Primary health care offers a cost–effective route to achieving universal health coverage (UHC). However, primary health-care systems are weak in many low- and middle-income countries and often fail to provide comprehensive, people-centred, integrated care. We analysed the primar...y health-care systems in 20 low- and middle-income countries using a semi-grounded approach. Options for strengthening primary health-care systems were identified by thematic content analysis. We found that: (i)despite the growing burden of noncommunicable disease, many low- and middle-income countries lacked funds for preventive services; (ii)community health workers were often under-resourced, poorly supported and lacked training; (iii)out-of-pocket expenditure exceeded 40% of total health expenditure in half the countries studied, which affected equity; and (iv)health insurance schemes were hampered by the fragmentation of public and private systems, underfunding, corruption and poor engagement of informal workers. In 14 countries, the private sector was largely unregulated. Moreover, community engagement in primary health care was weak in countries where services were largely privatized. In some countries, decentralization led to the fragmentation of primary health care. Performance improved when financial incentives were linked to regulation and quality improvement, and community involvement was strong. Policy-making should be supported by adequate resources for primary health-care implementation and government spending on primary health care should be increased by at least 1% of gross domestic product. Devising equity-enhancing financing schemes and improving the accountability of primary health-care management is also needed. Support from primary health-care systems is critical for progress towards UHC in the decade to 2030.
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The burden of diabetes is enormous, positioning it as one of the main challenges facing public health today. Currently, it is estimated that 62 million people are living with diabetes in the Region of the Americas and projections show its prevalence will continue rising over the following years. The... Region shows the highest number of years of healthy life lost (through either disability or premature death) due to diabetes worldwide. The high costs associated with its treatment produce a heavy economic burden. Its complications can seriously affect the quality of life of people living with diabetes, their families, and society and overload health systems. This report shows the latest internationally comparable data on diabetes and its main risk factors by year, country, and sex. It also includes a summary of the countries health systems’ response to diabetes, including national plans, targets, surveillance, guidelines, and access to essential drugs and technologies, and synthesizes information about diabetes-related complications and the close relationship between diabetes and other pathologies, such as cardiovascular diseases, tuberculosis, and COVID-19. The data presented here reveal that, despite advances in national responses, diabetes continues to expand, and our response remains insufficient. This report aims to draw attention to the urgent need to strengthen efforts to prevent, diagnose, and control diabetes in the Region of the Americas.
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Saving Lives Through Safe Surgery (SaLTS)
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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Using the WHO model list of essential medicines to update a national essential medicines list
Since 1977, WHO has been working with countries to design the package of essential medicines as an integral component of treatment within the continuum of care, developing and disseminating the Model List ...of Essential Medicines (Model List). WHO is committed to supporting Member States in sharing best practices in selecting
essential medicines, and in developing processes for the selection of medicines for national essential medicines lists (national EMLs, or NEMLs) consistent with the evidence-based methods used for updating the WHO Model List.
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The document is a policy brief by the NCD Alliance for the 2023 United Nations High-Level Meeting on Universal Health Coverage (UHC). It highlights the importance of integrating non-communicable diseases (NCDs) into UHC efforts, with the goal of ensuring equitable health access worldwide.
The report reflects on the trends, achievements and challenges in global health over the past decade during which Dr Margaret Chan has been Director-General of WHO. It discusses the role of WHO in dealing with such issues as the rise of noncommunicable diseases, leaps in life expectancy, and emergin...g threats like climate change and antimicrobial resistance.
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Strategic communication is at the heart of public health and more important than ever in the digital age. Using communication strategically requires expertise, skills and resources to plan, implement and evaluate interventions that encourage governments to implement policies that improve people’s ...lives and well-being, that empower health workers to deliver the best care possible, and that encourage people to take actions that protect and improve their health and that of their family and community. This Regional Action Framework on Communication for Health (C4H) aims to support Member States in implementing the C4H approach. It outlines steps to be taken by WHO and Member States to use C4H to achieve shared public health goals in the Western Pacific.
