The guide to implementing the One Health Joint Plan of Action (OH JPA) at national level provides practical guidance on how countries can adopt and adapt the OH JPA to strengthen and support national One Health action.
Building on the OH JPA theory of change, this guide describes three pathways a...nd five key steps to implement the OH JPA at national level:
Pathway 1 -- Governance, policy, legislation, financing and advocacy
Pathway 2 -- Organizational and institutional development, implementation and sectoral integration
Pathway 3 -- Data, evidence, information systems and knowledge exchange.
The stepwise approach comprises:
Situation analysis including stakeholder mapping and review of existing assessment results
Set-up/strengthening of a multisectoral, One Health coordination mechanism
Planning for implementation, including activity prioritization and leveraging of resources
Implementation of national One Health action plans
Review, sharing and incorporation of lessons learned.
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Background: Atherosclerotic cardiovascular diseases (ASCVD) including myocardial infarction, stroke and peripheral arterial disease continue to be major causes of premature death, disability and healthcare expenditure globally. Preventing the accumulation of cholesterol-containing atherogenic lipopr...oteins in the vessel wall is central to any healthcare strategy to prevent ASCVD. Advances in current concepts about reducing cumulative exposure to apolipoprotein B (apo B) cholesterol-containing lipoproteins and the emergence of novel therapies provide new opportunities to better prevent ASCVD. The present update of the World Heart Federation Cholesterol Roadmap provides a conceptual framework for the development of national policies and health systems approaches, so that potential roadblocks to cholesterol management and thus ASCVD prevention can be overcome.
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This is the seventeenth annual publication of the Global Hunger Index (GHI), a report jointly published by Concern Worldwide and Welthungerhilfe.
The 2022 Global Hunger Index (GHI) brings us face to face with a grim reality. The toxic cocktail of conflict, climate change, and the COVID-19 pandemi...c had already left millions exposed to food price shocks and vulnerable to further crises. Now the conflict in Ukraine—with its knock-on effects on global supplies of and prices for food, fertilizer, and fuel—is turning a crisis into a catastrophe. But the speed and severity of the global food crisis reflects the fact that millions of people were already living on the precarious edge of hunger—a legacy of past failures to build more just, sustainable, and resilient food systems. This year’s report therefore focuses on food systems transformation and local governance.
According to the 2022 GHI, Hunger is at alarming levels in 5 countries—Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Madagascar, and Yemen— and is provisionally considered *alarming *in 4 additional countries— Burundi, Somalia, South Sudan, and Syria. In a further 35 countries, hunger is considered serious, based on 2022 GHI scores and provisional designations.
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This summary brief highlights key messages from the updated World Health Organization’s recommendation on tranexamic acid (TXA) for the treatment of postpartum haemorrhage (PPH), including policy and program implications for translating the TXA recommendation into action at the country level. In 2...012, WHO published recommendations for the prevention and treatment of postpartum haemorrhage, including a recommendation on the use of TXA for treatment of PPH. The 2017 updated WHO Recommendation on TXA is based on new evidence on use of TXA for treatment of PPH. This summary brief is intended for policy-makers, programme managers, educators and providers.
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The purpose of this workbook is to assist ministries of health, health managers and practitioners in engaging with the private sector on delivery of quality maternal, newborn and child health (MNCH) services in lower- and middle-income countries. Private health care is one of the fastest growing seg...ments of the health-care system in lower- and middle-income countries, and private providers are an important source of health care. To accelerate progress to reach the Sustainable Development Goals for ending preventable maternal, newborn and child deaths, it is critical that whole health system organizations invest not only in increasing coverage of interventions, but also in quality. The audience for the workbook is those who are involved with organizing and implementing processes for engaging the private sector in delivery of quality MNCH services.
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The Toolkit for Child Friendly Spaces in Humanitarian Settings was developed by
the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies Reference
Centre for Psychosocial Support and World Vision International. The toolkit provides
a set of materials to assist managers and facilit...ators/animators in setting up and
implementing quality Child Friendly Spaces (CFS). These resources have at their core
the protection of children from harm; the promotion of psychosocial well-being; and
the engagement of community and caregiver capacities. The CFS Toolkit includes:
• Activity Catalogue for Child Friendly Spaces in Humanitarian Settings
• Operational Guidance for Child Friendly Spaces in Humanitarian Settings
• Training for Implementers of Child Friendly Spaces in Humanitarian Settings.
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It summarizes guidance on how to manage – and when to refer – children and adolescents presenting with common complaints and conditions. It includes information to enable primary health care providers to coordinate the continued care of children and adolescents with long-term conditions and dise...ases managed by specialists. Preventive and promotive measures from the newborn period to adolescence include advice on the timing and content of well-child visits, the promotion of early childhood development and health messages for adolescents.
This Pocket Book aims to improve the diagnosis and management of common conditions in children and adolescents that can be managed at the outpatient level. It helps to improve the use of laboratory and other diagnostic measures and the rational use of essential drugs and equipment.
