The primary audience for this guideline includes health-care professionals who are responsible for developing national and local health-care protocols and policies, as well as managers of maternal and child health programmes and policy-makers in all settings. The guideline will also be useful to tho...se directly providing care to pregnant women and preterm infants, such as obstetricians, paediatricians, midwives, nurses and general practitioners. The information in this guideline will be useful for developing job aids and tools for pre- and in-service training of health workers to enhance their delivery of maternal and neonatal care relating to preterm birth.
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The Global Reference List of 100 Core Health Indicators is a standard set of core indicators prioritized by the global community to provide concise information on the health situation and trends, including responses at national and global levels.
This second (2018) edition builds on the previous ...work of the inter-agency working group that was commissioned by global health leaders to reduce reporting burden. The 2018 list of indicators contains modifications and additions to indicators and metadata elements to reflect the recommended health and health-related indicators of the Sustainable Development Goals, including universal health coverage.
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WHO published the first COVID-19 Strategic Response and Preparedness Plan (SPRP) on 3 February, 2020. This report highlights the main points of progress that were made up to 30 June 2020 under the three objectives outlined in the SPRP: scaling up international coordination and support; scaling up co...untry preparedness and response by pillar; and accelerating research and innovation. The report also discusses some of the key challenges faced so far, and provides an update on the resource requirements for the next phase of WHO’s response as part of an unprecedented whole-of-UN approach to the pandemic.
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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
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Third edition.
The main changes within the third edition of the JEE tool include the split of the technical area National legislation, policy, and financing into two technical areas (Legal instruments and Financing); the drop of the technical area previously titled Reporting and the move of indicat...ors to the technical area IHR coordination, National IHR Focal Point and advocacy; and the merging of two previous technical areas (Emergency preparedness and Emergency operations centre) into a single one named Health emergency management.
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The HEARTS technical package provides a strategic approach to improving cardiovascular health in countries. It comprises six modules and an implementation guide. This package supports Ministries of Health to strengthen CVD management in primary health care settings. The practical, step-by step modul...es are supported by an overarching technical document that provides a rationale and framework for this integrated approach to the management of NCDs.
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The World Health Organization (WHO) is releasing the second edition of its Global Accelerated Action for the Health of Adolescents (AA-HA!) guidance. The document aims to equip governments to respond to the health and well-being challenges, opportunities and needs of adolescents.
The guidance pro...vides the latest available data on adolescent health and well-being. It also outlines an updated list of core indicators that data should be collected on. Globally, road injury was the top cause of death for adolescent males in 2019. Among female adolescents, the leading causes of death were diarrhoeal diseases among the younger group (10-14 years) and tuberculosis (TB) in the older group (15-19 years).
Over the last 20 years, mortality rates have declined among adolescents globally, with the largest decline in older (15–19 years) adolescent girls. For non-fatal diseases, the burden has not improved over the past two decades, with the main causes of ill health in this category being: mental health conditions (depressive and anxiety disorders, childhood behavioural disorders), iron deficiency anaemia, skin diseases and migraine.
Adolescent well-being depends on a range of factors, including healthy food, education, life skills and employability, connectedness, feeling valued by society, safe and supportive environments, resilience, and the freedom to make choices. To take an appropriately holistic approach, the guidance outlines how to take crosscutting action to support adolescent health and well-being, with mutually reinforcing interventions across sectors, such as health, education, social protection, and telecommunications. Targeted efforts are also required to engage adolescents, as they trust health systems less than adults do and are especially vulnerable to modern-day trends, like online bullying and gaming.
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Every year, around 830 000 children die from unintentional or "accidental" injuries. The vast majority of these injuries occur in low-income and middle-income countries. However, dozens of prevention strategies and programmes exist. If they were integrated into other child survival programmes and im...plemented on a larger scale, many of these deaths and much of the injury-related disability could be prevented.
The report documents the magnitude, risks and prevention measures for child injuries globally –particularly for drowning, burns, road traffic injuries, falls and poisoning.
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The COVID-19 pandemic has led to large increases in healthcare waste, straining under resourced healthcare facilities and exacerbating environmental impacts from solid waste. This report quantifies the additional COVID-19 healthcare waste generated, describes current healthcare waste management syst...ems and their deficiencies, and summarizes emerging best practices and solutions to reduce the impact of waste on human and environmental health. The recommendations included in the report build on actions in the WHO manifesto for a healthy recovery from COVID-19: prescriptions and actionables for a healthy and green recovery. They target the global, national and facility levels to promote a “win–win” scenario for COVID-19 PPE use, testing and vaccinations that are safe and support environmental sustainability.
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This report considers how to integrate health into urban planning, investments, and policy decisions, so as to support the implementation and achievement of the goals and objectives of the New Urban Agenda.
Weekly epidemiological record 18 July 2025
This report summarizes application of the SAFE strategy against trachoma during 2024. It includes estimates of the global population at risk of trachoma blindness based on district-by-district data submitted to WHO by national programmes.
Weekly Epidemiological Record. This report summarizes application of the SAFE strategy against trachoma during 2023. It includes estimates of the global population at risk of trachoma blindness based on district-by-district data submitted to WHO by national programmes. Summarizing the epidemiologica...l situation in this way is inherently complex because, for any district, up to 3 serial estimates of prevalence may be valid at different times during a calendar year.
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Access to safe, effective and quality-assured health products and technologies is crucial for achieving universal health coverage and primary health care goals. The continued growth of the aging population; increasing burden of noncommunicable diseases; growing burden of mental health issues; climat...e change; shifting patterns of vector borne diseases, fungal disease and waterborne diseases; antimicrobial resistance; and new infectious hazards create an ongoing need for equitable access to safe, effective and quality-assured health products and technologies, and renewed investments in research and development for innovative health products and technologies.
The coronavirus pandemic exposed the inequalities in access to health products, highlighting the need for longer-term strategies to strengthen access to health products and technologies outside of and in emergency situations. While technological and scientific advances present an opportunity to increase access to health products and technologies, the risk of increasing inequality due to higher prices for new health products and technologies; the persisting problem of substandard and falsified medical products; a lack of skilled workforce in many low- and middle-income countries; and a lack of data for decisionmaking and for measuring progress present significant challenges.
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This is the first global report on epilepsy summarizing the available evidence on the burden of epilepsy and the public health response required at global, regional and national levels.
The reports highlights major gaps in awareness, diagnosis, treatment, and health policies through a series of a...ppalling numbers. With around 50 million people affected worldwide, epilepsy is one of the most common and serious brain disorders. Nearly 80% of people with epilepsy live in low-income and middle-income countries
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