From 2011 until 2016, a multi-actor programme was run in five countries to improve the life chances and living conditions of people experiencing exclusion and marginalisation of various kinds. This programme worked with local leaders, organisations and movements as well as various institutions and a...uthorities
focusing on older people, those with mental health issues, people with disabilities, ethnic minorities, people displaced by war and youth at risk. Many initiatives were developed that had lasting effects on the ways in which these groups valued themselves and in which they are valued by society.
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WHO has issued a new recommendation on the length of bladder catheterization following surgical repair of a simple obstetric urinary fistula. Currently the length of catheterization is not standard and ranges from 5 to 42 days. The new guidance recommends a 7–10 day period of bladder catheterizati...on to allow complete healing. Longer periods of catheterization can be inconvenient for the woman, her family and care providers as it is associated with more discomfort and inconvenience. It also increases the risk of infection and erosion related to catheterization; requires more intensive nursing care and costs more per patient.
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The world is facing an unprecedented range of emergencies. In reaction to these complex adversities, many people experience considerable distress and impairment, and a minority may even go on to develop mental health conditions. Meanwhile, those with pre-existing mental health conditions may experie...nce a worsening of their condition and are at risk of neglect, abandonment, abuse and lack of access to support. Unfortunately, evidence-based mental health care is often extremely limited in humanitarian settings. In response, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) published the Mental Health Gap Action Programme (mhGAP) Humanitarian Intervention Guide (mhGAP-HIG) in 2015. This practical tool supports health-care providers in assessing and offering first-line management of mental, neurological and substance use (MNS) conditions in humanitarian emergency settings.
2 December 2021. The current report, Stories of change from four countries: Building capacity for integrating mental health care within health services across humanitarian settings, describes efforts in four countries to build evidence-based mental health systems in humanitarian emergency settings using the mhGAP-HIG. This report includes three sections, the first describing the importance of scaling up mental health care in emergency contexts, the second outlining case studies (“stories of change”) to scale up the Mental Health Gap Action Programme (mhGAP) programme in four settings and the third describing lessons learned by stakeholders.
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Indian markets caused a stir across the country.1
According to the Centre for Science and the Environment (CSE), a respected New Delhi-based NGO, most honey brands
sold in India contained varying amounts of antibiotics. Their consumption over time could induce resistance to antibiotics,
putting p...eople at risk of treatment failure in case of severe infections.
For the study, 12 samples were picked in Delhi, all well-known brands, including one each from Australia and Switzerland.
Antibiotics found included Chloramphenicol and various broad-spectrum drugs such as Ciprofloxacin and Erythromycin.
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This global guidance provided the framework for over 100 countries to develop their NDVPs. This updated (second) version supersedes the previous version published in 16 November 2020. New information has been added on the following areas:
the COVID-19 Partners Platform;
the use of COVID...-19 simulation exercises to test deployment strategies;
the indemnity agreement and no-fault compensation programme for vaccines secured through the COVAX Facility in the Advance Market Commitment (AMC) eligible economies;
the availability and use of the WHO-UNICEF COVID-19 Vaccine Introduction and deployment Costing (CVIC) tool;
the COVAX Facility’s humanitarian buffer that enables allocation of vaccine to cover high-risk populations in humanitarian settings;
recommendations for vaccination of pregnant and lactating women;
supplementary information on infection prevention and control (IPC) measures to be used to deliver COVID-19 vaccines safely;
the WHO licensed COVID-19 vaccines product-specific information;
use of geospatial data and digital micro plans for equitable access and delivery of COVID-19 vaccines;
lessons learned from the development of NDVPs and early experiences in COVID-19 vaccine deployment in countries; and
updated additional resources at the end of each chapter.
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In recent years Terre des Hommes Netherlands observed the steady rise of a new form of child sexual exploitation. One that is enabled and fuelled by rapid technological advances, increasing global connectivity, persisting poverty rates, and growing disparity in the global distribution of resources. ...Terre des Hommes Netherlands received alarming signals from collaborating project partners from the Philippines that new commercial child exploitation trades are evolving and spreading parallel to rising global Internet access rates and developments in communications technology.
