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 resilience of health systems to protect and improve the health of communities in an unstable and changing clima...te, while optimizing the use of resources and implementing strategies to reduce GHG emissions. It aims to contribute to the design of transformative health systems that can provide safe and quality care in a changing climate.
Implementation of the framework's ten components would help health organizations, authorities, and programmes to be better able to anticipate, prevent, prepare for, and manage climate-related health risks and therefore decrease the burden of associated climate-sensitive health outcomes. Implementing low carbon health practices would contribute to climate change mitigation while also improving health outcomes. Achieving these aims is an important contribution to universal health coverage (UHC), global health security, and specific targets within the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The document is a useful resource for decision-makers in health systems, including public health agencies, and other specialized institutions, and for decision-makers in health-determining sectors.
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The World Health Organization (WHO) Global Tuberculosis Report 2021 estimated that, in 2020, tuberculosis (TB) was the second most common infectious disease killer after coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and the 13th leading cause of death (1). Twenty-five per cent (25%) of the world’s population has... latent TB infection, which can develop into disease. In 2020, WHO estimated that 9.9 million people fell ill with TB, but only about 5.8 million (60%) were diagnosed, reported and treated, an 18% fall from 7.1 million in 2019. WHO also estimates that, between 2019 and 2020, global TB mortality increased from 1.2 to 1.5 million, a 5.6% increase
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Key facts
- A healthy diet helps to protect against malnutrition in all its forms, as well as noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), including diabetes, heart disease, stroke and cancer.
- Unhealthy diet and lack of physical activity are leading global risks to health.
- Healthy dietary practices start... early in life – breastfeeding fosters healthy growth and improves cognitive development, and may have longer term health benefits such as reducing the risk of becoming overweight or obese and developing NCDs later in life.
- Energy intake (calories) should be in balance with energy expenditure. To avoid unhealthy weight gain, total fat should not exceed 30% of total energy intake (1, 2, 3). Intake of saturated fats should be less than 10% of total energy intake, and intake of trans-fats less than 1% of total energy intake, with a shift in fat consumption away from saturated fats and trans-fats to unsaturated fats (3), and towards the goal of eliminating industrially-produced trans-fats (4, 5, 6).
- Limiting intake of free sugars to less than 10% of total energy intake (2, 7) is part of a healthy diet. A further reduction to less than 5% of total energy intake is suggested for additional health benefits (7).
- Keeping salt intake to less than 5 g per day (equivalent to sodium intake of less than 2 g per day) helps to prevent hypertension, and reduces the risk of heart disease and stroke in the adult population (8).
- WHO Member States have agreed to reduce the global population’s intake of salt by 30% by 2025; they have also agreed to halt the rise in diabetes and obesity in adults and adolescents as well as in childhood overweight by 2025 (9, 10).
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School Nutrition Education Material for Teachers, Parents, and School-Aged Children is a set of nutrition education materials developed by the World Food Programme with the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology and UNICEF
Just under 2.5 million people die annually due to alcohol use. This global estimate, however, excludes most of the health burden
borne by others than the alcohol user. Alcohol’s harm to others includes a multitude of conditions, such as trauma from traffic crashes, fetal disorders due to prenatal... exposure to alcohol, as well as interpersonal and intimate partner violence. While alcohol’s causal role in these conditions is well-established, alcohol’s harm to others’ contribution to the overall health burden of alcohol remains unknown. This knowledge gap leads to a situation in which alcohol policy and prevention strategies largely focus on the reduction of alcohol’s detrimental health harms on the alcohol users, neglecting affected others and population groups most vulnerable to these harms, including women and children. In this article, we seek to elucidate why estimates for alcohol’s harm to others are lacking and offer guidance for future research. We also argue that a full assessment of the alcohol health burden that includes the harm caused by others’ alcohol use would enhance the visibility and public awareness of such harms, and advancing the evaluation of policy interventions to mitigate them.
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Todos los trabajadores de la salud tienen un objetivo principal: mejorar la salud de las personas. Los trabajadores de la salud son la columna vertebral de todo sistema de salud operativo. Al tiempo que contribuyen al disfrute del derecho a la salud para
todos, también deben disfrutar del derecho ...a unas condiciones laborales saludables y seguras para mantener su propia salud. Las condiciones de trabajo inseguras son uno de los motivos principales de huelga entre el personal de salud de los países
de ingresos bajos . La falta de bienestar y el agotamiento profesional entre los trabajadores de la salud se asocian a una mala calidad de la atención y a resultados negativos para la seguridad de los pacientes, como los errores médicos
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The "WHO Package of Essential Noncommunicable (PEN) Disease Interventions for Primary Health Care" provides a set of cost-effective, evidence-based interventions to address noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) such as cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, chronic respiratory diseases, and cancers. Designed ...for implementation in primary healthcare settings, especially in low-resource environments, the package includes protocols for screening, diagnosis, treatment, and management of these diseases. The document emphasizes an integrated approach, supporting universal health coverage by empowering healthcare workers with practical tools to improve NCD care. It aims to reduce premature mortality from NCDs and enhance global health equity.
