Les fermetures d’écoles et les impacts socio-économiques plus larges du COVID-19 sur les communautés et la société perturbent également les systèmes de soutien normaux des enfants et des jeunes, les rendant plus vulnérables aux maladies et aux risques de protection de l’enfance tels que ...les punitions physiques et humiliantes, la violence sexuelle et basée sur le genre, le mariage d’enfants, le travail des enfants, le trafic et le recrutement d’enfants et leur utilisation dans les conflits armés. Les filles et les autres groupes marginalisés, en particulier ceux vivant en déplacement, sont particulièrement touchés.
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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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It is widely understood that the food insecurity crisis in the Sahel and the Horn of Africa is one of the world’s fastest growing and most neglected crises. It lacks sufficient global focus, resources and urgency. As in so many crises, women and girls are disproportionately affected and shoulder t...he consequences of protracted neglect, with unconscionable impacts on their safety, life chances and agency.
Gaining a holistic view of the gendered drivers, risks and impacts of food insecurity in the Sahel and the Horn of Africa is difficult. This is due to a lack of data and prioritization, and the large geographical and socioeconomic terrain covered by both regions. However, what we do know about this crisis is more than enough to urgently address the needs of women and girls.
An OCHA discussion paper on this topic (which will be published imminently, and from which this policy brief is drawn) found that there is:
A strong risk of profound regression in gender equality gains made to date in the countries of concern, including on education, sexual and reproductive health, and the economic independence of women and girls (with knock-on effects on broader humanitarian and development outcomes).
An increasing challenge to reverse what must be recognized as a protracted and growing gender-based violence (GBV) emergency in the Sahel and the Horn of Africa.
The food insecurity crisis in the Sahel and the Horn of Africa is protracted, multidimensional and highly gendered, with spiralling impacts on gender equality and food security outcomes. It is driven by interwoven and overlapping factors, including climate change, political instability, conflict, socioeconomic conditions, migration and displacement and, more recently, COVID-19 and the war in Ukraine. Interlinked with these factors are gendered structural drivers of food insecurity, including deeply entrenched gender inequalities and harmful social norms. Gendered risks and impacts of food insecurity include alarming limitations on access to education, sexual and reproductive health rights, women’s agency and participation, and dramatic increases in different existing forms of GBV and the emergence of new ones. Recognition of such gendered dimensions of food insecurity and of the need for a multisectoral approach in the response is key to addressing the crisis, along-side sustained commitment and adequate allocation of resources. This policy brief draws out key findings from the OCHA discussion paper on this topic, which includes a desk review of studies, assessments and reports, and interviews with local women’s organizations on the front lines of the food insecurity crisis in communities across both regions.
Below are the most pressing gendered drivers, risks and impacts of food insecurity (not in order of priority), as well as key gaps in the current humanitarian response to food insecurity, and recommendations to take forward.
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National Child Traumatic Stress Network National Center for PTSD | The field of school safety and emergency management has evolved significantly over the past decade. Tragically, acts of violence, natural disasters, and terrorist attacks have taught us many lessons. We also know that other types of ...emergencies can impact schools, including medical emergencies, transportation accidents, sports injuries, peer victimization, public health emergencies, and the sudden death of a member of the school community. We now recognize the need for school emergency management plans that are up-to-date and take an “all-hazards” approach with clear communication channels and procedures that effectively reunite parents and caregivers with students. We have also learned that preparing school administrators, teachers, and school partnering agencies before a critical event is crucial for effective response, the value of ongoing training and emergency exercises, and that having intervention models that address the public health, mental health, and psychosocial needs of students and staff is essential to a safe school environment and the resumption of learning.
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Every year, nearly 250 million people move across borders temporarily or permanently for a job opportunity, studying, to flee a crisis back home, or for other reasons. Another 750 million move for similar reasons within the borders of their countries. With the understanding that human mobility affec...ts public health, and health affects human mobility and migrants, for decades, IOM has been providing critical health services to women, children and men on the move, while standing by governments for technical and operational support as needed. In 2019, in lower-income settings and in complex emergencies, along the world’s most perilous migration routes, in the aftermath of natural disasters or in response to disease outbreaks, IOM’s health teams have provided hundreds of thousands with primary health-care consultations, mental health and psychosocial support, sexual and reproductive health care, pre-migration health services, and much more.
This year, more than ever before, as the world reels from the socioeconomic impact of COVID-19, we have experienced that health is a cross-cutting component of overall human development and well-being.
