Nurses are key players in health promotion and disease prevention and the backbone of health care systems worldwide. Nurses work on the front lines of disease prevention, health promotion, and health management and are often the unsung heroes in health care facilities and emergency response. Despite... the critical role they play in health care, there is a nursing shortage across the world that will affect the delivery of competent nursing care. This document highlights key action points for targeted investment in the nursing workforce and calls on Member States to strengthen nursing within the context of their own country efforts.
more
The core of the strategy is the goal for all patients to have better overall care, so that the numbers of deaths and cases of disability are reduced by 50% before 2030. For this to be achieved, four strategic aims will be pursued.
Empower and engage communities,
Ensure safe, effective trea...tment,
Strengthen health systems, and
Increase partnerships, coordination and resources Strong collaboration
more
The purpose of this document is to provide guidance on the cleaning and disinfection of environmental surfaces in the context of COVID-19. This guidance is intended for health care professionals, public health professionals and health authorities that are developing and implementing policies and sta...ndard operating procedures (SOP) on the cleaning and disinfection of environmental surfaces in the context of COVID-19.
more
9 April 2020
WHO has published the guidance “Clinical management of severe acute respiratory infection (SARI) when COVID-19 disease is suspected” This document is intended for clinicians taking care of hospitalized adult and paediatric patients with severe acute respiratory infection (SARI) whe...n COVID-19 infection is suspected. Optimized supportive care should be provided to ensure the best possible chance for survival of COVID-19 patients as described in the WHO guidance:
1. Management of severe COVID-19 requires oxygen therapy and monitoring. Supplemental oxygen therapy should be given immediately to patients with SARI and respiratory distress, hypoxaemia or shock.
2. Management of critical COVID-19 (acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS)) requires advanced oxygen/ventilatory support.
more
In recent years, Rwanda has been on the fast track to achieve major health improvements for its entire population. With the support of government agencies and various non-governmental partners, the Ministry of Health (MoH) has endeavored to decentralize Rwanda’s health system and bring health serv...ices closer to the people. Guided by multitude of national and international development frameworks, Rwanda’s healthcare successes include the establishment of a community health insurance scheme (mutuelle de santé), a system of cooperative-financed community health workers in every village, and interventions for researching, preventing, and treating diseases like HIV/AIDS, TB, and malaria.
As the MoH continues to design innovative means to reach and surpass its prescribed health outcome targets, it will hold as core principles the integration of service provision, the increase in healthcare capacity, and the attainment of sustainable funding sources. Rwanda is committed to achieving the Millennium Development Goals by 2015 and has declared Family Planning (FP) a national priority for poverty reduction and socioeconomic development of the country. Modern contraceptive use has more than quadrupled from 2005 to 2010, rising from 10% to 45%, but the government’s Economic Development and Poverty Reduction Strategy calls for an increase the modern contraceptive prevalence to 70% by 2016. While structural changes in health care and supply chains have led to noteworthy improvements in FP and other services, there are still many challenges that must be overcome. As such, a strategic plan is needed to coordinate FP efforts around a well-defined set of objectives and responsibilities.
more
The document introduces a simple classification, minimums standards and a registration form for Foreign Medical Teams (FMTs) that may provide surgical and trauma care arriving within the aftermath of a sudden onset disaster. These can serve as tools to improve the coordination of the foreign medical... team response, and be the reference for registration on arrival as well as a possible global registration mechanism similar to what exists for urban search and rescue teams
more
very woman has the right to the highest attainable standard of health, which includes the right to dignified, respectful health care.
Many women experience disrespectful and abusive treatment during childbirth in facilities worldwide. Such treatment not only violates the rights of women to respectf...ul care, but can also threaten their rights to life, health, bodily integrity, and freedom from discrimination. This statement calls for greater action, dialogue, research and advocacy on this important public health and human rights issue
Available in different langugages
more
Evidence for technical update of pocket book recommendations. Newborn conditions, dysentery, pneumonia, oxygen use and delivery, common causes of fever, severe acute malnutrition and supportive care
Enabling young children to achieve their full developmental potential is a human right and an essential requisite for sustainable development. Given the critical importance of enabling children to make the best start in life, the health sector, among other sectors, has an important role and responsi...bility to support nurturing care for early childhood development. This guideline provides direction for strengthening policies and programmes to better address early childhood development.
more
Skin and mucosal conditions are extremely common in all children and adults in particular in HIV-infected adults and children and are one of the commonest daily management problems faced by health care workers caring for patients with HIV infection
2nd edition. These guidelines provide guidance on the diagnosis of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, the use of antiretroviral (ARV) drugs for treating and preventing HIV infection and the care of people living with HIV. They are structured along the continuum of HIV testing, prevention,... treatment and care
more
The purpose of this document is to present and promote the minimum requirements for IPC programmes at the national and health care facility level, identified by expert consensus according to available evidence and in the context of the WHO core components.
