This document presents the World Health Organization Operational framework for building climate resilient and low carbon health systems*. ***The framework's goal is to increase the climate resilience of health systems to protect and improve the health of communities in an unstable and changing clima...te, while optimizing the use of resources and implementing strategies to reduce GHG emissions. It aims to contribute to the design of transformative health systems that can provide safe and quality care in a changing climate.
Implementation of the framework's ten components would help health organizations, authorities, and programmes to be better able to anticipate, prevent, prepare for, and manage climate-related health risks and therefore decrease the burden of associated climate-sensitive health outcomes. Implementing low carbon health practices would contribute to climate change mitigation while also improving health outcomes. Achieving these aims is an important contribution to universal health coverage (UHC), global health security, and specific targets within the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The document is a useful resource for decision-makers in health systems, including public health agencies, and other specialized institutions, and for decision-makers in health-determining sectors.
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While there has been real progress in addressing the burden of disease in the WHO African region, the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the link between health, economics and security, as the region saw decades of progress threatened, including positive trends in decreasing inequality. In the Africa...n Region the momentum towards achieving the 2030 SDG disease burden reduction targets (SDG targets 3.3, 3.4 and 3B) has stalled.
The COVID-19 pandemic was also a major threat to gains made, such as the eradication of polio in the region, declared in 2020; reduced numbers of new HIV infections in 2021 compared to 2010; and passing the 2020 milestone of the End TB Strategy, with a 22% reduction in new cases compared with 2015. However, the pandemic also disrupted essential health services in 92% of countries globally, 22.7 million children missed basic immunization, there was an increase in malaria and TB, and global deaths from TB rose for the first time since 2015.
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This guidebook for people in school settings is intended to offer strategies for use and adaptation with children and families to re-establish routines of hygiene with basic access to water and sanitation services through an approach that visibly shows that the school is WASHfriendly, inclusive - so... that all children, including those with disabilities have "ownership of the information and activities", and sustainable, repeating messages "over time to encourage lasting behaviour change"
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This report found that many people with disabilities enter institutions as children and remain there for their entire lives. Most of these institutions visited by Human Rights Watch researchers did not provide for more than people’s basic needs, such as food and hygiene, with scarce contact with t...he community and little opportunity for personal development. Some residents are tied to their beds and given sedatives to control them.
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Summary of lessons learned
Self-imposed quarantine has proved less problematic.
The timely and reliable delivery of resources (e.g. food/water) and expertise (e.g. contact tracing/safe and dignified burials) is essential to ensure cooperation and deter quarantine violation.
The commun...ities’ understanding of the benefits of quarantine and its role in stopping the outbreak is essential.
Coercion is counterproductive.
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Activities during precautionary measures (age group 6-13).
During infectious disease outbreaks, children may experience distress for a variety of reasons. The collective anxiety and grief that a community experiences can impact heavily on children. Limited public knowledge of the disease may trigge...r misinformation, rumors and panic.
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Update September 2021. Safe management of health care waste practices play an essential role in protecting human health during all disease outbreaks, including during Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) outbreaks. This question and answer document provides practical, evidence-based recommendations on minimum... requirements and best practices for health care waste management in facilities and communities. It was originally developed in 2014 during the West Africa Ebola Outbreak and has been updated in 2021 to reflect lessons learned and new operational research data, including on the use of low-cost treatment technologies . The key recommendations on health care waste remain the same.
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Early childhood matters.
This document looks at specific issues regarding the development of young children, in particular from a psychosocial perspective. It is published twice per year by the Bernard van Leer Foundation. The views expressed in Early Childhood Matters are those of the authors and... do not necessarily reflect those of the Bernard van Leer Foundation.
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Interim guidance, 12 August 2020This interim guidance has been updated with advice on safe and appropriate home care for patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and on the public health measures related to the management of their contacts.
Initial public health responses to control the pandemic focused on promoting protective behaviors among the general population, including frequent hand washing, physical distancing and the use of face masks in public spaces However, many saw these only as interim measures to reduce the spread of the... virus and hopes for a return to a sense of ‘ rested on the development of a safe and effective vaccine.
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Based on Human Rights Watch (HRW)'s reporting on the human rights dimensions of the COVID-19 pandemic (see Related Summary, and the video, below), this document presents 40 questions to provoke thinking about a rights-respecting response to the crisis. The questions address the needs - including aro...und issues of information and communication - of groups most at risk, such as people living in poverty, ethnic and religious minorities, women, people with disabilities, older people, migrants, refugees, children, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people. The resource also identifies a variety of responses to the crisis, some of which are positive and others problematic - with many links to related stories and resources online.
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Pakistan, one of the countries that is most vulnerable to climate change, received more than three times its usual rainfall in August 2022. Torrential rains and flash-flooding began in early July 2022, severely damaging living areas, schools and other communal buildings in refugee villages and host ...communities. Unprecedented and unrelenting rainfall and flooding in late August 2022 worsened the already fragile humanitarian situation. Nearly 1,700 people are reported to have died, and over 12,800 were injured, including at least 4,000 children
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This handbook is intended primarily for front-line health care providers who are likely to see children (among other clients) in their day-to-day practice. These may include general practitioners, nurses, midwives, gynaecologists,
paediatricians, mental health professionals, first responders and st...aff in emergency care.
Other professionals who may find it useful include social workers, those working in social welfare institutions, providers of psychosocial support, and those working in child care facilities and the education system.
