22 Sept. 2021
The rapid development of effective Covid-19 vaccines in 2020 gave hope to the world in the darkest days of the deadly pandemic. However, the vaccine roll-out has been massively skewed towards wealthy nations. While rich states have hoarded vaccines, companies have also played a decisi...ve role in restricting fair access to a life-saving health product. This report focuses on six leading vaccine developers, AstraZeneca, BioNTech, Johnson & Johnson, Moderna, Novavax and Pfizer, assessing each company’s human rights policy, pricing structure, records on intellectual property, knowledge and technology sharing, allocation of available vaccine doses and transparency.
Available in Arabic, English, French, German and Spanish
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As the Americas undergo profound demographic change and there are more persons aged 65 years or older than children younger than 5 years, it is crucial to recognize that national immunization programs must be redesigned to ensure comprehensive protection for individuals across the lifespan. By adopt...ing a life course approach (LCA) to immunization, vaccination programs can be tailored to close immunity gaps at different stages of life. The life course approach foresees the establishment of multiple strategies to reduce missed opportunities for vaccination according to age group. This technical document explains the key concepts of the LCA with a focus on immunization by vaccination, as well as the underlying biological mechanisms that require the application different vaccines at different life stages according to changes to the immune system and in the epidemiological situation of a community.
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Rabies is a devastating and societally important zoonotic disease, which is transmitted principally to humans through the bite of infected dogs. This acute, progressive viral encephalitis has the highest case fatality of any infectious disease and kills tens of thousands of people annually, with chi...ldren and impoverished communities being affected disproportionately.
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According to 2014 Census data, almost a third of the population in Myanmar do not have adequate identity and civil documentation. Of these, 54 percent are women.
Women who live in remote or conflict affected areas, who are displaced or belong to stateless ethnic and religious minorities face the... consequences of an insecure legal identity. They cannot enrol their children in school, open a bank account, travel freely or register land.
The report provides an analysis of the gender aspects of citizenship legislation in Myanmar and its application in light of the standards set by the UN Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). It analyses in detail women’s ability to acquire citizenship on an equal basis as men, their ability to acquire, retain or confer citizenship following marriage and their ability to confer citizenship to their children. The report highlights the normative and practical challenges faced by women and proposes ways forward.
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The documents focus on promoting healthier nutrition by addressing issues like sugar, salt, and fat intake, emphasizing their role in non-communicable diseases such as obesity, diabetes, and heart diseases. They include educational tools for children and adults to support balanced diets and public h...ealth strategies to reform food systems and improve dietary habits globally.
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The importance of growing up in a nurturing and supportive family environment cannot be underestimated. Raising children in a warm, loving environment sets them on a positive developmental trajectory for later life success (Biglan et al, 2012). Conversely, children raised in homes with inconsistent ...and harsh parenting or with high levels of conflict can be adversely impacted.
Introduction - Chapter A.12
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Healthy maternal nutrition, exclusive breastfeeding, and optimal infant and young child nutrition are critical for appropriate growth and development, as well as reducing the risk of developing noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), for both mothers and children. On 7–8 November 2018 the WHO Regional Of...fice for Europe convened an international conference of key stakeholders to discuss good practices and share experiences on these important issues.
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Many of the countries in the European Region receiving refugees from Ukraine are already offering vaccination services to children and adults. This is important to mitigate the risk of COVID-19 transmission among people travelling or living in close quarters, to protect the refugees from diseases th...at may be circulating in the host country, and prevent any outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases such as measles and polio.
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For health care providers.
Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest maternal mortality in the world. According to estimates by the United Nations Maternal Mortality Estimation Inter-Agency Group (UN MMEIG)1 in September 2017, while the African Region had recorded a significant decline in maternal mortali...ty rate (MMR) of 37.8% between 2000 and 2017, 66% of the 295 000 maternal deaths reported globally occurred in sub-Saharan Africa. The African Region is also noted to have an extremely high MMR, estimated at 542 per 100000 livebirths, with an average annual rate of reduction of 2.9%.
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Companion to the World Report on Child Injury Prevention 2008
This child-friendly version of the World report on child injury prevention aims to inform children, aged 7 - 11 years, about various types of injuries and how these may be prevented by using a mixture of facts, puzzles,... games and other visual material.
Original file: 24 MB
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A discussion paper on the scope of the problem, its drivers, and strategies for moving forward for policy, practice, and research
In many protracted emergencies, the prevalence rates of global acute malnutrition (GAM) regularly exceed the emergency threshold of > 15% of children with acute malnutri...tion (< -2 weight-for-height z-scores (WHZ) or with nutritional edema), despite ongoing humanitarian interventions. The widespread scale and long-lasting nature of “persistent GAM” means that it is a policy and programming priority.
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The WHO page addresses diarrhoeal diseases, one of the leading causes of death among children under five, which can be prevented through clean water, improved hygiene, and vaccinations. It emphasizes the importance of oral rehydration solutions (ORS) and zinc supplementation for treatment, as well a...s preventive measures like breastfeeding and handwashing. The WHO supports global strategies to reduce diarrhoea-related deaths through education and improved healthcare systems.