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The Ethiopian Hospital Services Transformation Guidelines (EHSTG) build on and expand the Ethiopian Hospital Reform Implementation Guidelines (EHRIG) and are consistent with the Health Sector Transformation Plan (HSTP). The EHSTG, which is consistent with the national focu...s on quality improvement in health care, contains a common set of guidelines to help hospital Chief Executive Officers(CEOs), managers, and clinicians (care providers) in steering the consistent implementation of these transformational systems and processes in hospitals throughout the country. The EHSTG focused on selected management and clinical functions, including new individual service specific chapters for Emergency Medical, Outpatient and Inpatient Services, Nursing and Midwifery, Maternal, Neonatal and Child Health and Teaching Hospitals’ Management. These guidelines also incorporate recent lessons from the operationalization of the EHRIG, as well as, new national initiatives such as the Guidelines for the Management of Federal Hospitals in Ethiopia, Hospital Development Army (HDA), Clean and Safe Hospital (CASH), and Auditable Pharmaceutical Transaction and Service (APTS).
II10 Pharmacy ChapterIt is expected that the guidelines will continuously evolve as new evidence emerges regarding improved hospital care and practices that are better tailored to needs and circumstances of different tiers of public hospitals. We are grateful to all partners that have participated in the production of these guidelines. Special thanks go to our colleagues at the Clinton Health Access Initiative for their substantial contributions and support throughout the development of these guidelines as well as their dedicated efforts in support of our health reform efforts in so many other capacities
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The synthesis looked across the evaluations and reviews as mentioned above to draw lessons and conclusions across the different contexts. The synthesis aims to identify:
recurrent issues, patterns and trends, and promising initiatives and lessons learned from existing programming including main...streaming in how UNHCR prevents, mitigates and responds to the risks of SGBV;
institutional management and leadership for SGBV in UNHCR;
factors which are contributing to success, including sustainability of services, and those which are inhibiting it;
the extent to which questions on SGBV are part of UNHCR evaluations of emergency responses;
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Persons with disabilities are one of the most vulnerable and socially excluded groups in any crisis-affected community. They may be in hidden in homes, overlooked during needs assessments and not consulted in the design of programs.4 While gender-based violence (GBV) affects women, girls, men and bo...ys, the vast majority of survivors globally are women and girls.5 Persons with disabilities have difficulty accessing GBV programs, due to a variety of societal, environmental and communication barriers, increasing their risk of violence, abuse and exploitation.
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Census data shows that Myanmar can harness a double dividend – both youth and gender. This year’s annual report provides many facets of the journey to gender equality. It tells a story of widening horizons for women and girls who are capable in their own right. It is also a story of women fulfil...ling their reproductive rights, and of couples having access to family planning choices.
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Ensuring reproductive rights for all
Domestic Violence Act Training Module
Gender-based violence is a life-threatening, global health and human rights issue that violates international human rights law and principles of gender equality. It is also a threat to lasting peace and an affront to our common humanity. United Nations Member States have called for urgent action to ...end GBV in emergencies, recognizing that in crises, the risk of GBV is heightened, particularly for women and adolescent girls.
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The messages should be used to inform, educate and engage different audience groups depending on their level of risk, vulnerability, presence in contact areas, care of patients with Ebola, or engagement or attendance of burials.
UNFPA implements programmes addressing gender-based violence (GBV) in 153 countries and territories, many of which face humanitarian emergencies. Leading resources used by GBV practitioners include the Inter-Agency Minimum Standards for Gender-Based Violence in Emergencies Programming (the GBViE Min...imum Standards) released in 2019 and the Essential Services Package for Women and Girls Subject to Violence released in 2015. Experiences across UNFPA have shown that GBV practitioners have faced challenges in determining when and how to use these tools and how to adapt different approaches to diverse contexts.
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The WHO Global Health Estimates show that nearly half a million deaths (493 471) occurred in the WHO European Region due to violence and injuries in 2016. This represents a decline of 29% from 2000. Injuries account for 5.3% of all deaths and 9.6 of all years of life lost. They are a leading cause o...f death in people aged 15–29 years and the second leading cause of death for young people aged 5–14. The three leading causes of injury deaths are self-directed violence (141 089), falls (83 325) and road-traffic injuries (78 198). Inequalities in injury deaths exist in the Region, with mortality rates 2.4 times higher in males than in females and 1.5 times higher in middle-income compared to high-income countries.
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24 Nov. 2021
Action against gender-based violence being pushed to the outlying margins of the global COVID-19 response
A new Oxfam report shows an undeniable increase in gender-based violence (GBV) during the COVID-19 pandemic around the world to which too many governments and donors are not doi...ng enough to tackle.
The report, The Ignored Pandemic: The Dual Crisis of Gender-Based Violence and COVID-19, showed the number of calls made by survivors to domestic violence hotlines in ten countries during the first months of lockdown. The data reveals a 25 – 111 percentage surge; in Argentina (25%), Colombia (79%), Tunisia (43%), China (50%), Somalia (50%), South Africa (69%), UK (25%), Cyprus (39%), Italy (73%) and the largest increase in Malaysia where calls surged by over 111%.
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