This document is an output of a WHO cross-programme initiative aiming to improve the prevention, diagnosis and management of anaemia and thereby accelerate reduction in its prevalence. It comes at an important time, midway through the era of the Sustainable Development Goals, when progress in reduci...ng anaemia has stagnated. This framework is based on the core principles of primary health care: meeting people’s health needs through comprehensive promotive, protective, curative, and rehabilitative care along the life course; systematically addressing the broader determinants of health; and empowering individuals, families, and communities to optimize their health
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The report aims to capture lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic and to highlight the opportunity for more ambitious global action: expanding sustainable access to vaccines for all towards the Immunization Agenda 2030 and pandemic prevention, preparedness and response efforts. The report is organized i...n two sections: the first section provides WHO insights on global vaccine market dynamics, drawing from data provided by Member States, which are, in turn, analysed and displayed in the second section.
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The KMC implementation strategy targets a broad audience. These include policy-makers and programme managers at national, regional and local levels, government and nongovernmental organizations working in the area of maternal and newborn care, global and national professional associations, public an...d private hospital management at all levels of care, and facility- and community-based maternal and infant care providers.
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This document puts forward the joint position and vision of an expert, global, multistakeholder working group on implementing Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC) for all preterm or low birth weight (LBW) infants as the foundation for small and/or sick newborn care within maternal, newborn, and child health p...rogrammes, and spur collaborative global action. The document summarizes the background information, evidence, and rationale for making KMC available to every preterm or LBW newborn and seeks to galvanize the international maternal, newborn, and child health community and families to come together to support the implementation of KMC for all preterm or LBW infants to improve their and their mothers and families health and well-being.
This position paper is intended to be used by policy-makers (i.e. those responsible for national policy, guideline development and budget allocation), development partners, programme managers, health workforce leadership, practising clinicians, civil society leadership (e.g. parent and professional organizations) and researchers/research organizations involved in KMC implementation research.
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The 2023 Country Presence Report provides an overview of what WHO does in countries to advance towards the SDGs and implement GPW13, how we do it, with whom we work, and what is needed to overcome challenges for achieving results and impact in countries.
The WHO standard: Universal access to rapid tuberculosis diagnostics sets benchmarks to achieve universal access to WHO-recommended rapid diagnostics (WRDs), increase bacteriologically confirmed tuberculosis and drug resistance detection, and reduce the time to diagnosis. WHO-recommended rapid diagn...ostics are highly accurate, cost-effective, reduce the time to treatment initiation, and impact patient-important outcomes.
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The availability of controlled medicines is crucial for patients requiring palliative care, pain relief and symptom management. Many individuals worldwide, especially in low- and middle-income countries, continue to experience limited access to these essential medicines. Enhancing access to controll...ed medicines is paramount in promoting universal health coverage. This report offers a detailed situational analysis of policies and programmes aimed at improving access to affordable, high-quality controlled medicines for pain management in the WHO South-East Asia Region. The report identifies the existing barriers, challenges and possible solutions to facilitate access to such medicines across all Member States.
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The Annual Report summarizes what has been achieved in the year 2022, how WHO supported the country priority, how WHO took the lead in health in bringing together partners to help the country achieve its strategic goals as a result be on track on its commitment on the SDG goals. The report also high...lights what were the gaps in the year there by subsequent planning years should consider the challenges for better results.
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Hypertension, or high blood pressure, is a condition which generally has no symptoms and if left untreated, can lead to heart attacks, heart failure, stroke, kidney failure and blindness. Risk factors include older age, overweight or obesity, lack of physical activity, high salt/sodium intake, and h...igh alcohol intake.
Hypertension affects around 1 in 6 adults in the Americas and is the main risk factor for cardiovascular diseases, which are the leading cause of death in the region, responsible for around 2 million lives lost each year.
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This report presents a framework to link science, policy and practice for a comprehensive assessment of climate mitigation and adaptation investments and their impact on human health.The framework proposes to use weather and climate data to forecast health impacts over time, as well as biophysical a...nd economic models to quantify the outcomes of investments in climate change adaptation and mitigation for relevant sectoral indicators and health co-benefits. It provides guidance on the economic valuation of health co-benefits of climate action, for inclusion in sector-specific cost–benefit analysis (CBA), including the spatial allocation of such costs and benefits.
The framework developed and presented in this study is comprehensive, and provides various entry points for different audiences, including decision-makers in the public and private sectors, researchers and scientists, working in the health sector as well as in other thematic areas and related sectors affected by climate action.
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The overall objective of the framework is to support WHO and Members States in meaningful engagement of people living with NCDs, and mental health and neurological conditions to co-create and enhance related policies, programmes and services. This framework will contribute to advancing understanding..., knowledge and action on meaningful engagement and related participatory approaches from an evolving evidence base. It provides practical guidance and actions for transitioning from intention to action to operationalize meaningful engagement.
The aim of the framework is to guide people working at WHO and in Member States in ensuring meaningful engagement with individuals with lived experience. WHO will advocate for, provide technical assistance and operationalize implementation at its three levels (headquarters, regional and country offices) and will support Member States in implementation at national level through established processes and procedures.
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Colombia is characterized by a fragile and prolonged humanitarian context marked by recurrent multi-hazards affecting its territories and combined with severe structural and systemic challenges within the health system. Recent shocks, including the
COVID-19 pandemic, growing violence within the Col...ombian territories and along the border with Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of), and repetitive hydro-meteorological disasters over the last 12 months aggravate such chronic challenges.
