Mental disorders are one of the top public health challenges in the WHO European Region, affecting about 25% of the population every year. In all countries, mental health problems are much more prevalent among the people who are most deprived. The WHO European Region therefore faces diverse challeng...es affecting both the mental well-being of the population and the provision and quality of care for people with mental health problems.
The European Mental Health Action Plan focuses on seven interlinked objectives and proposes effective action to strengthen mental health and well-being. Investing in mental health is essential for the sustainability of health and socioeconomic policies in the European Region. The Action Plan corresponds to the four priority areas of the European policy framework for health and wellbeing, Health 2020, and will contribute directly to its implementation.
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Policy Note #2: Myanmar Health Systems in Transition Policy Notes Series
Myanmar is a country in which people’s access to health services is determined more by where they live than their need for care – a situation that is fundamentally inequitable. The challenge is to reduce levels of ineq...uity between different groups in the population and different geographical areas, and most particularly to ensure that health services reach poor and disadvantaged groups, including minorities and those living in conflict-affected areas.
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(Health Systems in Transition, Vol. 4, No. 3, 2014)
Establishing trauma referral pathways to provide urgent life-saving assistance for displaced populations and civilians remaining in Ar-Raqqa.
In July 2017, a WHO team comprising an external trauma care specialist and two WHO staff members visited the governorates of Ar-Raqqa and neighbouring Al-Ha...sakeh to assess the situation
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(2015)
Scoping question: Are antidepressants (specifically, tricyclic antidepressants and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors) effective and safe in adolescents with moderate-severe depressive disorder for whom psychosocial interventions have proven ineffective?
Nested case-control study of health workers exposed to confirmed COVID-19 patients.
Similar objectives to the cohort study but case-control studies may be cheaper and provide robust evidence to characterize and assess the risk factors for SARS-CoV-2 infection in health workers exposed to COVID-19 p...atients.
Health workers with confirmed COVID-19 will be recruited as cases and other health workers in the same health care setting without infection will be recruited as controls (incidence density sampling).
Secondary objectives are similar to the cohort study.
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This guide is available in English, French, Spanish, Russian, Arabic and Chinese
This guide consolidates COVID-19 guidance for human resources for health managers and policy-makers at national, subnational and facility levels to design, manage and preserve the workforce necessary to manage the COVI...D-19 pandemic and maintain essential health services.
The guide identifies recommendations to protect, support and empower health workers at individual, management, organizational and system levels.
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8 January 2021
Sequencing enabled the world to rapidly identify SARS-CoV-2 and develop diagnostic tests and other tools for outbreak management. Continued genome sequencing supports the monitoring of the disease’s spread and evolution of the virus. Accelerated integration of genome sequencing int...o the practices of the global health community is required if we want to be better prepared for the future threats. This document provides guidance for laboratories on maximizing the impact of SARS-CoV-2 sequencing now and other emerging pathogens in the future.
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This document outlines the evaluation process that WHO undertakes to assess novel tools and strategies targeted at VBDs. Its aim is to articulate the linkage between the generation of evidence that demonstrates public health impact of novel interventions, and the development of policy recommendation...s based on the generated data. The document defines standards for the evaluation process, as well as the steps that an applicant needs to undertake, along with some guiding principles that aim to support applicants in the development of submissions with WHO.
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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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6 July 2021. The “WHO consolidated guidelines on tuberculosis. Module 3: Diagnosis - Rapid diagnostics for tuberculosis detection 2021 update” is the latest document replacing the one issued in 2020. Three new nucleic acid amplification test (NAAT) classes are endorsed by WHO and included in the... latest consolidated guideline
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Enabling young children to achieve their full developmental potential is a human right and an essential requisite for sustainable development. Given the critical importance of enabling children to make the best start in life, the health sector, among other sectors, has an important role and responsi...bility to support nurturing care for early childhood development. This guideline provides direction for strengthening policies and programmes to better address early childhood development.
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In 2015, 26% of the deaths of 5.9 million children who died before reaching their fifth birthday could have been prevented
through addressing environmental risks – a shocking missed opportunity. The prenatal and early childhood period represents
a window of particular vulnerability, where enviro...nmental hazards can lead to premature birth and other complications,
and increase lifelong disease risk including for respiratory disorders, cardiovascular disease and cancers. The environment
thus represents a major factor in children’s health, as well as a major opportunity for improvement, with effects seen in every
region of the world.
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22 April 2022, This document provides updated interim recommendations on the use of masks by health workers providing care to patients with suspected or confirmed COVID-19. This update is prompted by new evidence around mask use and COVID-19 transmission, as well as the emergence of variants of conc...ern including Omicron. Masks continue to be a critical tool to prevent the spread of COVID-19. These interim guidelines supersede the recommendations provided in the WHO recommendations on mask use by health workers, in light of the Omicron variant of concern published on 22 December 2022.
WHO continually evaluates the emerging evidence and will review these interim recommendations within two months and issue new guidance as needed.
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On 15–16 December 2020, WHO and the Medicines for Malaria Venture co-convened a technical consultation to consider the preferred product characteristics (PPCs) for drugs used in malaria chemoprevention. The main goal of the technical consultation was to agree on the most important PPCs for drugs t...o protect populations from malaria (chemoprevention), while considering relevant measures of efficacy and the safety data needed to support WHO policy recommendations.
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