Cholera is an acute gastrointestinal infection caused by the bacterium Vibrio Cholerae serogroup O1 or O139, and is often linked to unsafe drinking water, lack of proper sanitation and personal hygiene. It adversely affects mostly the poor and vulnerable populations in countries, which are already d...eprived of proper health facilities and conducive environmental conditions. The disease spreads through oro-fecal transmission by the ingestion of contaminated food or water or by person-to-person contact. It has a short incubation period of 2 hours to 5 days and the number of affected cases can rapidly increase across large regions. Cholera is a significant threat to global public health leading to an estimated 3-5 million cases per year worldwide, with an annual toll of 100,000 deaths. The disease was first reported in 1817 from the Ganges Delta of India and since then the ongoing 7th pandemic has emerged from Indonesia, reached Africa in 1970 and Somalia happens to be one of the early affected countries. Over the past few decades,
Somalia has witnessed the occurrence of repeated AWD/Cholera disease outbreaks that have caused high morbidity and mortality across the country.
more
Report of a mission 20–24 April 2015
This document facilitate the preparation of a risk communication and community engagement strategy for vaccination against COVID-19. Its goal is to help to strengthen the communication and planning capacities of the ministries or secretariats of health and other agencies in charge of communicating ...about new COVID-19 vaccines in the Americas.
Available in English, Spanish and Portuguese
more
Research
Emerging Infectious Diseases Vol. 12, No. 5, May 2006
A WHO Guideline for Emergency Risk Communication (ERC) policy and practice.
Recent public health emergencies, such as the Ebola virus disease outbreak in West Africa (2014–2015), the emergence of the Zika virus syndrome in 2015–2016 and multi-country yellow fever outbreaks in Africa in 2016, h...ave highlighted major challenges and gaps in how risk is communicated during epidemics and other health emergencies. The challenges include the rapid transformation in communications technology, including the near-universal penetration of mobile telephones, the widespread use and increasingly powerful influence of digital media which has had an impact on ‘traditional’ media (newspapers, radio and television), and major changes in how people access and trust health information. Important gaps include considerations of context – the social, economic, political and cultural factors influencing people’s perception of risk and their risk-reduction behaviours.
more
16 Dec. 2021
This document is a prioritization toolkit providing a set of action steps to follow in the event of an impending surge in cases of COVID-19 in health-care facilities. The document provides a framework for action steps to be followed within 2-4 weeks of identification of a surge or resu...rgence of cases, and is accompanied by references to existing WHO resources to assist with managing each step. This document is intended for emergency operations centre focal persons for health facilities, incident managers, health-care managers and administrators, and infection prevention and control focal persons.
more
This document is part three in a series of explainers on vaccine development and distribution. Part one focused on how vaccines work to protect our bodies from disease-carrying germs. Part two focused on the ingredients in a vaccine and the three clinical trial phases.
This document outlines the... next part of the vaccine journey: the steps from completing the clinical trial phases through to distribution.
more
2nd edition. Training module on malaria control
A manual for programme managers.
The guidance document provides a set of indicators for assessing the status of development, implementation and monitoring of key policy interventions for prevention and control of NCDs and injuries. It promotes city-level evidence based decision-making processes to identify gaps and take appropriate...s actions to strengthen responses. Additionally, using the standardized indicators can facilitate cross-city learning, sharing best practices and lessons learnt in implementing various policy interventions.
more
The review’s objectives are to review progress in TB control with emphasis on DOTS strategy implementation, summarize the experience, lessons learnt and methods of work and to make recommendations for international donors, technical agencies and the Ministry of Health.