TDR (Tropical Disease Research) Annual Report 2018
Rabies is entirely preventable, and vaccines, medicines, tools and technologies have long been available to prevent people from dying of dog-mediated rabies. Nevertheless, rabies still kills about 60 000 people a year, of whom over 40% are children under 15, mainly in rural areas of economically dis...advantaged countries in Africa and Asia. Of all human cases, up to 99% are acquired from the bite of an infected dog.
more
Rabies is entirely preventable, and vaccines, medicines, tools and technologies have long
been available to prevent people from dying of dog-mediated rabies. Nevertheless, rabies still
kills about 60 000 people a year, of whom over 40% are children under 15, mainly in rural areas
of economically ...disadvantaged countries in Africa and Asia. Of all human cases, up to 99% are
acquired from the bite of an infected dog.
more
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.
more
This publication is a compendium of 49 country examples highlighting efforts in improving refugees’ and migrants’ health following the adoption of the WHO Global Action Plan on Promoting the health of refugees and migrants at the seventy-second World Health Assembly, in May 2019.
Health is essential in order to be able to lead a fulfilled and happy life. Health is not only a fundamental human right and one of the most valuable possessions any individual can have, it is also an essential prerequisite for social, economic and political development and stability. Health can onl...y be ensured and improved throughout the world through joint global action.
more
A lot has happened this year. While we continued to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic, we were hit by disease outbreaks and
humanitarian crises. Yet, despite these challenges, we marched on, resolute in resolving critical health systems issues to increase
access to quality healthcare services. To furth...er our vision and bring concrete actions to reality, under
the leadership of the Government of South Sudan, we developed the Health Sector Strategic Plan to define the strategic
approaches, key interventions, mapping resource needs, and the implementation framework to strengthen the health system
to deliver essential quality health services equitably for 2023 to 2027. For WHO, this Plan will usher in a new reality -- access
to lifesaving or health-promoting interventions is doable and possible, making the health sector fairer, especially for those
unable to pay
more
The KMC implementation strategy targets a broad audience. These include policy-makers and programme managers at national, regional and local levels, government and nongovernmental organizations working in the area of maternal and newborn care, global and national professional associations, public an...d private hospital management at all levels of care, and facility- and community-based maternal and infant care providers.
more
This document is an output of a WHO cross-programme initiative aiming to improve the prevention, diagnosis and management of anaemia and thereby accelerate reduction in its prevalence. It comes at an important time, midway through the era of the Sustainable Development Goals, when progress in reduci...ng anaemia has stagnated. This framework is based on the core principles of primary health care: meeting people’s health needs through comprehensive promotive, protective, curative, and rehabilitative care along the life course; systematically addressing the broader determinants of health; and empowering individuals, families, and communities to optimize their health
more
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...t is gratefully acknowledged. However, the findings and ideas expressed herein represent those of Economist Impact. They do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of UNAIDS, nor do they engage the responsibility of UNAIDS.
more
This report analyses the intersection of HIV, COVID-19 and public debt in developing countries. The collision between COVID-19 and a crippling debt crisis have reversed decades of progress - putting present and future investments in health and HIV at risk. Pragmatic options to address the pandemic t...riad are proposed.
more
I examine the effectiveness of donors in targeting the highest burden of malaria in the Democratic Republic of Congo when health information structure is fragmented. I exploit local variations in the burden of malaria induced by mining activities as well as financial and epidemiological data from he...alth facilities to estimate how local aid is matching local health needs. Using a regression discontinuity design, I find significant but quantitatively small variations in aid to health facilities located within mining areas. Comparing local aid with the additional cost of treatment and prevention associated with the increased risk of malaria transmission, I find suggestive evidence that local populations with the highest burden of the disease receive a proportionately lower share of aid compared to neighbouring areas with reduced exposure to malaria infection. The evidence of disparities in the allocation of aid for malaria supports the view that donors may have inaccurate information about local population needs.
more
Little is known about foreign aid provided by private donors. This paper contributes to closing this research gap by comparing the allocation of private humanitarian aid to that of official humanitarian aid awarded to 140 recipient countries over the 2000-2016 period. We construct a new database tha...t offers information on the country in which the headquarters of private donors are located to test whether private donors follow the aid allocation pattern of their home country. Our empirical results confirm that private aid “follows the flag.” This finding is robust against the inclusion of various fixed effects, estimating instrumental variables models, and disaggregating private aid into corporate aid and NGO aid. Donor country-specific estimations reveal that private aid from China, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States “follow the flag.”
more
The GFF needs an additional US$2.5 billion from 2021 to 2025 to enable countries to protect health gains and accelerate progress toward the 2030 Goals. Of this amount, the GFF urgently needs to secure new pledges of US$1.2 billion by the end of 2021 to help its current 36 partner countries protect ...and maintain essential health services and implement time-sensitive service delivery and health system improvements to enable a sharp bend of the curve back to a positive trajectory to close the gap to the SDGs.