Further, the content will benefit the work of policy-makers and managers to enable and support provision of clinical care to children experiencing, or who have experienced, child maltreatment.
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Humanity & Inclusion has published a report on November 20, on the difficulties children with disabilities face in accessing education in the world’s poorest countries.
In this report a nutrition governance framework was applied to research and analyse the provincial experience with nutrition policy in Pakistan, looking both at chronic and acute malnutrition. Twenty-one in-depth interviews with key stakeholders were also conducted along with a review of published a...nd grey literature. Findings were validated and supplemented by consultative provincial roundtable meetings. Punjab’s nutritional puzzle is that it has high levels of chronic malnutrition and micro-nutrient deficiencies despite a surplus production of food and a low poverty level. Under-nutrition is mainly linked to insufficient attention to preventive health strategies and to a lack of connection between relevant sectors such as Education, Health, Poverty, Safe Water and Sanitation, and Food. Strategic opportunities are recommended which include cross-party political support and ownership for nutrition, with steering by executive leadership; multi-sectoral action and functional integration of various departments and programmes with the creation of a central convening structure for effective cross-sectoral coordination; broadening of nutritional activities beyond salt iodization and vitamin A coverage; central co-ordination of monitoring and evaluation and effective partnerships between the state and non-state sector around data production, awareness, advocacy, and monitoring.
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This country cooperation strategy (CCS) outlines how the World Health Organization (WHO) will work with the Lao People’s Democratic Republic over the next five years (2024–2028), supporting the implementation of the five-year health sector development plans and the Health Sector Reform Strategy ...2021–2030 to attain the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030.
The Lao People’s Democratic Republic experienced substantial economic growth in the 30 years prior to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, contributing to reduced poverty and significant progress toward the SDGs. However, the COVID-19 pandemic brought this development to a halt. It was anticipated that the COVID-19 recovery and the tremendous population growth in recent years would provide opportunities for a shift toward more sustainable and inclusive development in the years ahead. In 2023, however, the contrary was the case. Rural residents, including many ethnic minorities, continued to face marginalization because of limited access to education, health care and economic opportunities.
Despite the challenges of COVID-19 and other disease outbreaks, the country has made significant improvements in health. Nonetheless, progress has been uneven and not everyone has benefited from these achievements. In the mountainous region, many people lack access to quality health care because of the unequal distribution of well-trained health-care workers. Preventable deaths due to poor-quality health care for children and newborns, infants and mothers remain a concern, as do communicable diseases such as sexually transmitted infections and tuberculosis. The increasing burden of noncommunicable diseases and the health impact of worsening climate change further heighten the need for strengthened and resilient health systems, which are at risk due to an underfunded health sector and weak economy.
This CCS aims to address remaining and future challenges as well as health needs while creating an impact that is sustainable. It identifies three strategic priorities and nine deliverables (Table 1) to support the attainment of the national vision of Health for all by all, as articulated in the 9th Health Sector Development Plan 2021–2025. It contributes to the country’s goals to achieve universal health coverage, graduate from least developed country status by 2026 and attain SDGs by 2030.
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Communication to Healthcare Professionals Mar-2020
This guideline is intended to assist healthcare professionals in the participation of very important process of continuous surveillance of safety and efficacy of the health products which are used in their clinical practice. Continuous evaluation o...f medicines’ benefit and harm help to achieve the ultimate goal of safe and effective treatments available to patients.
The guideline is intended to assist healthcare professionals in the reporting of suspected adverse drug reactions (ADRs) associated with the use of all registered health products, including medicines, old medicines, medical devices and in-vitro diagnostics (IVDs).
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This checklist will help child psychosocial support and Child Friendly Space supervisors adhere to quality standards during program implementation. This checklist was developed by consultant Nicole Bohl, based on her previous work with Plan International and Save the Children. It has been adapted wi...th input from CRS EMECA Core Team members.
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One booklet is called "Heart-to-Heart with My Child." Published for Rohingya adults and children, it conveys key child protection messages in accessible terms in both Rohingya and in English. The messages are illustrated with embroideries made by Rohingya female artists, engaged with IOM's Rohingya ...Cultural Memory Centre (RCMC).
During focus group discussions and one-on-one interviews with IOM's protection team, refugees often share stories of harassment and physical abuse. The team encountered several protection risks in the camps, which the staff has been gradually mitigating.
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As countries aim to progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and achieving universal health coverage, health inequities driven by racial discrimination and intersecting factors remain pervasive. Inequities experienced by indigenous peoples as well as people of African descent, Roma ...and other ethnic minorities are of concern globally; they are unjust, preventable and remediable.
Health systems themselves are important determinants of health and health equity. They can perpetuate health inequities by reflecting structural racism and discriminatory practices of wider society. For instance, systemic racism, implicit bias, misinformed clinical practice, or discrimination by health professionals contributes to health inequities. However, health systems can also be a leading force for tackling the inequities faced by populations experiencing racial discrimination.
Primary health care (PHC) is the essential strategy for reorientating health systems and societies to become healthier, equitable, effective and sustainable. In 2018, on the 40th anniversary of the Declaration of Alma-Ata, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) renewed the emphasis on PHC with their strategy,
WHO outlines 14 strategic and operational levers for policy-makers to strengthen PHC. Within each lever, there are multiple potential entry points for targeted actions to address racial discrimination, foster intercultural care, and reduce health inequities experienced by indigenous peoples as well as people of African descent, Roma and other ethnic minorities.
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