Climate change presents the single biggest threat to human development, and its widespread impacts disproportionately burden the poorest and most vulnerable households in fragile and rural developing contexts – particularly women and children.
According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate C...hange’s (IPCC) latest report, ‘between 2010 and 2020, droughts, floods and storms killed 15 times as many people in highly vulnerable countries, particularly in Africa — which is responsible for less than 3 percent of global emissions – than in the wealthiest countries’.
Recognising environmental degradation and climate change are key accelerators of extreme child vulnerability, World Vision (WV) approved the Environmental Stewardship Management Policy (‘the Policy’) and Guidelines (‘the Guidelines’) in 2021.
To support the implementation of the Policy and Guidelines, WV has developed this Environmental Stewardship and Climate Action Handbook (‘the Handbook’) to help offices across the WV Partnership implement best practice environmental management strategies both in the field and in our operations and facilities.
Integrating environmental stewardship and climate action into all our work – whether that be in our Area Programmes, grant projects, responses to disasters or advocacy – is critical to achieving WV’s strategy.
As a Christian organisation we are compelled to follow the ways of Jesus Christ, calling us to care for the ‘least of these’ (Matthew 25:40) – the vulnerable children who are disproportionately impacted by climate change. Our response to the degradation of the environment is not motivated by political expediency or funding – but because we are called to steward God’s creation (Genesis 1:28).
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To assess national-level responses to NCDs, WHO has implemented NCD country capacity surveys periodically since 2001. This report is the latest in that series. Since the first survey round, the NCD Country Capacity Survey (NCD CCS) has been conducted a further seven times, most recently in 2021. In ...the survey, completed by the NCD focal point within each country’s ministry of health or similar agency, countries are asked to report on the following topics relating to NCDs: (i) public health infrastructure, partnerships and multisectoral collaboration; (ii) policies, strategies and action plans; (iii) health information systems and surveillance; (iv) health system capacity for detection, treatment and care; and, added for 2021, (v) the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on NCD-related resources and activities. The questionnaire is web-based and requires supporting documentation wherever possible. In the 2021 round, data were collected from May onwards, with the last survey responses arriving in September. Validation was carried out by WHO regional offices and WHO headquarters. Country responses to previous rounds of the survey were incorporated into the analysis to assess progress since 2010. Although all 194 Member States responded to the survey, data comparisons were restricted to the 160 countries that had responded to all rounds of the survey since 2010.
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Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) has emerged as a leading cause of death in the African region, surpassing fatalities from malaria, HIV, and TB. In response to this critical threat, the region has adopted the AMR Global Action Plan and the African Union Framework for Antimicrobial Resistance Control 2...020 – 2025, which is tailored to meet the specific needs of African nations through a coordinated approach. While most countries in the region have developed and prioritized National Action Plans (NAPs) to tackle AMR, the overall response remains inadequate given the magnitude of the threat, which endangers human, animal, environmental, aquatic, and plant health.
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The Mental Health Atlas, released every three years, is a compilation of data provided by countries around the world on mental health policies, legislation, financing, human resources, availability and utilization of services and data collection systems. It serves as a guide for countries for the de...velopment and planning of mental health services. The Mental Health Atlas 2020 includes information and data on the progress made towards achieving mental health targets for 2020 set by the global health community and included in WHO’s Comprehensive Mental Health Action Plan. It includes data on newly-added indicators on service coverage, mental health integration into primary health care, preparedness for the provision of mental health and psychosocial support in emergencies and research on mental health. It also includes new targets for 2030.
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Confronted with the important issue of patient safety, in 2002 the Fifty-fifth World Health Assembly adopted a resolution urging countries to pay the closest possible attention to the problem and to strengthen safety and monitoring systems. In May 2004, the Fifty-seventh World Health Assembly approv...ed the creation of an international alliance as a global initiative to improve patient safety. The World Alliance for Patient Safety was launched in October 2004 and currently has its place in the WHO Patient Safety programme included in the Information, Evidence and Research Cluster.
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This report is primarily intended for the community of policymakers and researchers concerned about the rising risks of domestic, regional, and global infectious disease epidemics, and the collective failure to take the coordinated actions required to reduce such risks. These risks include the expec...ted health, economic, and societal costs that are borne by countries, regions, and even all nations in the case of pandemics (which are worldwide epidemics). These risks also include the consequences of increasing antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and its spread within regions and globally. A necessary first step is to monitor whether a broad range of stakeholders are acting to prevent outbreaks from becoming epidemics, whether their capacities to respond to epidemics are robust, and whether preparedness to respond to pandemics and limit the resulting economic and health damage is improving. Analyzing the adequacy of these efforts is vitally important for the decisions of policymakers to invest in the public health and disaster-risk management capacities. Early and effective control of disease outbreaks prevents substantial health and economic costs whether or not the disease can spread globally and become a pandemic.
