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Building health system resilience to public health challenges: guidance for implementation in countries

World Health Organization WHO (2024) C_WHO

Health system resilience is not an inevitable byproduct of any investment in health but must be ... more

Healthy people, healthy business. Strategies for business to strengthen health system resilience

World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) (2022) C2

WBCSD Vision 2050 sets out the goal to achieve the highest attainable standard of health and wellbeing for everyone by 2050, calling for a world in which: people live healthy lives; societies promote and protect ... more

Conditions for health system resilience in the response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Mauritania

Accoe K.; Kriel B.; Ag Ahmed M. et al. BMJ Global Health (2023) CC

A country’s ability to manage a crisis depends on its level of resilience. Efforts are made to clarify the concept of health system ... more

Brazil's health system functionality amidst of the COVID-19 pandemic: An analysis of resilience

Bigoni, A.; et al. (2022) C2

The Lancet Regional health Americas, vol.10 (2022) June 1, March 04, 2022DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lana.2022.100222

Brazil's health system functionality amidst of the COVID-19 pandemic

Bigoni, A.; Malik, A. M.; Tasca, R.; et al. The Lancet Regional Health - Americas (2022) C_WHO

As of December 31, 2020, Brazil had the second-highest burden of COVID-19 worldwide. Given the absence of federal government coordination, it was up to the local governments to maintain healthcare provision for non-COVID health issues. In this descr ... more

The Zanzibar Policy Guidelines for Occupational Health, Safety and Wellbeing of Workers in the Health System

Ministry of Health Tanzania (2018) C_WHO

Health, safety and wellbeing of the Healthcare workers is a prerequisite for good quality of care and patient satisfaction in health services. Healthcare facilities that are not safe for workers and ... more

Disruption in essential health services in Mexico during COVID-19: an interrupted time series analysis of health information system data

Doubova SV, Leslie HH, Kruk ME, et al. BMJ Global Health (2021) CC

INTRODUCTION: The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted health systems around the world. The objectives of this study are to estimate the overall effect of the pandemic on essential health service use and ... more

Northeast Nigeria Health Sector - Humanitarian Response Strategy 2025 - 2027 (December 2024)

Government of Nigeria; Health Cluster; World Health Organization WHO (2024) CC

The protracted humanitarian situation in northeastern Nigeria, particularly in Borno, Adamawa, and Yobe (BAY) States, remains a concern due to ongoing insecurity, displacement, food insecurity, disease outbreaks, and climate-related shocks. To address these complex challenges, the ... health sector has developed a comprehensive humanitarian response strategy aligned with the three States Development plans, Durable Solutions for the Population Displacement Plan, and the Humanitarian Need Response Plan for 2025. This strategy aims to reduce morbidity and mortality among crisisaffected populations by ensuring timely, equitable, and effective delivery of lifesaving health services, while strengthen the resilience of health system and enhancing local and national capacities for sustainable health response in protracted emergency. Supported by an in-depth analysis of the ongoing health humanitarian response using the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) methodology, the strategy is guided by three key objectives: 1. Provide access to lifesaving interventions and sustain an effective response to the prolonged health emergency. 2. Prevent, mitigate, and prepare for health risks from all hazards and respond to all health emergencies. 3. Advance the primary health care approach and essential health system capacities for universal health coverage. To achieve these objectives, the strategy employs the “Five C” framework which refers to: • Collaborative Surveillance: Enhancing collaborative efforts for effective monitoring. • Community Protection: Implementing community-based protection measures. • Safe and Scalable Care: Ensuring care that is both secure and scalable. • Access to Countermeasures: Facilitating access to necessary countermeasures. • Emergency Coordination: Coordinating emergency responses efficiently. These proactive approaches are designed to be more anticipatory and preemptive rather than reactive, aiming to meet the needs of the crisis-affected population by providing lifesaving interventions, enhancing preventive and anticipatory actions, and ensuring the resilience of the health system. All actions are guided by International Humanitarian Standards and the Humanitarian Principles. The implementation of the health humanitarian response strategy will involve collaboration with local authorities, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and international organizations. The strategy emphasizes localization and resource mobilization, efficient logistics and supply chain management, mainstreaming protection, and the deployment and training of healthcare workers. Continuous monitoring and periodic evaluation will ensure the effectiveness of the response. Cross-sector collaboration with sectors such as WASH, Nutrition, Education, and Protection will be crucial to enhance the quality and reach of health interventions. Additionally, sustainability and transition approaches will ensure long-term health outcomes and benefits, bridging the gap from humanitarian to development efforts. By adopting this comprehensive approach, the humanitarian response in northeastern Nigeria, particularly in BAY States, can be effectively guided, ultimately reducing the suffering of affected populations. more

Guidance paper - Assessing country health financing systems: the health financing progress matrix

Jowett, M.; J. Kutzin; S. Kwon et al. World Health Organization (WHO) (2020) CC

This paper outlines the background to and design of the Health Financing Progress Matrix (HFPM), WHO’s standardized qualitative approach to assessing country health financing systems. Primarily qu ... more

WHO's response to health emergencies: annual report 2023
recommended

World Health Organisation (WHO) (2024) C_WHO

In 2023, the World Health Organization was responding to 72 health emergencies, including 19 grade-3 emergencies which required the highest level of activation, reaching millions of people. The annu ... more