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The Global Health Expenditure Report delves into the intricate landscape of global economies and health systems. This year, it focuses on health spending in 2022, the third year of the COVID-19 pandemic. It shows how countries around the world responded to the health and economic shocks of the pande...mic from a financial perspective. It also considers what the future may hold as countries emerge from the pandemic. Although it is still too early to gauge whether the COVID-19 pandemic has altered long-term trends in health spending, spending appears to have peaked and is now at or below its long-term rising trend in most country income groups. Additionally, to mark the 25th anniversary of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Health Expenditure Tracking Program, the report reviews the program’s achievements and envisions a path forward. As the program’s lead technical agency, WHO is committed to working closely with partners to support countries in tracking health spending and sustaining the Global Health Expenditure Database and the Global Health Expenditure Report as global public goods.
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This paper presents a bibliometric analysis of the literature on private health aid and official health assistance between 2000 and 2022. It provides an overview of the sites and themes in the literature pertaining to development assistance in health, and collates the significant policy recommendati...ons presented therein. Several crucial findings emerge from the bibliometric analysis: 44.2 percent of the 489 papers/articles assessed focused on lower-middle-income countries, while 37.7 percent focused on low-income countries. However, authors affiliated with institutes and organisations from lower-middle- and low-income countries contributed merely 15.5 percent and 11.8 percent, respectively, of the papers assessed. Most (72.7 percent) were written by authors from highmiddle-
and high-income countries. Additionally, despite non-governmental
organisations, philanthropies, and private businesses constituting about 20 percent of development assistance donors, a mere 4 percent of all papers focused on these entities.
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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.
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Since 2002 the distribution of external funding to reproductive, maternal, newborn, and child health (RMNCH) has become more equitable and better targeted at the poorest countries and those experiencing the highest mortality. The aid envelope is not large enough or well enough concentrated to close ...gaps in domestic government fund ing between the poorest and middle income countries. Donors and governments of low and middle income countries should increase their investments for RMNCH . Donors should further concentrate their funds on the poorest countries and those with the highest maternal, newborn, and child mortality. Investment is also needed to close serious data and methodological gaps for assessing equity of financing between and within countries
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According to the latest available estimates, more than 1 in 7 adolescents aged 10–19 is estimated to live with a diagnosed mental disorder globally. Almost 46,000 adolescents die from suicide each year, among the top five causes of death for their age group. Meanwhile, wide gaps persist between me...ntal health needs and mental health funding. The report finds that about 2 per cent of government health budgets are allocated to mental health spending globally.
The full report , excecutive summary, brief reports are available in English, French, Spanish and Arabic athttps://www.unicef.org/reports/state-worlds-children-2021?utm_source=referral&utm_medium=media&utm_campaign=sowc-web
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To meet our Strategy objectives and get within reach
of the 2030 SDG 3 target related to the three diseases,
the Global Fund needs to raise US$18 billion for the
Eighth Replenishment. That sum is essential to drive the
required pace of progress in the fight against HIV, TB
and malaria, and to m...aintain the necessary investments
in health and community systems.
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The relative priority received by issues
in global health agendas is subjected to impressionistic
claims in the absence of objective methods of assessment
of priority. To build an approach for conducting structured
assessments of comparative priority health issues receive,
we expand the public ...arenas model (2021) and offer a
framework for future assessments of health issue priority
in global and national health agendas.
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The figures and findings reflected in the 2020 PMR represent the independent analysis of the United Nations (UN) and its humanitarian partners based on information available to them. Many of the figures provided throughout the document are estimates based on sometimes incomplete and partial data set...s using the methodologies for collection that were available at the time. The Government of Syria has expressed its reservations over the data sources and methodology of assessments used to inform the 2020 Humanitarian Needs Overview (HNO) as well as on a number of HNO findings reflected in the 2020 HRP. This applies throughout the document.
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Healthy people, healthy animals and a healthy environment worldwide with the One Health approach.
The COVID-19 pandemic has drastically demonstrated just how close the link is between humans, animals, and the environment, and has highlighted and aggravated existing challenges. The destruction of na...tural habitats and displacement of species, trade in wild animals, resource-intensive lifestyles and conditions, non-sustainable food systems and, in particular, industrial agriculture and intensive livestock farming are the causes of the emergence of zoonoses as well as numerous other communicable and non-communicable, chronic diseases.
The One Health approach focuses precisely on such interaction between humans, animals, and the environment.
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