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Reporting on Climate Change and Sustainable Development in Asia and the Pacific: A Handbook for Journalists.
UNESCO Series on Journalism education.
It explores the essential aspects of climate change, including its injustices to vulnerable communities, especially women and girls and least develope...d countries, and provides examples of best practices and stories of hope unique to the region. It can be used as a resource for journalists to understand the science of climate change, as well as helping journalists to improve their reporting of the environmental, social, economic, political, technological and other angles of the story
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This fourth annual report monitors global progress towards the 2023 target for global elimination of industrially produced trans-fatty acids (TFA), highlighting achievements during the past year (October 2021 – September 2022). Countries are responding to the World Health Organization (WHO) call t...o action by putting into place best-practice TFA policies. Mandatory TFA policies are currently in effect for 3.4 billion people in 60 countries (43% of the world population); of these, 43 countries have best-practice policies in effect, covering 2.8 billion people (36% of the world population).
Over the past year, several additional countries took action to eliminate industrially produced TFA: best-practice policies came into effect in India in January 2022, Uruguay in May 2022 and Oman in July 2022. Best-practice policies were passed in Bangladesh in November 2021 (to come into effect in December 2022) and in Ukraine in September 2020 (to come into effect in October 2023), best-practice TFA policies are projected to pass soon in Mexico, Nigeria and Sri Lanka.
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Ensuring mental health and well-being has become a worldwide imperative and an important target of the Sustainable Development Goals. But in all countries around the world, our response has been woefully insufficient, and we have made
little progress to advance mental health as a fundamental human ...right.
One in ten people are affected by a mental health condition, up to 200 million people have an intellectual disability and an estimated 50 million people have dementia. Many persons with mental health conditions, or psychosocial, intellectual, or cognitive disabilities lack access to quality mental health services that respond to their needs and respect their rights and dignity.
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One of the first steps in developing a multisectoral action plan (MSAP) is to use a situation analysis to provide a comprehensive assessment of the health needs, prevailing risks and the context of the area to which the plan will apply. This will help countries, regions, provinces or cities intendi...ng to create a multisectoral action plan to align with the global commitments on targeting the four major NCDs: cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer and chronic respiratory diseases.
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Addressing comorbidities and risk factors for tuberculosis (TB) is a crucial component of the World Health Organization (WHO)’s End TB Strategy. This WHO operational handbook on tuberculosis. Module 6: tuberculosis and comorbidities aims to support countries in scaling up people-centred care, ...based on the latest WHO recommendations on TB and key comorbidities, and drawing upon additional evidence, best practices and inputs from various experts and stakeholders obtained during WHO processes. It is intended for use by people working in ministries of health, particularly TB programmes and the relevant departments or programmes responsible for comorbidities and health-related risk factors for TB such as HIV, diabetes, undernutrition, substance use, and tobacco use, as well as programmes addressing mental health and lung health.
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The Quadripartite organizations have developed the One Health Priority Research Agenda for AMR report, this is a joint initiative to assist in directing and catalysing scientific interest and financial investments for the priority research agenda across sectors for countries and funding bodies. The ...research agenda also serves as a guide to mitigate One Health AMR that will help policymakers, researchers, and a multidisciplinary scientific community work together on solutions to prevent and mitigate AMR within the One Health approach.
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31 Janaury 2021
SCORE for health data technical package. The first global assessment on the status and capacity of health information systems in 133 countries, covering 87% of the global population.
It identifies gaps and provides guidance for investment in areas that can have the greatest impact ...on the quality, availability, analysis, accessibility and use of health data.
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The larval stage of the parasite Taenia solium can encyst in the central nervous system causing neurocysticercosis, which is the main cause of acquired epilepsy in the countries in which the parasite is endemic. Endemic areas are those with the presence (or likely presence) of the full life cycle of... Taenia solium. The parasite is most prevalent in poor and vulnerable communities in which pigs roam free, open defecation is practiced, basic sanitation is deficient, and health education is absent or limited. Several tools are available for the control of Taenia solium. Preventive chemotherapy for Taenia solium taeniasis, which is directed at the adult tapeworm, is one of them. Other tools focus on pig management, pig vaccination and treatment, sanitation and hygiene, and community education. Three potential drugs—niclosamide, praziquantel, and albendazole—have been considered for use for preventive chemotherapy in Taenia solium taeniasis control programs through mass drug administration or targeted chemotherapy. In this Guideline, we provide recommendations for preventive chemotherapy in Taenia solium-endemic areas using niclosamide, praziquantel, or albendazole, including at which dose and in which population groups.