Webcam child sex tourism is evidently growing, closely related to child prostitution, child trafficking and child abuse. What is not clear however, are the psychological and social consequences of this new phenomenon. To date, no research has been done on the psychosocial consequences of webcam sex for children. The aim of this research is therefore to gain more knowledge on the psychosocial consequences of webcam child sex tourism for children and to give insight into the antecedent factors that play a role.
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Gender-based violence is a life-threatening, global health and human rights issue that violates international human rights law and principles of gender equality. It is also a threat to lasting peace and an affront to our common humanity. United Nations Member States have called for urgent action to ...end GBV in emergencies, recognizing that in crises, the risk of GBV is heightened, particularly for women and adolescent girls.
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The Fourth National Climate Assessment (NCA4) fulfills that mandate in two volumes. This report, Volume II, draws on the foundational science described in Volume I, the Climate Science Special Report (CSSR).2 Volume II focuses on the human welfare, societal, and environmental elements of climate cha...nge and variability for 10 regions and 18 national topics, with particular attention paid to observed and projected risks, impacts, consideration of risk reduction, and implications under different mitigation pathways. Where possible, NCA4 Volume II provides examples of actions underway in communities across the United States to reduce the risks associated with climate change, increase resilience, and improve livelihoods.
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The WHO BioHub Biosafety & Biosecurity: criteria and operational modalities sets out the requirements to which laboratories wishing to receive biological materials as part of this international exchange system should abide, to ensure safe and secure operations. These provisions are in accordance wit...h the recommendations of the WHO Laboratory Biosafety Manual 4th edition (LBM4), adopting an evidence- and risk-based approach to enable scalable and adaptable biosafety provisions and actions, proportionate to the assessed risk
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Strengthening resilient agricultural livelihoods
Level 3 responses are activated in the most complex and challenging humanitarian emergencies, when the highest level of mobilization is required across the humanitarian system. Even before the conflict escalated, the country suffered high levels of p...overty, food insecurity, undernutrition and malnutrition, water shortages and land degradation. Yemenis are also facing armed conflict, displacement, risk of famine and disease outbreaks.
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Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is an important public health concern shared by developed and developing countries. In developing countries the burden of infectious diseases is greater and exacerbated by limited access to, and availability and affordability of, antimicrobials required to treat infect...ions caused by AMR organisms. With drugs not listed on the essential drugs list (EDL), problems of increased morbidity, costs of extended hospitalisation and mortality are extremely serious. The problem of susceptibility to and spread of infections caused by multidrug-resistant (MDR) infectious agents is fuelled by factors such as limited access to clean water and sanitation to ensure personal hygiene, malnutrition, and the HIV/TB epidemic.
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The domestic regulation of public health emergencies (PHEs) is inextricably linked to the regulation of other types of disaster. PHEs are usually governed at least partly by general disaster and emergency laws. Moreover, there is significant overlap in the legal mechanisms used to respond to PHEs an...d other types of disaster, including the declaration of a state of disaster or emergency and the use of emergency powers. Even where PHEs are regulated by separate instruments, those instruments must surmount many of the same policy and practical challenges as general disaster laws, such as finely balancing competing considerations (e.g. speedy response versus due process), facilitating the coordination of a multitude of actors, and protecting the most vulnerable within society. Finally, many contemporary developments in disaster risk management (DRM), such as a greater emphasis on risk reduction and preparedness, are just as pertinent to PHEs as to other types of disaster.
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The practical guidance in the operational handbook aims to inform the development or revision of national policies and related implementation guidance on the management of TB in children and adolescents under programmatic circumstances and at different levels of the health system. The operational ha...ndbook can also help countries adequately plan for the uptake of interventions to better address the specific needs of children and adolescents with or at risk of TB. It can contribute to national efforts to build capacity among national and subnational programme managers and among health workers at all levels of the health care system.
