A WHO Guideline for Emergency Risk Communication (ERC) policy and practice.
Recent public health emergencies, such as the Ebola virus disease outbreak in West Africa (2014–2015), the emergence of the Zika virus syndrome in 2015–2016 and multi-country yellow fever outbreaks in Africa in 2016, h...ave highlighted major challenges and gaps in how risk is communicated during epidemics and other health emergencies. The challenges include the rapid transformation in communications technology, including the near-universal penetration of mobile telephones, the widespread use and increasingly powerful influence of digital media which has had an impact on ‘traditional’ media (newspapers, radio and television), and major changes in how people access and trust health information. Important gaps include considerations of context – the social, economic, political and cultural factors influencing people’s perception of risk and their risk-reduction behaviours.
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2nd edition.
The tool kit provides learning objects and curricular content to support the competencies for those proficiency/trainee levels
It highlights the numerous challenges to quality service provision, along with the organisation’s response to mental health needs, and recommendations for international and regional decision-makers including:
- Advocating and working towards mental health policies that support adequate funding f...or mental health care and government suppor
- Legislation to protect the rights of people with mental disorders and vulnerable communities
- Advocating for multi-year funding to support the sustainability of MHPSS programs
- Creating capacity building opportunities consistent with the IASC guidelines and supported with continuous supervision
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An attempt has been made to map the incidence of uni-dimensional and multi-dimensional poverty simultaneously arguably for the first time in Pakistan. While multi-dimensional poverty map is calculated using PSLM 2010-11; small area estimation technique is utilized to map uni-dimensional poverty usin...g both nationally representative HIES (Household Integrated Economic Survey) and district-level representative PSLM (Pakistan Standard of Living Measurement) for the same year of 2010-11. The result indicates the existence of spatial distribution of poverty pockets in each of the four provinces of Pakistan. Furthermore, it is also observed that these pockets of poverty are more concentrated in the desert and mountains regions of the country.
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This Roadmap is structured around a results-based framework of outcomes, outputs and deliveraebles, to ensure that WHO maintains appropriate levels of organizational readiness, supports country-level capacity building and preparedness, deploys efficiently and effectively to respond to outbreaks and ...emergencies at national and subnational levels, and engages effectively with partners and stakeholders throughout
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The International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health, known more commonly as ICF, provides a standard language and framework for the description of health and health-related states. Like the first version published by the World Health Organization for trial purposes in 1980, ICF is... a multipurpose classification intended for a wide range of uses in different sectors. It is a classification of health and health-related domains -- domains that help us to describe changes in body function and structure, what a person with a health condition can do in a standard environment (their level of capacity), as well as what they actually do in their usual environment (their level of performance).
These domains are classified from body, individual and societal perspectives by means of two lists: a list of body functions and structure, and a list of domains of activity and participation. In ICF, the term functioning refers to all body functions, activities and participation, while disability is similarly an umbrella term for impairments, activity limitations and participation restrictions. ICF also lists environmental factors that interact with all these components.
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Yaya et al. BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth (2018) 18:194
Ensuring equitable access to maternal health care including antenatal, delivery, postnatal services
and fertility control methods, is one of the most critical challenges for public health sector. There are significant
disparities in materna...l health care indicators across many geographical locations, maternal, economic, sociodemographic
factors in many countries in sub-Sahara Africa. In this study, we comparatively explored the utilization
level of maternal health care, and examined disparities in the determinants of major maternal health outcomes
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This guide was prepared to enable advocates to use data
when advocating for universal access to SRHR at the national,
regional and global levels. It is a direct outcome of the Strategic
SRHR Indicators workshop held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on
21-22 August for the project “Strengthening the N...etworking,
Knowledge Management and Advocacy Capacities of an AsiaPacific
Network for SRHR” supported by the EU.
One of the major objectives of the project is to develop
a comprehensive monitoring framework of indicators for
measuring government performance to fulfil their international
commitments, particularly to the ICPD and the MDGs, both in
the Asia-Pacific region and globally.
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This report presents, for the first time, a global assessment of the extent to which health care facilities provide essential water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services. Drawing on data from 54 low- and middle-income countries, the report concludes that 38% lack access to even rudimentary levels ...of water, 19% lack sanitation and 35% do not have water and soap for handwashing. When a higher level of service is factored in, the situation deteriorates significantly. A number of areas require urgent action and WHO will work with UNICEF, Governments and other partners to develop a global plan to address the most pressing needs and ensure that all health care facilities have WASH services.
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This guidance note is intended primarily for health actors working in emergency and disaster risk management (hereafter 'emergency risk management') at the local, national or international level, and in governmental or nongovernmental agencies. People with disabilities, those... working in the disability sector and those working in other sectors that contribute to improved health outcomes related to emergency risk management, may also find this guidance note useful.
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Women and Health Initiative Working Paper No. 1. Women and Health Initiative
Improving maternal health in the context of the sub-Saharan African HIV epidemic requires greater understanding of the relationships between HIV disease and maternal morbidity and mortality, integrated and effective resp...onses by the health system, and a social context which promotes quality care and encourages use of MCH and HIV services. Advancing the proposed research agenda will make an invaluable contribution by generating needed evidence for policy and practice that improves the maternal health of women who are living with HIV, as well as those who are not. Bringing together maternal health and HIV researchers, policy-makers and program implementers to reduce HIV-related maternal morbidity and mortality and improve the HIV response for women represents an opportunity and a challenge.
