The document provides comprehensive guidelines for managing cholera outbreaks, including detection, confirmation, response, treatment, and prevention. It emphasizes the importance of rehydration, water sanitation, hygiene promotion, and community mobilization to limit the spread. This guide is desig...ned for healthcare professionals and public authorities to ensure an effective and coordinated response.
more
Tsetse traps and targets (insecticide-impregnated screens) function by attracting the flies to a device that collects and/or kills them. Traps can be used for entomological surveillance, and also for control. Targets are simpler than traps, but are not used for surveillance. They are impregnated wit...h biodegradable insecticides in order to kill any flies that alight on them. Traps can also be impregnated with insecticides. Traps and targets can both be used to eliminate a fraction of the tsetse population.
more
The Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) Guidelines aim to support healthcare workers improve quality and safety health care. The Guidelines further aim to promote and facilitate the overall goal of IPC by providing evidence-based recommendations on the critical aspects of IPC, focusing on the fun...damental principles and priority action areas. All health service organizations should consider the risk of healthcare-associated infection(s) (HAI) and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) transmission to implement these recommendations. The IPC Guidelines also set national standards for the prevention and control of HAIs and to ensure compliance to the National Quality Standards.
more
PLoS ONE 17(9): e0272444. https://doi.org/ 10.1371/journal.pone.0272444.
Based on the RE-AIM metrics, our results show that KMC is a feasible intervention that can improve neonatal outcomes among preterm infants in Zambia. The study findings show a promising, practical approach to scaling up KMC in... Zambia.
more
This Implementation Kit (I-Kit), developed by the Health Communication Capacity Collaborative (HC3), helps national and local stakeholders to design country-specific social and behavioural change communication (SBCC) campaigns that address the threat posed by substandard, spurious, falsified and fal...sely labelled (SSFFC) malaria medicines. These poor-quality medicines endanger lives by failing to treat malaria effectively, undermine health systems, and contribute to drug resistance.
The I-Kit provides practical guidance and resources in six sections, including global examples, campaign design elements, media engagement strategies and tools for knowledge sharing. It is intended for health promotion officers, drug regulators, communication specialists and global health partners. Drawing heavily on experiences in Nigeria, the I-Kit promotes evidence-based, context-sensitive SBCC interventions to safeguard communities against SSFFC malaria medicines and enhance treatment outcomes.
more
20 YEARS OF STRATEGIC HIV AND PUBLIC HEALTH DATA . beThe completion of the 6th South African National HIV Prevalence, Incidence and Behaviour Survey (SABSSM) report, coincides with the celebration of 30 years of democracy in South Africa; and marks 20 years of conducting nationally representative ho...usehold-based surveys by the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC), its collaborators and donors. Since its inception in 2002, the SABSSM series has emerged as one of the HSRC’s leading scientific contributions to the country’s HIV and AIDS response (1), providing essential data to monitor the HIV epidemic, the impact of the HIV program in South Africa, and to inform strategies for epidemic control in the National Strategic Plan for HIV, TB and STIs (NSP), now in its fifth edition. Using scientific evidence from SABSSM and other key sources, the NSP guides the country’s response, under the leadership of the South African AIDS Council (SANAC) and the National Department of Health (NDoH), with focus on equitable access to biomedical interventions, addressing the structural and social behavioural drivers of the epidemic, and targeting populations disproportionately affected by HIV; such as, black Africans, key populations and adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) aged 15–24 years (2).
more
La Stratégie de riposte face à la résistance aux antipaludiques en Afrique est un document technique de sensibilisation qui se fonde sur les bases factuelles les plus solides dont on dispose et vise à réduire au maximum la menace et l’impact de la résistance aux antipaludiques de Plasmodium ...falciparum en Afrique. Elle a pour objectifs i) d’améliorer la détection de la résistance et d’assurer une riposte en temps utile ; ii) de retarder l’émergence de la résistance à l’artémisinine et aux médicaments associés utilisés dans les combinaisons thérapeutiques à base d’artémisinine (CTA) ; et iii) de freiner la sélection et la propagation des parasites résistants là où une pharmacorésistance est confirmée. Si la Stratégie cible l’Afrique, il convient de noter que la
menace de la résistance aux antipaludiques concerne tous les pays d’endémie palustre et que les interventions proposées dans le présent document sont applicables dans d’autres régions géographiques à condition d’être adaptées aux spécificités locales.
more
The target audience of this document (and the associated online companion tool) includes WHO country offices in Member States of the African Region; Member States’ ministries of health and their public health emergency operation centres; relevant external assessment teams; and partners looking to ...identify preparedness gaps and
support interventions that help address them. In the event of a suspected or confirmed VHF case, the document also serves to provide any intervening partner with a sense of what structures should be in place, in order to guide
scale-up activities in line with regional and national plans.
more
In this contingency planning guidance, a set of actions to prepare for emergencies from all hazards and to help minimize their impact, is proposed. These actions include the development, implementation, simulation, monitoring and regular update of risks-based contingency plans.
