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NAPHS for all: a country implementation guide for national action plan for health security (‎NAPHS)‎ - Second edition
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World Health Organization WHO (2025) C_WHO

Lessons learned from recent public health events such as the COVID-19 pandemic, Ebola virus disease, Zika virus disease outbreaks, and other public health threats, including earthquakes and floods, ... more

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A Systematic Review of Public Health Emergency Operations Centres (EOC)

Nunn, Marc Word Health Organization (2014)

A public health emergency operations centre (EOC) is a central location for coordinating operational information and resources for strategic management of pugencies and events. EOCs provide communication and information tools and services blic ... more

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Health workforce policy and management in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic response

World Health Organization WHO (2021) C_WHO

This guide is available in English, French, Spanish, Russian, Arabic and Chinese This guide consolidates COVID-19 guidance for human resources for health managers and policy-makers at national, subnational and facility levels to design, manage and ... more

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Essential Health Services Package for UHC Sierra Leone

Ministry of Health & Sanitation (2022) CC2

It is against this background that the Ministry of Health and Sanitation with its partners have taken the lead to develop Essential Health Services Package (EHSP). The MOHS believes that the dev ... more

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2021 WHO health and climate change global survey report

World Health Organization (WHO) (2021) CC

The 2021 WHO health and climate change global survey report provides a valuable snapshot of the overall progress governments have made in addressing the health risks of climate change. The findings ... more

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Operational Framework for Primary Health Care - Transforming Vision Into Action

World Health Organization WHO (2020) C_WHO

Primary health care, as outlined in the 1978 Declaration of Alma-Ata and again 40 years later in the 2018 WHO/UNICEF document A vision for primary health care in the 21st century: towards universal ... more

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WHO Country Support on Climate Change and Health - Visual Guide

World Health Organization WHO (2021) C_WHO

This visual guide provides an overview of the various means of support WHO offers to member states to advance climate-resilient health. The guide offers answers to key questions to understand WHO's support to countries on climate change and ... more

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Africa’s Health Financing in a New Era

Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) (2025) CC

Africa’s health sector is facing an unprecedented financing crisis, driven by a sharp decline of 70% in Official Development Assistance (ODA) from 2021 to 2025 and deep-rooted structural vulnerabilities. This collapse is placing immense pressure o ... n Africa’s already fragile health systems as ODA is seen as the backbone of critical health programs: pandemic preparedness, maternal and child health services, disease control programs are all at risk, threatening Sustainable Development Goal 3 and Universal Health Coverage. Compounding this is Africa’s spiraling debt, with countries expected to service USD 81 billion by 2025—surpassing anticipated external financing inflows—further eroding fiscal space for health investments. Level of domestic resources is low. TThe Abuja Declaration of 2001, a pivotal commitment made by African Union (AU) member states, aimed to reverse this trend by pledging to allocate at least 15% of national budgets to the health sector. However, more than two decades later, only three countries—Rwanda, Botswana, and Cabo Verde—have consistently met or exceeded this target (WHO, 2023). In contrast, over 30 AU member states remain well below the 10% benchmark, with some allocating as little as 5–7% of their national budgets to health. In addition, only 16 (29%) of African countries currently have updated versions of National Health Development Plan (NHDP) supported by a National Health Financing Plan (NHFP). These two documents play a critical role in driving internal resource mobilisation. At the same time, public health emergencies are surging, rising 41%—from 152 in 2022 to 213 in 2024—exposing severe under-resourcing of health infrastructure and workforce. Recurring outbreaks (Mpox, Ebola, cholera, measles, Marburg…) alongside effects of climate change and humanitarian crises in Eastern DRC, the Sahel, and Sudan, are overwhelming systems stretched by chronic underfunding. The situation is worsened by Africa’s heavy dependency with over 90% of vaccines, medicines, and diagnostics being externally sourced—leaving countries vulnerable to global supply chain shocks. Health worker shortages persist, with only 2.3 professionals per 1,000 people (below the WHO’s recommended 4.45), and fewer than 30% of systems are digitized, undermining disease surveillance and early warning. Without decisive action, Africa CDC projects the continent could reverse two decades of health progress, face 2 to 4 million additional preventable deaths annually, and a heightened risk of a pandemic emerging from within. Furthermore, 39 million more Africans could be pushed into poverty by 2030 due to intertwined health and economic shocks. This is not just a sectoral crisis—it is an existential threat to Africa’s political, social, and economic resilience, and global stability. In response, African leaders, under Africa CDC’s stewardship, are advancing a comprehensive three-pillar strategy centered on domestic resource mobilization, innovative financing, and blended finance. more

