This country cooperation strategy (CCS) outlines how the World Health Organization (WHO) will work with the Lao People’s Democratic Republic over the next five years (2024–2028), supporting the implementation of the five-year health sector development plans and the Health Sector Reform Strategy ...2021–2030 to attain the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030.
The Lao People’s Democratic Republic experienced substantial economic growth in the 30 years prior to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, contributing to reduced poverty and significant progress toward the SDGs. However, the COVID-19 pandemic brought this development to a halt. It was anticipated that the COVID-19 recovery and the tremendous population growth in recent years would provide opportunities for a shift toward more sustainable and inclusive development in the years ahead. In 2023, however, the contrary was the case. Rural residents, including many ethnic minorities, continued to face marginalization because of limited access to education, health care and economic opportunities.
Despite the challenges of COVID-19 and other disease outbreaks, the country has made significant improvements in health. Nonetheless, progress has been uneven and not everyone has benefited from these achievements. In the mountainous region, many people lack access to quality health care because of the unequal distribution of well-trained health-care workers. Preventable deaths due to poor-quality health care for children and newborns, infants and mothers remain a concern, as do communicable diseases such as sexually transmitted infections and tuberculosis. The increasing burden of noncommunicable diseases and the health impact of worsening climate change further heighten the need for strengthened and resilient health systems, which are at risk due to an underfunded health sector and weak economy.
This CCS aims to address remaining and future challenges as well as health needs while creating an impact that is sustainable. It identifies three strategic priorities and nine deliverables (Table 1) to support the attainment of the national vision of Health for all by all, as articulated in the 9th Health Sector Development Plan 2021–2025. It contributes to the country’s goals to achieve universal health coverage, graduate from least developed country status by 2026 and attain SDGs by 2030.
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This manual and its Excel tool are under revision. The revised edition will be published soon.
A sanitary inspection is a simple, on-site evaluation (traditionally using a checklist) to help identify and support the management of priority risk factors that may lead to contamination of a drinking-water supply. Sanitary inspections are a well-established and widely-applied practice. They can su...pport water safety planning, and in some contexts, may be a simplified alternative to water safety plans.
This publication presents the World Health Organization’s (WHO’s) sanitary inspection packages. These packages update the sanitary inspection forms in WHO’s 1997 Guidelines for drinking-water quality. Volume 3: surveillance and control of community supplies. With more than 25 years of practical experience with the application of sanitary inspections, these packages have been developed from a comprehensive evidence review and established good practices.
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WHO estimates that in 2015, 257 million people were living with chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection worldwide, and that 900 000 died from HBV infection, mostly through the development of cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. Worldwide, the majority of persons with chronic hepatitis B infecti...on and associated deaths in adulthood acquired their infection at birth through mother-to-child perinatal transmission or in early childhood.
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The guideline elaborates on the prevention and control strategy developed by the South-East Asia Regional Office of WHO, which consists of six key components.
The articles in this compendium elaborate on some of the ideas shared at the symposium. Together, they provide a broad view of the dynamic interactions among physical, sexual and brain development that take place during adolescence. They highlight some of the risks to optimal development – includi...ng toxic stress, which can interfere with the formation of brain connections, and other vulnerabilities unique to the onset of puberty and independence. They also point to the opportunities for developing interventions that can build on earlier investments in child development – consolidating gains and even offsetting the effects of deficits and traumas experienced earlier in childhood.
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This document is to support local authorities, leaders and policy-makers in cities and other urban settlements in identifying effective approaches and implementing recommended actions that enhance the prevention, preparedness and readiness for COVID-19 in urban settings, to ensure a robust response ...and eventual recovery. It covers factors unique to cities and urban settings, considerations in urban preparedness, key areas of focus and preparing for future emergencies.
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A toolkit for pharmacists.
Emerging data show that medication errors and adverse events cause significant harm to patients’ health and
well-being. It is estimated that the burden of adverse events due to medicines is now comparable to that of
widespread diseases, such as malaria or tuberculosis....1 The impacts of medication errors also represent a
burden for health systems, with the annual cost associated with medication errors estimated at USD 42 billion
worldwideharm
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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.
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Third edition.
The main changes within the third edition of the JEE tool include the split of the technical area National legislation, policy, and financing into two technical areas (Legal instruments and Financing); the drop of the technical area previously titled Reporting and the move of indicat...ors to the technical area IHR coordination, National IHR Focal Point and advocacy; and the merging of two previous technical areas (Emergency preparedness and Emergency operations centre) into a single one named Health emergency management.
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Disinfection of drinking-water supplies has been one of the most significant public health advancements of the last century with respect to reducing waterborne disease.
Although chlorine has been used as the disinfectant of choice for public drinking-water supplies for the past century, a numbe...r of emerging or alternative compounds are used or are being considered for the disinfection of drinking-water.
This series reviews the state of the knowledge on the application, efficacy and toxicity of bromine, iodine and silver as drinking-water disinfectants.
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The Urban Health Equity Assessment and Response Tool (Urban HEART) is a user-friendly guide for policy- and decision-makers at national and local levels to: identify and analyse inequities in health between people living in various parts of cities, or belonging to different socioeconomic groups with...in and across cities; facilitate decisions on viable and effective strategies, interventions and actions that should be used to reduce inter- and intra-city health inequities.
Also available in French and Spanish: https://apps.who.int/iris/handle/10665/79060
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The primary audience for this guidance is persons
working directly in vector-borne disease prevention
and control, including programme managers,
researchers and field workers. A brief technical
background is provided for the benefit of persons
without expertise in vector-borne diseases; readers...
working in the field may wish to skip the background
section and begin with the discussion of ethical
issues and values in Chapter 3. The guidance cannot
offer universally applicable answers to the complex
ethical issues raised, nor can it provide a checklist of
issues that are necessarily relevant in all situations.
Rather, its goal is to help readers recognize aspects
of their work that raise significant ethical challenges
and to respond to these challenges in accordance
with internationally accepted values and norms.
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To give you a better idea of when and how psychotherapy can help you, we have written this brochure titled Paths to Psychotherapy. While it is therefore primarily intended for people who have never been treated by a psychotherapist, the brochure can also enable those who have previously had psychoth...erapy to find out about the range of psychotherapeutic care and assistance that is currently available. Regardless of your previous experience with psychotherapy, this brochure offers you clear information about what a mental illness is, whether scheduling an initial appointment is advisable, and the circumstances in which psychotherapeutic treatment is necessary.
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Evidence shows that FGM can cause several physical, mental and sexual health complications in girls and women, and in newborns. Health-care providers play an important role in supporting girls and women living with FGM, and improving their health and well-being. They are in a unique position to infl...uence and change the attitudes of their patients about FGM.
WHO is committed to scaling up the health-sector response to address FGM prevention and care. One aspect is to strengthen the quality of FGM prevention and care services by building the capacity of health-care providers. Several guidance materials have been produced to target health-care providers. These include FGM content for training curricula, clinical guidelines and a clinical handbook.
This training manual complements previous publications by building person-centred communication skills specifically for FGM prevention.
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