Policy Framework for Artificial Intelligence in Tanzania Health Sector

Ministry of Health of the United Republic of Tanzania (2022) C1

The Policy Framework for Artificial Intelligence in Tanzania's Health Sector was developed through collaboration between multiple stakeholders, including government bodies, academic institutions, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and internation ... more

Guidance on mainstreaming biodiversity for nutrition and health

World Health Organization WHO (2020) C_WHO

This report aims to support countries in the necessary transition toward healthier, more sustainable diets by integrating biodiversity in food-based interventions to support nutrition and health. It is intended to help guide decision-makers in the ... health, nutrition and other sectors, to: Consider the important role of biodiversity in food systems for the development of integrated interventions to support healthy, diverse and sustainable diets; To focus investments and country support for more comprehensive, coordinated and cross-cutting public health and nutrition projects and policies; and To strengthen the resilience of food systems, health systems, and societies, each of which are each increasingly compromised by widespread ecological degradation, biodiversity loss and climate change. Biodiversity at every level (genetic, species and ecosystem level) is a foundational pillar for food security, nutrition, and dietary quality. It is the basic source of variety in essential foods, nutrients, vitamins and minerals, and medicines, and underpins life-sustaining ecosystem services. It is a core environmental determinant of health, often a vital ingredient of healthy nutritional outcomes and livelihoods, gender equality, social equity, and other health determinants. Biodiversity can play a more prominent role in planning for nutritional outcomes in various ways, e.g. by facilitating the production of nutritious fruits and plant products, sustaining livelihoods through more efficient production and increasing the diversity of products available in markets. This Guidance presents and expands on six core building blocks for mainstreaming biodiversity for nutrition and health: Cross-sectoral knowledge development and knowledge co-production; Enabling environments; Integration; Conservation and the wider use of biodiversity; Education and awareness-raising; Monitoring and evaluation; This WHO report builds on an unprecedented opportunity to mainstream biodiversity in order to support healthy and sustainable diets, and offers the necessary technical guidance to catalyze and support a transformation of the global food system and transition to healthier, more sustainable diets. more

Health systems resilience toolkit: a WHO global public health good to support building and strengthening of sustainable health systems resilience in countries with various contexts

World Health Organization WHO (2022) C_WHO

Health systems resilience in managing the COVID-19 pandemic: lessons from 28 countries

Haldane, V., De Foo, C., Abdalla, S.M. et al. (2021) C1

Nat Med (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-021-01381-y

WHO Bangladesh Country Cooperation Strategy: 2020–2024

World Health Organization (WHO), Regional Office for South-East Asia (2022) C_WHO

Notable progress has also been made on other key health indicators such as reducing maternal, infant and child deaths and malnutrition, increasing immunization coverage, eliminating infectious diseases such as polio and reducing the incidence of mal ... more

Country cooperation strategy for WHO and Syrian Arab Republic: 2022-2025

World Health Organization WHO (2024) C_WHO

WHO’s Country Cooperation Strategy (CCS) defines the Organization’s medium-term vision for working in and with a particular country. The CCS, developed in the context of global and national health priorities, examines the overall ... more

Operational framework for building climate resilient and low carbon health systems

World Health Organization WHO (2023) C_WHO

This document presents the World Health Organization Operational framework for building climate resilient and low carbon health systems*. ***The framework's goal is to increase the climate ... more

Assessing Health Vulnerabilities and Adaptation to Climate Change

Berry, P.; P. M. Enright, J. Shumake-Guillemot et al. (2018) CC

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2018, 15(12), 2626; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15122626 Climate change is increasing risks to human health and to the ... health systems that seek to protect the safety and well-being of populations. Health authorities require information about current associations between health outcomes and weather or climate, vulnerable populations, projections of future risks and adaptation opportunities in order to reduce exposures, empower individuals to take needed protective actions and build climate-resilient health systems. An increasing number of health authorities from local to national levels seek this information by conducting climate change and health vulnerability and adaptation assessments. While assessments can provide valuable information to plan for climate change impacts, the results of many studies are not helping to build the global evidence-base of knowledge in this area. They are also often not integrated into adaptation decision making, sometimes because the health sector is not involved in climate change policy making processes at the national level. Significant barriers related to data accessibility, a limited number of climate and health models, uncertainty in climate projections, and a lack of funding and expertise, particularly in developing countries, challenge health authority efforts to conduct rigorous assessments and apply the findings. This paper examines the evolution of climate change and health vulnerability and adaptation assessments, including guidance developed for such projects, the number of assessments that have been conducted globally and implementation of the findings to support health adaptation action. Greater capacity building that facilitates assessments from local to national scales will support collaborative efforts to protect health from current climate hazards and future climate change. Health sector officials will benefit from additional resources and partnership opportunities to ensure that evidence about climate change impacts on health is effectively translated into needed actions to build health resilience. more

Change Cannot Wait: Building Resilient Health Systems in the Shadow of COVID-19

World Bank (2022) C1

At a glance. The COVID-19 pandemic revealed structural weaknesses in health systems worldwide and underscored the importance of building stronger, more integrated health systems to help prevent, pre ... more