This policy brief has been developed in response to the contemporary challenge of antibiotic resistance (ABR). ABR poses a formidable threat to global health and sustainable development. It is now increasingly recognized that the systematic neglect of cultural factors is one of the biggest obs...tacles to achieving better health outcomes and better standards of living worldwide. Using a cultural contexts of health approach, the policy brief explores the centrality of culture to the challenge of ABR. The brief examines how the prescription and use of antibacterial medicines, the transmission of resistance, and the regulation and funding of research are influenced by cultural, social and commercial, as well as biological and technological factors. The brief moves beyond the ready equation of culture with individual behaviours and demonstrates how culture serve as an enabler of health and provide new possibilities for change.
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Ce guide rassemble des documents existants liés à la santé mentale et au soutien psychosocial (MHPSS) relatifs à la crise du COVID-19, ainsi que d'autres ressources applicables au contexte. Il est divisé en différentes sections en fonction des « espaces de nouvelle vulnérabilité » inhéren...ts à certains programmes de l'OIM, bien que beaucoup d'entre eux soient applicables à d'autres domaines. Ce guide couvre à la fois l'intégration de la SMSPS et des actions spécifiques.
Les responsables SMSPS trouveront également des conseils sur la façon de résoudre les problèmes moins techniques et plus managériaux et programmatiques liés à la pandémie, y compris la redéfinition des programmes, la capacité de crise et comment gérer les demandes de soutien des collègues des mêmes missions.
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The World Health Organization organized a Consultation of National Leprosy Programme managers, partners and affected persons to discuss the draft Global Leprosy Strategy, 2021--2030. This virtual event took place from 26 to 30 October 2020. It was attended by more than 450 stakeholders. Contribution...s were shared through 70 presentations made by stake holders from all Regions. The presentations covered the key strategic approaches: global context, challenges in countries, contact tracing and post exposure prophylaxis, disability care, interruption of transmission and elimination of disease, stigma and d iscrimination, research. In addition to numerous comments received through the chat box and by email, the conclusions and recommendations of this Consultation will guide finalizing the post 2020 Global Leprosy Strategy.
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These guidelines group all recommendations on TB care and support in one document and are complemented by an operational handbook. The guidelines are to be used primarily by national TB programmes, or their equivalents in Ministries of Health, stakeholders and technical organizations working on... TB care in the public and private sectors and in the community.
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Countries around the world are facing the challenge of increased demand for care of people with COVID-19, compounded by fear, misinformation and limitations on movement that disrupt the delivery of health care for all conditions. Maintaining essential health services: operational guidance for the CO...VID-19 context recommends practical actions that countries can take at national, subregional and local levels to reorganize and safely maintain access to high-quality, essential health services in the pandemic context. It also outlines sample indicators for monitoring essential health services, and describes considerations on when to stop and restart services as COVID-19 transmission recedes and surges.
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Member States have requested WHO policy guidance on how to facilitate the implementation of national AMS activities in an integrated and programmatic approach. This policy guidance responds to that demand from Member States and is anchored in public health guiding principles in the human health sect...or. It aims to provide a set of evidence-based and pragmatic recommendations to drive comprehensive and integrated AMS activities under the purview of a central national coordination unit, National AMR steering or coordinating committees or other equivalent national authorities.
Available in English, French, Spanish, Russian, Arabic, Chinese
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13 May 2021
To avoid a reversal of progress from the adverse impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, new knowledge and lessons from successful programmatic innovations are urgently needed to improve TB prevention and care. Experience can provide evidence for innovative approaches and strategies to mainta...in and scale up high-quality TB services. WHO therefore called for case studies on programmatic innovations that address emerging challenges in TB prevention and care during the pandemic in order to collect and disseminate the findings to the TB community. Between November 2020 and February 2021, a total of 23 case studies relevant to the call were accepted from 19 countries in the six regions of WHO. The lessons learnt from these country activities to ensure the continuity of essential services like TB care in the face of the crippling crisis may also inform strategies for minimizing the impact of future emerging pathogens on health services.