The minimum requirements are defined as: I...PC standards that should be in place at the national and facility level to provide minimum protection and safety to patients, HCWs and visitors, based on the WHO core components for IPC programmes.
more
To improve survival and quality of life among the 2.5 million children living with HIV, a comprehensive package of prevention, care and treatment is required. This package should include management of infections such as pneumonia, diarrhoea, malaria and ear infections, as well as common opportunisti...c infections and HIV-related co-morbidities. WHO is developing a series of guidelines on each of these conditions, following the GRADE approach. The document on the management of pneumonia and diarrhoea in HIV-infected infants and children is the first of this series. The recommendations are similar to those for non infected children, but they cover specific aspects related to HIV infection.
more
The target audience for this guideline is primarily for health care providers nurses, doctors, social workers and other people involved in HIV response in Rwanda so that they are capable of offering quality care services to patients over a long time. The new National Guidelines for Prevention and Ma...nagement of HIV and STIs are articulated in accordance to treat all HIV+ patients regardless of CD4 count and a new service delivery model to support its implementation.
more
Depression is a leading cause of non-fatal disease burden worldwide, with a lifetime prevalence of 9% among European adult men and 17% among European adult women.
The task at hand requires substantial investments in preventive mental health care, but the potential benefits can be equally rewarding.... After all, mental wellbeing is a key resource for learning, productivity, participation and inclusion. Investing in proactive care to promote, protect and sustain mental health in the population is therefore likely to offer good value for money.
more
The WHO COVID-19 Clinical management: living guidance contains the most up-to-date recommendations for the clinical management of people with COVID-19. Providing guidance that is comprehensive and holistic for the optimal care of COVID-19 patients throughout their entire illness is important.
This publication is an updated version of the Management of Tuberculosis and HIV Coinfection clinical protocol released in 2007 by the WHO Regional Office for Europe. It is intended for all health care workers involved in preventing, diagnosing, treating and caring for people living with TB and HIV ...in the specific settings of the WHO European Region.
more
Cardiovascular disease is a major cause of disability and premature death throughout the world, and contributes substantially to the escalating costs of health care. The underlying pathology is atherosclerosis, which develops over many years and is usually advanced by the time symptoms occur, genera...lly in middle age. Acute coronary and cerebrovascular events frequently occur suddenly, and are often fatal before medical care can be given. Modification of risk factors has been shown to reduce mortality and morbidity in people with diagnosed or undiagnosed cardiovascular disease.
This publication provides guidance on reducing disability and premature deaths from coronary heart disease, cerebrovascular disease and peripheral vascular disease in people at high risk, who have not yet experienced a cardiovascular event. People with established cardiovascular disease are at very high risk of recurrent events and are not the subject of these guidelines. They have been addressed in previous WHO guidelines.
Several forms of therapy can prevent coronary, cerebral and peripheral vascular events. Decisions about whether to initiate specific preventive action, and with what degree of intensity, should be guided by estimation of the risk of any such vascular event. The risk prediction charts that accompany these guidelinesb allow treatment to be targeted accord-
ing to simple predictions of absolute cardiovascular risk.
Recommendations are made for management of major cardiovascular risk factors through changes in lifestyle and prophylactic drug therapies. The guidelines provide a framework for the development of national guidance on prevention of cardiovascular disease that takes into account the particular political, economic, social and medical circumstances.
more
This module should always be used together with the
mhGAP Intervention Guide for Mental, Neurological
and Substance Use Disorders in Non-specialized Health
Settings (WHO, 2010), which outlines relevant general
principles of care and management of a range of other
mental, neurological and substa...nce use disorders.
(www.who.int/mental_health/publications/mhGAP_
intervention_guide/en/index.html)
In the future, this module may be integrated with other
products in the following ways:
– This module may be integrated – in its full form –
into future iterations of the existing mhGAP Intervention
Guide.
– The module will be integrated –in a simplified structure –
into a new product, the WHO-UNHCR mhGAP Intervention
Guide for Humanitarian Settings (planned for 2014).
more
The Access to Controlled Medications Programme identified the development of treatment guidelines that cover the treatment of all types of pain as one of the core areas of focus for improving access to opioid analgesics. Such guidelines are interesting both for health-care professionals and policy-...makers. They are also important in improving access to controlled medicines for determining when those opioid medicines and when non-opioid medicines are preferred.
Based on a Delphi study, WHO planned the development of three treatment guidelines, covering chronic pain in children, chronic pain in adults and acute pain.
more