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Fast Facts on Climate Change and Health

World Health Organization WHO (2021) C_WHO

Climate change is resulting in poorer health outcomes, increasing mortality and is a driver of health inequities. However, health is well placed to be a significant part of the solution; the positive health impacts from stronger climate change action can motivate stronger global ambition; health sys... more

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Psychosocial and Mental Health Aspects of Women´s Health

WHO WHO (1993) C_WHO

This document is the first in a series jointly produced by WHO´s Division of Family Health and the Division of Mental Health around the general theme of women and mental health. The aim of the series is to create a forum to debate issues related to women´s mental health and to their contribution ... more

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Tracking progress on health and climate change in Europe

Romanello M., van Daalen K., et al. (2021) C2

Left unabated, climate change will have catastrophic effects on the health of present and future generations. Such effects are already seen in Europe, through more frequent and severe extreme weather events, alterations to water and food systems, and changes in the environmental suitability for infe... more

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The UCL–Lancet Commission on Migration and Health: the health of a world on the move

Ibrahim Abubakar, Robert W Aldridge, Delan Devakumar, et al. The Lancet (2018) CC

The UCL–Lancet Commission on Migration and Health steps into this political debate to provide evidence for cooperation and action on what is one of the most pressing issues of the 21st century. The Commission’s foundation is that migration and health are inextricably linked—and key to sustaina... more

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Hand hygiene for all initiative: improving access and behaviour in health care facilities

World Health Organization WHO (2020) C_WHO

The WHO and UNICEF-led Hand Hygiene for All Initiative aims at ensuring implementation for WHO's global recommendations on hand hygiene to prevent and control COVID-19 pandemic, and hand hygiene improvement sustainability in countries as a mainstay of wider infection prevention and control (IPC) and... more

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Guidance and technical packages on community mental health services: promoting person-centred and rights-based approaches: executive summary

World Health Organization WHO (2021) C_WHO

The WHO Guidance on community mental health services: Promoting person-centred and rights-based approaches document is part of the WHO Guidance and technical packages on community mental health services set of publications. It provides a detailed description of person-centred and human rights-based ... more

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Fostering Health Systems’ Monitoring to Better Serve Older Populations

World Health Organisation (WHO) (2023) C_WHO

The chapter Fostering Health Systems’ Monitoring to Better Serve Older Populations is part of the publication series entitled Decade of Healthy Aging: Situation and Challenges. The publications are designed to favor the prioritization of effective actions at the local level as well as the monitori... more

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Fiji National Antimicrobial Resistance Action Plan

The Government of Fiji (2015) C2

AMR is a serious and growing global problem. A WHO report released in 2014 stated that this serious threat is no longer a prediction for the future it is happening now in every region of the world and has potential to affect anyone, of any age in any community – a real threat to the public health.... more

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What is primary health care?

World Health Organization WHO (2018) C_WHO

Primary health care is about caring for people, rather than simply treating specific diseases or conditions. Good primary health care is made up of three parts: empowered people and communities who can take care of and advocate for their health; ensuring multisectoral policy and action to systematic... more

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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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Government Health Spending Outlook - Projections Through 2029: Diverging Fiscal Pressures, Uneven Constraints

The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development The World Bank (2024) CC

This paper examines the implications of the IMF’s April 2024 macro-fiscal forecast updates on government health expenditure (GHE) across 170 economies through 2029, covering nearly all years remaining to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The findings reveal wide disparities in gove... more

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National spending on health by source for 184 countries between 2013 and 2040

Dieleman, J.; Templin, T.; Sadat, N. et al. (2016) CC

A general consensus exists that as a country develops economically, health spending per capita rises and the share of that spending that is prepaid through government or private mechanisms also rises. However, the speed and magnitude of these changes vary substantially across countries, even at simi...lar levels of development. In this study, we use past trends and relationships to estimate future health spending, disaggregated by the source of those funds, to identify the financing trajectories that are likely to occur if current policies and trajectories evolve as expected. Methods We extracted data from WHO's Health Spending Observatory and the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation's Financing Global Health 2015 report. We converted these data to a common purchasing power-adjusted and inflation-adjusted currency. We used a series of ensemble models and observed empirical norms to estimate future government out-of-pocket private prepaid health spending and development assistance for health. We aggregated each country's estimates to generate total health spending from 2013 to 2040 for 184 countries. We compared these estimates with each other and internationally recognised benchmarks. Findings Global spending on health is expected to increase from US$7·83 trillion in 2013 to $18·28 (uncertainty interval 14·42–22·24) trillion in 2040 (in 2010 purchasing power parity-adjusted dollars). We expect per-capita health spending to increase annually by 2·7% (1·9–3·4) in high-income countries, 3·4% (2·4–4·2) in upper-middle-income countries, 3·0% (2·3–3·6) in lower-middle-income countries, and 2·4% (1·6–3·1) in low-income countries. Given the gaps in current health spending, these rates provide no evidence of increasing parity in health spending. In 1995 and 2015, low-income countries spent $0·03 for every dollar spent in high-income countries, even after adjusting for purchasing power, and the same is projected for 2040. Most importantly, health spending in many low-income countries is expected to remain low. Estimates suggest that, by 2040, only one (3%) of 34 low-income countries and 36 (37%) of 98 middle-income countries will reach the Chatham House goal of 5% of gross domestic product consisting of government health spending. Interpretation Despite remarkable health gains, past health financing trends and relationships suggest that many low-income and lower-middle-income countries will not meet internationally set health spending targets and that spending gaps between low-income and high-income countries are unlikely to narrow unless substantive policy interventions occur. Although gains in health system efficiency can be used to make progress, current trends suggest that meaningful increases in health system resources will require concerted action. Funding Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. more