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There is a broad consensus nowadays that the Earth is warming up as a result of greenhouse gas emissions caused by anthropogenic activities. It is also clear that current trends in the fields of energy, development and population growth will lead to continuous and ever more dramatic climate change. ...This is bound to affect the fundamental prerequisites for maintaining good health: clean air and water, sufficient food and adequate housing. The planet will warm up gradually, but the consequences of the extreme weather conditions such as frequent
storms, floods, droughts and heat-waves will have sudden onset and acute repercussions. It is widely accepted that climate change will have an impact on the spread of infectious diseases in Europe, which is likely to bring about new public health risks in the majority of cases. Transmission of infectious diseases depends on a number of factors, including climate and environmental elements. Foodborne and waterborne diseases, for instance, are associated with high temperatures. Disease-transmitting vectors (e.g. mosquitoes, sandflies and ticks) are highly sensitive to climate conditions, including temperature and humidity; their geographical distribution will widen as climate conditions change, potentially allowing them to spread into regions where they are not currently able to live.
The primary purpose of this manual on climate change and infectious diseases is to raise the awareness and the level of knowledge of health workers at national, regional and local levels in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia on the health risks associated with climate change and infectious diseases. This manual was devel-
oped as part of the WHO Regional Office for Europe project, Protecting health from climate change: a seven–country initiative, implemented with financial support from the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety.
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Interim Guidance.
A number of medical problems have been reported in survivors, including mental health issues. Ebola virus may persist in some body fluids, including semen. Ebola survivors need comprehensive support for the medical and psychosocial challenges they face and also to minimize the ...risk of continued Ebola virus transmission. WHO has developed this document to guide health services on how to provide quality care to survivors of Ebola virus disease
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Despite growing evidence on the impact of psychosocial support interventions, there is an urgent need for a stronger evidence base on approaches that effectively support children affected by armed conflict. To contribute to this evidence base, and building on a pilot study conducted in Uganda in 200...9, War Child conducted an exploratory outcome evaluation of its psychosocial support intervention ‘I DEAL’ in South Sudan and Colombia in 2012. The objective of the evaluation was to explore the outcomes that I DEAL achieves for children and the factors that influence the achievement of those outcomes to further inform and strengthen the intervention
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Outbreaks of mpox in newly affected countries have mostly been identified in communities of gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men who have had recent sexual contact with a new partner or partners. Communities of trans and gender diverse people linked to the same sexual networks have also... been affected.
This document (updated in March 2023) is intended for use by individuals, community leaders, influencers, health workers and others affected by or working on the mpox outbreak. It contains information to help people reduce their risk of mpox and to help slow the spread of the virus. This is the third version of this publication – it has been updated based on current public health advice.
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- The goal of diagnostic testing for Ebola and Marburg virus diseases is to identify cases to provide timely and appropriate care and to stop disease transmission.
- All individuals meeting the case definition for Ebola or Marburg virus diseases should be tested.
- The recommended sample type ...for testing for orthoebolaviruses and orthomarburgviruses is whole blood or plasma for living patients, and oral swab for deceased individuals.
- Laboratory confirmation of Orthoebolavirus and Orthomarburgvirus infections and further species identification should be done using nucleic acid amplification testing (NAAT).
- If a suspected case tests negative (living patient) and the blood was drawn less than 72 hours after symptom onset, a second test should be performed with blood drawn more than 72 hours after symptom onset.
- All manipulations in laboratory settings of samples originating from suspected, probable or confirmed cases of Ebola and Marburg virus diseases should be conducted with appropriate biosafety measures according to a risk-based approach.
- Whole or partial genome sequencing can be used to characterize viruses and complement epidemiologic investigations.
- Member States are strongly encouraged to share genetic sequence data (GSD) in publicly accessible databases.
- Member States are required to immediately notify the World Health Organization (WHO) under the International Health Regulations (IHR) 2005 of positive laboratory results.
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The overall goal of surveillance, case investigation and contact tracing in this context is to stop human-to-human transmission to control the outbreak. The key objectives of surveillance and case investigation are to rapidly identify cases and clusters in order to provide optimal clinical care; to ...isolate cases to prevent further transmission; to identify, manage and follow up contacts to recognize early signs of infection; to protect frontline health workers; to identify risk groups; and to tailor effective control and prevention measures.
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WHO TRS N°1012.
Key updates include: (i) surveillance strategies, including cross-sectoral linking of systems and suitable diagnostics; (ii) the latest recommendations on human and animal immunization; (iii) palliative care in lowresource settings; (iv) risk assessment to guide management of bite... victims; and (v) a proposed process for validation and verification of countries reaching zero human deaths from rabies.
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