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Delivering quality health services: A global imperative for universal health coverage

Kieny, Marie-Paule; Evans, Timothy Grant; Scarpetta, Stefano; Kelley, Edward T.; Klazinga, Niek; Forde, Ian; Veillard, Jeremy Henri Maurice; Leatherman, Sheila; Syed, Shamsuzzoha; Kim, Sun Mean; Nejad, Sepideh Bagheri; Donaldson, Liam World Health Organization (WHO), Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), and The World Bank (2018) C_WHO

Poor quality health services are holding back progress on improving health in countries at all income levels.
Today, inaccurate diagnosis, medication errors, inappropriate or unnecessary treatment, inadequate or unsafe clinical facilities or practices, or providers who lack adequate training an... more

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Key Message Guidance Package for the EVD Outbreak in Liberia

Social Mobilization Sub-‐Committee (2014)

This guidance package compiles current facts and key messages about the Ebola outbreak in Liberia to inform activities designed to raise awareness, mobilize communities, and promote safe behaviors to stop the spread of Ebola in Liberia.

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New Perspectives on Global Health Spending for Universal Health Coverag

Xu K., Soucat A., Kutzin J., et al. World Health Organization (2018) C_WHO

The report summarizes key global health expenditure patterns and trends, and illustrates the potential of the new database to inform thinking about financing reforms to progress towards UHC, and also raises issues for further research. It analyses the following areas:

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Africa’s Health Financing in a New Era

Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) (2025) CC

Africa’s health sector is facing an unprecedented financing crisis, driven by a sharp decline of 70% in Official Development Assistance (ODA) from 2021 to 2025 and deep-rooted structural vulnerabilities. This collapse is placing immense pressure on Africa’s already fragile health systems as ODA ...is seen as the backbone of critical health programs: pandemic preparedness, maternal and child health services, disease control programs are all at risk, threatening Sustainable Development Goal 3 and Universal Health Coverage. Compounding this is Africa’s spiraling debt, with countries expected to service USD 81 billion by 2025—surpassing anticipated external financing inflows—further eroding fiscal space for health investments. Level of domestic resources is low. TThe Abuja Declaration of 2001, a pivotal commitment made by African Union (AU) member states, aimed to reverse this trend by pledging to allocate at least 15% of national budgets to the health sector. However, more than two decades later, only three countries—Rwanda, Botswana, and Cabo Verde—have consistently met or exceeded this target (WHO, 2023). In contrast, over 30 AU member states remain well below the 10% benchmark, with some allocating as little as 5–7% of their national budgets to health. In addition, only 16 (29%) of African countries currently have updated versions of National Health Development Plan (NHDP) supported by a National Health Financing Plan (NHFP). These two documents play a critical role in driving internal resource mobilisation. At the same time, public health emergencies are surging, rising 41%—from 152 in 2022 to 213 in 2024—exposing severe under-resourcing of health infrastructure and workforce. Recurring outbreaks (Mpox, Ebola, cholera, measles, Marburg…) alongside effects of climate change and humanitarian crises in Eastern DRC, the Sahel, and Sudan, are overwhelming systems stretched by chronic underfunding. The situation is worsened by Africa’s heavy dependency with over 90% of vaccines, medicines, and diagnostics being externally sourced—leaving countries vulnerable to global supply chain shocks. Health worker shortages persist, with only 2.3 professionals per 1,000 people (below the WHO’s recommended 4.45), and fewer than 30% of systems are digitized, undermining disease surveillance and early warning. Without decisive action, Africa CDC projects the continent could reverse two decades of health progress, face 2 to 4 million additional preventable deaths annually, and a heightened risk of a pandemic emerging from within. Furthermore, 39 million more Africans could be pushed into poverty by 2030 due to intertwined health and economic shocks. This is not just a sectoral crisis—it is an existential threat to Africa’s political, social, and economic resilience, and global stability. In response, African leaders, under Africa CDC’s stewardship, are advancing a comprehensive three-pillar strategy centered on domestic resource mobilization, innovative financing, and blended finance. more

