This toolkit is a comprehensive set of practical tools and resources designed to support country-level risk communication and community engagement (RCCE) practitioners, decision-makers, and partners to plan and implement readiness and response activities for yellow fever outbreaks. The toolkit conta...ins: information about yellow fever; RCCE considerations for how to approach key issues during yellow fever outbreaks; tools for understanding the context in which yellow fever outbreaks occur; methods for collecting data to inform strategy development and bring evidence into planning and implementation of activities; guidance to support vector control and immunization campaigns; and links to existing RCCE tools and training. It is one of a suite of toolkits on RCCE readiness and response to a range of disease and response areas.
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This guidance covers different options for banning or phasing out a pesticide and suggests related risk reduction measures to be taken during the phase-out period. A key focus of this guidance is how to take action to manage, prevent, minimize, and communicate about identified risks during the imple...mentation of a phase-out strategy. It contains a description of legal aspects to consider when phasing out a product and illustrates how a risk communication plan can be structured and implemented. How different stakeholders may be involved when a pesticide is going to be phased out is also described.
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The Compendium of Solid Waste Management in Humanitarian Contexts is a comprehensive, structured and userfriendly manual and planning guide that provides a systematic overview of existing Solid Waste Management (SWM) technologies and approaches appropriate for use in humanitarian contexts.
This guide aims to provide an overview of successful practice from the field for the disaster risk reduction/management practitioner interested in EWS. It presents guiding principles that will build a strong foundation for the design or strengthening of EWS at any level. It is not an operational, bu...t a strategic, guide that insists on asking the right questions and exploring all perspectives prior even to deciding whether or not early warning is the appropriate tool for a given context.
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The Multi-Hazard Early Warning System (MHEWS) Checklist is a practical tool consisting of major components and actions that national governments, community organizations and partners within
and across all sectors can refer when developing or evaluating early warning systems
The World Health Organization recently redefined leprosy elimination as a phased process, with the first milestone being the
interruption of transmission, achieved when no new child cases (defined as younger than 15 years) are reported for five consecutive years.
In Pakistan, the well-functioning ...leprosy programme, with effective case management, context-specific active case-finding strategies and
a robust data management system, has contributed to a decrease in new cases. Between 2001 and 2023, new adult cases dropped by 75%
(from 878 cases to 220 cases annually) and child cases by 83% (from 93 to 16). To support the country’s goal of no new child cases by 2030
and ultimately eliminate the disease, the nongovernmental organizations Marie Adelaide Leprosy Centre and Aid to Leprosy Patients, with
support from the German Leprosy and Tuberculosis Relief Association, have developed a zero leprosy roadmap. As part of this roadmap,
the leprosy elimination strategy emphasizes improving active case-finding and providing post-exposure prophylaxis for contacts of leprosy
cases, who are at the highest risk
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Despite being a preventable and curable infectious disease, tuberculosis (TB) has continued to elude global controll efforts. In 2023, 8.2 milion people with TB were diagnosed and notified to the WHO, the hightest number ever reported since WHO began tracking.
Effective surveillance and monitoring of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) and their risk factors are essential for informing evidence-based public health policies, addressing health inequities, and ensuring progress toward global and regional targets. By tracking trends in NCDs, their modifiable risk... factors such as tobacco use, unhealthy diets, physical inactivity, harmful use of alcohol, and air pollution, along with biological risk factors such as overweight and obesity, high blood pressure (hypertension), and elevated blood glucose (diabetes), policymakers can identify emerging threats, target vulnerable populations, allocating resources efficiently. Reliable data also enable countries to evaluate interventions, adjust policies, and strengthen health systems to reduce the burden of NCDs.
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The objective of this guideline is to present the complete set of all WHO recommendations and best practice statements relating to abortion. While legal, regulatory, policy and service-delivery contexts may vary from country to country, the recommendations and best practices described in this docume...nt aim to enable evidence-based decision-making with respect to quality abortion care.
