Promoting health and preventing disease is a critical component of the effort required to achieve Universal Health Coverage (UHC). to date, efforts to achieve UHC have focused mostly on strengthening health systems and their capacities to provide curative care. However, experience from the COVID-19 ...pandemic has reaffirmed the need for resilient health systems, emphasizing primary health care, including preventive and promotive health and well-being.
Emerging from the eye of the storm as the global health lead agency during the pandemic, WHO is equipped with the required insights and actions for a holistic approach to “building back fairer and better” after COVID-19.
The Healthier Populations (UHP) Cluster in the African Region is designed to support Pillar 3 of WHO’s 13th Global Programme of Work (GPW13) which aims to make 1 billion people healthier by reducing health inequities, preventing diseases and injuries, addressing health determinants, and promoting partnerships for collaborative actions amongst all stakeholders.
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To enhance health co-benefits across urban policies which tackle air pollution and climate change, WHO, in cooperation with various international, national, and local partners, implemented the Urban Health Initiative (UHI) pilot project in Accra, Ghana. The Initiative prompted the health sector to u...se its influential position to demonstrate to decision-makers and the public the full range of health, environmental and economic benefits that can be achieved from implementing local emission reduction and energy access policies and strategies. Policy tracking, although not always considered, is a fundamental component of this procedure. It assesses the planning, implementation and progress of a policy to refine or adjust policies with the final objective of increasing the likelihood of the policy being successful. This report is an outcome of the last component of the UHI model process, Policy tracking and monitoring outcomes. The report proposes a framework for tracking urban health policies, with a special focus on the impacts of air quality and energy access on human health and well-being in African countries, giving some examples from the pilot project in Accra. The report also provides resources to survey air quality in cities and other tools to assess public health and the environmental impacts of urban policies and monitor or track their effects.
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This report provides insight into the work that UNFPA has been doing to tackle FGM across borders in these border areas, where country offices are implementing a wide range of initiatives to address the issue. The information provided in this report is structured into four pillars, namely those list...ed in the regional action plan to eliminate cross-border FGM endorsed by the Governments that participated in the interministerial meeting on ending cross-border FGM held in 2019.
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This regional action plan provides a broad framework for the regional level to assist governments in accelerating the implementation of existing international, regional and national commitments on ending FGM. Formulating the plan has provided an opportunity for the region to identify broad prioritie...s, initiate strategic actions and determine responsibilities among different actors. It also ensures that anti-FGM campaign activities are seen not as standalone efforts but rather as an integral part of the African Union’s discussions, in line with the African Union initiative on eliminating FGM (Saleema Initiative)
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The Antimicrobial Resistance Benchmark has evaluated for the second time how the most important players in the antibiotic market are addressing the rise of resistance and the global need for appropriate access to antibiotics. Although we can see progress — it’s hanging by a thread.
We have reac...hed a tipping point where large and prominent drugmakers have retreated from the antibiotics field and smaller innovative biotech companies have gone bankrupt due to the poor financial rewards on offer.
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These Guidelines on prudent use of antimicrobials in human health are based on a technical report prepared by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) with input from EU Member States experts and stakeholders, which should be referred to for details of the methodology used in cr...eating the guidelines as well as for additional references
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In the context of limited resources, national malaria programmes may need to decide on how to prioritize all WHO-recommended interventions . This guidance document has been developed to support national malaria programmes in prioritization decisions, specifically on the deployment scope and product ...choice of insecticide-treated nets (ITNs). This guidance is to be
followed when programmes do not have sufficient budget to deploy the most effective ITNs to all populations at risk.
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Today, patient harm due to unsafe care is a large and growing global public health challenge and is one of the
leading causes of death and disability worldwide. Most of this patient harm is avoidable. As countries strive to
achieve universal health coverage and the Sustainable Development Goals, t...he beneficial effects of improved
access to health services can be undermined by unsafe care. Patient safety incidents can cause death and
disability, and suffering for victims and their families. The financial and economic costs of safety lapses are high.
There is often reduced public confidence and trust in local health systems when such incidents are publicized.
Health workers involved in serious incidents involving death or serious harm to a patient can also suffer lasting
psychological harm and deep-seated feelings of guilt and self-criticism.
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A medida que el tratamiento antirretrovírico con dolutegravir se extiende a más personas que viven con el VIH en el
mundo, adquiere más importancia estimar la frecuencia con que surge la farmacorresistencia adquirida a este
antirretrovírico en las poblaciones tratadas con esquemas que lo conti...enen. Si bien no se ha detectado resistencia
al dolutegravir en los ensayos clínicos con poblaciones no tratadas antes con antirretrovíricos en las que se ha
detectado una viremia persistente pese al tratamiento, los datos indican que puede surgir en quienes toman esquemas
con dolutegravir. La OMS recomienda a los países que estén ampliando el tratamiento con dolutegravir que acompañen
su despliegue con la vigilancia sistemática de la farmacorresistencia.
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The report brings a new dimension to long-term thinking about the future approach to these diseases. For the fi rst time, it sets out financing needs, options, and targets for meeting WHO Roadmap goals by 2020, but also for reaching universal coverage of all people in need by 2030. Th e report makes... one investment case for cost-eff ectiveness and a second investment case where equity is the focus. It sets targets for ending catastrophic health expenditures and, as part of the drive to strengthen health systems, for getting services closer to where people live.
