A WHO Guideline for Emergency Risk Communication (ERC) policy and practice.
Recent public health emergencies, such as the Ebola virus disease outbreak in West Africa (2014–2015), the emergence of the Zika virus syndrome in 2015–2016 and multi-country yellow fever outbreaks in Africa in 2016, h...ave highlighted major challenges and gaps in how risk is communicated during epidemics and other health emergencies. The challenges include the rapid transformation in communications technology, including the near-universal penetration of mobile telephones, the widespread use and increasingly powerful influence of digital media which has had an impact on ‘traditional’ media (newspapers, radio and television), and major changes in how people access and trust health information. Important gaps include considerations of context – the social, economic, political and cultural factors influencing people’s perception of risk and their risk-reduction behaviours.
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"Achieving, maintaining and improving accuracy, timeliness and reliability are major challenges for health laboratories. Countries worldwide committed themselves to build national capacities for the detection of, and response to, public health events of international concern when they decided to eng...age in the International Health Regulations implementation process. Only sound management of quality in health laboratories will enable countries to produce test results that the international community will trust in cases of international emergency. This handbook is intended to provide a comprehensive reference on Laboratory Quality Management System for all stakeholders in health laboratory processes, from management, to administration, to bench-work laboratorians. This handbook covers topics that are essential for quality management of a public health or clinical laboratory. They are based on both ISO 15189 and CLSI GP26-A3 documents"--Page 7.
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El maltrato infantil ha pasado a considerarse en la última década un problema de salud pública. Numerosos trabajos que analizan los efectos directos en la salud mental infantil informan de una alta prevalencia en alteraciones internalizantes, externalizantes y en trastorno por estrés postraumát...ico (TEPT). La Terapia Cognitivo Conductual-Focalizada en el Trauma ha sido la única que ha recibido la mención de tratamiento eficaz bien establecido en población infanto-juvenil. La técnica de exposición prolongada se considera de elección para el tratamiento del TEPT, si bien numerosos pacientes presentan dificultades para llevarla a cabo. La realidad virtual se ha convertido en una alternativa que facilita la técnica de exposición..
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A key component of epidemic and pandemic preparedness is ensuring systems are in place for real-time information to flow from a trusted source to the people at risk.
In the absence of such information rumours can spread rapidly through social media, resulting in an INFODEMIC. EPI-WIN is the WHO Inf...ormation Network for Epidemics that will provide tailored information to different audiences during a public health event.
EPI-WIN seeks to give everyone access to timely, accurate, and easy-to-understand advice and information from trusted sources on public health events and outbreaks: currently the COVID-19 public health emergency.
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This document provides guidance to Member States in the WHO European Region that wish to conduct behavioural insights studies related to COVID-19. Studies can be used to monitor public knowledge, risk perceptions, behaviours and trust with the overall aim to inform national COVID-19 outbreak respons...e measures, including policies, interventions and communications.
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In Control imparts knowledge, provokes reflection and triggers curiosity. The first half of the book provides an overview of the organisations, principles, frameworks and themes that every professional deploying to health emergencies should be aware of. The second half of the book provides practical... advice to help professionals survive and thrive during their mission – from staying healthy, protecting oneself from cyber-attacks and coping with stress to building trust among the host community or dealing with language barriers and the press.
This handbook is free of charge and can be made available in small quantities as long as supply lasts. To order, please send this form to: incontrol-handbook@rki.de
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A practitioner’s guide to the principles of COVID-19 vaccine communications.
The factors that lead people to make choices to take vaccines are nuanced and affected by how they see the world, their perceptions of the choices people like them will make, who they trust, their perceptions of risk,... consistency of message and convenience of actually getting the vaccine.
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When situations occur in which unwanted events are rightly or wrongly connected with vaccination, they may erode confidence in vaccines and the authorities delivering them. This document presents the scientific evidence behind WHO’s recommendations on building and restoring confidence in vaccines ...and vaccination, both in ongoing work and during crises. The evidence draws on a vast reserve of laboratory research and fieldwork within psychology and communication. It examines how people make decisions about vaccination; why some people are hesitant about vaccination; and the factors that drive a crisis, covering how building trust, listening to and understanding people, building relations, communicating risk and shaping messages to the audiences may mitigate crises. This document provides a knowledge base for stakeholders who develop communication strategies or facilitate workshops on communication and trust-building activities in relation to vaccines and immunization, such as immunization programme units, ministries of health, public relations and health promotion units, vaccine safety communication trainers and immunization advisory bodies.
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Tackling COVID-19 misinformation. Ensuring communities have access to lifesaving public health information from trusted sources and are not misled by misinformation is essential to ending the COVID-19 pandemic.
In an effort to empower doctors and nurses – some of the most effective and trusted... messengers of public health information – to actively address COVID-19 misinformation and build vaccine confidence globally, the WHO welcomes this social media toolkit for healthcare practitioners, developed by the Government of the United Kingdom.
This toolkit aims to provide healthcare workers with the tools, skills and content needed to effectively share authentic and reliable information online. Centered around three core vaccine confidence messages, Vaccine Safety, Vaccine Development and Vaccine Reducing Risk of Sickness; this toolkit sets out three approaches: creating your own posts, posting the images and videos provided in the toolkit, or resharing vaccine information from trusted sources.
