Best practices” are exemplary public health practices that have achieved results, and which need to be scaled up so as to benefit more people. The expansion and institutionalization of successfully tested best practices requires strategic planning. There are several creative and constructive actio...ns by people and organizations in the health sector to improve the health outcomes of people.
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The "Global Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Noncommunicable Diseases 2013-2020," published by the World Health Organization (WHO), provides a roadmap to reduce premature deaths from noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) like heart disease, cancer, and diabetes. It emphasizes strengthening he...alth systems, implementing preventive measures, and setting global targets to combat risk factors such as tobacco use, unhealthy diets, physical inactivity, and harmful alcohol use. The plan encourages national policies, international cooperation, and multisectoral actions to improve health outcomes worldwide by 2025.
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Worldwide, studies on asthma prevalence have shown major rises over the last 30 years. The impact on the burden of asthma is being increasingly recognised. In some countries in Latin America, the prevalence of asthma is among the highest in the world. Asthma admissions are very common in children, l...eading to high costs for the health systems of those countries. Unfortunately, Latin America has limited resources to pay for appropriate treatment. The main goals of the international guidelines for asthma treatment are not being met. However, asthma programmes operating in some countries are showing promising results in reducing asthma admissions and consequently decreasing the burden of asthma. Local adaptation of international guidelines must be implemented in order to decrease costs and optimise outcomes.
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Alcohol has historically, and continues to, hold an important role in social engagement and bonding for many. Social drinking or moderate alcohol consumption for many is pleasurable.
However, alcohol consumption – especially in excess – is linked to a number of negative outcomes: as a risk fa...ctor for diseases and health impacts, crime, road incidents, and, for some, alcohol dependence.
This topic page looks at the data on global patterns of alcohol consumption, patterns of drinking, beverage types, the prevalence of alcoholism, and consequences, including crime, mortality, and road incidents.
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The menu was developed using the WHO-CHOICE methodology to prepare and update, as appropriate, WHO estimates of the cost-effectiveness of a range of mental health interventions, in line with the development of Appendix 3 to the global action plan for the prevention and control of noncommunicable dis...eases 2013–2020.
WHO-CHOICE is a programme that helps countries to identify priorities based on health impact and cost-effectiveness. It can be applied to a wide range of strategies relevant to policies affecting health outcomes. All options are compared to a common comparator, a null scenario in which the impacts of currently implemented interventions are removed, thereby enabling comparison of interventions across geographical areas and aspects of health.
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The video titled "Ganemos tiempo: podría ser tuberculosis" (Let's save time: it could be tuberculosis) is part of a public health campaign aimed at raising awareness about tuberculosis (TB). It emphasizes the importance of early detection and timely treatment to combat the disease effectively. The ...video highlights common symptoms of TB, such as persistent cough, weight loss, and fever, and encourages individuals experiencing these signs to seek medical attention promptly. By doing so, it aims to reduce transmission rates and improve health outcomes.
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n response to the outbreak, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) has been supporting African Union Member States in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic through a variety of interventions such as non-pharmaceutical interventions, quarantine, testing, isolation, contact t...racing, and clinical management. The Test to Treat guideline aims to increase continental testing efforts and reduce COVID-19 transmission in Africa and put-up response measures to control the impact of the virus, both to limit spread and to reduce substantially the risks of severe health outcomes related to COVID-19 infection. These countermeasures include highly effective vaccines and boosters, rapid testing options for monitoring exposure, and effective therapeutic options for both pre-exposure prevention and treatment of mild-to-moderate disease, oxygen therapy for moderate-severe disease, all of which can potentially be updated efficiently as new variants emerge that may affect the effectiveness of the available tools.
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Addressing gaps and improving health system performance is simply not enough to prepare a health system to tackle the effects of the climate crisis. Climate change’s impact on the health and well-being of people globally is reaching catastrophic levels. As the earth continues to warm, tens of mill...ions of people are at increased risk from rapid and unpredictable spread of infectious diseases, heatwaves, water and food insecurity and scarcity, air pollution, poverty and homelessness. Health services are often regarded as a first line defense in preventing adverse health outcomes, especially from those caused by climate impacts
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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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The information provided here can be used to understand the current situation, increase attention to preterm births in Rwanda and to inform dialogue and action among stakeholders. Data can be used to identify the most important risk factors to target and gaps in care in order to identify and impleme...nt solutions for improved outcomes.
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This guide assumes the reader already has a general understanding of the Care Group methodology. It is highly recommended that all Care Group implementers familiarize themselves with the contents of theCare Groups: A Training Manual for Program Design and Implementation,and, ideally,to participate i...n an in-person training on Care Groups, before commencing Care Group activities. This guide is meant to serve as a companion to the Care Group Training Manual; and additional details on all topics covered in this guide are provided in the Training Manual. This guide may also be used by program evaluators, as a means to assess the extent to which Care Groups were implemented in accordance with theevidence-based model and their potential contribution to program outcomes.
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The NDMS&IP focuses on mainstreaming disability to promote equitable access to services in the six thematic areas of health, education, livelihoods, empowerment, and social inclusion and cross-cutting issues.