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Environmental Research Volume 151, November 2016, Pages 115-123
Dengue is the world’s most important arboviral disease in terms of number of people affected. Over the past 50 years, incidence increased 30-fold: there were approximately 390 million infections in 2010. Globalization, trade, travel,... demographic trends, and warming temperatures are associated with the recent spread of the primary vectors Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus and of dengue. Overall, models project that new geographic areas along the fringe of current geographic ranges for Aedes will become environmentally suitable for the mosquito’s lifecycle, and for dengue transmission. Many endemic countries where dengue is likely to spread further have underdeveloped health systems, increasing the substantial challenges of disease prevention and control. Control focuses on management of Aedes, although these efforts have typically had limited effectiveness in preventing outbreaks. New prevention and control efforts are needed to counter the potential consequences of climate change on the geographic range and incidence of dengue, including novel methods of vector control and dengue vaccines.
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The World Health Organization and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria are part of a group of agencies working together to accelerate progress towards the health-related SDGs through the Global Action Plan for Healthy Lives and Well-being for All. Understanding patterns of inequal...ities in these diseases is essential for taking strategic, evidence-informed action to realize our shared vision of ending the epidemics of HIV, TB and malaria.
This report presents the first comprehensive analysis of the magnitude and patterns of socioeconomic, demographic and geographic inequalities in disease burden and access to services for prevention and treatment.
The results confirm there have been improvements in service coverage and decreased disease burden at the national level over the past decade. But they also reveal an uncomfortable reality: unfair inequalities between population subgroups within countries are widespread and have remained largely unchanged over the past decade. For some disease indicators, inequalities are even worsening.
Moreover, the report points to the persistent lack of available data to fully understand inequality patterns in HIV, TB and malaria. Collecting data to improve the monitoring of inequalities in these diseases is vital to develop targeted responses for impact.
There are, encouragingly, isolated successes in reducing inequities. Change is possible when deliberate action is taken to reach disadvantaged populations.
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The environment in which young people live, learn and play significantly affects their decisions about whether to consume alcohol. Environmental factors are the main risk factors driving alcohol consumption and related harm among young people. Environments that normalize alcohol consumption – term...ed alcogenic environments – include contexts with unregulated advertising and marketing of alcoholic beverages, higher alcohol outlet density, products designed to facilitate affordability and low prices of alcoholic beverages. A recent body of research evidence has emerged related to the measurement, functional significance and consequences of living in alcogenic environments. This includes findings on the complex and bidirectional interactions among alcohol acceptability, availability and affordability and how they create and perpetuate alcogenic environments. Comprehensive and enforced alcohol control policies are effective at delaying the age of onset and lowering alcohol prevalence and frequency among young people. Evidence consistently confirms the effectiveness of designing and implementing alcohol control policies that regulate upstream the drivers of alcogenic environment, including alcohol availability, acceptability and affordability. These policies need to be multipronged and address the complex interactions between these drivers and the local alcohol culture
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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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One of the most important ways we feel we can help to reduce the burden of cancer in Africa is to work with African cancer advocacy organisations to help educate and advocate about cancer in their countries. To this end in 2010 we designed with our partners, 13 posters for use in Africa
giving heal...th and lifestyle tips on how to avoid cancer and highlighting the early warning sign and symptoms of common cancers in Africa
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Providing quality, stigma-free services is essential to equitable health care for all and achieving global HIV goals and broader Sustainable Development Goals related to health. Every person has the right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health. Countries have a legal obliga...tion to develop and implement legislation and policies that guarantee universal access to quality health services and address the root causes of health disparities, including poverty, stigma and discrimination.
The health sector is uniquely placed to lead in addressing inequity, assuring safe personcentred care for everyone and improving social determinants of health by overcoming taboos and discriminatory or stigmatizing behaviours associated with HIV, viral hepatitis and sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Improving health care quality and reducing stigma work together to enhance health outcomes for people living with HIV. Together, they make health care services more accessible, trustworthy and supportive. This encourages early diagnosis, consistent treatment and improved mental well-being. Thus, people living with HIV are more likely to engage with and benefit from health care services, leading to improved overall health.
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