Q2: What are the effective interventions for preventing child abuse and its mental health consequences?
The World Health Organization's Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office (WHO EMRO) highlights the significant health and social consequences of harmful alcohol use. Excessive alcohol consumption is linked to over 200 diseases and injuries, including liver cirrhosis, pancreatitis, various cancers, hemo...rrhagic stroke, and hypertension. Globally, it results in approximately 3.3 million deaths annually, surpassing fatalities from HIV/AIDS, violence, or tuberculosis. In the Eastern Mediterranean Region, while overall alcohol consumption is low, there is a concerning rise among adolescents and young adults, with patterns of heavy episodic drinking posing significant health risks. In response, the WHO has developed a global strategy to reduce the harmful use of alcohol, aiming to improve health and social outcomes by decreasing disease and death associated with alcohol consumption.
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People affected by impairments and disabilities associated with TB are even more likely to belong to marginalized segments of society and are more likely to have their human rights unprotected. The challenges faced by people affected by TB include the consequences of impairment and disability associ...ated with the disease, its treatment as well as with the stigma and discrimination applied to people affected by TB. There is now compelling evidence that the disease and its treatment affect quality of life and life expectancy even after successful treatment.
The WHO Global Tuberculosis Programme has produced the first policy brief on TB-associated disability, building on the increasing evidence in recent years on the unaddressed needs of people with TB who experience impairment and disability while on TB treatment and after completing TB treatment.
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Severe cases of COVID-19 are associated with rehabilitation needs related to the consequences of ventilatory support, and prolonged immobilization and bed rest. These may include: − Impaired lung function; − Physical deconditioning and muscle weakness; − Delirium and other cognitive impairment...s; − Impaired swallow and communication; and − Mental health disorders and psychosocial support needs. − Rehabilitation needs may be amplified by underlying health conditions and decrements in health associated with ageing, − Rehabilitation professionals play an important role in facilitating early discharge, which is especially critical in the context of hospital bed shortages. − Rehabilitation needs of people with severe COVID-19 exist during the acute, sub-acute and long-term phases of care; rehabilitation professionals should be positioned in ICUs, hospital wards, stepdown facilities and in the community. − Particularly in the acute phase, rehabilitation interventions for patients with severe COVID-19 requiring ventilatory support generally require a particular skill-set acquired through specialist training.
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Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs), including mental disorders, currently pose one of the biggest threats to health and development globally, particularly in low and middle income countries2. It is predicted that unless proven interventions are rapidly implemented in countries, in the short to medium ...term, health care costs will increase exponentially and severe negative consequences will ensue not only to individuals and families but to whole societies and economies. NCDs are already a major burden in South Africa, but without added rigorous and timely action the health and development consequences may well become catastrophic. Immediate and additional, high quality, evidence based and focussed interventions are needed to promote health, prevent disease and provide more effective and equitable care and treatment for people living with NCDs at all levels of the health system. The problem is further compounded by the rising global prevalence of multi-morbidity (defined as the coexistence of two or more chronic diseases in one individual).
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Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) or Chronic noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) are the 1st cause of death and disability worldwide.
The term NCDs refers to a group of conditions that are not mainly caused by an acute infection, result in long-term health consequences and often create a need for long-...term treatment and care. These five main NCDs are cancers, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, chronic lung illnesses and Mental health conditions.
Many NCDs can be prevented by reducing common risk factors such as tobacco use, harmful alcohol use, physical inactivity and eating unhealthy diets. Many other important conditions are also considered NCDs, including injuries and mental health disorders.
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The growing burden of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), including disability, violence and injuries, has devastating health consequences for individuals, families and communities and threatens to overwhelm health systems. It is recognized that failure to act on noncommunicable diseases in the short t...erm would lead to massive cumulative output losses.
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The ERF provides WHO staff with essential guidance on how the Organization manages the assessment, grading and response to public health events and emergencies with health consequences, in support of Member States and affected communities. The ERF adopts an all-hazards approach and it is therefore a...pplicable in all acute public health events and emergencies.
This version (2024) of the WHO ERF has been developed following extensive consultation across the three levels of the Organization and response experiences over the last five years of emergency response. Key areas have been updated to improve the accountability, predictability, timeliness and effectiveness of WHO’s response to emergencies.
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The emergence of multifrug-resistant malaria in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) has been identified as an emergency issue that may have catastrophic consequences on the future of malaria elimination in the GMS as well as globally. In recognition of the need for a cohesive regional response,... GMS countries have committed to a shared goal of eliminating malaria from the GMS by 2030 working within the framework of the Strategy for Malaria Elimination in the Greater Mekong Subregion 2015-2030. Population mobility has been identified as a key concern in the context of multidrug-resistant malaria; and in a region of highly porous borders where the majority of intra-Mekong migration occurs through informal channels, addressing the health needs of migrant populations has never been more critical.
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This guide is intended to promote a global health sector response to FGM for the provision of high-quality prevention and care services to women and girls at risk of FGM or living with the consequences of FGM. It also aims to support the systematic development of pre-service and in-service FGM conte...nt for midwifery and nursing education curricula which are relevant to context and need. This document could also be used for training materials of other cadres of health-care providers.
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The COVID-19 pandemic is a rapidly evolving global crisis and there
is much that is still emerging in terms of the psychosocial and mental
health consequences for the diverse populations affected by this
emergency. This toolkit is based on what is currently available and
will be updated as addit...ional resources become available.