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These guidelines have been prepared by the Sub directorate: Maternal Health for the guidance of health workers (doctors and midwives) providing obstetric, surgical and anaesthetic services for pregnant women in district clinics, health centres and district hospitals. These guidelines are intended fo...r use in clinics, community health centres and district hospitals where specialist services are not normally available. The guidelines deal mainly with the diagnosis and especially the management of common and serious pregnancy problems. The assumption is made that the reader has a basic knowledge and understanding about the care of pregnant women. With a few exceptions (e.g. pre-eclampsia), there is no mention of aetiology and pathogenesis of the conditions described.https://www.knowledgehub.org.za/elibrary/guidelines-maternity-care-south-africa-2016
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Nurses are key players in health promotion and disease prevention and the backbone of health care systems worldwide. Nurses work on the front lines of disease prevention, health promotion, and health management and are often the unsung heroes in health care facilities and emergency response. Despite... the critical role they play in health care, there is a nursing shortage across the world that will affect the delivery of competent nursing care. This document highlights key action points for targeted investment in the nursing workforce and calls on Member States to strengthen nursing within the context of their own country efforts.
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As of 12 December 2022, over 645 million people worldwide have been diagnosed with COVID-19, with over 6.6 million deaths (4).
The Omicron variant, which emerged in late November 2021, and its subvariants, are now the dominant circulating viruses, contributing to the ongoing surge in several countr...ies (4). Vaccination has substantially reduced case numbers and hospitalizations in many countries,but limitations in global access to vaccines mean that many populations, including those in low- and middle-income countries, remain vulnerable. Even in vaccinated individuals, uncertainties remain about duration of protection and efficacy, and the degree of crossprotection with new variants.
There remains a need for more effective treatment and management for those affected by COVID-19. The pandemic – and the
explosion of both research and misinformation – has highlighted the need for trustworthy, accessible and regularly updated living
guidelines to place emerging findings into context and provide clear recommendations for clinical practice
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Vector-borne diseases are responsible for 17% of the global burden of communicable diseases and more than 500 000 deaths annually. The ambitious global targets for the control of vector-borne diseases come in the context of the (re-)emergence of diseases, increasing resistances to insecticides and u...ncertainty related to the financing of global vector control efforts. The United Nations 2030 Agenda with its related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the New Urban Agenda adopted at the United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development (Habitat III)
in Quito in 2016 and WHO’s Global vector control response 2017–2030 (WHO, 2017a) emphasize the value of elevating multisectoral actions and strategies that extend beyond the health sector to the core of integrated vector control.
This policy brief underlines the important role housing conditions have in the transmission of vector-borne diseases and showcases interventions and policies the housing sector can contribute to effective, integrated and intersectoral vector-borne diseases management.
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WHO’s Country Cooperation Strategy (CCS) defines the Organization’s medium-term vision for working in and with a particular country. The CCS, developed in the context of global and national health priorities, examines the overall health situation in a country, including the state of the health s...ector, socioeconomic status and the major health determinants.
This CCS sets out WHO’s strategic framework for collaboration with the Syrian Arab Republic, from June 2022 until June 2025, in light of the 12 years of crisis that have had a devastating impact on the health sector and infrastructure of basic services. It carefully considers the current and projected issues during its transition from continued humanitarian assistance to recovery, resilience and development. The consolidation of health policies and strategies and health system strengthening, based on the strengthening of primary health care (PHC), aims to contribute to the achievement of national and global development and health goals and the targets of the SDGs.
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Asthma is the most common non-communicable disease in children and remains one of the most common throughout the life course. The great majority of the burden of this disease is seen in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs), which have disproportionately high asthma-related mortality relati...ve to asthma prevalence. This is particularly true for many countries in sub-Saharan Africa. Although inhaled asthma treatments (particularly those containing inhaled corticosteroids) markedly reduce asthma morbidity and mortality, a substantial proportion of the children, adolescents, and adults with asthma in LMICs do not get to benefit from these, due to poor availability and affordability. In this review, we consider the reality faced by clinicians managing asthma in the primary and secondary care in sub-Saharan Africa and suggest how we might go about making diagnosis and treatment decisions in a range of resource-constrained scenarios. We also provide recommendations for research and policy, to help bridge the gap between current practice in sub-Saharan Africa and Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA) recommended diagnostic processes and treatment for children, adolescents, and adults with asthma.