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This Interim Guidance outlines how key public health and social measures needed to reduce the risk of COVID-19 spread and the impact of the disease can be adapted for use in low capacity and humanitarian settings. The recommendations outlined here need to be adjusted to the scale of transmission, co...ntext and resources, in order to achieve the objective of managing COVID-19, namely to reduce transmission and facilitate the detection and management of infected and exposed individuals within the population. The Guidance is intended for humanitarian and development actors of all operational levels working with communities ocal authorities involved in COVID-19 preparedness and response operations in these settings, in support of national and local governments and plans. Additional considerations for support to residents of urban informal settlements and slums are available in Annex 1.
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A public health emergency operation center (PHEOC) serves as a hub for better coordinating the preparation, response, and recovery for public health emergencies. A functional PHEOC is critical for the implementation of the International Health Regulations (IHR 2005). The Framework for a Public Healt...h Emergency Operations Centre provides high-level guidance for establishing or strengthening a PHEOC. To establish and/or strengthen a PHEOC, it is vital for Member States to align with standardized policies, guidelines, and tools.
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Guide to national implementation of the Shanghai Declaration describes policy orientations and approaches that can unlock the transformative potential of health promotion for sustainable development. This guide was developed to support country level implementation of the commitments and recommendati...ons in the Shanghai Declaration.
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Extreme heat events (EHEs) are a leading cause of weather-related injury and death in the United States, and under a changing climate, these meteorological episodes are predicted to increase in both frequency and intensity. Prolonged heat exposure from EHEs places an increased strain on the heart an...d may lead to heat-related illness if the cardiovascular system fails to properly thermoregulate internal body temperature. Every individual is susceptible to heat-related illness, however, those with reduced cardiovascular function and pre-existing cardiovascular diseases are at a greater risk for morbidity and mortality during EHEs. This document gives an overview of our current understanding of heat exposure and its impact on cardiovascular health outcomes, an overview of the medications that may exacerbate heat-related cardiovascular illness, and asummary of the interaction between extreme heat and air pollutants, and their collective impact on cardiovascular health. Additionally, this document summarizes epidemiologic evidence and identifies gaps in the extant peer-reviewed literature on the effectiveness of strategies and interventions to protect against heat-related cardiovascular disease and death. This information is intended to aid health departments and other health professionals in understanding and responding to the impacts of heat exposure on cardiovascular health.
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The health sector In Ukraine is beginning to change in recent years. The sector, based on a system of health care (Semashko) originating from the Soviet Union, had been stagnant for many years. Remarkably little had changed since Independence and the health care system is as of today still character...ized by a very hierarchical and territorial system with large numbers of beds in institutional care settings. At the same time the Government of Ukraine has only limited resources available that are spread thin over the existing infrastructure
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The MHPSS MSP is an easy-to-follow intersectoral package, which spells out the activities and actions that all humanitarian actors should put in place in all emergencies for an effective MHPSS response. It speaks to different actors at the global, regional, national, and local levels to plan, coordi...nate and implement an effective MHPSS response.
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This Handbook is primarily for educators, to help them learn about mental health issues and better support them in educational environments. The Handbook aims to provide training to teachers, administrators, and people involved in the education of primary school children about the implementation of ...mental health literacy into daily school life. Such knowledge, skills and attitudes will equip all levels of educators with key tools to support student mental health, manage difficult classroom behavior, and promote students’ wellbeing and academic success.
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Violence against women and girls is widespread in the Region of the Americas, resulting in enormous consequences for the health and wellbeing of women and girls, their families and communities. These costs are unacceptable and they can be prevented through evidence-based action, including the health... sector through its policies and protocols, as well as in collaboration with other sectors. This report remains the first of its kind and is a major milestone for the Region. It is specifically informed by the commitments of Member States in the regional Strategy and Plan of Action on Strengthening the Health System to Address Violence against Women. The report provides an analysis of efforts to advance the prevention of violence against women through health policies, clinical protocols, multisectoral plans and related approaches across the Americas. Attention to this topic is timely, as the COVID-19 pandemic has created new visibility for this area of work. This report offers critical information on efforts in the Region that can be learned from and used to build upon in the future to prevent and respond to violence against all women and girls everywhere.
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The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has shown that public financial management (PFM) should be an integral part of the response. Effectiveness in financing the health response depends not only on the level of funding but also on the way public funds are allocated and spent, this is determined by the PFM r...ules, and how money flows to health service providers. So far, early assessments have shown that PFM systems ranged from being a fundamental enabler to acting as a roadblock in the COVID-19 health response. While service delivery mechanisms have been extensively documented throughout the pandemic, the underlying PFM mechanisms of the response also merit attention. To highlight the importance of PFM in health emergency contexts, this rapid review analyses various country PFM experiences and identifies early lessons emerging from the financing of the health response to COVID-19. The assessment is done by stages of the budget cycle: budget allocation, budget execution, and budget oversight. Identifying lessons from the varying PFM modalities used to finance the response to COVID-19 is fundamental both for health policy-makers and for finance authorities to prepare for future health emergencies.
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