The progressive development of peoples is an object of deep interest and concern to the Church. This is particularly true in the case of those peoples who are trying to escape the ravages of hunger, poverty, endemic disease and ignorance; of those who are seeking a larger share in the benefits of ci...vilization and a more active improvement of their human qualities; of those who are consciously striving for fuller growth.
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The study on health facility preparedness for cholera outbreak response in Cameroon evaluates the ability of healthcare facilities in four cholera-prone districts to manage cholera outbreaks. The findings highlight significant weaknesses, including limited surveillance systems, inadequate access to ...water, poor sanitation, and lack of essential medical supplies such as Oral Rehydration Solution (ORS) and cholera case management guidelines. Many health facilities also lacked trained personnel and proper waste disposal systems, increasing the risk of disease spread within healthcare centers. The study underscores the urgent need for improved hygiene infrastructure, better training, and resource allocation to enhance outbreak response and reduce cholera-related mortality.
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Parasite Epidemiology and Control Volume 27, November 2024, e00380
The planning and implementation of intervention measures against schistosomiasis, particularly mass administration, require knowledge of the current status of the infection. This is important for monitoring the impact of the interve...ntion on disease indicators such as a decline in infection prevalence, intensity of infection, and urogenital morbidities. Following repeated rounds of mass treatment in northwestern Tanzania, the epidemiology of urogenital schistosomiasis has changed; thus, for the effective planning and allocation of resources, it is important to understand the current status of the disease in the targeted groups
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This report challenges policy-makers and political leaders to tackle fossil fuel production and consumption as a health control issue, in the same way that smoking has been reduced and regulated. Fossil fuel combustion is a major source of toxic air pollution that kills 7 million people every year, ...almost the same as the number of deaths caused by tobacco smoking.
In 2018, the World Health Organization (WHO) recognised air pollution as a major health risk factor. There is widespread public discussion about the effects of fossil fuel combustion and emissions on climate change… but what about the effect on our health? Climate change poses a threat not only to the health of the planet, but also to humans.
The case studies evaluated in this report offer examples of mechanisms that can be used to restrict the production and consumption of unhealthy commodities, so that the health, air pollution and climate communities can learn from one another, using shared approaches and language. These case studies show that the connection with health is a strong argument to support sustainable change.
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The present Consolidated guidelines include a comprehensive set of WHO recommendations for the treatment and care of DR-TB, derived from these WHO guidelines documents. The consolidated guidelines include policy recommendations on treatment regimens for isoniazid-resistant TB (Hr-TB) and MDR/RR-TB, ...including longer and shorter regimens, culture monitoring of patients on treatment, the timing of antiretroviral therapy (ART) in MDR/RR-TB patients infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), use of surgery for patients receiving MDR-TB treatment, and optimal models of patient support and care.
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In this version of the compendium, each guidance is coded using the International Classification of Health Interventions (ICHI).
The compendium provides a systematic compilation of published guidance from WHO and other UN organizations on health and environment. Guidance on policies and actions a...s well as awareness raising and capacity building interventions is presented for all major areas of health and environment. Guidance referring to priority settings for action such as cities and other urban settlements, housing, workplaces and health care facilities is also listed. For greater practical relevance, each guidance is classified according to principally involved sectors, level of implementation and instruments for implementation.
The compilation of guidance for each area of health and environment or priority setting for action is accompanied, as available, by information on main sources, exposure assessment and existing guideline values. Important tools and further resources are presented alongside.
This compilation of published guidance on health and environment highlights that a large number of actions across main topics of health and environment, concerning various sectors, and applicable to various levels are available to improve health and reduce environmental risks. This compendium is intended to serve as a repository and easy-to-use and useful resource for decision and policy makers in health and environment at various levels.
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Prevention, early diagnosis, and effective treatment are essential for the control and elimination of Neisseria gonorrhoeae as a public health problem. Currently, in Latin America and the Caribbean, treatment for gonorrhea infection is largely empiric and based on clinical diagnosis. In the Americas..., the high burden of new N. gonorrhoeae infections (estimated at 11 million new cases a year), the complexity of the disease epidemiology, and in many countries the limited resources, make it difficult to fully understand the burden of disease and the burden of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in N. gonorrhoeae.
PAHO has developed this document to facilitate the navigation of available guidance and recommendations for N. gonorrhoeae AMR surveillance by public health and health care professionals, at the national and subnational levels, involved in designing, implementing, and/or strengthening AMR surveillance of N. gonorrhoeae and overall surveillance of sexually transmitted infections.