more
Since the last situation report on the multi-country outbreak of cholera was published on 6 July 2023 (covering data reported until 15 of June), and as of 15 July 2023, one new outbreak of cholera was reported from India on 15 May 2023. In total, 25 countries have reported cases since the beginning ...of 2023. The WHO African Region remains the most affected region with 14 countries reporting cholera cases since the beginning of the year. The overall capacity to respond to the multiple and simultaneous outbreaks continues to be strained due to the global lack of resources, including shortages of the Oral Cholera Vaccine (OCV) and cholera supplies, as well as overstretched public health and medical personnel, who are dealing with multiple parallel disease outbreaks and other health emergencies. Based on the large number of outbreaks and their geographic expansion, as well as a lack of vaccines and other resources, WHO continues to assess the risk at global level as very high.
more
Ebola disease and Marburg disease outbreaks continue to occur in Africa, with increased frequency. In addition to resulting in high mortality and morbidity, the outbreaks generate fear and mistrust about the response activities within the communities affected.
Infection prevention and control (IP...C) is a key pillar in the outbreak response; adherence to IPC practices can prevent and control transmission of infections to health and care workers, patients and their family members.
During the 2014-2016 West African Ebola disease outbreak, there was an urgent need for rapid IPC guidance to help support ministries of health, health-care providers and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). In response, WHO produced several documents related to the outbreak based on expert opinion, including IPC-specific documents and documents on clinical management that also referenced key IPC principles and practices. Since that time, many practices in the field have become institutionalized.
more
To support the achievement of health equity in the Region, the regional inter-agency movement Every Woman Every Child Latin America and the Caribbean (EWEC-LAC) advocates for and supports the use of equity and evidence-based policies, strategies and interventions to accelerate equitable progress in ...the health of women, children and adolescents. Although progress has been made, great inequities persist. Women from the LAC region’s poorest countries are almost four times more likely to die due to complications during childbirth than those living in the wealthiest countries. Through the years, several tools, instruments and methods (TIMs) have been developed by global, regional and country partners that can be used to conduct systematic equity-based analyses and/or re-designs of health systems, programs, strategies and interventions. The main purpose of this document is to present an overview of existing TIMs that can be used by policymakers, program managers, development partners, nongovernmental organizations, academia and civil society partners to strengthen systematic identification, analysis and responding to social inequities in the health of women, children and adolescents in LAC. The TIMs included were identified through a systematic search process
more
In October 2022, President Biden signed the Global Malnutrition Prevention and Treatment Act (GMPTA) into law, which directs USAID to prevent and treat malnutrition globally. The GMPTA further codifies USAID’s leadership on nutrition, with a focus on evidence-based interventions across health syst...ems and food systems, in both development and humanitarian settings.
Realizing the potential of good nutrition to save lives and ensure a brighter future for generations to come is central to U.S. Government priorities. For over 60 years, USAID has been a leader in the fight to end global malnutrition. Nutrition affects every aspect of human development: from the ability to fight disease, to children’s performance in school, to a nation’s health and economic advancement. There is overwhelming evidence of the power of good nutrition but, due to challenges in accessing safe, nutritious foods and health and sanitation services, many people in low- and middle-income countries remain undernourished.
more
Im Hinblick auf die Finanzierung von Gesundheit im Allgemeinen und von Kindergesundheit im Speziellen ist zunächst zu berücksichtigen, ob die Gelder aus öffentlichen oder privaten Quellen stammen. Denn daraus ergeben sich grundsätzliche Unterschiede. Da private Krankenversicherungen gewinnorient...iert handeln, sind sie daran interessiert, in ihren Versicherungssystemen vor allem von gesunden Menschen mit ausreichend finanziellen Mitteln zu profitieren. Dies führt oft dazu, dass ausgerechnet die Menschen, die eine Gesundheitsversorgung am nötigsten brauchen – nämlich arme und gesundheitlich beeinträchtigte Menschen – außen vor gelassen werden.
more
While there has been real progress in addressing the burden of disease in the WHO African region, the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the link between health, economics and security, as the region saw decades of progress threatened, including positive trends in decreasing inequality. In the Africa...n Region the momentum towards achieving the 2030 SDG disease burden reduction targets (SDG targets 3.3, 3.4 and 3B) has stalled.
The COVID-19 pandemic was also a major threat to gains made, such as the eradication of polio in the region, declared in 2020; reduced numbers of new HIV infections in 2021 compared to 2010; and passing the 2020 milestone of the End TB Strategy, with a 22% reduction in new cases compared with 2015. However, the pandemic also disrupted essential health services in 92% of countries globally, 22.7 million children missed basic immunization, there was an increase in malaria and TB, and global deaths from TB rose for the first time since 2015.
more