With the COVID-19 pandemic and the ensuing energy and cost-of-living crises, many OECD countries have had to face significant economic and societal challenges over the last five years. The succession of crises has had important implications for health systems and the available resources allocated to... health. This policy brief examines the recent trends in health spending and discusses what is driving the latest spending trajectory.
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The world is facing a sustainable development crisis. The 2024 Financing for Sustainable Development Report: Financing for Development at a Crossroads finds that financing challenges are at the heart of the crisis and imperil the SDGs and climate action. The window to rescue the SDGs and prevent a c...limate catastrophe is still open but closing rapidly. Financing gaps for sustainable development are large and growing – the estimates by international organizations and others are coalescing around $4 trillion additional investment needed annually for developing countries. This represents a more than 50% increase over the pre-pandemic estimates. Meanwhile, the finance divide has not been bridged, with developing countries paying around twice as much on average in interest on their total sovereign debt stock as developed countries. Many countries lack access to affordable finance or are in debt distress. Weak enabling environments are preventing progress. Average global growth has declined, while policy and regulatory frameworks still do not set appropriate incentives. Public budgets and spending is not fully aligned with SDGs. Private investors are not incentivised to invest enough in SDGs and climate action. The world is at a crossroads. This is the last chance to correct course if we want to achieve the SDGs by the 2030 deadline. Only an urgent, large-scale and sustainable investment push can help us achieve our global goals. Next year’s Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development in 2025 will be a once in 80-year opportunity to support coherent transformation of financing.
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All malaria-endemic countries in the Region of the Americas have taken on the challenge to eliminate the disease and to put in place measures to orient their health programs and strategies in that direction. This manual explains how to implement measures to achieve malaria elimination and prevent it...s reestablishment by increasing the intensity and quality of interventions, reorienting initiatives, reducing delays that favor transmission, and ensuring adequate monitoring to adjust interventions.
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Thematic brief. Climate change and malaria are two defining challenges of our generation. Both affect disproportionately the
poorest and the most vulnerable, especially in Africa, and may further jeopardize human wellbeing in the future
This guidance document addresses how physical distancing (referred to in previous guidance documents as ‘social distancing’) can help slow down transmission.
Ce document d'orientation explique comment la distance physique (désignée dans les documents d'orientation précédents sous le nom de «distance sociale») peut aider à ralentir la transmission.
nContraception and Reproductive Medicine (2017) 2:26 DOI 10.1186/s40834-017-0053-6
Young women in Burkina Faso and Mali are increasingly using modern contraceptives for family planning; however, the LAPM contraceptive prevalence rate remains low. Our analysis indicates that social norms around idea...l family size for both men and women continue to drive young women’s choices around family planning and impede use of LAPMs. To increase modern contraceptive use and curb fertility rates, local governments and development organizations should focus on women’s empowerment and include male partners.
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This book is a practical manual of mental health care for community health workers, primary care nurses, social workers and primary care doctors, particularly in developing countries.Helpful features include: over 50 illustrations and case studies, jargon-free explanations and descriptions, flow-cha...rts on common clinical problems, and a practical guide to the use of psychiatric medicines and simple psychological treatments.
Chapters 1, 9 and 10 can be found on the e-TALC CD-ROM number 2 (April 2003). See www.talcuk.org for details Links to Chapters 2 and 3 above. Printed copies of this book can also be obtained from the Royal College of Psychiatrists www.rcpsych.ac.uk/wnitp
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This 2019 edition of The State of the World’s Children (SOWC) examines the issue of children, food and nutrition, providing a fresh perspective on a rapidly evolving challenge. Despite progress in the past two decades, one third of children under age 5 are malnourished – stunted, wasted or overw...eight – while two thirds are at risk of malnutrition and hidden hunger because of the poor quality of their diets. At the center of this challenge is a broken food system that fails to provide children with the diets they need to grow healthy. This report also provides new data and analyses of malnutrition in the 21st century and outlines recommendations to put children’s rights at the heart of food systems.
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This briefing paper provides an overview of the approach underlying EA, how and by whom it is applied and its problems and consequences. It concludes that policy makers, rather than be guided by its assumptions and conclusions, must instead concentrate on understand-i...ng the confounding structural causes of interdependent global challenges and aim at their long-term solution, within an overarching human rights framework.
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The aim of this paper is to map and critically analyse evidence of good practice in prevention and response to gender-based violence (GBV) in humanitarian contexts which can support humanitarian practitioners and policy makers to improve the quality of GBV programming in the field. The paper is stru...ctured as follows. Following a brief discussion of key concepts and definitions in relation to GBV, Chapter 2 presents an overview of the extent of GBV in emergencies, and some of the challenges in responding to the problem. Chapter 3 then analyses some of the literature on the evidence of GBV programming effects in humanitarian settings, and draws out key lessons with regard to good practice. Chapter 4 discusses some of the key issues emerging from this review, and Chapter 5 concludes the paper with a discussion of the implications of the findings for research, policy and programming on GBV.