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The development of this draft Proposed programme budget 2022–2023 comes at a unique moment for WHO. The world is in the grip of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic and faces health, social and economic consequences on an unprecedented scale. Although it is not known when the COVID-19 pande...mic will end, recent encouraging vaccine results, in addition to the examples of countries that have achieved good results through public health measures, hold out the prospect of better days ahead. The full impact of the pandemic cannot yet be determined. But whatever its implications, the Secretariat will rise to the challenge and is ready to adapt so that it is fully equipped to support Member States for any eventuality in the future – to make sure that the world will never again have to face this kind of crisis.
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The World Health Organization (WHO) launched the SAFER initiative in 2018 to address the global health and societal challenges posed by alcohol-related harm. The initiative outlines five key strategies aimed at reducing alcohol consumption and its associated consequences. These include strengthening... restrictions on alcohol availability by implementing and enforcing policies to limit its accessibility and advancing drink-driving countermeasures, such as low blood alcohol concentration limits and random breath testing, to reduce alcohol-impaired driving incidents.
Additionally, SAFER emphasizes facilitating access to screening, brief interventions, and treatment for individuals with alcohol use disorders, ensuring that healthcare systems are equipped to provide effective support. Another core strategy is enforcing comprehensive bans or restrictions on alcohol advertising, sponsorship, and promotion to minimize its influence, particularly on vulnerable populations such as youth. Finally, the initiative advocates raising alcohol prices through excise taxes and pricing policies to make it less affordable and thereby reduce consumption.
By implementing these evidence-based, cost-effective measures, the SAFER initiative aims to reduce the global burden of alcohol-related deaths and disabilities, fostering healthier societies worldwide.
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HIV testing programmes need to ensure that all clients who test for HIV are provided with correct diagnoses. The accuracy of HIV testing is critical to prevent misdiagnosis, as the consequences of giving an incorrect test result can be serious for clients, HIV testing services, HIV programmes and pu...blic health.
With the evolution of global HIV epidemiology, HIV testing approaches must also evolve to maintain accuracy and efficiency in population-level diagnosis. Reports suggest that misdiagnosis of HIV status may occur when suboptimal testing algorithms and out-of-date testing strategies are used. As a result of changing epidemiology and declining HIV positivity in testing, WHO recommends all countries use a standard three-test strategy to ensure a PPV of at least 99%, minimizing false-positive misdiagnosis. The WHO-recommended HIV testing strategy, along with quality assurance measures such as retesting to verify a positive diagnosis prior to initiation of HIV treatment, is cost-effective as it prevents misdiagnosis and unnecessary initiation of costly lifelong treatment.
This implementation guide provides practical advice on switching to a three-test strategy and instituting other measures that can help national HIV programmes deliver high-quality, accurate HIV testing services and ensure that misdiagnosis is minimized.
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Chemoprevention is the use of medicines, either alone or in combination, to prevent malaria infection and its consequences. This publication provides standardized approaches for monitoring and evaluating the efficacy of medicines used for intermittent preventive treatment of malaria in pregnancy, pe...rennial malaria chemoprevention (formerly known as intermittent preventive treatment of malaria in infants), seasonal malaria chemoprevention and intermittent preventive treatment of malaria in school-aged children. It follows the recent release of new and updated WHO recommendations on these interventions.
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Going to work during this COVID-19 pandemic has placed frontline workers under immense and unprecedented pressure, putting their physical, mental and social well-being at risk. Exposure to excessive stress, for prolonged periods can have many harmful consequences on the emotional and mental well-bei...ng of frontline workers. This document outlines some actions that frontline workers can take to cope with stress and take care of themselves during COVID-19.
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This report is primarily intended for the community of policymakers and researchers concerned about the rising risks of domestic, regional, and global infectious disease epidemics, and the collective failure to take the coordinated actions required to reduce such risks. These risks include the expec...ted health, economic, and societal costs that are borne by countries, regions, and even all nations in the case of pandemics (which are worldwide epidemics). These risks also include the consequences of increasing antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and its spread within regions and globally. A necessary first step is to monitor whether a broad range of stakeholders are acting to prevent outbreaks from becoming epidemics, whether their capacities to respond to epidemics are robust, and whether preparedness to respond to pandemics and limit the resulting economic and health damage is improving. Analyzing the adequacy of these efforts is vitally important for the decisions of policymakers to invest in the public health and disaster-risk management capacities. Early and effective control of disease outbreaks prevents substantial health and economic costs whether or not the disease can spread globally and become a pandemic.
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This booklet provides latest available estimates of the prevalence of depression and other common mental disorders at the global and regional level, together with data concerning the consequences of these disorders in terms of lost health.
In this edition, the Antimicrobial Resistance chapter discusses the growing, dangerous trend of antimicrobial resistance and the potential catastrophic consequences on global health.
The Nanomaterials chapter talks about this relatively new technology and its potential impacts on the environment a...nd health.
The Marine Protected Areas chapter draws attention to the plight of our oceans and the need for more and better managed protected areas.
The Sand and Dust Storms chapter discusses the human and environmental causes of such phenomena, their health impacts which include respiratory and cardiovascular diseases and lung cancer, and the need to manage the storms through sustainable land and water management.
The Solar Solutions chapter highlights how this renewable energy could help tackle climate change and bring much needed energy to off grid settlements.
The Environmental Displacement chapter shows how the impacts of climate change are displacing people, causing them to leave their homes.
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In this edition, the Antimicrobial Resistance chapter discusses the growing, dangerous trend of antimicrobial resistance and the potential catastrophic consequences on global health.
Chapter 1 of Frontier 2017: Emerging Issues of Environmental Concern