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The World Health Organization’s comprehensive antenatal care (ANC) guideline WHO recommendations on antenatal care for a positive pregnancy experience was published in 2016 with the objective of improving the quality of routine health care that all women and adolescent girls receive during pregnan...cy. The overarching principle – to provide pregnant service users with a positive pregnancy experience – aims to encourage countries to expand their health-care agendas beyond survival, with a view to maximizing health, human rights and the potential of their populations. Recognizing that ANC provides a strategic platform for important health-care functions, including health promotion and disease prevention, 14 out of the 49 recommendations in the WHO 2016 ANC guideline relate to nutrition in pregnancy.
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Many features of the environment have been found to exert an important influence on cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk, progression, and severity. Changes in the environment due to migration to different geographic locations, modifications in lifestyle choices, and shifts in social policies and cultu...ral practices alter CVD risk, even in the absence of genetic changes. Nevertheless, the cumulative impact of the environment on CVD risk has been difficult to assess
and the mechanisms by which some environment factors influence CVD remain obscure. Human environments are complex; and their natural, social and personal domains are highly variable due to diversity in human ecosystems, evolutionary histories, social structures, and individual choices. Accumulating evidence supports the notion that ecological features such as the diurnal cycles of
light and day, sunlight exposure, seasons, and geographic characteristics of the natural environment such altitude, latitude and greenspaces are important determinants of cardiovascular health and CVD risk. In highly developed societies, the influence of the natural environment is moderated by the physical characteristics of the social environments such as the built environment
and pollution, as well as by socioeconomic status and social networks. These attributes of the
social environment shape lifestyle choices that significantly modify CVD risk. An understanding
of how different domains of the environment, individually and collectively, affect CVD risk could
lead to a better appraisal of CVD, and aid in the development of new preventive and therapeutic
strategies to limit the increasingly high global burden of heart disease and stroke.
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Mpox is an emerging zoonotic disease caused by the mpox virus, a member of the Orthopoxvirus genus closely related to the variola virus that causes smallpox. Mpox was first discovered in 1958 when outbreaks of a pox-like disease occurred in monkeys kept for research. The first human case was recorde...d in 1970 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) during a period of intensified effort to eliminate smallpox and since then the infection has been reported in a number of African countries. Mpox can spread in humans through close contact, usually skin-to-skin contact, including sexual contact, with an infected person or animal, as well as with materials contaminated with the virus such as clothing, beddings and towels, and respiratory droplets in prolonged face to face contact. People remain infectious from the onset of symptoms until all the lesions have scabbed and healed. The virus may spread from infected animals through handling infected meat or through bites or scratches. Diagnosis is confirmed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing of material from a lesion for the virus’s DNA. Two separate clades of the mpox virus are currently circulating in Africa: Clade I, which includes subclades Ia and Ib, and Clade II, comprising subclades IIa and IIb. Clade Ia and Clade Ib have been associated with ongoing human-to-human transmission and are presently responsible for outbreaks in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), while Clade Ib is also contributing to outbreaks in Burundi and other countries.
In 2022‒2023 mpox caused a global outbreak in over 110 countries, most of which had no previous history of the disease, primarily driven by human-to-human transmission of clade II through sexual contact. In just over a year, over 90,000 cases and 150 deaths were reported to the WHO. For the second time since 2022, mpox has been declared a global health emergency as the virus spreads rapidly across the African continent. On 13 Aug 2024, Africa CDC declared the ongoing mpox outbreak a Public Health Emergency of Continental Security (PHECS), marking the first such declaration by the agency since its inception in 2017.7 This declaration empowered the Africa CDC to lead and coordinate responses to the mpox outbreak across affected African countries. On August 14, 2024, the WHO declared the resurgence of mpox a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) emphasizing the need for coordinated international response.
As of August 2024, Mpox has expanded beyond its traditional endemic regions, with new cases reported in countries including Sweden, Thailand, the Philippines, and Pakistan. Sweden has confirmed its first case of Clade 1 variant, which has been rapidly spreading in Africa, particularly in DRC. The emergence of this new variant raises concerns about its potential for higher lethality and transmission rates outside Africa.
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West Africa is experiencing the largest, most severe, most complex outbreak of Ebola virus disease in history. On 11 August 2014, WHO convened a consultation where the participants concluded that in the particular context of the current Ebola outbreak in West Africa, it is ethically acceptable to of...fer unproven interventions that have shown promising results in the laboratory and in animal models but have not yet been evaluat-
ed for safety and efficacy in humans as potential treatment or prevention
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Safe sanitation is essential for health, from preventing infections to improving and maintaining mental and social
well-being. Lack of adequate sanitation contributes to diarrhoeal diseases, parasitic infections, and undernutrition, as
well as posing significant risks and causing anxiety, especial...ly for women and girls. Achieving universal access to safe
sanitation, which protects health, privacy, and dignity, is a global development goal and a recognized basic human right.