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Background: The World Health Organization (WHO) published a clinical case definition of post COVID-19
condition, by a Delphi consensus, on 6 October 2021. That process concluded that a separate definition
may be applicable for children. It is important to understand the frequency, characteristics ...and risk factors
that lead to post COVID-19 condition, along with its impact on everyday functioning and development of
children and adolescents. Long-term outcomes of the condition are currently unknown and need to be
studied. For these reasons, a globally standardized clinical case definition is needed.
Aim: To develop a globally relevant standardized clinical case definition for children and adolescents by
building on the WHO clinical case definition for post COVID-19 condition in adults.
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The Country Cooperation Strategy (CCS) is a document to guide WHO’s work in countries. CCS is a medium-term vision for WHO’s technical cooperation with a given Member State, and supports the country's national health policy, strategy or plan. The CCS time frame is flexible to align with national... cycles and processes. It is the basis for aligning WHO’s collaboration with other United Nations bodies and development partners at the country level.
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To survive and thrive, children and adolescents need good health, adequate nutrition, security, safety and a supportive clean environment, opportunities for early learning and education, responsive relationships and connectedness, and opportunities for personal autonomy and self-realization. To prom...ote their health and wellbeing, children and adolescents need support from parents, families, communities, surrounding institutions, and an enabling environment. Scheduled well care visits provide a critical opportunity for support of individual children, adolescents, parents, caregivers and families promote health and wellbeing. This guidance on scheduled child and adolescent well-care visits is the first in a series of publications to support the operationalization of the comprehensive agenda for child and adolescent health and wellbeing. It provides guidance on what is required to strengthen health systems and services to ensure healthy growth and development of all children and adolescents, and to support their parents and caregivers.
The guidance focuses on scheduled routine contacts with providers to support children and adolescents in their growth and developmental trajectory, as well as their primary caregivers and families. It outlines the rationale and objectives of well care visits and proposes a minimum 17 scheduled visits; describes the expected tasks during a contact; provides age-specific content to be address during each contact; and proposes actions to build on and maximize existing opportunities and resources.
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The EiE Competency Framework builds on the INEE Minimum Standards to articulate a set of required, valued and recognized competencies for the humanitarian and education in the emergencies sectors. It broadly describes expected standards of performance across a number of competencies that can be appl...ied to different roles within an organization or sector. The framework provides a common lexicon for core humanitarian and technical competencies and defines expected knowledge, skills and attributes for each.
The framework is intended to inform staff recruitment, learning and professional development, performance management, planning, and organizational design. It is a sector-wide guidance to advance the accountability, effectiveness, and predictability of educational preparedness, response and recovery for affected populations.
The framework is primarily intended for use by EiE practitioners in humanitarian contexts. However, it is also relevant at the global level or in development settings in support of planning and emergency preparedness. It is best used in conjunction with the Core Humanitarian Competency Framework (CHCF) and where applicable, the Child Protection in Humanitarian Action (CPHA) Competency Framework. It is transferable across people, countries, and cultures and can be a valuable tool for entry-, mid-, and senior level professional development.
Available in English, Arabic, French, Portuguese and Spanish
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This study, and similar studies in Kenya, Mozambique, Swaziland, Uganda, and Zambia is the outcome of close collaborative by a team in Swaziland, with technical and financial support from the UNAIDS Regional Support Team for Eastern and Southern Africa, UNAIDS Geneva, and the World Bank's Global HIV.../AIDS Program (Global AIDS Monitoring and Evaluation Team). The study entailed using existing data and collecting new data to better know the country's HIV epidemic, know the country HIV response and how funding was allocated, so as to improve the HIV response and strengthen prevention based on evidence on what works to prevent new infections.
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Journal of the International AIDS Society 2017, vol. 20:e25026
In Myanmar, men who have sex with men (MSM) experience high risk of HIV infection. However, access to HIV testing and prevention services remains a challenge among this marginalized population. The objective of this study was to est...imate population prevalence and correlates of prior HIV testing among young MSM (YMSM) and informs the development of HIV testing and intervention programmes that respond to the specific needs of this population.
https://doi.org/10.1002/jia2.25026
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Since the beginning of the Ukraine crisis on 24 February 2022, WHO has supported Government-led efforts and initiatives alongside key partners on the ground. Building on efforts to date, and working alongside Bulgaria’s health authorities to bring added value to existing mechanisms, the WHO Countr...y Office Bulgaria, the WHO Regional Office for Europe and the WHO Health and Migration Programme, in close collaboration with the Ministry of Health of Bulgaria and key partners, undertook a joint review mission to support Bulgaria, with a focus on addressing the health system needs of refugees, migrants, asylum seekers and vulnerable host populations in Bulgaria.