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Planetary health and the role of community health workers

Manas R. , Behera R., Satpathy S.K. J Family Med Prim Care (2020) C1

In this era, grand challenges lies in biodiversity loss, climate change, and global noncommunicable diseases signify that planet and humanity are in crisis. Scholarly evidence from human and animal kingdom suggest that there is an optimism in planetary hea ... more

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Roadmap for the Global Health for Peace Initiative: Draft

World Health Organisation (WHO) (2023) C_WHO

This draft Roadmap for the Global Health for Peace Initiative has been developed in response to decision WHA75(24) of the 75th World Health Assembly (2022), which requested that WHO develop, in full ... more

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Community based Mental health and Psychosocial support in humanitarian settings: Three-tiered support for children and families (Field test)

UN Children's Fund UNICEF (2018) CC

The CB MHPSS operational guidelines were developed in response to emerging evidence on the determinants of children’s resilience, lessons learned from the evaluation of existing approaches, and the unique challenges that today’s crises pose for ... more

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Primary health care and HIV: convergent actions - Policy considerations for decision-makers

World Health Organization WHO (2023) C_WHO

The 2030 health-related Sustainable Development Goals call on countries to end AIDS as a public health threat and also to achieve universal health ... more

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Climate change and health: vulnerability and adaptation assessment

World Health Organisation (WHO) (2021) C_WHO

Climate change and health vulnerability and adaptation assessment In 2013 the World Health Organization (WHO) published the report Protecting health ... more

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Global report on health equity for persons with disabilities

World Health Organization WHO (2022) C_WHO

An estimated 1.3 billion people – or 16% of global population worldwide – experience a significant disability today. Persons with disabilities have the right to the highest attainable standard of health as those without disabilities. However, th ... more

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Framework and toolkit for infection prevention and control in outbreak preparedness, readiness and response at the health care facility level

World Health Organization WHO (2022) C_WHO

Infectious disease outbreaks and epidemics are increasing in frequency, scale and impact. Health care facilities can amplify the transmission of emerging infectious diseases or multidrug-resistant organisms (MDRO) within their settings and communiti ... more

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Ukrainian Prioritized Multisectoral Mental Health and Psychosocial Support Actions During and After the War: Operational Roadmap

World Health Organisation (WHO) (2022) C_WHO

The development of this Operational Roadmap has been driven by a growing consensus in Ukraine on the need to prioritize activities that are urgently required to address the mental health and psychosocial needs of the country’s population and also ... the importance of basing the response on existing structures, resources and innovations introduced in reforms in past years. According to this consensus, new resources mobilized by and for Ukraine should complement existing ones, in line with the national vision and with best international standards, and should be planned in a way that further strengthens the country’s mental health system. The Government of Ukraine is committed to urgently addressing the mental health and psychosocial needs of the population, under the auspices of the First Lady of Ukraine and the leadership of the recently established Intersectoral Coordination Council for Mental Health and Psychological Assistance to Victims of the Armed Aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine (referred to in this document as the Intersectoral Coordination Council). This Roadmap has been developed following a series of consultations with Ukrainian authorities and national and international agencies working in the area of mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) and engaged in emergency response in Ukraine. The consultation process was organized by the Ministry of Health of Ukraine (MOH) and supported by WHO Ukraine, under the auspices of the First Lady of Ukraine and in collaboration with the MHPSS Technical Working Group of Ukraine (MHPSS TWG Ukraine) and the IASC MHPSS Reference Group (IASC MHPSS RG), and building on substantial advances in the mental health sector under existing programmes in the country. The Roadmap is informed by international technical guidance and national policies and plans, including the IASC Guidelines on MHPSS in Emergency Settings, the Minimum Services Package for MHPSS in Emergencies (MHPSS MSP), the IASC Common Monitoring and Evaluation Framework, the World Health Organization (WHO)’s Comprehensive Mental Health Action Plan 2013– 2030, the WHO European Framework for Action on Mental Health, the Concept for Development of Mental Health Care in Ukraine until 2030, the National Mental Health Action Plan for 2021–2023 and the National Recovery and Development Plan. Informed by the overall goal of MHPSS assistance in Ukraine – to reduce suffering and improve the mental health and psychosocial well-being of the affected population – the Roadmap aims to provide a consolidated overview of envisioned MHPSS priorities, informed by the local context and the vision of the Government of Ukraine together with national and international partners, and with the best available evidence and resources, to all MHPSS stakeholders already engaged in or joining emergency response and recovery efforts in Ukraine. As well as information on the context in Ukraine, the Roadmap includes: • a list of evidence-based MHPSS interventions and services contextualized and introduced in Ukraine in recent years (described in Table 1) and • a set of multisectoral actions to scale up MHPSS services in both the short and longer terms, informed by available evidence, international technical guidance and expert consensus (described in Table 2). more

