the aid library

Health emergency preparedness for imported cases of high-consequence infectious diseases

European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ecdc) (2022) C_CDC

Preparedness planning is essential in order to respond effectively to outbreaks, including single case occurrences of highconsequence infectious diseases (HCID), such as the importation of a viral haemorrhagic fever (VHF) case

Community health workers’ efforts to build health system trust in marginalised communities: a qualitative study from South Africa

Watkins, J:W.; F. Griffiths, and J. Goudge BMJ Open (2021) C1

Community health workers (CHWs) enable marginalised communities, often experiencing structural poverty, to access healthcare. Trust, important in all patient–provider relationships, is difficult to build in such communities, particularly when sti ... more

Liberia: Investment Plan for Building a Resilient Health System 2015-2021

Ministry of Health, Government of Liberia (2015) C1

Introducing One Health to the ethical debate about zoonontic diseases in Southeast Asia

Capps, B.; M.M. Bailey, D. Bickford et al. Bioethics (2015) CC

Bioethics 519 (online) doi:10.1111/bioe.12145 Volume 29 Number 8 2015 pp. 488–596; Pandemic plans recommend phases of response to an emergent infectious disease (EID) outbreak, and are primarily aimed at preventing and mitigating human-to-human transmission. These plans carry presumptive weight ... more

Conference "lessons learned for public health from the Ebola outbreak in West Africa – how to improve preparedness and response in the EU for future outbreaks"

European Commission, Government of Luxembourg (2016) C1

- Conference summary report

WHO guidance to protect health from climate change through health adaptation planning

World Health Organization WHO (2014) C_WHO

This guidance document is designed to ensure that the process of iteratively managing the health risks of climate change is integrated into the overall National Adaptation Planning (NAP) process, including through assessing risks; identifying, prior ... more

Africa’s Health Financing in a New Era

Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) (2025) CC

Africa’s health sector is facing an unprecedented financing crisis, driven by a sharp decline of 70% in Official Development Assistance (ODA) from 2021 to 2025 and deep-rooted structural vulnerabilities. This collapse is placing immense pressure o ... n Africa’s already fragile health systems as ODA is seen as the backbone of critical health programs: pandemic preparedness, maternal and child health services, disease control programs are all at risk, threatening Sustainable Development Goal 3 and Universal Health Coverage. Compounding this is Africa’s spiraling debt, with countries expected to service USD 81 billion by 2025—surpassing anticipated external financing inflows—further eroding fiscal space for health investments. Level of domestic resources is low. TThe Abuja Declaration of 2001, a pivotal commitment made by African Union (AU) member states, aimed to reverse this trend by pledging to allocate at least 15% of national budgets to the health sector. However, more than two decades later, only three countries—Rwanda, Botswana, and Cabo Verde—have consistently met or exceeded this target (WHO, 2023). In contrast, over 30 AU member states remain well below the 10% benchmark, with some allocating as little as 5–7% of their national budgets to health. In addition, only 16 (29%) of African countries currently have updated versions of National Health Development Plan (NHDP) supported by a National Health Financing Plan (NHFP). These two documents play a critical role in driving internal resource mobilisation. At the same time, public health emergencies are surging, rising 41%—from 152 in 2022 to 213 in 2024—exposing severe under-resourcing of health infrastructure and workforce. Recurring outbreaks (Mpox, Ebola, cholera, measles, Marburg…) alongside effects of climate change and humanitarian crises in Eastern DRC, the Sahel, and Sudan, are overwhelming systems stretched by chronic underfunding. The situation is worsened by Africa’s heavy dependency with over 90% of vaccines, medicines, and diagnostics being externally sourced—leaving countries vulnerable to global supply chain shocks. Health worker shortages persist, with only 2.3 professionals per 1,000 people (below the WHO’s recommended 4.45), and fewer than 30% of systems are digitized, undermining disease surveillance and early warning. Without decisive action, Africa CDC projects the continent could reverse two decades of health progress, face 2 to 4 million additional preventable deaths annually, and a heightened risk of a pandemic emerging from within. Furthermore, 39 million more Africans could be pushed into poverty by 2030 due to intertwined health and economic shocks. This is not just a sectoral crisis—it is an existential threat to Africa’s political, social, and economic resilience, and global stability. In response, African leaders, under Africa CDC’s stewardship, are advancing a comprehensive three-pillar strategy centered on domestic resource mobilization, innovative financing, and blended finance. more