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Although the practice of communication is often called upon when intervening asn involgvingcommunties affected by NTD's, the disciplinary framewokr of healt communication research has been largely absent from NTD strategies. To illustrate how practices conceptualized and developed within the communi...cation field habe been applied in the context of NTD elimination, we conducted a scoping review focusing on two diseases currently targeted for elimination by the WHO: lymphatic filariasis and Chagas disease
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La schistosomiase humaine est une maladie parasitaire chronique et aigüe causée par une infection par des douves du sang (vers trématodes) du genre Schistosoma. Cette maladie est un problème de santé publique dans les zones tropicales et
subtropicales d’Afrique, d’Asie, des Caraïbes et d...Amérique du Sud. Environ 779 millions de personnes sont exposées au risque de contracter l’infection (1). Quelque 236,6 millions de personnes avaient besoin d’une chimiothérapie préventive en 2019
(2).La schistosomiase est une maladie tropicale négligée (MTN), un groupe de diverses maladies et affections qui touchent principalement les populations à faible revenu dansle monde entier
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The conditionality of this recommendation is largely driven by the current higher unit cost of pyrethroid-PBO ITNs compared
to pyrethroid-only LLINs and therefore the uncertainty of their cost-effectiveness. Furthermore, as PBO is less wash-resistant
than pyrethroids, its bioavailability declines ...faster over the three-year estimated life of an ITN; therefore, the added impact of
pyrethroid-PBO ITNs over that of pyrethroid-only LLINs may decline over time. The evidence comes from two sites in
eastern Africa with pyrethroid resistance and not from other geographies where transmission levels and vector characteristics
may vary. PBO acts by inhibiting certain metabolic enzymes, primarily oxidases, and so are likely to provide greater protection
than pyrethroid-only LLINs where mosquitoes display mono-oxygenase-based insecticide resistance mechanisms.
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The desired impact of the OH JPA is a world better able to prevent, predict, detect and
respond to health threats and improve the health of humans, animals, plants and the
environment while contributing to sustainable development. The OH JPA aims to work
towards this vision in the following way:
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• Provide a framework for action and propose a set of activities the four organizations
can offer together to advance and sustainably scale up One Health.
• Provide upstream policy and legislative advice and technical assistance, to help
set national targets and priorities across the sectors for the development and
implementation of One Health legislation, initiatives and programmes.
• Take stock of existing cross-sectoral global and regional initiatives around One
Health, identify and advise on synergies and overlaps, and support coordination.
• Mobilize and make better use of resources across sectors, disciplines and
stakeholders.
• The OH JPA is guided by a theory of change and makes use of One Health principles
to strengthen collaboration, communication, capacity building and coordination
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Rabies is a fatal viral zoonosis and serious public health problem.1 All mammals are believed to be susceptible to the disease, and for the purposes of this document, use of the term animal refers to mammals. The disease is an acute, progressive encephalitis caused by viruses in the genus Lyssavirus....
2 Rabies virus is the most important lyssavirus globally. In the
United States, multiple rabies virus variants are maintained in wild mammalian reservoir populations such as raccoons, skunks, foxes, and bats. Although the United States has been declared free from transmission of canine rabies virus variants, there is always a risk of reintroduction of these variants.The rabies virus is usually transmitted from animal to animal through bites. The incubation period is
highly variable. In domestic animals, it is generally 3 to 12 weeks, but can range from several days to months, exceeding 6 months.8 Rabies is communicable during the period of salivary shedding of rabies virus. Experimental and historic evidence documents that dogs, cats, and ferrets shed the virus for a few days prior to the onset of clinical signs and during illness. Clinical signs of rabies are variable and include inappetance, dysphagia, cranial nerve deficits, abnormal behavior, ataxia, paralysis, altered vocalization, and seizures. Progression to death is rapid. There are currently no known effective rabies antiviral drugs.
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The fifth World Food Safety Day (WFSD) will be celebrated on 7 June 2023 to draw attention and inspire action to help prevent, detect and manage foodborne risks, contributing to food security, human health, economic prosperity, agricultural production, market access, tourism and sustainable developm...ent.
This publication is a guide for all those who want to get involved.
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The WHO Pharmaceuticals Newsletter provides you with the latest information on the safety of medicinal products and regulatory actions taken by authorities around the world.
In addition, this edition includes summary and recommendations from the virtual meeting of the members of the WHO Programme f...or International Drug Monitoring (PIDM) and other partners, which was held on 20 October 2022.
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In the last decade, Timor-Leste has made remarkable progress in strengthening its health system and improving the health status of its population. This has resulted in an increased life expectancy, and the achievement of Millennium Development Goals such as a reduction in infant and under-five morta...lity, an improvement in maternal and child health outcomes, and an increase in immunization coverage. Further, the country has successfully eliminated infectious diseases such as polio, measles, and maternal and neonatal tetanus. There is full political commitment to reducing the incidence of tuberculosis (TB) by 80% and the number of deaths due to TB by 90% by 2030. The country has made great progress in the context of the pandemic, having established numerous quarantine facilities/isolation centres; trained health-care workers; streamlined the procurement and supply of medicines, consumables, personal protective equipment and other equipment; and strengthened the capacity in critical care across secondary and tertiary health care, to better respond to future pandemics and other disaster situations.
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The fifth World Food Safety Day (WFSD) will be celebrated on 7 June 2023 to draw attention and inspire action to help prevent, detect and manage foodborne risks, contributing to food security, human health, economic prosperity, agricultural production, market access, tourism and sustainable developm...ent.
This publication is a guide for all those who want to get involved.
more