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Emergency health response plan for drought in Somalia: Early action to protect health and save lives April-December 2022

World Health Organisation (WHO) (2022) C_WHO

Nearly 260 000 people died in parts of Somalia between October 2010 and April 2012, including 133 000 children under five during the famine and food crisis ... more

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Research Terms of Reference: Cholera Surveillance at Health Facilities in Northeast Syria, SYR2214 (Nov 2022, Version 1)
recommended

REACH: Informing more effective humanitarian action (2022) CC

Since late August 2022, cases of severe acute watery diarrhoea have been increasingly reported across Syria, concentrated particularly along the Euphrates river. These were later confirmed to be cholera cases.3 Cholera is a disease caused by bacteria that can be found ... more

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Policy Brief: COVID-19 and the Need for Action on Mental Health (13 May 2020)

United Nations (2020) CC

Although the COVID-19 crisis is, in the first instance, a physical health crisis, it has the see ... more

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Managing health crisis after Ebola

SciDevNet (2015)

This Spotlight presents an in-depth analysis including opinions, facts and figures, and key resources. It features commentary by Sylvie Briand of the WHO, Rosamund Southgate of Médecins Sans Frontières and Annie Wilkinson of the Institute of Devel ... more

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The Impact of Climate Change on Health: Reducing Risks and Increasing Resilience in the Era of COVID-19

Machalaba; C.; Bouley, T. A.; Nunziata, K. R.; et al. (2021) C1

The climate crisis has many consequences – among them widespread health impacts that will lead to immense societal, ecological, and economic harm. Over the past two decades multiple large-scale r ... 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) fro ... m 2021 to 2025 and deep-rooted structural vulnerabilities. This collapse is placing immense pressure on 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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Mental health crisis services: promoting person-centred and rights-based approaches

World Health Organization WHO (2021) C_WHO

The WHO Guidance on community mental health services: Promoting person-centred and rights-based approaches document is part of the WHO Guidance and technical packages on community mental health serv ... more

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A New Agenda for Mental Health in the Americas: Report of the Pan American Health Organization High-Level Commission on Mental Health and COVID-19

Pan American Health Organisation PAHO (2024) C_WHO

Unmet mental health needs in the Region of the Americas are a leading source of morbidity and mortality, which result in tremendous ... more

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Moving as One. Integrating the Health and Climate Agendas for Planetary Health in a Post-Pandemic World

IASS Potsdam (2020) C2

Against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, health is receiving unprecedented public and political attention. Yet the fact that climate change also presents us with a health ... more

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Kasai: A Children’s Crisis – Coping with the impact of conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) (2018)

UNICEF CHILD ALERT May 2018
As part of a UNICEF series highlighting the challenges faced by children in current crisis situations, this Child Alert examines the situation of children affected b ... more

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Engaging Violent Cities: Operational Challenges for Humanitarian Action in Urban Areas

ATHA (2013)

In the year 2008, for the first time in history, more than half of the world’s population was living in urban areas. Cities have become more nume ... more

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Mass Casualty Management Systems. Strategies and guidelines for building health sector capacity

Health Action in Crisis Word Health Organization (2007)

Disaster planning - organization and administration. 2.Emergency medical services - methods. 3.Emergency medical services - organization and administration. 4.Emergencies. 5.Health policy. 6.Health ... more

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Analysing Disrupted Health Sectors

Department of Recovery and Transition Programmes Health Action in Crises World Health Organization (2009)

A Modular Manual. This practical, experience-based, action-oriented manual on Analysing Disrupted Health Sectors in ... more

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IN FOCUS - Testing is not enough!