In 2022, the number of people in need of humanitarian assistance increased by 300 000 due to deteriorating indicators of maternal and child mortality, pregnancy in adolescent girls, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), suicides, sexually transmitted
infections (STIs), gender-based and sexual violence, and communicable diseases. increasing population trends, primarily due to mass migration movements and the persistence of armed conflicts, create access barriers to essential health services, mobility restrictions, and forced displacement, further impacting the health, lives, and well-being of populations in vulnerable situations. In many territories, geographical distance to health facilities and attacks against medical missions hinder providing appropriate healthcare.
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The recurrence of severe climate events combined with economic, social, and institutional fragilities leave El Salvador in an utterly critical humanitarian situation and highly vulnerable. Located in a disaster-prone subregion, El Salvador is among the 20 countries at the highest risk of disasters w...orldwide. The successive hydrometeorological hazards that impacted El Salvador over the past two years include tropical storms Amanda and Cristóbal and hurricanes Eta, Iota, and,
more recently, Julia. These storms profoundly affected the lives and livelihoods of almost 900 000 people and significantly disrupted health services, especially at the first level of care. In addition, the country’s exposure to earthquakes, floods, and droughts is also constant. Infrastructural and institutional limitations to deal with emergencies and
low capacity to respond to adverse events are an additional challenge, which leaves the population—particularly the most vulnerable—at even higher risk.
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Hand hygiene is vital for safe health care delivery, yet practices at the point of care remain suboptimal worldwide. A comprehensive research agenda is therefore necessary to improve our understanding of factors influencing hand hygiene behaviour and to strengthen appropriate interventions. This age...nda will provide insightful ideas for researchers to focus their projects and funding proposals and will direct donors towards the areas of hand hygiene evidence that require urgent support and innovation. It will also guide decision-makers and stakeholders at the national and international level and support country efforts in updating and strengthening hand hygiene promotion programmes. Global collaboration and investment in hand hygiene research remain essential to promote safe and effective care worldwide.
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Cryptococcal disease, particularly cryptococcal meningitis is a significant cause of morbidity and mortality among people living with HIV with advanced HIV disease. It is estimated that it is responsible for nearly 19% of AIDS-related mortality, second only to tuberculosis. Rapid screening, diagnosi...s and linking to appropriate treatment are critical actions national programs must take to reduce the burden of disease.
WHO in 2022 introduced updated guidelines for diagnosing, preventing, and managing cryptococcal disease among adults, adolescents and children living with HIV. This policy brief provides a summary of the key recommendations, clinical considerations, and also stresses the importance of ensuring access to life-saving antifungals. There is an urgent need for countries to scale-up management for not just cryptococcal meningitis, but address cryptococcal disease in the context of a package of care for advanced HIV disease as recommended by WHO.
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Die Versorgung von schutzbedürftigen Geflüchteten ist eine moralische Verpflichtung, der Deutschland nicht gerecht wird.
Wie groß die Bereitschaft in Deutschland ist, Geflüchtete aufzunehmen, hat die Reaktion der Bevölkerung auf die humanitäre Krise, ausgelöst durch den Angriffskrieg
Russla...nds auf die Ukraine, gezeigt. In der Verteidigungs- und Außenpolitik haben
wir einen Paradigmenwechsel gesehen. Notwendig ist ein solcher Paradigmenwechsel
auch bezüglich der Verantwortung gegenüber Überlebenden von Krieg, Folter und
Flucht allgemein.
Gesundheit ist ein Menschenrecht. Doch werden Menschen mit Fluchterfahrung
häufig mit ihren Belastungen alleingelassen, obgleich zahlreiche völkerrechtliche
Übereinkommen Deutschland verpflichten, bei Bedarf eine psychosoziale Beglei-
tung und/oder therapeutische Behandlung bereitzustellen
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his first edition describes the standard operating procedures for health products for NTDs amenable to preventive chemotherapy and the medicines donated to treat them. These include albendazole for lymphatic filariasis and soil-transmitted helminthiases; azithromycin for trachoma and yaws; diethylca...rbamazine citrate for lymphatic filariasis; ivermectin for onchocerciasis and lymphatic filariasis; mebendazole for soil-transmitted helminthiases; praziquantel for schistosomiasis; and triclabendazole for foodborne trematodiases. Standard operating procedures for diseases amenable to case management will be covered in subsequent editions, including the application process for requesting medicines (Chapter 1). In the meantime, the procedures described in the rest of the document apply for both case management and preventive chemotherapy NTD health products.
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Ensuring mental health and well-being has become a worldwide imperative and an important target of the Sustainable Development Goals. But in all countries around the world, our response has been woefully insufficient, and we have made
little progress to advance mental health as a fundamental human ...right.
One in ten people are affected by a mental health condition, up to 200 million people have an intellectual disability and an estimated 50 million people have dementia. Many persons with mental health conditions, or psychosocial, intellectual, or cognitive disabilities lack access to quality mental health services that respond to their needs and respect their rights and dignity.
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Навчальні та методичні модулі ініціативи ВООЗ QualityRights було розроблено з метою покращення знань, навичок та розуміння ключових зацікавлених сторін про те, як сприя...и дотриманню прав людини осіб з інвалідністю внаслідок психосоціальних, інтелектуальних та когнітивних порушень, а також задля підви¬щення якості послуг і видів підтримки, які надаються в охороні психічного здоров’я та пов’язаних сферах, у відповідності з міжнародними стандартами прав людини та, зокрема, з Конвенцією про права осіб з інвалідністю та підходом, орієнтованим на відновлення.
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Tools and practical guidance for achieving high uptake