DHS Working Papers No. 113
Traditionally, understanding of the psychiatric and psychological effects of trauma have been developed from studies with adults and then applied to trauma-exposed children with some modifications. While this is an important step to understanding the sequelae of trauma in children and adolescents, t...he adverse developmental effects of traumatic exposures on the rapidly evolving neurological, physical, social and psychological capacities of children calls for a developmentally sensitive framework for understanding, assessing and treating trauma-exposed children.
ournal of Child and Adolescent Mental Health 2013: 1-14
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The World Health Organization's Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office (WHO EMRO) highlights the significant health and social consequences of harmful alcohol use. Excessive alcohol consumption is linked to over 200 diseases and injuries, including liver cirrhosis, pancreatitis, various cancers, hemo...rrhagic stroke, and hypertension. Globally, it results in approximately 3.3 million deaths annually, surpassing fatalities from HIV/AIDS, violence, or tuberculosis. In the Eastern Mediterranean Region, while overall alcohol consumption is low, there is a concerning rise among adolescents and young adults, with patterns of heavy episodic drinking posing significant health risks. In response, the WHO has developed a global strategy to reduce the harmful use of alcohol, aiming to improve health and social outcomes by decreasing disease and death associated with alcohol consumption.
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Poverty and associated health, nutrition, and social factors prevent at least 200 million children in developing countries from attaining their developmental potential. We review the evidence linking compromised development with modifiable biological and psychosocial risks encountered by children fr...om birth to 5 years of age. We identify four key risk factors where the need for intervention is urgent: stunting, inadequate cognitive stimulation, iodine deficiency, and iron deficiency anaemia. The evidence is also sufficient to warrant interventions for malaria, intrauterine growth restriction, maternal depression, exposure to violence, and exposure to heavy metals. We discuss the research needed to clarify the effect of other potential risk factors on child development. The prevalence of the risk factors and their effect on development and human potential are substantial. Furthermore, risks often occur together or cumulatively, with concomitant increased adverse effects on the development of the world's poorest children.
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Globally, 85,000 women and girls were killed intentionally in 2023. 60 per cent of these homicides—51,000—were committed by an intimate partner or other family member. 140 women and girls die every day at the hands of their partner or a close relative, which means one woman or girl is killed eve...ry 10 minutes.
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The far-reaching impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic underscore the critical need for evidence-informed, transparent and inclusive decision-making. Policy-makers have grappled with complex choices amidst uncertainty. They have constantly reassessed response measures while navigating their economic impl...ications and unintended consequences on societal well-being. Effective communication of the basis for these decisions has also posed a challenge, requiring transparency and public trust.
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The report aims to help policy-makers and programme managers identify the areas that need attention and to work towards effective implementation and enforcement of policies and legislations. The need for alcohol policy-specific infrastructures to support the alcohol policy process, including designa...ted responsible agency, policy and strategy, and law and regulation, is also required at the country level.
The report is presented in three sections. Section 1 gives an insight to the alcohol consumption situation in the WHO South-East Asia Region and cites the alcohol-related problems that the Region is facing. Section 2 illustrates the policy situation in the 10 areas of national action identified in the Global Strategy to Reduce the Harmful Use of Alcohol and gives specific recommendations pertaining to these areas. Section 3 provides overall recommendations.
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A Provisional Document. The purpose of this manual is to provide guidance to public health professionals tasked with managing a response to viral hepatitis. As every country’s needs are different with respect to its epidemiology and the current level of response, people would use this manual in di...fferent ways
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PHSM are vital in reducing the risk and scale of infectious disease transmission and lowering hospitalization and deaths. Examples include contact tracing, quarantine and isolation, mask use, ventilation, school or workplace measures, mobility restrictions and travel requirements.
While these mea...sures are essential, decision-making on PHSM becomes particularly complex during rapidly evolving health emergencies, with incomplete information and under significant public and political pressure, especially when the pathogen is novel or poorly understood. In such contexts, guidance needs to be agile and responsive, developed and adapted based on emerging evidence and shifting epidemiological patterns. Decision-makers are frequently confronted with difficult trade-offs, having to balance measures that are:
─ effective but socially disruptive;
─ cost-effective but logistically burdensome;
─ beneficial for public health but economically disruptive; or
─ practical but inequitable or unethical
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The education sector forms an important part of the child protection response in refugee settings, and UNHCR’s Education Strategy (2012-16) reflects a focus on refugee education as a core component of UNHCR’s protection mandate. The right to education for all children also forms part of the Unit...ed Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. UNHCR’s Education Strategy promotes the importance of schools as safe learning environments, emphasises improving access to quality education for refugee children and maximises the protective benefits of participation in school. It advocates for the integration of refugee children into national education systems.
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