Action against AIDS Germany (2020) C1

What measures can we take to overcome the corona crisis, limit its consequences or use scarce resources efficiently? Every day we experience uncertainties and contradictions on these questions among scientists, ... more

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Success, failure, and the imperative for justice in climate negotiations

World Health Organisation (WHO) (2023) C_WHO

Recent United Nations Conferences of the Parties (COPs) have demonstrated that health professionals are playing an increasingly prominent role in calling for rapid ... more

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National Action Plan for Containment of Antimicrobial Resistance: Myanmar 2017-2022

World Health Organization WHO (2017) C_WHO

Myanmar, as a country going through rapid socio-political transition and institutional development also suffers with a high burden of infectious disease. An ongoing challenge has been to effectively reach its 51 million population, most of whom battle tuberculosis, acute respiratory infections, diar ... more

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Public Policy Responses to Address the Mental Health Consequences of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Evidence From Chile

Irarrazaval M., Norambuena P. et al Frontiers in Public Health (2021) C2

Objectives: This paper reviews the mental health policies that have been implemented in Chile in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the internat ... more

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Using media and communication to respond to public health emergencies: lessons learned from Ebola

Wilkinson, S. BBC Media Action (2016) CC

The paper sets out the specific communication challenge posed by Ebola and why it was so difficult to get to grips with this in the early months of the outbreak. It thendocuments when the health com ... more

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Guidance to facilitate monitoring and evaluation for antimicrobial resistance national action plans

Quadripartite: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations FAO; UN Environment Programme UNEP; World Health Organization WHO; World Organisation for Animal Health WAHO (2023) CC

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a global human, animal, plant and environment health threat that needs to be addressed by every country. The impacts of AMR are wide-ranging in terms of human ... health, animal health, food security and safety, environmental effects on ecosystems and biodiversity, and socioeconomic development. Just like the climate crisis, AMR poses a significant threat to the delivery of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The response to the AMR crisis has been spearheaded through the global action plan on antimicrobial resistance (GAP-AMR), developed by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2015, in close collaboration with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH), and formally endorsed by the three organizations’ governing bodies and by the Political Declaration of the high-level meeting of the United Nations General Assembly on AMR in 2016. In 2022, the three organizations officially became the Quadripartite by welcoming the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) into the alliance “to accelerate coordination strategy on human, animal and ecosystem health”. The aim of the GAP-AMR is to ensure the continuity of successful treatment with effective and safe medicines. Its strategic objectives include: • improving the awareness and understanding of AMR; • strengthening the knowledge and evidence base through surveillance and research; • reducing the incidence of infection through effective sanitation, hygiene and infection prevention measures; optimizing the use of antimicrobial medicines in human and animal health; and • developing the economic case for sustainable investment that takes account of the needs of all countries and increasing investment in new medicines, diagnostic tools, vaccines and other interventions. With the adoption of the GAP-AMR, countries agreed to develop national action plans (NAPs) aligned with the GAP-AMR to mainstream AMR interventions nationally. Individually, the Quadripartite took action to advance AMR interventions in their respective sectors. FAO adopted a resolution on AMR recognizing that it poses an increasingly serious threat to public health and sustainable food production, and developed an AMR action plan to support the resolution’s implementation. For its part, WOAH developed a strategy on AMR aligned with the GAP-AMR, acknowledging the importance of a One Health approach to AMR. Similarly, more recently, UNEP’s governing body, the United Nations Environment Assembly, recognized that AMR is a current and increasing threat and a challenge to global health, food security and the sustainable development of all countries, and welcomed the GAP-AMR and the NAPs developed in accordance with its five overarching strategic objectives more

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Climate change: A hunger crisis in the making - World

Action Against Hunger (2021) C2

English Analysis on World and 3 other countries about Agriculture, Climate Change and Environment, Drought, Flood and more; published on 22 Oct 2021 by Action Against Hunger

Research Terms of Reference: Cholera Surveillance at Health Facilities in Northeast Syria, SYR2214 (Nov 2022, Version 1) recommended

Research Terms of Reference: Cholera Surveillance at Health Facilities in Northeast Syria, SYR2214 (Nov 2022, Version 1)
recommended