Including new recommendations for the use of ORS and zinc Supplementation for Clinic-Based Healthcare Workers.
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EU Policies Contribute to Abuse of Migrants in Libya
This report documents severe overcrowding, unsanitary conditions, malnutrition, and lack of adequate health care. Human Rights Watch found violent abuse by guards in four official detention centers in western Libya, including beatings and whippin...gs. Human Rights Watch witnessed large numbers of children, including newborns, detained in grossly unsuitable conditions in three out of the four detention centers. Almost 20 percent of those who reached Europe by sea from Libya in 2018 were children.
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This report aims to outline the current available knowledge on the health and wellbeing of older persons in the Region of the Americas during the United Nations Decade of Healthy Ageing (2021-2030). It also seeks to guide political actions towards ensuring the human rights of older persons, and desc...ribes the negotiation and drafting process behind the Inter-American Convention on Protecting the Human Rights of Older Persons. It reports on the doctrinal and legal developments that led the Region of the Americas to draft the Convention and describes its action areas and guaranteed rights, as well as the obligations assumed by the States Parties. The Convention is an essential tool to advance the strategies of the Decade of Healthy Ageing. This publication reflects on the importance of having a major legal instrument for this purpose at the international level. The demographic transition in Latin America and the Caribbean will continue to shape the ability of countries and health systems to respond to the needs of the population. Given this reality, international instruments will be needed to guarantee the full enjoyment of the human rights of older persons. In order to design inclusive and sustainable systems, accurate, updated, and effective information is required. The Decade of Healthy Ageing––the initiative that constitutes the framework for this document––is a strategic period in which to focus on data generation and monitoring.
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The document provides detailed guidelines for the production, formulation, and implementation of oral rehydration salts (ORS) to combat dehydration caused by diarrhoea, particularly in children. It focuses on the composition, quality standards, and packaging requirements of ORS, aiming to support na...tional authorities and healthcare providers in ensuring effective and accessible treatment. It also highlights strategies for manufacturing ORS locally while adhering to international health and safety standards.
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The document summarizes the infrastructure and activities for Ebola virus disease (EVD) preparedness that are already in place in the Gambia and identifies opportunities for improvement to strengthen the nation’s readiness in the event of an EVD incident.
Background paper for the Oslo Summit on Education for Development.
This paper covers the four topics of the Oslo Summit: investment in education, quality of learning, education in emergencies and girls’ education. Disability continues to be one of the primary causes of educational disadvantage a...nd exclusion,
creating the largest single group of girls and boys who remain out of school. Even in those countries
close to achieving universal primary enrolment, children with disabilities are still not in school,accessing opportunities to meaningful employment and on sustainable routes out of poverty
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Every year, nearly 250 million people move across borders temporarily or permanently for a job opportunity, studying, to flee a crisis back home, or for other reasons. Another 750 million move for similar reasons within the borders of their countries. With the understanding that human mobility affec...ts public health, and health affects human mobility and migrants, for decades, IOM has been providing critical health services to women, children and men on the move, while standing by governments for technical and operational support as needed. In 2019, in lower-income settings and in complex emergencies, along the world’s most perilous migration routes, in the aftermath of natural disasters or in response to disease outbreaks, IOM’s health teams have provided hundreds of thousands with primary health-care consultations, mental health and psychosocial support, sexual and reproductive health care, pre-migration health services, and much more.
This year, more than ever before, as the world reels from the socioeconomic impact of COVID-19, we have experienced that health is a cross-cutting component of overall human development and well-being.
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These consolidated guidelines on HIV testing services (HTS) bring together existing and new guidance on HTS across different settings and populations.
The World Health Organization (WHO) first released consolidated guidelines on HTS in 2015, in response to requests from Member States, national pr...ogramme managers and health workers for support to achieve the United Nations (UN) 90–90–90 global HIV targets – and specifically the first target of diagnosing 90% of all people with HIV. In 2016, based on new evidence, WHO released a supplement to address important new HIV testing approaches – HIV self-testing (HIVST) and provider-assisted referral.
Since the release of 2015 and 2016 HTS guidelines, new issues and more evidence have emerged. To address this, WHO has updated guidance on HIV testing services. In this guideline, WHO updates recommendation on HIVST and provides new recommendations on social network-based HIV testing approaches and western blotting (see box, next page). This guideline seeks to provide support to Member States, programme managers, health workers and other stakeholders seeking to achieve national and international goals to end the HIV epidemic as a public health threat by 2030.
These guidelines also provide operational guidance on HTS demand creation and messaging; implementation considerations for priority populations; HIV testing strategies for diagnosis HIV; optimizing the use of dual HIV/syphilis rapid diagnostic tests; and considerations for strategic planning and rationalizing resources such as optimal time points for maternal retesting
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R4D conducted a thorough desk review and qualitative fiscal space analysis, 19 interviews about financing for the three diseases and the extent of alignment between public financial management systems and health policy objectives, and a validation workshop with government officials.
Tanzania’...s disease response faces a triple transition challenge: replacing donor funding, closing the resource gap that would exist even with donor funding, and more efficiently delivering on disease response objectives.
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