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HEARTS provides a set of locally adaptable tools for strengthening the
management of CVD in primary health care.
HEARTS is designed to enhance implementation of WHO PEN by providing:
• operational guidance on further integrating CVD management
• technical guidance on evaluating the impact of... CVD care on patient outcomes.
For countries not using WHO PEN, CVD management can still be integrated into
primary health care. The process of implementing HEARTS will vary, depending
on country context, and may require a significant reorienting and strengthening
of the health system. At some sites, existing CVD management services may be
reoriented toward a risk-based approach, while other sites may adopt a public
health approach, strengthening management of particular risk factors such as
hypertension. Whether or not introducing CVD management into primary care is a
new intervention, successful implementation will require engagement with national and local health planners, managers, service providers, and other stakeholders.
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The objective of the 2022 Compendium is to compile and highlight emerging innovative health technologies for low-resource settings. It presents a snapshot of technologies that are solutions to an unmet medical/health technology need or are likely to improve health outcomes and the quality of life. H...ealth technologies in the Compendium underwent WHO evidence-based assessments focused on the life cycle of health technology innovations for low-resource settings.
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TNew data from the World Health Organization reveal that the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted malaria services, leading to a marked increase in cases and deaths.
According to WHO’s latest World malaria report, there were an estimated 241 million malaria cases and 627 000 malaria deaths worldwide i...n 2020. This represents about 14 million more cases in 2020 compared to 2019, and 69 000 more deaths. Approximately two-thirds of these additional deaths (47 000) were linked to disruptions in the provision of malaria prevention, diagnosis and treatment during the pandemic.
As in past years, the report provides an up-to-date assessment of the burden of malaria at global, regional and country levels. It tracks investments in malaria programmes and research as well as progress across all intervention areas. This latest report draws on data from 87 countries and territories with ongoing malaria transmission.
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Good primary care may lead to fewer avoidable hospitalizations, but unsafe primary care can cause avoidable illness and injury, leading to unnecessary hospitalizations, and in some cases, disability and even death.Implementing system changes and practices are crucial to improve safety at all levels ...of health care. Recognizing the paucity of accessible information on primary care, World Health Organization (WHO) set up a Safer Primary Care Expert Working Group. The Working Group reviewed the literature, prioritized areas in need of further research and compiled a set of nine monographs which cover selected priority technical topics. WHO is publishing this technical series to make the work of these distinguished experts available to everyone with an interest in Safer Primary Care.The aim of this technical series is to provide a compendium of information on key issues that can impact safety in the provision of primary health care.
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This guidance is intended for use in developing standalone TB strategic plans, or TB interventions as part of multidisease or health sector plans. It describes key considerations and steps for strategic planning for TB in line with the World Health Organization’s End TB strategy, and the proposed ...structure of the NSP. The target audience of this publication are all stakeholders involved in national strategic planning for TB (e.g., ministry of health, other government ministries, private sector, civil society, affected communities, academic and research institutions, and technical and funding partners).
The current document is an update to the 2015 Toolkit to develop a national strategic plan for TB prevention, care and control.
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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 the worst effects as they are most vulnerable to climate shifts and least able to adapt given weak health systems and poor infrastructure. Low-carbon appro...ach 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 2017 Global Nutrition Report focuses on 5 key areas and finds that improving nutrition can have a powerful multiplier effect across the SDGs. Indeed, it indicates that it will be a challenge to achieve any SDG without addressing nutrition. The report shows that there is an exciting opportunity t...o achieving global nutrition targets while catalysing other development goals through ‘double duty’ and ‘triple duty’ actions, which tackle malnutrition and other development challenges could yield multiple benefits across the SDGs.
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