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Compendium of forgotten foods in Africa: A companion publication for Integrating Africa’s forgotten foods for better nutrition
recommended

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations FAO (2024) CC

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations has launched a new Compendium of forgotten foods in Africa which is a first-of-its-kind comprehensive collection of 100 African forgotten food crops. Also referred to as neglected, underutilized or orphan crops, these species offer valua... 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 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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The Inter-American Convention on Protecting the Human Rights of Older Persons as a tool to promote the Decade of Healthy Aging

Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) (2023) C_WHO

This report aims to outline the current available knowledge on the health and wellbeing of older persons in the Region of the Americas during the United Nations Decade of Healthy Ageing (2021-2030). It also seeks to guide political actions towards ensuring the human rights of older persons, and desc... more

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National Disability Mainstreaming Strategy and Implementation Plan (NDMS&IP) 2018-2023

Department of Disability and elderly affairs Ministry of Gender, Children, Disability and Social Welfare (2019) CC

The NDMS&IP focuses on mainstreaming disability to promote equitable access to services in the six thematic areas of health, education, livelihoods, empowerment, and social inclusion and cross-cutting issues. The first part of the NDMS&IP outlines incongruences between national and sectoral policie... more

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Influencing food environments for healthy diets

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations FAO (2016) C2

Food environments are usually defined as the settings with all the different types of food made available and accessible to people as they go about their daily lives. That is, the range of food in supermarkets, small retail outlets, wet markets, street food stalls, coffee shops, tea houses, s...chool canteens, restaurants, and all the other venues where people buy and eat food. These environments differ enormously depending on the context. They can be extensive and diverse, with a seemingly endless array of options and price ranges, or they can be sparse, with very few options on offer. Because they determine what food consumers can access at a given moment in time, at what price, and with what degree of convenience, food environments both constrain and prompt the consumer’s choice.Food environments are influenced by the food systems which supply them, and vice versa. Food systems encompass the entire range of activities, people and institutions involved in the production, processing, marketing, consumption and disposal of food (FAO, 2013). They include but are not limited to food supply chains. Making food systems nutrition-sensitive can contribute to addressing all forms of malnutrition, as food systems determine whether the food needed for good nutrition are available, affordable, acceptable and of adequate quantity and quality. How closely food systems and food environments are interrelated and interdependent, and the degree to which external factors affect nutrition outcomes, varies from setting to setting.Many of today’s food systems and food environments are challenged in supporting consumer choices that are consistent with healthy diets and good nutrition. Consumers are not making choices based on nutrition and health, and poor diet is now the number one risk factor for death and disability worldwide (GBD, 2015). Food systems that do not enable healthy diets are increasingly recognized as an underlying cause of malnutrition (GLOPAN, 2016), and malnutrition, irrespective of form, has a huge cost. Economic costs associated with undernutrition are estimated at $1-2 trillion per year, about 2-3% of global GDP (FAO, 2013); the global economic cost of obesity and associated diet-related non-communicable diseases is estimated at $2 trillion per year, about 2.8% of global GDP (McKinsey, 2014). Influencing food environments for promoting healthy diets is an emerging strategy to address today’s nutrition challenges. more

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Punjab Province Report: Nutrition Political Economy, Pakistan

Zaidi, Shehla; Bhutta, Zulfiqar et al. Institute of Development Studies, Aga Khan University (2015) C1

In this report a nutrition governance framework was applied to research and analyse the provincial experience with nutrition policy in Pakistan, looking both at chronic and acute malnutrition. Twenty-one in-depth interviews with key stakeholders were also conducted along with a review of published a... more

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Plan d’action régional pour la vaccination dans les Amériques 2030

Pan American Health Organization PAHO; World Health Organization WHO (2025) CC

Le Plan d'action régional pour la vaccination dans les Amériques (RIAP) constitue une étape fondamentale pour consolider les progrès accomplis et offre une vision concrète pour relever les défis actuels et futurs en vue d'atteindre les objectifs fixés pour l'année 2030. Ce plan est essentiel... more

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Developing a dataset to track aid for reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health, 2003–2013

Grollman, C.; L. Arregoces; M. Martinez-Alvarez et al. Scientific Data (2017) C1

We created a dataset to generate estimates of donor-reported ‘official development assistance’ and private grants (ODA+) to reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health (RMNCH) by donor, recipient country and activity type over the period 2003–2013. We collected disbursement information fr... more

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Preventive Chemotherapy Data Portal

World Health Organization WHO (2022) C_WHO

Progress towards achieving the Roadmap targets for control and elimination of the Neglected Tropical Diseases.

