Alcohol use is deeply embedded in the social landscape of many societies, and some 2300 million people drink alcoholic beverages in most parts of the world. At the same time, more than half of the global population aged 15 years and older reported having abstained from drinking alcohol during the pr...evious 12 months. Several major factors have an impact on levels and patterns of alcohol consumption in populations – such as historical trends in alcohol consumption, the availability of alcohol, culture, economic status and implemented alcohol control measures. At the individual level the patterns and levels of alcohol consumption are determined by multiple factors that include gender, age and individual biological and socioeconomic vulnerability factors as well as the policy environment. Prevailing social norms that support drinking behaviour and mixed messages about the harms and benefits of drinking may encourage alcohol consumption, delay appropriate health-seeking behaviour and weaken community action.
more
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 dealing with such issues as the rise of noncommunicable diseases, leaps in life expectancy, and emergin...g threats like climate change and antimicrobial resistance.
more
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.
more
Diets are changing everywhere, and the burden of disease associated with unhealthy diets is a worldwide concern. Measurement and monitoring of diets across countries and population groups is critical. However, there are no harmonized metrics for tracking how the healthfulness of diets around the wor...ld is evolving.
This report assesses the validity, usefulness and fitness for purpose of existing healthy diet metrics as global and national monitoring indicators, presents a comparative assessment of selected healthy diet metrics and discusses priorities and opportunities to improve diet monitoring. This report is an important first step of the Healthy Diets Monitoring Initiative to respond to the need for developing healthy diets metrics for assessing and monitoring diets at national and global level.
more
The World Heart Federation (WHF) Roadmap series covers a large range of cardiovascular conditions. These Roadmaps identify potential roadblocks and their solutions to improve the prevention, detection and management of cardiovascular diseases and provide a generic global framework available for loca...l adaptation. A first Roadmap on raised blood pressure was published in 2015. Since then, advances in hypertension have included the publication of new clinical guidelines (AHA/ACC; ESC; ESH/ISH); the launch of the WHO Global HEARTS Initiative in 2016 and the associated Resolve to Save Lives (RTSL) initiative in 2017; the inclusion of single-pill combinations on the WHO Essential
Medicines’ list as well as various advances in technology, in particular telemedicine and mobile health. Given the substantial benefit accrued from effective interventions in the management of hypertension and their potential for scalability in low and middle-income countries (LMICs), the WHF has now revisited and updated the ‘Roadmap for raised BP’ as ‘Roadmap for hypertension’
by incorporating new developments in science and policy. Even though cost-effective lifestyle and medical interventions to prevent and manage hypertension exist, uptake is still low, particularly in resource-poor areas. This Roadmap examined the roadblocks pertaining to both the demand side (demographic and socio-economic factors, knowledge and beliefs, social relations, norms, and
traditions) and the supply side (health systems resources and processes) along the patient pathway to propose a range of possible solutions to overcoming them. Those include the development of population-wide prevention and control programmes; the implementation of opportunistic screening and of out-of-office blood pressure measurements; the strengthening of primary care and a greater focus on task sharing and team-based care; the delivery of people-centred care and stronger patient and carer education; and the facilitation of adherence to treatment. All of the above are dependent upon the availability and effective distribution of good quality, evidencebased, inexpensive BP-lowering agents.
more
Health Systems in Transition. Vol. 5 No.3 2015
New funding requirements: CHF 2.8 billion IFRC-wide of which CHF 670 million is channelled through the IFRC Emergency Appeal in support of National Societies
This report contains the results of an in-depth Training Needs Assessment (TNA) of Health Workers in the 4 project counties of the republic of Kenya – Nakuru, Kisumu, Nairobi and Bungoma. The assessment, facilitated by the UPOPs Project in close collaboration with the Ministry of Health and Minist...ry of Environment and Natural Resources, took place in the month of September 2017. This assessment focused on health workers at County and County referral health facilities.
more
Mental health is critical to personal well-being, interpersonal relationships, and successful contributions to society. Mental health conditions consequently impose a high burden not only on individuals, families and society, but also on economies. In Jamaica, mental health conditions are highly pre...valent and major contributors to morbidity, disability, and premature mortality.
more
Journal of Palliative Medicine Volume 21, Number 10, 2018
DOI: 10.1089/jpm.2018.0248ad
Transforming the Quality of Health Care in Ethiopia
Prepared as an outcome of ICMR Subcommittee on Buccal Mucosa Cancer | This consensus document on management of Buccal Mucosa cancers summarizes the modalities of treatment including the site-specific anti-cancer therapies, supportive and palliative care and molecular markers and research questions. ...It also interweaves clinical, biochemical and epidemiological studies.
more