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Malaria - Children for Health

Children for Health (2025) C1

Older children play a crucial role in preventing malaria by encouraging the use of insecticide-treated bed nets and preventing mosquito breeding. They also support younger children during illness by assisting with nutrition and recovery activities. Recent advancements include the introduction of a m... more

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Public Policy Responses to Address the Mental Health Consequences of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Evidence From Chile

Irarrazaval M., Norambuena P. et al Frontiers in Public Health (2021) C2

Objectives: This paper reviews the mental health policies that have been implemented in Chile in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the international context of countries' responses. Even before the start of the pandemic, there were significant barriers to access mental health services in Chile, ... more

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Beat the heat: Child health amid heatwaves in Europe and Central Asia

UN Children's Fund UNICEF (2024) CC

Beat the heat: child health amid heatwaves in Europe and Central Asia finds that half of these children died from heat-related illnesses in their first year of life. Most children died during the summer months. "Around half of children across Europe and Central Asia – or 92 million children –... are already exposed to frequent heatwaves in a region where temperatures are rising at the fastest rate globally. The increasingly high temperatures can have serious health complications for children, especially the youngest children, even in a short space of time. Without care, these complications can be life-threatening,” said Regina De Dominicis UNICEF Regional Director for Europe and Central Asia. Heat exposure has acute effects on children, even before they are born, and can result in pre-term births, low birth weight, stillbirth, and congenital anomalies. Heat stress is a direct cause of infant mortality, can affect infant growth and cause a range of paediatric diseases. The report also notes that extreme heat caused the loss of more than 32,000 years of healthy life among children and teenagers in the region. As the temperatures continue to rise, UNICEF urges governments across Europe and Central Asia to: - Integrate strategies to reduce the impact of heatwaves including through National Determined Contributions (NDC), National Adaptation Plans (NAP), and disaster risk reduction and disaster management policies with children at the centre of these plans Invest in heat health action plans and primary health care to more adequately support heat-related illness among children - Invest in early warning systems, including heat alert systems - Adapt education facilities to reduce the temperatures in the areas children play in and equip teachers with skills to respond to heat stress - Adapt urban design and infrastructure including ensuring buildings, particularly those housing the most vulnerable communities are equipped to minimize heat exposure - Secure the provision of safe water, particularly in countries with deteriorating water quality and availability. UNICEF works with governments, partners and communities across the region to build resilience against heatwaves. This includes equipping teachers, community health workers and families with the skills and knowledge to respond to heat stress. more

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Climate Solutions Double as Health Interventions

Mailloux, N.A. et al. (2021) CC

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18(24), 13339; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182413339 The climate crisis threatens to exacerbate numerous climate-sensitive health risks, including heatwave mortality, malnutrition from reduced crop yields, water- and vector-borne infectious diseases, and... more

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Ethiopia: Antimicrobial Resistance Prevention and Containment Strategic Plan: The One Health Approach 2021-2025

Ethiopian Food, Medicine and Healthcare Administration and Control Authority (2021) C2

To understand the national situation, Ethiopia did a situation assessment, launched its first strategy in 2011, and took action to contain AMR, as detailed in the blue boxes found throughout this strategy. This updated version of the strategy was in response to the revised health and medicines polic... more

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NCDs and climate change: Shared opportunities for action

NCD Alliance (2016) CC

The policy brief focuses on four key areas for intervention - air pollution, energy, transport and food systems. Air pollution causes 7 million deaths annually, and is a leading cause of both NCDs and climate change, thus all interventions to reduce air pollution have a positive impact on both human... more

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Maternal and Newborn Health in Urban India: A Monograph based on Literature Review Exercise

Save the Children (2016) C2

India contributes to 16% of the global maternal deaths and around 27% of global newborn deaths. Reducing the burden of maternal and newborn mortality and morbidity in urban poor settings today requires an expansion of effective Maternal and Newborn Health (MNH) care services and lowering the barrier... more

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The Self Advocacy Tool Kit - For Mental Health Services Users

Christina Angela Ntulo CBM & Basic Needs UK in Uganda (BNUU) (2015) C2

First Edition~ This self advocacy toolkit for persons with mental, neurological and substance abuse disorders, developed by Basic Needs and CBM, is the end product of an action research intervention that tracked and documented processes for Self Advocacy in low resourced communities of Uganda. Th... more