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HEALTH SYSTEMS FINANCING The path to universal coverage

World Health Organization (2010) C_WHO

Promoting and protecting health is essential to human welfare and sustained economic and social development. This was recognized more than 30 years ago by the Alma-Ata Declaration signatories, who noted that Health for All would contribute both to a better quality of life and also to global peace a... more

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From Panic and Neglect to Investing in Health Security

The World Bank (2017) CC

Multiple pandemics, numerous outbreaks, thousands of lives lost and billions of dollars of national income wiped out—all since the turn of this century, in barely 17 years—and yet the world’s investments in pandemic preparedness and response remain woefully inadequate. We know by now that the ... more

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Women´s Mental Health: An evidence based review

WHO WHO (2000) C_WHO

This document adopts a health determinants framework for examining the evidence related to women’s poor mental health. From this perspective, public policy including economic policy, socio-cultural and environmental factors, community and social support, stressors and life events, personal behavio... more

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Alcohol and Public Health in the Americas

Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) (2007) C_WHO

Making the Case for Alcohol as a Public Health Threat in the Region. The purpose of this document is to explain the need for making alcohol a top public health priority in the region and the need for national and regional action. Current evidence-based research shows that alcohol consumption and dri... more

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Roadmap on human resource strategies to improve newborn care in health facilities in low- and middle-income countries

World Health Organization WHO (2020) C_WHO

Every year, an estimated 15 million babies are born preterm – before 37 weeks of pregnancy. That is more than 1 in 10 live births. Approximately 1 million children die each year worldwide due to complications from their early birth. Those that survive often face a lifetime of ill-health including ... more

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Advocacy for mental health, disability and human rights: WHO QualityRights guidance module

World Health Organization WHO (2019) C_WHO

The QualityRights training and orientation modules have been developed to enhance the knowledge, skills and understanding of key stakeholders on how to promote the rights of people with psychosocial, intellectual or cognitive disabilities, improve the quality of services and support provided in the ... more

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Pathways to progress: a multi-level approach to strengthening health systems

Samuels, F., Amaya, A.B., Rodríguez Pose, R. and Balabanova, D. Overseas Development Institute (2014) C1

Findings on maternal and child health in Nepal, Mozambique and Rwanda, and neglected tropical diseases in Cambodia and Sierra Leone | This report synthesises findings from five country case studies from the health dimension of this project, which focus on maternal and child health (MCH) (Mozambique... more

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Quality health services: a planning guide

World Health Organization WHO (2020) C_WHO

The WHO Quality Health Services: a planning guide focuses on actions required at the national, district and facility levels to enhance quality of health services, providing guidance on implementing key activities at each of these three levels. It highlights the need for a health systems approach to ... more

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WASH in Health Care Facilities- Global Baseline Report 2019

World Health Organization, UN Children's Fund (2019) C_WHO

The WHO/UNICEF JMP report, WASH in Health Care Facilities, is the first comprehensive global assessment of water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) in health care facilities. It also finds that 1 in 5 health care facilities has no sanitation service*, impacting 1.5 billion people. The report further rev... more

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Global report on health data systems and capacity, 2020
recommended

World Health Organization WHO (2021) C_WHO

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 ... more

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In Control: A Practical Handbook for Professionals Working in Health Emergencies Internationally RKI