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A Guidebook for Medical and Professional Schools, Second Edition.
This book represents a significant step to engage health professions schools in addressing global health challenges
The document is primarily meant to inform mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) staff, such as: psychologists, psychosocial counsellors, social workers, psychiatrists, psychiatric nurses, and others who are involved providing individual or group counselling, psychotherapy and/or psychiatric... treatment for Syrians
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The burden of diabetes is enormous, positioning it as one of the main challenges facing public health today. Currently, it is estimated that 62 million people are living with diabetes in the Region of the Americas and projections show its prevalence will continue rising over the following years. The... Region shows the highest number of years of healthy life lost (through either disability or premature death) due to diabetes worldwide. The high costs associated with its treatment produce a heavy economic burden. Its complications can seriously affect the quality of life of people living with diabetes, their families, and society and overload health systems. This report shows the latest internationally comparable data on diabetes and its main risk factors by year, country, and sex.
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Society first acknowledges a child’s existence and identity
through birth registration. The right to be recognized as
a person before the law is a critical step in ensuring
lifelong protection and is a prerequisite for exercising all
other rights. A birth certificate is proof of that legal ide...ntity, and is
the basis upon which children can establish a nationality,
avoid the risk of statelessness and seek protection from
violence and exploitation. For example, proof of age is
needed to help prevent child labour, child marriage and
underage recruitment into the armed forces. A birth
certificate may also be required to access social service
systems, including health, education and justice.
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This report, which involved input from across WaterAid, in particular from the Programme Support Unit (PSU) of WaterAid UK, includes case studies from a variety of countries, including Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Ghana, India and Nepal, each demonstrating what must be done now to i...mprove WASH services and address current challenges, in order to increase community resilience to climate change.
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There is growing understanding and high-level endorsement of the importance of strong collaborative multisectoral approaches to address a broad range of social, economic and governance issues for the prevention and control of noncommunicable disease (NCDs) and mental health conditions. In 2019, Worl...d Health Organization (WHO) Member States requested the WHO Director-General to provide an analysis across countries of successful approaches for the prevention and control of NCDs that used multisectoral action.This report describes the experiences of different countries, areas and territories in implementing multisectoral actions to tackle NCDs and is the first step to address their request for an analysis of such efforts
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The importance of robust mortality surveillance systems cannot be overstated in an era marked by increasing global health challenges where health threats loom large and population dynamics continue to evolve. Accurate and timely mortality data is essential for identifying trends and detecting emergi...ng health threats, evaluating the impact of interventions, and guiding evidence-based policy decisions.
This framework outlines a holistic approach to strengthening routine mortality surveillance systems, considering the unique contextual factors and challenges faced by African countries. It emphasizes the importance of establishing efficient data collection mechanisms, enhancing data quality and completeness, and promoting data sharing and collaboration among stakeholders.
Moreover, the framework recognizes the pivotal role of technology in the integration of data from fragmented mortality data sources. It highlights the potential of innovative data capture methods, advanced analytics, and real-time reporting systems to enhance mortality data’s accuracy, efficiency, and timeliness.
The continental framework for mortality surveillance aligns with Africa CDC’s mission and strategic goal by serving as a fundamental component in strengthening public health systems, enhancing disease surveillance capacities and capabilities, informing evidence-based policies and interventions, and promoting collaboration and coordination among African countries to address health challenges and improve health outcomes on the continent.
The successful implementation of this framework requires collective commitment and concerted efforts from governments, health institutions, and the international community. We hope this document will serve as a catalyst for transformative change, enabling countries to build resilient mortality surveillance systems that protect public health, save lives, and contribute to evidence-based decision-making.
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Rebuilding Liberia’s health system is crucial for improving the country’s overall health outcomes. This annual report highlights key achievements, challenges,and lessons learned in implementing programmes of technical cooperation with the Government of Liberia from January to December 2022. T...he key achievements are summarized under the thematic areas of Universal Health Coverage, Health Emergencies and Corporate and Enabling Support.
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Digital health technology can make health systems more efficient and sustainable, facilitating the provision of high-quality
care across a wide range of contexts and for diverse population health needs. The pace of innovation in digital health is
rapid and constant, with new interventions bein...g developed, implemented, tested and refined against a diversity of contexts,
constraints and challenges to address a variety of health and health system needs.
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