The report reflects on the trends, achievements and challenges in global health over the past decade during which Dr Margaret Chan has been Director-General of WHO. It discusses the role of WHO in d
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ealing with such issues as the rise of noncommunicable diseases, leaps in life expectancy, and emerging threats like climate change and antimicrobial resistance.
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The marathon to eradicate polio is on its final lap: the world is more than 99% of the way to success. After millennia of living with poliovirus and suffering the paralysis it causes, today nearly a
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ll the world’s people live in polio-free countries; two of the three strains of wild poliovirus (WPV) have been eradicated. Some 20 million people are walking who would have been paralysed had it not been for the efforts of national governments and health workers. If eradicating polio has been a marathon, the finishing line is in sight.
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Access to health workers who are fit for purpose, motivated and protected is a fundamental force of health service delivery and the achievement of universal
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health coverage and the health and health-related Sustainable Development Goals. Data and knowledge of the distribution, skill mix and future development needs of the health workforce can mean the difference between enabling or impeding health systems performance, inclusive economic growth and global health security preparedness and response
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The WHO Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI)’s new
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Polio Eradication and Endgame Strategic Plan targets the end of all kinds of polioviruses by 2018, including the wild and rare vaccine-related strains which cause paralysis among thousands of children worldwide. The plan is focused on developing and deploying a shot version of the anti-polio vaccine to replace the current oral variant, which is known to occasionally cause the same disease that it is supposed to prevent. This document is intended for the use of individuals and organizations involved in polio eradication efforts
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The key to a lasting world free of all forms of poliovirus lies in rapidly interrupting all remaining endemic transmission of WPV in the endemic areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan. This is the only way to ensure that such strains do not re-emerge glo
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bally through international spread. It lays the cornerstone for the eventual cessation of all oral polio vaccine use, in order to eliminate the long-term risks associated with variant poliovirus strains, which is the GPEI’s top operational priority. The target for certifying the
world free of all WPV remains end-2026.
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Annual report on global preparednessfor health emergencies
The next pandemic is not a question of if, but when—and the world is woefully unprepa
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red, according to the first annual report from the Global Preparedness Monitoring Board. The WHO and the World Bank convened the independent group after the 2014-2015 Ebola outbreak in West Africa, Global News reports. Within 36 hours, a contagion like the 1918 flu could sweep the globe and take 50 to 80 million lives while wreaking havoc on the global economy, the report warns. And that’s just one possibility.
What would it take to get prepared? An investment of $1-$2 per person per year could create “acceptable” level of preparedness.
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The power relations around global decisions which shape population health can be changed through new alliances and information flows. The Democratising Gl
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obal Health Governance Initiative, of which WHO Watch is a project, is designed to contribute to improved population health (and health equity) through new alliances and information flows.
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Bulletin of the World Health Organization Volume 91, Number 4, April 2013, 237-312
(Health Systems in Transition, Vol. 4, No. 3, 2014)
This document outlines PAHO’s regional priorities for the year 2023 to sustain and scale up health emergency and humanitarian assistance in the Americas, with a focus on five priority countries currently facing a prolonged humanitarian crisis and
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recovering from recent acute emergencies: Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, and Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of). These goals align with and build on the World Health Organization’s Global Health Emergency Appeal for 2023, its principles, priorities, and strategies.
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This ten year global plan for measles and rubella outlines the strategy that needs to be fully implemented to achieve the measles and rubella goals endorsed by the World
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Health Assembly. The plan sets out the: vision, goals and targets for the 2011-2020 period, recommended strategies, guiding principles, priorities, costing of reaching the targets, and the challenges as well as ways to overcome them.
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The report reviews progress with the task of planning and implementing measures necessary to secure a completely polio-free world. It also examines actions aimed at ensuring successful transfer of
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polio assets, innovations developed and lessons learned to countries’ public health programmes and other global health priorities
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