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Everyone in the world is exposed to risk factors for chronic respiratory disease (CRD). Three billion people live in urban areas and are exposed to outdoor air pollution. Two billion people are exposed to solid fuel combustion which represents one of the major risk factors worldwide. One billion peo...ple are exposed to tobacco smoke and everyone is exposed to allergens. These risk factors are of particular concern in developing countries and deprived areas.
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The rapid assessment tool (RAT) is meant to assess health facilities within mpox-affected areas that have at least one inpatient bed. Depending on time and resources available, certain facilities may be prioritized during an mpox outbreak. The RAT evaluates 16 infection prevention and control (IPC) ...and water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) criteria identified as the minimum essential elements required for safe patient care and prevention of transmission within the health facility during readiness or response activities for outbreaks of mpox.
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World Health Organization. Regional Office for South-East Asia.
The present Consolidated guidelines include a comprehensive set of WHO recommendations for the treatment and care of DR-TB, derived from these WHO guidelines documents. The consolidated guidelines include policy recommendations on treatment regimens for isoniazid-resistant TB (Hr-TB) and MDR/RR-TB, ...including longer and shorter regimens, culture monitoring of patients on treatment, the timing of antiretroviral therapy (ART) in MDR/RR-TB patients infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), use of surgery for patients receiving MDR-TB treatment, and optimal models of patient support and care.
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Jointly developed by WHO’s Regulatory System Strengthening, Regulation and Safety Unit and the Health Ethics & Governance Unit, it is intended to assist countries in evaluating their capacity to provide appropriate ethical oversight of health-related research. In addition to assisting in capacity-...building efforts, the tool is intended to promote policy convergence and best practices in research ethics oversight, to enhance public trust in health research, and to ensure that the rights and safety of humans involved in health-related research are adequately protected, both in ordinary times and during public health emergencies.
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La violencia contra las mujeres y las niñas es generalizada en la Región de las Américas, y tiene enormes consecuencias para su salud y bienestar, así como el de sus familias y sus comunidades. Se trata de un costo inaceptable que puede ser prevenido mediante acciones basadas en la evidencia, pr...omovidas por las políticas y los protocolos del sector de la salud, y la colaboración con otros sectores. El presente informe es el primero de su tipo y representa un hito importante para la Región. Se basa específicamente en los compromisos asumidos por los Estados Miembros en la Estrategia y plan de acción sobre el fortalecimiento del sistema de salud para abordar la violencia contra la mujer. El informe ofrece un análisis de los esfuerzos para avanzar en la prevención de la violencia contra las mujeres en la Región por medio de políticas de salud, protocolos clínicos, planes multisectoriales y otros enfoques relevantes. La atención a este tema es oportuna, ya que la pandemia de COVID-19 ha dado más visibilidad a esta esfera de trabajo. En este informe se ofrece información crucial sobre los esfuerzos llevados a cabo en la Región, de los cuales se puede aprender y utilizar el conocimiento extraído en el futuro para prevenir y responder a la violencia contra las mujeres y las niñas en todo el mundo.
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Birth defect has been an emerging major cause of child mortality in the region. Scarcity of the birth defects information hampers policy decisions and control measures at national level. In order to create evidence for action for birth defects prevention in the region, WHO-SEARO in collaboration wit...h CDC, USA has developed and launched a regional electronic database on birth defects. This surveillance database allows data collection on newborn health, birth defects and stillbirths cases and provides real time information at hospitals and national level.
Training of the hospital health staffs and data managers in the birth defects surveillance network; at regional, national and at hospital levels is recognized as essential for expansion of this database and to assure quality of data. A two days training module for hospital based birth defects surveillance was developed using a guide for operation and facilitator guide.
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Evidence-based psychological interventions are an important part of health, social, protection and education services and can help increase access to effective mental health treatments and progression towards universal health coverage.
This manual provides managers and others responsible for plan...ning and delivering services with practical guidance on how to implement manualized psychological interventions for adults, adolescents and children. It covers the five key implementation steps: make an implementation plan; adapt for context; prepare the workforce; identify, assess and support potential beneficiaries; and monitor and evaluate the service.
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Patient Safety is a health care discipline that emerged with the evolving complexity in health care systems and the resulting rise of patient harm in health care facilities. It aims to prevent and reduce risks, errors and harm that occur to patients during provision of health care. A cornerstone of ...the discipline is continuous improvement based on learning from errors and adverse events.
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