31 March 2021
This article is part of a series of explainers on vaccine development and distribution. Learn more about vaccines – from how they work and how they’re made to ensuring safety and equitable access – in WHO’s Vaccines Explained series.
Countries around the world are rolling ou...t COVID-19 vaccines, and a key topic of interest is their safety. Vaccine safety is one of WHO’s highest priorities, and we’re working closely with national authorities to develop and implement standards to ensure that COVID-19 vaccines are safe and effective.
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This collection of posters are intended for health care workers, biomedical engineers and staff of health facilities in charge of caring, cleaning, decontaminating and sterilizing respiratory medical equipment in hospitals and health facilities. They include checklists to ensure the optimal infectio...n prevention and control during their use and between patients.
They describe the procedures to follow (Checklists) to clean, decontaminate and sterilize different respiratory devices:
Oxygen concentrators,
Non-invasive mechanical ventilation equipment: High flow nasal cannula, BiPAP/CPAP,
Mechanical ventilators,
Pulse oximeters and monitors.
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Annex 5, WHO Technical Report Series 1010, 2018
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 aftershock. Many aftershocks
continue to be felt across the region. Whilst the impact is still being ass...essed, initial reports evidence significant
damage in the areas of southern Türkiye and northern Syria.
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The WHO continuously reviews available data on SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern. For this version, the global epidemiological
situation of the COVID-19 pandemic as of 21 January 2022 – at a time when the Omicron VOC had been identified in 171
countries across all six WHO Regions and was rapidly re...placing Delta worldwide – was considered Omicron has a substantial growth advantage, higher secondary attack rates and a higher observed reproduction number than Delta.
There is now significant evidence that immune evasion contributes to the rapid spread of Omicron. Other factors may be a shorter
serial interval (by about 0.8 to 1.2 days compared to Delta) and potential increased intrinsic transmission fitness . There is
growing evidence that with Omicron, there is lower vaccine effectiveness (VE) against infection and symptomatic disease soon after vaccination compared to Delta. There is also evidence of accelerated waning of VE over time of the primary series against infection and symptomatic disease for the studied vaccines. Further studies are required to better understand the drivers of transmission and declining incidence in various settings. These factors include the intrinsic transmission fitness properties of the virus, degree of immune evasion, vaccination coverage and level of vaccine-derived and post-infection immunity, levels of social mixing and degree of application of public health and social measures (PHSM).
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Mental Health First Aid Guidelines
Accessed: 14.03.2019
Bull World Health Organ 2013;91:773–783 | doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.2471/BLT.13.118422
(Submitted: 15 February 2013 – Revised version received: 21 June 2013 – Accepted: 22 June 2013 – Published online: 20 August 2013)
District hospital level Severe | Malaria is a Medical Emergency
During theC OVID-19 crisis, the hospital observed a reduction of about 50% in inpatient visits for palliative care. Some patients postponed appointments given the risk of potential infection. Instead of in-person visits, weekly phone calls and remote follow-up were given priority.Palliative care is ...also needed for COVID-19 patients. It is of utmost importance for humanizing care so that it is effective and aligned with the expectations of patients.
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This document provides guidance to Member States in the WHO European Region that wish to conduct behavioural insights studies related to COVID-19. Studies can be used to monitor public knowledge, risk perceptions, behaviours and trust with the overall aim to inform national COVID-19 outbreak respons...e measures, including policies, interventions and communications.
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This report aims to improve the assessment of mental health needs in the Americas by providing an updated and nuanced picture of: (a) the disability resulting from mental, substance use, and specific neurological disorders, plus self-harm, alone and in combination with premature mortality; (b) the i...mbalance between mental health spending and its related disease burden; and (c) the inadequate allocation of the meager mental health spending by countries of the Region
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