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Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and response on the utilisation of health services in public facilities during the first wave in Kinshasa, the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Hategeka C, Carter SE, Chenge FM, et al. BMJ Global Health (2021) CC

INTRODUCTION: Health service use among the public can decline during outbreaks and had been predicted among low and middle-income countries during the COVID-19 pandemic. In March 2020, the government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) sta ... more

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Global Accelerated Action for the Health of Adolescents (AA-HA!): guidance to support country implementation, second edition.

World Health Organization WHO (2023) C_WHO

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 respon ... more

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Impact of COVID‑19 pandemic on maternal and child health services in Uttar Pradesh, India

Singh, A. K.; P. K. Jain; N. P. Singh; et al. (2021) CC

In the wake of the Covid‑19 Pandemic, parts of the public health system at increased risk of reduced efficiency include healthcare services for women and children. This in turn ... more

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Beat the heat: Child health amid heatwaves in Europe and Central Asia

UN Children's Fund UNICEF (2024) CC

Beat the heat: child health amid heatwaves in Europe and Central Asia finds that half of these children died from heat-related illnesses in their first year of life. Most children died during the summer months. "Around half of children across Eur ... ope and Central Asia – or 92 million children – are already exposed to frequent heatwaves in a region where temperatures are rising at the fastest rate globally. The increasingly high temperatures can have serious health complications for children, especially the youngest children, even in a short space of time. Without care, these complications can be life-threatening,” said Regina De Dominicis UNICEF Regional Director for Europe and Central Asia. Heat exposure has acute effects on children, even before they are born, and can result in pre-term births, low birth weight, stillbirth, and congenital anomalies. Heat stress is a direct cause of infant mortality, can affect infant growth and cause a range of paediatric diseases. The report also notes that extreme heat caused the loss of more than 32,000 years of healthy life among children and teenagers in the region. As the temperatures continue to rise, UNICEF urges governments across Europe and Central Asia to: - Integrate strategies to reduce the impact of heatwaves including through National Determined Contributions (NDC), National Adaptation Plans (NAP), and disaster risk reduction and disaster management policies with children at the centre of these plans Invest in heat health action plans and primary health care to more adequately support heat-related illness among children - Invest in early warning systems, including heat alert systems - Adapt education facilities to reduce the temperatures in the areas children play in and equip teachers with skills to respond to heat stress - Adapt urban design and infrastructure including ensuring buildings, particularly those housing the most vulnerable communities are equipped to minimize heat exposure - Secure the provision of safe water, particularly in countries with deteriorating water quality and availability. UNICEF works with governments, partners and communities across the region to build resilience against heatwaves. This includes equipping teachers, community health workers and families with the skills and knowledge to respond to heat stress. more

NAPHS for all: a country implementation guide for national action plan for health security (‎NAPHS)‎ - Second edition recommended

NAPHS for all: a country implementation guide for national action plan for health security (‎NAPHS)‎ - Second edition
recommended