The COVID-19 pandemic is challenging health systems across the world. Rapidly increasing demand for care of people with COVID-19 is compounded by fear, misinformation and limitations on the movement of people and supplies that disrupt the delivery of frontline health care for all people...
This g...uidance addresses the specific role of community-based health care in the pandemic context and outlines the adaptations needed to keep people safe, maintain continuity of essential services and ensure an effective response to COVID-19. It is intended for decision-makers and managers at the national and subnational levels and complements a range of other guidance, including that on priority public health interventions, facility-based care, and risk communication and community engagement in the setting of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Poverty, HIV and other disease burdens, coupled with common mental disorders including alcohol and other substance use disorders, posttraumatic stress disorder, clinical and postnatal depression, distress, and anxiety, impact how caregivers meet the needs of children. When mental health is not consi...dered or addressed, there can be a significant impact on an individual, their family and the community.
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This companion document to Ending the neglect to attain the Sustainable Development Goals: a road map for neglected tropical diseases 2021-2030 ("the road map") aims to support a range of stakeholders - including countries in which neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) are endemic, international organi...zations and non-State actors - to achieve the road map targets through a transdisciplinary, cross-cutting One Health approach. Specifically, it provides guidance on the One Health actions needed by major stakeholders and how to support a paradigm shift towards One Health in national NTD programmes. Examples of common One Health challenges and how they can be overcome as well as illustrative cases studies are provided throughout. The companion document was developed through a global consultative process involving stakeholder interviews, interactive workshops, and online public consultation.
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As daily lives and communities are upended by COVID-19, concern is mounting that children’s exposure to violence may increase. Children with a history of abuse may find themselves even more vulnerable – both at home and online – and may experience more frequent and severe acts of violence. Oth...ers may be victimized for the first time.
Understanding the current status of violence prevention and response services is therefore essential to assessing risks to children
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This document highlights landmarks and key milestones in the development and implementation of the global agenda for noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) over the last two decades. It summarizes where the world was in 2000, where it is in 2022, and where the world wants to be in terms of NCD prevention a...nd control by 2030. It recalls the commitments made by heads of state and governments, and outlines the technical guidance provided by the World Health Organization (WHO) in support of national efforts to achieve the internationally agreed NCD targets for 2025 and 2030.
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This report provides the context, underlying evidence, content and process related to the
development of the draft global strategic directions for nursing and midwifery 2021–2025.
For children orphaned or made vulnerable by HIV (OVC)
he WHO global disability action plan 2014-2021 is a significant step towards achieving health and well-being and human rights for people with disabilities. The action plan was endorsed by WHO Member States in 2014 and calls for them to remove barriers and improve access to health services and progra...mmes; strengthen and extend rehabilitation, assistive devices and support services, and community-based rehabilitation; and enhance collection of relevant and internationally comparable data on disability, and research on disability and related services. Achieving the objectives of the action plan better enables people with disabilities to fulfil their aspirations in all aspects of life.
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The study on health facility preparedness for cholera outbreak response in Cameroon evaluates the ability of healthcare facilities in four cholera-prone districts to manage cholera outbreaks. The findings highlight significant weaknesses, including limited surveillance systems, inadequate access to ...water, poor sanitation, and lack of essential medical supplies such as Oral Rehydration Solution (ORS) and cholera case management guidelines. Many health facilities also lacked trained personnel and proper waste disposal systems, increasing the risk of disease spread within healthcare centers. The study underscores the urgent need for improved hygiene infrastructure, better training, and resource allocation to enhance outbreak response and reduce cholera-related mortality.
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20 April 2022. The response to the COVID-19 pandemic continues to adversely affect essential TB services in many countries. A first report of case studies was published in 2021 comprising 23 examples of innovative interventions implemented by countries to effectively respond to disruptions of TB ser...vices caused or exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. This second, consolidated report incorporates new case studies, as well as updates to previously reported case studies
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Cervical cancer continues to be a significant public health problem and a major cause of premature mortality among women, disproportionately affecting the socioeconomically disadvantaged population in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). In the absence of implementing the known evidence-based, ...cost-effective interventions, the number of deaths per year is projected to reach approximately 416 000 globally in 2035. It was estimated in 2020 that 32% of incident cervical cancer cases and 34% of cervical cancer deaths in the world occurred in the 11 Member States of the WHO South-East Asia (SEA) Region. In 2020, 190 874 new cases and 116 015 deaths were estimated due to cervical cancer, which is the third commonest cancer in the Region
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The new Global Strategy aims to achieve the highest attainable standard of health for all women, children and adolescents, transform the future and ensure that every newborn, mother and child not only survives, but thrives.
The ICOPE Implementation Framework provides a score card to help assess the overall capacity of health and social care services and systems to deliver integrated care in community settings and support the development of ICOPE implementation action plans. There are 19 actions needed to implement ICOP...E on the services level (meso) and systems level (macro). The scoring process provides an evidence-based means of highlighting areas for improvement as well as establishing concrete measures of future improvements
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Mental disorders are one of the top public health challenges in the WHO European Region, affecting about 25% of the population every year. In all countries, mental health problems are much more prevalent among the people who are most deprived. The WHO European Region therefore faces diverse challeng...es affecting both the mental well-being of the population and the provision and quality of care for people with mental health problems.
The European Mental Health Action Plan focuses on seven interlinked objectives and proposes effective action to strengthen mental health and well-being. Investing in mental health is essential for the sustainability of health and socioeconomic policies in the European Region. The Action Plan corresponds to the four priority areas of the European policy framework for health and wellbeing, Health 2020, and will contribute directly to its implementation.
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2nd edition. The 2018 Roadmap incorporates an additional critical population: adolescents. Despite making up 1 in 6 of the world’s people, adolescents have been largely overlooked as global momentum to address TB has grown. Spanning the ages of 10–19 years, adolescents are both at risk of TB and... represent an important population for TB control. They often present with infectious TB and frequently have multiple contacts in congregate settings, such as schools and other educational institutions. Nevertheless, few countries capture TB data in suitably age-disaggregated ways to allow full understanding of its impact in this group and even fewer provide the adolescent-friendly services our young people need to access diagnosis and care.
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Lancet Planet Health 2022;6: e760–68
The emergence of COVID-19 has drawn the attention of health researchers sharply back to the role that food systems can play in generating human disease burden. But emerging pandemic threats are just one dimension of the complex relationship between agriculture... and infectious disease, which is evolving rapidly, particularly in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs) that are undergoing rapid food system transformation. This changing relationship is examined through four current disease issues.
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1st edition
This resource provides practical guidance for front line health workers responsible for the diagnosis, management and care of patients with these two diseases. Published in collaboration with the World Diabetes Foundation