Robert Koch Institut RKI (2023) CC

The greatest risk to persons engaging in international medical emergency response is poor preparation. The In Control handbook hopes to provide a remedy. At the time of writing, we are living through the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, a health emergency that disregards physical borders, brin...gs into focus social inequalities and affects people on every continent. This shared challenge requires unprecedented measures and the collaboration of the brightest minds to support global health protection through this crisis and beyond. Healthcare infrastructures have to be strengthened, public health capacities and processes upgraded, medical countermeasures and vaccinations found and psychosocial side-effects treated. Solidarity is the normative order of the day and the human species has to collaborate to face this invisible threat. Hiding and living in fear is not an option in this interconnected world. We have both a responsibility and an opportunity to make substantial contributions to a safer, healthier and more sustainable future for us all. The existence of this handbook is an impressive example of solidarity. Over 50 authors from more than 15 institutes and organisations have come together voluntarily within a very short time to make their expertise available and enable cross-sectoral thinking. Knowledge is bundled, resources are combined, information gaps are filled. The In Control handbook is not a theoretical treatise of possible dangers, but a collection of subject-matter expertise, written by experts and practitioners who have shaped health topics over the past 20 years in the most diverse corners of the world. The Centre for International Health Protection at the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) is collaborating with its partners and investing heavily in the build-up of operational know-how and capacity to support health crisis response abroad. This is done by preparing and enabling professionals to deploy safely across the world to assist those in need. In Control addresses the multi-faceted challenges of an international deployment. Readers will find not only technical medical information, but also insights into, for example, the fragility of our environment, the cultural differences that influence risk communication or the dilemmas arising from social distancing. Legal principles are highlighted, along with ethical guidance to ensure that our actions and decisions correspond to the highest moral standards. more

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Ending the neglect to attain the sustainable development goals. One health: approach for action against neglected tropical diseases 2021-2030

World Health Organization WHO (2021) C_WHO

This companion document to Ending the neglect to attain the Sustainable Development Goals: a road map for neglected tropical diseases 2021-2030 ("the road map") aims to support a range of stakeholders - including countries in which neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) are endemic, international organi... more

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A triple dividend: The health, social and economic gains from financing the HIV response in Africa

Cook, R.; S. Jain; S. Aleyan; et al. Economist Impact (2023) CC

This report presents findings from research conducted by Economist Impact to assess the health, demographic, social and economic impacts associated with different scenarios for financing the HIV epidemic across 13 selected countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. The sponsorship of UNAIDS towards this repor... more

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In Control. A Practical Handbook for Professionals Working in Health Emergencies Internationally
recommended

Germany’s National Public Health Institute (RKI), et al. (2021) C1

In Control imparts knowledge, provokes reflection and triggers curiosity. The first half of the book provides an overview of the organisations, principles, frameworks and themes that every professional deploying to health emergencies should be aware of. The second half of the book provides practical... more

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Global spending on health: Weathering the storm

World Health Organization WHO (2020) C_WHO

The 2020 Report analyzes global health spending for 190 countries from 2000 to 2018 and provides insights as to the health spending trajectory from the MDG era to the SDG era prior to the crisis of 2020. The report shows that global spending on health continually rose between 2000 and 2018 and reach... more

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mhGAP Intervention Guide Mental Health Gap Action Programme Version 2.0 for mental, neurological and substance use disorders in non-specialized health settings
recommended

Tarun Dua, Nicolas Clark, Neerja Chowdhary et al. World Health Organisation (WHO) (2016) C_WHO

The key updates include: content update in various sections based on new evidence; design changes for enhanced usability; a streamlined and simplified clinical assessment that includes an algorithm for follow-up; inclusion of two new modules - Essential Care and Practice that includes general guid... more

Global report on health data systems and capacity, 2020 recommended

In Control. A Practical Handbook for Professionals Working in Health Emergencies Internationally recommended

mhGAP Intervention Guide Mental Health Gap Action Programme Version 2.0 for mental, neurological and substance use disorders in non-specialized health settings recommended

Global report on health data systems and capacity, 2020
recommended

In Control. A Practical Handbook for Professionals Working in Health Emergencies Internationally
recommended

mhGAP Intervention Guide Mental Health Gap Action Programme Version 2.0 for mental, neurological and substance use disorders in non-specialized health settings
recommended