The assessment team developed this report on the key findings and a package of potential interventions based on the opportunities identified and the need for technical support and assistance. The report summarizes concrete areas of work for which collaborations can be further strengthened. The joint review team identified key recommendations for consideration across 8 priority areas. The report and the outcomes of the review mission serve as a basis for future technical collaboration in the area of refugee health, to address the health needs of refugees and third-country nationals fleeing from Ukraine.
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This case study takes a closer look at experiences in three countries and one sub-region, each with a unique profile, a specific set of challenges and opportunities, and differing levels of WASH competencies. Through the lens of the participating National Societies and the communities they serve, th...is study captures rich layers of learning from multi-country implementation between 2016 to 2020.
The unfolding of the COVID-19 pandemic gives a glimpse of the resulting global restrictions that are testing aspects of National Society capacity and preparedness on the ground. It is an opportunity to take stock of progress and the outlook ahead - to celebrate achievements and share experiences with National Societies and partners contemplating capacity development in emergency WASH in the Asia Pacific region.
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The Guidelines on promotive and preventive mental health interventions for adolescents - Helping Adolescents thrive (HAT), provide evidence-informed recommendations on psychosocial interventions to promote mental health, prevent mental disorders, and reduce self-harm and other risk behaviours among ...adolescents.
The HAT Guidelines aims to inform policy development, service planning and the strengthening of health and education systems, and facilitate mainstreaming of adolescent mental health promotion and prevention strategies across sectors and delivery platforms.
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Background
Noncommunicable diseases are major contributors to morbidity and mortality worldwide. Modifying the risk factors for these conditions, such as physical inactivity, is thus essential. Addressing the context or circumstances in which physical activity occurs may promote physical activity a...t a population level. We assessed the effects of infrastructure, policy or regulatory interventions for increasing physical activity.
Methods
We searched PubMed, Embase and clinicaltrials.gov to identify randomised controlled trials (RCTs), controlled before-after (CBAs) studies, and interrupted time series (ITS) studies assessing population-level infrastructure or policy and regulatory interventions to increase physical activity. We were interested in the effects of these interventions on physical activity, body weight and related measures, blood pressure, and CVD and type 2 diabetes morbidity and mortality, and on other secondary outcomes. Screening and data extraction was done in duplicate, with risk of bias was using an adapted Cochrane risk of bias tool. Due to high levels of heterogeneity, we synthesised the evidence based on effect direction.
Results
We included 33 studies, mostly conducted in high-income countries. Of these, 13 assessed infrastructure changes to green or other spaces to promote physical activity and 18 infrastructure changes to promote active transport. The effects of identified interventions on physical activity, body weight and blood pressure varied across studies (very low certainty evidence); thus, we remain very uncertain about the effects of these interventions. Two studies assessed the effects of policy and regulatory interventions; one provided free access to physical activity facilities and showed that it may have beneficial effects on physical activity (low certainty evidence). The other provided free bus travel for youth, with intervention effects varying across studies (very low certainty evidence).
Conclusions
Evidence from 33 studies assessing infrastructure, policy and regulatory interventions for increasing physical activity showed varying results. The certainty of the evidence was mostly very low, due to study designs included and inconsistent findings between studies. Despite this drawback, the evidence indicates that providing access to physical activity facilities may be beneficial; however this finding is based on only one study. Implementation of these interventions requires full consideration of contextual factors, especially in low resource settings.
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This technical guidance outlines current evidence, knowledge and best practice relating to incidences of violence and injuries among refugees and migrants in the WHO European Region. It highlights key principles, summarizes priority actions and challenges, maps existing international commitments and... frameworks and provides practical policy considerations for preventing and responding to such challenges. Specific areas for intervention include ensuring safe passage for migration; addressing causes of violence and injuries in transit and destination countries, including changing norms and values; identifying victims and providing care and protection; investigating and prosecuting perpetrators; and strengthening the knowledge base. While the main intended audience of this technical guidance series are policy-makers across sectors at local, national and regional levels, the contents of this publication will also be of value for health-care practitioners and law enforcement and border protection officials.
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24 April 2020
Policy considerations
for the WHO European Region
This document provides key considerations for Member States to help them to decide on the modulation
of large-scale restrictive public health measures
(i.e. movement restrictions and large-scale physical distancing), while at the... same time strengthening core public health service capacities (to identify, isolate,
test and treat every patient and quarantine contacts) together with personal protective measures (hand hygiene and respiratory etiquette) and individual physical distancing (>1 metre distance). The transition should be informed by national, subnational or even community-level risk assessments as the transmission of COVID-19 is typically not homogeneous within a country.
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Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is occurring everywhere in the world, compromising the ability to treat infectious diseases, as well as undermining many other advances in health and medicine. Underlying factors that drive AMR include; weak or absent surveillance and monitoring systems, inadequate sys...tems to ensure quality and uninterrupted supply of medicines, inappropriate and irrational use of medicines including in animal husbandry, poor infection prevention and control practices, and depleted arsenals of diagnostics, medicines and vaccines as well as insufficient research and development of new products.
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