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The annual bulletin of the Mekong Malaria Elimination (MME) programme is a yearly report that reviews ongoing efforts to combat multidrug resistance and eliminate malaria in the 6 countries of the Greater Mekong subregion (GMS): Cambodia, China (Yunnan province), Lao People's Democratic Republic, My...anmar, Thailand and Viet Nam.
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Malaria remains a significant public health concern in the SADC region, accounting for 20% of childhood deaths, as well as prompting numerous outpatient visits and hospitalisations. Around three-quarters of the population, including 35 million children under the age of five and 8.5 million pregnant ...women, are at risk. Transmission patterns vary from high and stable in the north to malaria-free in the south, with low, unstable and seasonal zones in between. Although interventions such as indoor residual spraying (IRS), insecticide-treated nets (ITNs/LLINs), intermittent preventive treatment in pregnancy (IPTp), rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs), and artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs) have reduced the malaria burden, challenges persist in terms of funding, human resources, surveillance, and cross-border coordination. Achieving malaria elimination in the SADC region requires harmonised regional standards, strengthened surveillance, and improved access to quality treatment and policy prioritisation.
Accessed on 27/08/2025.
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The 2024 World Malaria Report shows that the malaria burden remains overwhelmingly concentrated in Africa. The continent accounted for 94% of global cases and 95% of malaria-related deaths in 2023. Although the number of malaria cases increased globally from 204 million in 2000 to 246 million in 202...3, the number of deaths declined from 805,000 to 569,000. Children under five are still the most affected group, accounting for 76% of malaria deaths in Africa. A few countries, particularly Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, carry the highest burden. Since 2000, Africa has significantly reduced malaria incidence and mortality, averting over 1.7 billion cases and 12 million deaths. Nevertheless, malaria continues to pose a significant health challenge, necessitating ongoing action and investment.
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Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) have emerged as conditions of great public health concern in Kenya accounting for 39% of deaths annually. The Ministry of Health through the Department of Non-Communicable Diseases has adopted the vision of achieving a nation free from preventable burden of NCDs. Fur...ther, the mission of this strategy is to halt and reverse the rising burden of NCDs through effective multisectoral collaboration and partnerships by ensuring Kenyans receive the highest attainable standard of NCD continuum of care that is accessible, affordable, quality, equitable and sustainable thus alleviating suffering, disease and death for their well-being and socio-economic development.
The scope of NCDs covered by this strategy include; cardiovascular diseases, cancer, diabetes, chronic respiratory diseases, mental health conditions, violence and injuries, hemoglobinopathies, haemophilia and other bleeding disorders, auto immune diseases, chronic renal diseases, epilepsy and other neurological disorders, chronic skin conditions and oral diseases and conditions. It equally addresses seven risk factors; tobacco use, harmful use of alcohol, unhealthy diets and toxins, physical inactivity, indoor air pollution, environmental pollutants and toxins and stress.
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Public health challenges over the past decade have highlighted the importance of approaching health through a holistic lens of human, animal, and environmental sectors, recognizing the need for a collaborative response against shared threats. Zoonotic diseases, transmitted between humans and animals... through their shared environment, are at the forefront of the threats requiring collaborations that span human health, natural ecosystems, and food systems.
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WHO, as the coordinating authority on international health, supports countries in protecting public health through evidence-based policies and actions. Considering the significant health burden and the multiple potential benefits of interventions, the WHO Air Quality, Energy and Health Unit aims to ...support countries by providing evidence, building institutional capacity and leveraging the “health argument” to convene sectors to tackle air pollution and accelerate energy access.
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Promoting and protecting the mental health and psychosocial wellbeing of children, adolescents, and their caregivers remains undamental to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), with a direct contribution to SDG 3 (Good Health and Well- eing). In 2024, UNICEF accelerated the scale-up o...f integrated, multisectoral MHPSS programming. These efforts contributed to the strengthening of national and subnational child and adolescent mental health systems by supporting programming across the continuum of care, investing in workforce development, advancing data systems and evidence generation, and promoting institutional leadership and coordination mechanisms. UNICEF’s growing reach, particularly through health, education, and child protection systems, reflects a strategic commitment to embedding MHPSS in sustainable development frameworks and in responses that bridge humanitarian action and development programming.