Alcohol consumption is deeply embedded in the social landscape of many societies. 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 trends i...n the marketing of alcoholic beverages, as well as implemented alcohol control measures. At the individual level, the patterns and levels of alcohol consumption are determined by many different factors, including 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 encourage alcohol consumption delay appropriate health-seeking behaviour and weaken community action
more
The COVID-19 Strategic Preparedness and Response Plan (SPRP) 2021 Monitoring and Evaluation Framework tracks global progress against the COVID-19 SPRP 2021 for the ten pillars of the public health response. The operational intelligence complements the epidemiologic information used to drive a global... dynamic system of support and response. Monitoring SPRP 2021 implementation will support countries, partners and WHO in strategic thinking, operational tracking and course correction based on evidence and transparency to strengthen the response to COVID-19.
more
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.
more
This report reviews the current situation in relation to national capacity to address NCDs and the progress made at country level over the past decade. It highlights that, while progress is being made, there is still much work to be done to create the infrastructure, policies, surveillance and healt...h systems response that will allow NCDs and their contributing risk factors to be successfully contained and reversed.
more
Mental disorders impose an enormous burden on society, accounting for almost one in three years lived with disability globally. •In addition to their health impact, mental disorders cause a significant economic burden due to lost economic output and the link between mental disorders and costly, po...tentially fatal conditions including cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, HIV, and obesity.•80% of the people likely to experience an episode of a mental disorder in their lifetime come from low- and middle-income countries.• Two of the most common forms of mental disorders, anxiety and depression, are prevalent, disabling, and respond to a range of treatments that are safe and effective. Yet, owing to stigma and inadequate funding, these disorders are not being treated in most primary care and community settings.
more
The intent of these guidelines is to develop a holistic, coordinated, proactive and technology driven strategy for management of biological disasters through a culture of prevention, mitigation and preparedness to generate a prompt and effective response in the event of an emergency. Th...e document contains comprehensive guidelines for preparedness activities, biosafety and biosecurity measures, capacity development, specialised health care and laboratory facilities, strengthening of the existing legislative/
regulatory framework, mental health support, response, rehabilitation and recovery, etc. It specifically lays down the approach for implementation of the guidelines by the central ministries/departments, states, districts and other stakeholders, in a time bound manner.
more
As the Americas undergo profound demographic change and there are more persons aged 65 years or older than children younger than 5 years, it is crucial to recognize that national immunization programs must be redesigned to ensure comprehensive protection for individuals across the lifespan. By adopt...ing a life course approach (LCA) to immunization, vaccination programs can be tailored to close immunity gaps at different stages of life. The life course approach foresees the establishment of multiple strategies to reduce missed opportunities for vaccination according to age group. This technical document explains the key concepts of the LCA with a focus on immunization by vaccination, as well as the underlying biological mechanisms that require the application different vaccines at different life stages according to changes to the immune system and in the epidemiological situation of a community.
more
The "Stories from the field" document by the WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean shares effective strategies from the Eastern Mediterranean Region for addressing noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) and mental health challenges, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic. It highlights regio...nal success stories in mitigating NCDs and mental health conditions through innovative, country-specific interventions. The report emphasizes multisectoral collaboration, community engagement, and resilience in public health responses. It aims to inspire further action and knowledge-sharing to enhance health outcomes in challenging settings across the region.
more
This manual provides a practical method for determining the pharmacovigilance indices. It is designed to be simple and can be understood by any worker in pharmacovigilance without formal training in monitoring and evaluation. Pharmacovigilance as a medical discipline is crucial in preventing medicin...e-related adverse effects in humans, promoting patient safety, and the rational use of medicines. The indicators proposed in this manual are based on the expected functions of pharmacovigilance centres as described in the WHO Mimimum Requirements for a Functional Pharmacovigilance System (1) (see Annex 1 of the manual).
more
The goal of this Global Action Plan is to articulate synergistic actions that will be required to prevent HIVDR from undermining efforts to achieve global targets on health and HIV, and to provide the most effective treatment to all people living with HIV including adults, key populations, pregnant ...and breastfeeding women, children and adolescents. The Global Action Plan has five strategic objectives: 1) prevention and response; 2) monitoring and surveillance; 3) research and innovation; 4) laboratory capacity; and 5) governance and enabling mechanisms.
more
The new WHO Guidelines on Sanitation and Health summarize the evidence on the effectiveness of a range of sanitation interventions and provide a comprehensive framework for health-protecting sanitation, covering policy and governance measures, implementation of sanitation technologies, systems and b...ehavioural interventions, risk-based management, and monitoring approaches. Critically, the guidelines articulate the role of the health sector in maximizing the health impact of sanitation interventions.
The guidelines also identify gaps in the evidence-base to guide future research efforts to improve the effectiveness of sanitation interventions.
(French, Spanish, Russian, Arabic in production)
more