disaster risk management (hereafter 'emergency risk management') at the local, national or internati
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onal level, and in governmental or nongovernmental agencies. People with disabilities, those working in the disability sector and those working in other sectors that contribute to improved health outcomes related to emergency risk management, may also find this guidance note useful.
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Non-Wood Forest Products 11
Traditional medicine and its use of medicinal plants is dependent on reliable supply of plant materials. The book focuses on the interface between medicinal plant use and
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conservation of medicinal plants.
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Injection practices worldwide and especially in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) include multiple, avoidable unsafe practices that ultimately lead to the large-scale transmission of bloodbor
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ne viruses among patients, health care providers and the community at large.
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UNICEF Malawi and its partners are prioritizing renewable energy solutions for children and communities across the country to access clean and affo
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rdable electricity, with a focus on hard-to-reach, rural communities unable to access the national electricity grid.
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PLoS ONE 11(1): e0144662. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0144662
Climate change is damaging human health now and is projected to have a greater impact in the future. Low- and middle-income countries are seeing th
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e worst effects as they are most vulnerable to climate shifts and least able to adapt given weak health systems and poor infrastructure. Low-carbon approach can provide effective, cheaper care while at the same time being climate smart. Low-carbon healthcare can advance institutional strategies toward low-carbon development and health-strengthening imperatives and inspire other development institutions and investors working in this space. Low-carbon healthcare provides an approach for designing, building, operating, and investing in health systems and facilities that generate minimal amounts of greenhouse gases. It puts health systems on a climate-smart development path, aligning health development and delivery with global climate goals. This approach saves money by reducing energy and resource costs. It can improve the quality of care in a diversity of settings. By prompting ministries of health to tackle climate change mitigation and foster low-carbon healthcare, the development community can help governments strengthen local capacity and support better community health.
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The framework is to be used as a reference guide, applied according to local priorities and needs, and targeted at academic institutions, educators, accreditation bodies, regulatory agencies
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and other users. The ultimate aim is to ensure that all health workers are equipped with the requisite competencies at pre-service education and in-service training levels to address AMR in policy and practice settings.
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Advances have been made through expanded interventions delivered through five public health approaches: innovative and intensified disease management; preventive chemotherapy; vector ecology
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and management; veterinary public health services; and the provision of safe water, sanitation and hygiene. In 2015 alone nearly one billion people were treated for at least one disease and significant gains were achieved in relieving the symptoms and consequences of diseases for which effective tools are scarce; important reductions were achieved in the number of new cases of sleeping sickness, of visceral leishmaniasis in South-East Asia and also of Buruli ulcer.
The report also considers vector control strategies and discusses the importance of the draft WHO Global Vector Control Response 2017–2030.
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