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The health impacts of climate change are no longer a distant threat. They are being felt here and now and becoming more extreme.
To address these threats, the WHO Asia-Pacific Centre for Environment and Health in the Western Pacific Region (ACE) was established in 2019 through a partnership with ...the Seoul Metropolitan Government, the Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment of the Republic of Korea and the World Health Organization (WHO).
The Centre’s mission is to strengthen cooperation and drive action where environment and health meet. This focus on environmental health has created a strong foundation for system-wide change.
This strategic plan builds directly on that work. Over the next five years, the Centre will expand its reach, supporting countries to take practical, systems-based action that ensures healthier people, healthier environments and a healthier planet.
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he UNFPA “Programmatic guidelines: Cash and Voucher Assistance in Sexual and Reproductive Health programming in Emergencies” explains how CVA can be effectively integrated into humanitarian responses to help women, girls, and other vulnerable groups access lifesaving and comprehensive SRH servic...es. Rooted in UNFPA’s mandate, this document provides practical direction for designing, implementing, and monitoring CVA within SRH programming.
The guidance highlights the barriers that hinder access to SRH care, such as affordability, availability, acceptability, and appropriateness, and illustrates how CVA can address financial obstacles by covering transport, user fees, or other indirect costs, while reinforcing health system strengthening efforts. CVA is presented as a complementary tool that supports both emergency and long-term SRH goals. Within humanitarian emergencies, it can contribute directly to achieving MISP objectives, including:
Enabling survivors of sexual violence to access clinical and psychosocial care;
Supporting the continuation of HIV and STI treatment, including coverage of transport;
Facilitating safe deliveries and emergency obstetric and newborn care; and
Removing financial barriers to voluntary family planning and contraceptive access, while ensuring informed choice and avoiding coercion.
Beyond the MISP, CVA also supports the transition to comprehensive SRH services in protracted emergencies and recovery phases. Examples include using cash or vouchers to encourage antenatal and postnatal care, ensure menstrual hygiene, sustain cancer prevention and treatment, fund obstetric fistula repair, and promote SRH education among adolescents.
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This Toolkit for ensuring rights-based and ethical use of digital technologies in HIV and health programmes is derived from the comprehensive UNDP Guidance on the rights-based and ethical use of digital technologies in HIV and health programmes document. The foundational UNDP Guidance document outli...nes key ethical, human rights and technical considerations for countries adopting digital technologies for health, detailing human rights risks, norms and standards, and provides a practical checklist for assessment.
The Toolkit serves as a quick reference guide for UNDP staff, governments, partners, technology developers, and civil society organizations, designed to provide practical guidance for implementing ethical digital health solutions by distilling and structuring the in-depth information from the broader UNDP Guidance into six easy-access modules. Each module addresses a specific key issue by outlining definitions, ethical principles, key considerations, and recommendations that align with the comprehensive framework established by the UNDP Guidance.
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This plan, approved by the Organization’s 62nd Directing Council, was shaped by extensive consultations with countries and stakeholders, and commits to transformative health outcomes over the next six years, tackling noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), mental health, health security, fragmented healt...h systems and services, and the elimination of communicable diseases, amongst others.
“The COVID-19 pandemic taught us that the Region of the Americas is stronger when we work together,” said Dr. Jarbas Barbosa, PAHO Director. “This Strategic Plan harnesses our collective strength to build resilient health systems, reduce disease burden, and improve health and well-being for all across the Americas.”
The plan builds on lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic, which exposed gaps in health systems while highlighting the power of joint action. It targets measurable impacts in countries, such as reducing maternal mortality, reversing rising suicide rates, and eliminating diseases like leprosy and Chagas.
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