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Internews’ Rooted In Trust (RiT) Project tracks COVID-19-related rumors circulating among social media users and vulnerable communities in Colombia, as well as other countries around the globe. The rumors are used to inform risk communication efforts by humanitarians and public health actors, and ...to support local media in disseminating more accurate and actionable information that responds to community questions and concerns.
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Internews’ Rooted In Trust (RiT) Project tracks COVID-19-related rumors circulating among social media users and vulnerable communities in Mali, as well as other countries around the globe. The rumors are used to inform risk communication efforts by humanitarians and public health actors, and to s...upport local media in disseminating more accurate and actionable information that responds to community questions and concerns.
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1.0 PURPOSE
To define the procedure for the conduct of in-person meetings in both healthcare and community settings in response to COVID-19 and with respect to Public Health and Social Measures (PHSMs) to reduce the risk of disease transmission. A general risk assessment must be conducted to inform... context specific recommendations.
2.0 SCOPE
The procedure in this document is applicable to all meetings that require convening people
together physically.
3.0 SAFETY AND HYGIENE PROCEDURE
Before entry into the meeting room/venue:
• Presentation of evidence for complete doses of COVID-19 vaccination (depending on COVID-19 vaccine taken) or negative COVID-19 PCR test done within the last 72 hours, or where applicable proof of daily negative RDT result. The Africa Union Trusted Travel platform, with technical support from the PanaBIOS Consortium has implemented an online system that allows Airlines and Port Health services to authenticate and verify traveler’s COVID-19 results certificates in line with international standards, across Africa and beyond.
• Hand hygiene stations should be available at the points of entry.
• All participants must wear a well fitted mask that covers the nose and mouth. Medical masks should be provided all meeting participants.
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For public health emergencies, risk communication includes the range of communication capacities required through the preparedness, response and recovery phases of a serious public health event to encourage informed decision making, positive behaviour change and the maintenance of trust.
Risk commu...nication used to be viewed primarily as the dissemination of information to the public about health risks and events, such as outbreaks of disease and instructions on how to change behaviour to mitigate those risks. Thinking on this has now evolved dramatically as social science evidence and new communication and media technologies and practices have evolved in the 21st century.
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The year 2020 is the target date for the elimination of blinding trachoma as a public health problem. There has been great progress, and there is unprecedented funding available – particularly from DFID, the Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Trust, and USAID. There is also reason for optimism that, ...over the next five years, further success will be seen in many endemic countries. In order to achieve elimination,
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Since 2000, concerted efforts by national programmes, supported by public–private partnerships, nongovernmental organizations, donors and academia under the auspices and coordination of the World Health Organization (WHO), have produced important achievements in the control of human African trypan...osomiasis (HAT). As a consequence, the disease was targeted for elimination as a public health problem by 2020. The Sixty-sixth World Health Assembly endorsed this goal in resolution WHA66.12 on neglected tropical diseases, adopted in 2013.
National sleeping sickness control programmes (NSSCPs) are core to progressing control of the disease and in adapting to the different epidemiological situations. The involvement of different partners, as well as the support and trust of long-term donors, has been crucial for the achievements.
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Today, patient harm due to unsafe care is a large and growing global public health challenge and is one of the
leading causes of death and disability worldwide. Most of this patient harm is avoidable. As countries strive to
achieve universal health coverage and the Sustainable Development Goals, t...he beneficial effects of improved
access to health services can be undermined by unsafe care. Patient safety incidents can cause death and
disability, and suffering for victims and their families. The financial and economic costs of safety lapses are high.
There is often reduced public confidence and trust in local health systems when such incidents are publicized.
Health workers involved in serious incidents involving death or serious harm to a patient can also suffer lasting
psychological harm and deep-seated feelings of guilt and self-criticism.
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From February 22-23, 2023, the Wellcome Trust and the Global Task Force on Cholera Control (GTFCC) brought together researchers, decision makers, and public health implementers to participate in a virtual workshop focused on cholera and climate. Day 1 involved a technical workshop to identify key re...search themes as well as the challenges, gaps, and opportunities in using climate information for cholera decision making. Day 2 was an open forum focused on information-sharing and updates from countries and partners, including a call for stronger research and data on the connection between climate and cholera.
The overarching discussion outlined the complex relationship between climate and cholera. Materials from the event – including a recording of the Day 2 open forum, key findings/messages, and a final event report – can be accessed below
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Jointly developed by WHO’s Regulatory System Strengthening, Regulation and Safety Unit and the Health Ethics & Governance Unit, it is intended to assist countries in evaluating their capacity to provide appropriate ethical oversight of health-related research. In addition to assisting in capacity-...building efforts, the tool is intended to promote policy convergence and best practices in research ethics oversight, to enhance public trust in health research, and to ensure that the rights and safety of humans involved in health-related research are adequately protected, both in ordinary times and during public health emergencies.
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The far-reaching impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic underscore the critical need for evidence-informed, transparent and inclusive decision-making. Policy-makers have grappled with complex choices amidst uncertainty. They have constantly reassessed response measures while navigating their economic impl...ications and unintended consequences on societal well-being. Effective communication of the basis for these decisions has also posed a challenge, requiring transparency and public trust.
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