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Buruli Ulcer - Website - Data GHO

World Health Organization WHO (2023) C_WHO

Website last accessed on 18.03.2023 The GHO data repository is WHO's gateway to health-related statistics for its 194 Member States. It provides access to over 1000 health topics indicators.

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The state of diabetes treatment coverage in 55 low-income and middle-income countries: a cross-sectional study of nationally representative, individual-level data in 680 102 adults 2021

Flood, D.; Seiglie, J.A.; Dunn, M.; et al. The Lancet Healthy Longevity Volume 2, Issue 6e340-e351June 2021 (2021) CC2

Approximately 80% of the 463 million adults worldwide with diabetes live in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs). A major obstacle to designing evidence-based policies to improve diabetes outcomes in LMICs is the scarce availability of nationally representative data on the current patterns... more

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The state of diabetes treatment coverage in 55 low-income and middle-income countries: a cross-sectional study of nationally representative, individual-level data in 680 102 adults

Flood, D.; Seiglie, J.A.; Dunn, M.; et al. The Lancet healthy Longevity (2021) C2

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World Population Prospects 2019: Highlights.

United Nations Dept. of Economic and Social Affairs (2019) C1

By 2100, new UN figures show that 4 of today’s 10 most populous nations will be replaced by African countries. Brazil, Bangladesh, Russia and Mexico—where populations are projected to stagnate or decline—will drop out. In their place: Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Tanzania and E... more

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World Population Prospects 2019: Highlights. 10 Key Findings

United Nations Dept. of Economic and Social Affairs (2019) C1

The world’s population is projected to grow from 7.7 billion in 2019 to 8.5 billion in 2030 (10% increase), and further to 9.7 billion in 2050 (26%) and to 10.9 billion in 2100 (42%). The population of sub-Saharan Africa is projected to double by 2050 (99%). Other region... more

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Accountability for women’s and children’s health

Flavia Bustreo, Marie-Paule Kieny, Lale Say et al. World Health Organization WHO (2015) C_WHO

Progress Report

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Ethics in epidemics, emergencies and disasters: research, surveillance and patient care: training manual

World Health Organization (WHO) (2015) C_WHO

Responses to epidemics, emergencies and disasters raise many ethical issues for the people involved, including public health specialists and policy makers. This training manual provides material on ethical issues in research, surveillance and patient care in these difficult contexts.

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Unequal, unprepared, under threat -World AIDS Day Report, 1 Dec 2021

UNAIDS (2021) C_WHO

Why bold action against inequalities is needed to en AIDS, stop COVID-19 and prepare for future pandemics

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World Development Indicators. Highlights: Featuring the Sustainable Development Goals 2016

World Bank Group (2016) CC

Extraced from the full version of WDI 2016

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Comprehensive mental health action plan 2013–2020
recommended

World Health Organization WHO (2021) C_WHO

This updated Comprehensive Mental Health Action Plan 2013-2030 builds upon its predecessor and sets out clear actions for Member States, the WHO Secretariat and international, regional and national partners to promote mental health and well-being for all, to prevent mental health conditions for thos... more

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Caring for women subjected to violence: a WHO curriculum for training health-care providers, revised edition 2021

World Health Organization WHO (2021) C_WHO

WHO is launching a “Revised edition, 2021” for the Caring for women subjected to violence: A WHO training curriculum for health-care providers today. The revised edition includes 4 new modules three of which are for health managers to assess and strengthen health facility readiness and one modul... more

Compendium of forgotten foods in Africa: A companion publication for Integrating Africa’s forgotten foods for better nutrition recommended

Comprehensive mental health action plan 2013–2020 recommended

Compendium of forgotten foods in Africa: A companion publication for Integrating Africa’s forgotten foods for better nutrition
recommended

Comprehensive mental health action plan 2013–2020
recommended