The first part of the NDMS&IP outlines incongruences between national and sectoral policie...s and pieces of legislation on one hand, and practice on the other and identifies key priority areas/themes of the strategy,
medium-term outcomes and strategies for each identified priority area/ theme. This process is largely informed by key findings and recommendations from a study on the Situation of Persons with Disabilities
in Malawi (CBMM/NAD, 2011). The study provides background descriptive information on existing national and sectoral policy and legal framework, level of access by children, adult women and males with disabilities to services in the areas of education, health, livelihoods and other social services as well as of participation by persons with disabilities through self-representation in development activities at various levels. A review of relevant documents at the international level further describes the disability situation in Malawi in the global context.
The second part of the NDMS&IP consists of the operational matrix, (Annex 1), a monitoring and evaluation framework (Annex 2) and budget estimates (Annex 3). This part outlines specific actions by various actors both in the public, private and civil society sectors to prioritise disability in their routine policy, programming, resource mobilisation and allocation, monitoring, evaluation and reporting routines. The action plan lays out priority sectors and concrete actions by setting out implementation schedules, defining targets, assigning responsibility to key duty bearers and rights holders for coordination, decision-making, monitoring and reporting, mobilisation and allocation and control of resources.
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The Roadmap towards ending TB among children and adolescents, third edition builds on the 2013 and 2018 versions. The 2023 version recognizes the progress made over the past five years and outlines priorities and key actions designed to accelerate progress towards the targets elaborated during the 2...023 United Nations General Assembly High-Level Meeting on the fight against TB. Implementation of these key actions at the global, regional, national and sub-national levels is expected to find and treat more children and adolescents with tuberculosis (TB) disease or TB infection, to prevent TB, to improve treatment outcomes and prevent TB-associated disability. The 2023 Roadmap retains the strong focus on TB in children, while also emphasizing the importance of addressing TB among adolescents, and for the first time, among pregnant and post-partum women.
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Background
How to finance progress towards universal health coverage in low-income and middle-income countries is a subject of intense debate. We investigated how alternative tax systems aff ect the breadth, depth, and height of health system coverage.
Methods
We used cross-national longitudin...al fi xed eff ects models to assess the relationships between total and diff erent types of tax revenue, health system coverage, and associated child and maternal health outcomes in 89 low-income and middle-income countries from 1995–2011.
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The document "Pocketbook for Management of Diabetes in Childhood and Adolescence in Under-Resourced Countries" (2nd Edition) provides practical guidelines for managing diabetes in children and adolescents, particularly in resource-limited settings. It covers key topics like diagnosing and treating d...iabetes, managing diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA), insulin therapy, blood glucose monitoring, nutritional management, and dealing with complications. The pocketbook aims to support healthcare professionals in delivering effective diabetes care and improving outcomes for young patients in under-resourced areas.
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In July 2015, The Lancet published a series on faith-based health care. The Executive Summary states that “this Series argues that building on the extensive experience, strengths, and capacities of faith-based organisations (eg, geographical coverage, influence, and infrastructure) offers a unique... opportunity to improve health outcomes”.
An estimated 84% of the world’s population is religiously affiliated. Faith is a powerful force in the lives of individuals and communities worldwide.
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The article investigates the diagnostic capabilities and prevalence of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in primary care settings in northern Brazil. It highlights that COPD is often underdiagnosed and undertreated in resource-limited regions. The study involved 34 general practitioners a...nd used spirometry to evaluate their diagnostic accuracy compared to clinical assessments. Findings revealed significant discrepancies between GP diagnoses and spirometry results, with many false positives and negatives. The study underscores the need for better training and the use of spirometry to improve COPD diagnosis and case-finding in primary care, emphasizing the importance of targeted strategies to enhance healthcare outcomes in developing countries.
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Report on Main Findings
The review encompasses three complementary components: 1) a review of published literature 2000-2015 on NCDs and their risk factors; 2) qualitative interviews with key actors engaged in NCD research in Myanmar; and 3) additional reviews of Myanmar ethical committee inqui...ries and postgraduate research on NCDs in Myanmar. This report outlines the key findings from the three components including a synthesis of the key outcomes from the literature review and qualitative interviews, and an assessment of the gaps in the evidence against a framework of evidence needs.
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This discussion guide is designed to assist individuals and
agencies working toward developing trauma-informed
approaches to service delivery. It describes how common
traumatic experiences are for individuals accessing health
and social services, and it provides information to help service
prov...iders recognize the adaptations people make to cope with
trauma. Trauma awareness is a foundation for developing
trauma-informed services, which integrate knowledge about
trauma into policies, procedures, and practices. Traumainformed
services actively seek to avoid re-traumatization and
have been shown to improve client engagement, retention, and
outcomes. This guide includes practice examples, suggested
resources, and sample questions to stimulate further discussion.
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The World Health Organization's Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office (WHO EMRO) highlights the significant health and social consequences of harmful alcohol use. Excessive alcohol consumption is linked to over 200 diseases and injuries, including liver cirrhosis, pancreatitis, various cancers, hemo...rrhagic stroke, and hypertension. Globally, it results in approximately 3.3 million deaths annually, surpassing fatalities from HIV/AIDS, violence, or tuberculosis. In the Eastern Mediterranean Region, while overall alcohol consumption is low, there is a concerning rise among adolescents and young adults, with patterns of heavy episodic drinking posing significant health risks. In response, the WHO has developed a global strategy to reduce the harmful use of alcohol, aiming to improve health and social outcomes by decreasing disease and death associated with alcohol consumption.
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