Evolution and effectiveness of bilateral and multilateral development assistance for health: a mixed-methods review of trends and strategic shifts (1990–2022)

Xie S., Du S., Huang Y., et al. BMJ Global Health (2025) CC

Development assistance for health (DAH) plays a vital role in supporting health programmes in lowand middle-income countries. While DAH has historically focused on infectious diseases and maternal ... more

Health for All – transforming economies to deliver what matters: Final report of the WHO Council on the Economics of Health for All

World Health Organization (WHO) (2023) CC

The Council was established in late 2020 by Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (Director-General, WHO) to provide new economic thinking – reassessing how health and wellbeing are valued, produced and distributed across the economy. An all-female group ... more

The National Tuberculosis Health Sector Strategic Plan 2015-2020
recommended

Bonsu FA, Hanson-Nortey NN, Afutu FK et al. Ghana, Ministry of Health (2014) C1

The mandate of the National Tuberculosis Control Programme is to provide leadership and stewardship to accelerate intense and coordinated efforts to reduce the adult TB burden of 290 per 100,000 population recently established in the 2013 National TB Prevalence Survey. Other key challenges are low T ... more

Effective Implementation of Public Health and Social Measures in Guinea: Situational Analysis

WHO; Africa CDC; World Economic Forum et al. PERC (2020) C_WHO

PERC produces regional and member state situation analyses, updated regularly.

Guidelines on sanitation and health
recommended

World Health Organization WHO (2018) C_WHO

The new WHO Guidelines on Sanitation and Health summarize the evidence on the effectiveness of a range of sanitation interventions and provide a comprehensive framework for health-protecting sanitat ... more

International Maternal & Child Health Care - A practical manual for hospitals worldwide

Maternal & Childhealth Advocacy International (MCAI) , Advanced Life Support Group (ALSG) Radcliffe (2015) C2

The purpose of adding the books to the website of MCAI for download, is to make this life-saving, up-to-date information available to all who need it. Fill in a short registration field and you can download the pdf-files. If you work in a hospital in a low income country - providing free care - y ... more

Improving Health and Reducing Poverty. Disease Control Priorities, Third Edition : Volume 9.

Jamison, Dean T.; Gelband, Hellen; Horton, Susan, et al. World Bank (2017) CC

As the culminating volume in the DCP3 series, volume 9 will provide an overview of DCP3 findings and methods, a summary of messages and substantive lessons to be taken from DCP3, and a further discussion of cross-cutting and synthesizing topics across the first eight volumes. The introductory chapte ... more

Youth-centred digital health digital health interventions

World Health Organization WHO (2020) C_WHO

A framework for planning, developing and implementing solutions with and for young people. The guidance presented in this document is intended for digital health intervention designers, developers, implementers, researchers and funders. Newcomers t ... more

Health in the green economy : health co-benefits of climate change mitigation - transport sector

World Health Organization (WHO) (2012) C_WHO

The threat climate change poses to health, equity, and development has been rigorously documented. However, in an era marked by economic crisis, regional conflicts, natural disasters and growing disparities between rich and poor, the joint global ac ... more

Healthy planet, healthy people. Understanding the relationship between human health and natural systems

World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) (2022) C2

Human activities are driving fundamental changes to the biosphere and disrupting many of our planet’s natural systems. There is increasing scientific evidence that the unfolding climate crisis, global pollution, unprecedented levels of biodiversity loss, and pervasive changes in land use and cover ... more

Developing and Strengthening Community Health Worker Programs at Scale, A Reference Guide for Program Managers and Policy Makers

USAID, MCHIP (2013) CC

Recently, a renewed interest in large-scale community health worker (CHW) programs has been seen globally. This renewal provides an opportune moment to take stock of issues and challenges such programs face and what can be done to make them as effec ... more

Security Risk Management and Religion: Faith and secularism in humanitarian assistance

Hodgson, L. et al. ; European Interagency Security Forum (EISF) (2014) C2

Security Risk Management and Religion: Faith and secularism in humanitarian assistance examines the impact that religion has on security risk management for humanitarian agencies, and considers whet ... more