Refugees and migrants face similar health threats from COVID-19 as their host populations. However, inadequate access to essential services and exclusion may makes early detection, testing, diagnosis, contact tracing and seeking care for COVID-19 difficult for refugees and migrants thus increasing t...he risk of outbreaks in these population and presenting an additional threat to public health. This document offers guidance to Member States and partners for the inclusion of refugees and migrants, as part of holistic efforts to respond to COVID-19 epidemics in the general populations.
17 April 2020
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Supply of essential medicines and health technologies (6 April 2020)
This paper is one of a set of technical guidance papers developed by the WHO Regional Office for Europe to provide practical information and resources for decision-makers on measures to strengthen the health system response to C...OVID-19.
The purpose of this paper is to provide WHO Regional Office for Europe Country Offices and Member States with guidance on how to maintain supplies of medicines and health technologies, including devices, diagnostics and blood products, during the COVID-19 outbreak.
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Internally displaced persons (IDPs), refugees, migrants and returnees constitute a sizeable population in the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region. There were 12 million refugees (half are Palestinians) and 13 million IDPs in the Region as of 2018. These populations are often vul...nerable to poor health due to the conditions they live in and limited access to needed quality health care. In addition, those who can access care, are often faced with financial hardship. There are also 46 million professionals and low-income labour migrants in the Region (of which 22 million are from the Region), with differential access to health services and varied health coverage schemes
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The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic presents an exceptional and unprecedented challenge for competent authoritiesa with responsibilities for national food safety control systemsb to continue conducting routine functions and activities in accordance with national regulations... and international recommendations. In many countries, competent authority staff are largely working from home, teleworking being the normal practice, and all face-to-face meetings cancelled or rescheduled as teleconferences. It is challenging to maintain, without interruption, routine activities such as the inspection of food business operations, certifying exports, control of imported foods, monitoring and surveillance of the safety of the food supply chain, sampling and analysis of food, managing food incidents, providing advice on food safety and food regulations for the food industry, and communicating on food safety issues with the public.
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Afghanistan has one of the largest populations per capita of persons with disabilities in the world. At least one in five Afghan households includes an adult or child with a serious physical, sensory, intellectual, or psychosocial disability. More than 40 years of war have left more than one million... Afghans with amputated limbs and other mobility, visual, or hearing disabilities. Many Afghans have psychosocial disabilities (mental health conditions) such as depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress, which are often a direct result of the protracted conflict. Other Afghans have pre-existing disabilities not directly related to the conflict, such as those caused by polio.
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This document accompanies the interim guidance on “Strengthening Preparedness for COVID-19 in cities and urban settings”. It provides local authorities, leaders and policy-makers in cities with a checklist tool to ensure that key areas have been covered. An excel version that local authorities m...ay wish to adapt to meet their needs is also available. It allows filtering by steps of action; suggested domains and responsible teams within local governments for each action; and phase(s) of the emergency management cycle.
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On Zero Discrimination Day and as part of the global movement for equality for women and girls, UNAIDS is highlighting seven areas where discrimination against women and girls persists, raising awareness and calling for change.
This paper aims to provide aid agencies with initial analysis and guidance to inform the design, implementation and adaptation of conflict-sensitive humanitarian and development responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. It presents a series of overarching considerations to take into account when determini...ng how to build a conflict-sensitive approach into COVID-19 response activities, before outlining some initial, sector-specific considerations. Recommendations are presented throughout.
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The following key messages on human rights, the environment and COVID-19 highlight essential human rights obligations and responsibilities of States and others, including businesses, in addressing and responding to the COVID-19 crisis.
The technical note calls for raising awareness among practitioners and policymakers about the importance of strong tobacco control measures for protecting the health and development of children, including banning tobacco advertising, implementing 100% smoke-free environments and raising taxes on tob...acco.
Exposure to tobacco smoke has devastating impacts throughout childhood and adolescence, starting from conception.
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This publication summarizes the facilitators and barriers that will be encountered in the deinstitutionalization process and identifies useful and proven interventions in Latin American and Caribbean countries. Four areas of work are identified with the respective guidelines or suggestions for actio...n, which should provide an operational guide for countries that are restructuring mental health services and moving toward the deinstitutionalization of psychiatric care.
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The object of this bill is to provide for a legal framework to promote the existence of Community Health Workers (CHWs) and to provide for clarity in the role and responsibilities assigned to CHWs in the Health sector and to promote and strengthen service delivery at the Community level. ... The law will regulate training, certification and registration and set minimum qualifications and standards and working conditions for the CHWs.
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Ghana's attempt to regulate health care waste management started in 2002 with the development of guidelines on health care waste manage-ment by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). In 2006, the Ministry of Health developed the health care waste policy and guidelines. This guidance document im...proved health care waste management in the country.
With support from the UNDP-GEF medical waste management project, the Ministry of He lth has revised the existing National Health Care Waste Management (HCWM), policy and guideline, 2006 and has produced two separate documents- A National Health Care Waste Management Policy and a National Guideline for Health Care Waste Management
countrywide. This policy is replacing the 2006 policy and introduces new technical and administrative policy issues to enhance waste management in health care facilities.
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he Western Pacific is the world’s most disaster-prone region. When a disaster occurs, people may need to seek accommodation in a disaster evacuation shelter. However, it may be difficult for people in a disaster evacuation shelter to avoid confined and enclosed spaces with poor ventilation; crowde...d places with many people nearby; and close-contact settings, such as close-range conversations. This document outlines key considerations and strategies that should be considered for the establishment of a disaster evacuation shelter in the context of COVID-19. In particular, considerations and strategies as outlined for the preparedness, response and recovery phases of disasters.
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Covid-19 Social Policy Response Series / No.14
This report examines Ecuador’s social policy response to mitigate the Covid-19 pandemic’s effects and protect
vulnerable populations. It chronologically traces containment, closure policies, social policies and programmes
put in place following t...he announcement of Covid-19 as a global pandemic. A combination of external con-
straints and domestic structures, i.e. informality and weak coordination, led to truncated efforts in the healthcare
response, while persistent inequalities in access to technology and high levels of informality led to fragmented
education, labour policies and social protection responses. The report zooms into the Family Protection Grant
(Bono de Protección Familiar or BPF), a new social protection programme that covers informal workers, which
captures the difficulties in reaching unregistered populations amid lockdown and containment measures.
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Lancet Glob Health 2021; 9: e782–92
Sustainability 2020, 12, 1025