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The Federal Ministry of Health (FMOH) has been coordinating sector wide reforms that aim to improve equity and quality of maternal and child health services. As part of these efforts, the ministry is also exerting concerted efforts to improve availability and use of quality... RMNCH pharmaceuticals. Management of RMNCH pharmaceuticals has had significant challenges such as poor availability of essential pharmaceuticals and wastages of valuable resources as pharmacy professionals were not demonstrating the required knowledge, skill and attitude towards availing the pharmaceuticals and ensuring their rational medicine use.
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Briefing Note 8.
Ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA) is a strategy for adapting to the adverse impacts of climate change by harnessing nature and the services it can provide. This strategy is crucial for cities and peri-urban areas, threatened by a multitude of climate hazards and home to more than ha...lf the human population as of 2018. Despite some outmigration from the largest cities during the COVID-19 pandemic, urbanization will continue, and by 2035, 62.5 percent of the world’s population is expected to reside in urban areas. However, given the need to retrofit, replace and upgrade deteriorating urban infrastructure, and to meet the challenges of climate change, including the urban heat island effect, droughts and more intense flooding, many experts and policymakers see in these demands an opportunity to reinvent cities as greener, less prone to pandemics, and more liveable.
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This report includes six case studies from 12 individuals with lived experience of diverse health conditions. These case studies explore the topics of power dynamics and power reorientation towards individuals with lived experience; informed decision-making and health literacy; community engagement ...across broader health networks and health systems; lived experience as evidence and expertise; exclusion and the importance of involving groups that are marginalized; and advocacy and human rights.
It is the first publication in the WHO Intention to action series, which aims to enhance the limited evidence base on the impact of meaningful engagement and address the lack of standardized approaches on how to operationalise meaningful engagement. The Intention to action series aims to do this by providing a platform from which individuals with lived experience, and organizational and institutional champions, can share solutions, challenges and promising practices related to this cross-cutting agenda. The Intention to action series also aims to provide powerful narratives,inspiration and evidence towards the Fourth United Nations High Level Meeting on NCDs in 2025 and achieving the 2030 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
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Background Unrest in Chile over inequalities has underscored the need to improve public hospitals. Nursing has been overlooked as a solution to quality and access concerns, and nurse staffing is poor by international standards. Using Chile’s new diagnosis-related groups system and surveys of nurse...s and patients, we provide information to policy makers on feasibility, net costs, and estimated improved outcomes associated with increasing nursing resources in public hospitals.
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In 2017, $37.4 billion of development assistance was provided to low- and middleincome countries to maintain or improve health. This amount is down slightly compared to 2016, and since 2010, development assistance for health (DAH) has grown at an annualized rate of 1.0%. While global development ass...istance for health has seemingly leveled off, global health spending continues to climb, outpacing economic growth in many countries. Total health spending for 2015, the most recent year for which data are available, was estimated to be $9.7 trillion (95% uncertainty interval: 9.7–9.8)*, up 4.7% (3.9–5.6) from the prior year, and accounted for 10% of the world’s total economy. With some sources of health spending growing and other types remaining steady, and with major variations in spending from country to country, it is more important than ever to understand where resources for health come from, where they go, and how they align with health needs. This information is critical for planning and is a necessary catalyst for change as we aim to close the gap on the unfinished agenda of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and move forward toward universal health coverage (UHC) in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) era.
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A manual for health care providers.
This manual provides expert guidance on the laboratory techniques and procedures used in the diagnosis of Buruli ulcer, a disease caused by Mycobacterium ulcerans. Aimed at laboratory technicians and scientists working on this disease, the manual details the exac...t procedures to follow when performing a range of diagnostic tests. Recommended procedures, intended for use throughout the health system, are presented at levels appropriate for peripheral, district and central services and in accordance with the varying resources, skills and equipment typically found in countries where Buruli ulcer is endemic.
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The United Nations (UN) adopted a new international legal instrument in November 2000, the UN Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children, supplementing the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime. This contained a new definition of traf...ficking in persons and more particularly defined what was to be understood by child trafficking. The issue of human trafficking in general, and trafficking in children in particular, was highly relevant during the subsequent decade and anti-trafficking projects and initiatives attracted a great deal of funding. However, by the end of the decade, when funding declined, it was still not clear how much had been achieved.
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Better Parenting Nigeria is a parenting education program whose goal is to see that families have the knowledge and skills needed to raise healthy, safe and resilient children. The program aims to ensure that:
The caregiver-child relationship is strengthened;
Caregiver capacity to understa...nd family needs and access resources and services is
increased; and
Caregiver capacity to protect children from all forms of harm and exploitation is
improved.
This Facilitator’s Manual is for the facilitator to use to support the community discussions, provide targeted messaging, and recommend suggestions for knowledge and experience sharing. It should be used hand-in-hand with the Community Discussion Guide.
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