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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3 August 2021- Gatherings are events characterized by the concentration of people at a specific location for a specific purpose over a set period of time.
The aim of this policy brief is to present WHO’s position on, and guidance in relation to, holding gatherings during the COVID-19 pandemic. It... is intended for policy-makers; the information is derived from WHO publications and on a review of evidence extracted from the scientific literature.
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The impact of attacks on health care in Fragile, Conflict-affected and Vulnerable (FCV) settings goes well beyond endangering health providers. Reduced capacity, interrupted services and loss of health care resources deprive vulnerable populations of urgently needed care, undermine health systems an...d jeopardize long-term public health goals.
As the world struggles with the COVID-19 pandemic, protecting health care where health systems are the most vulnerable has become more important than ever. Ensuring the right to access health care for everyone, everywhere is not only at the core of WHO’s commitment to achieve better health but also a stepping stone to a reaching the Sustainable Development Goals or SDGs.
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This interim guidance is for LTCF managers and corresponding infection prevention and control (IPC) focal persons in LTCF and updates the guidance published in March 2020. The objective of this document is to provide guidance on IPC in LTCFs in the context of COVID-19 to 1) prevent COVID-19-virus fr...om entering the facility and spreading within the facility, and 2) to support safe conditions for visiting through the rigorous application of IPC procedures for the residents’ well-being. WHO will update these recommendations as new information becomes available.
Availabel in English, French, Russian and Spanish
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he WHO South-East Region in 2019 accounted for nearly a million missing TB patients from the estimated incidence. Active case-finding (ACF) or systematic screening for tuberculosis is an important tool to reach out to missing TB patients. When appropriately implemented, the activity is cost effectiv...e, helps to reduce diagnosis and treatment delays, and prevents the spread of the disease. This document presents an analysis of published ACF studies from the Region. It can be used by Member States for effective planning, implementation and monitoring of these activities.
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Welcome to the Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) training package. IPC is a major challenge for health care systems around the world and there is a significant opportunity to reduce avoidable morbidity and mortality through improvements to IPC. Health care-associated infections (HAIs) and antim...icrobial resistance (AMR) can be significantly reduced through effective IPC. The guidelines cover a range of topics including the core components of IPC programmes, hand hygiene, and the prevention of surgical site infection.
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If you have recovered from COVID-19 but are still experiencing certain symptoms you could have post COVID-19 condition or "long COVID". What are these symptoms? How long do they last and are there any treatment options?
Dr Janet Diaz explains in Science in 5.
This section provides general information on HCW and key elements of management procedures that are essential to know before developing a HCWM plan.
During this short video, essential workers from around the world from the health, emergency and humanitarian sectors share their personal stories about mental health and work.
This guidance document provides basic principles for a spokesperson of any health authority on how to respond to vocal vaccine deniers. The suggestions are based on psychological research on persuasion, on research in public health, communication studies and on WHO risk communication guidelines.
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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Когда возникают ситуации, при которых нежелательные явления справедливо или ошибочно связывают с вакцинацией, они могут подорвать доверие к вакцинам и официальны...м органам, осуществляющим их введение. Этот документ предоставляет научные данные, помимо рекомендаций ВОЗ, относительно создания и восстановления доверия к вакцинам и вакцинации как в процессе осуществления работы, так и в период кризисных ситуаций. Данные привлекают внимание к широкому набору научных лабораторных фактов и фактам, полученным при полевых работах в области психологии и коммуникаций. Он рассматривает, как люди принимают решения по поводу вакцинации; почему некоторые лица не доверяют вакцинации; и факторы, которые вызывают критические ситуации, уделяя внимание тому, как создавать доверие, слушать и понимать людей, создавать взаимоотношения, сообщать о рисках и формировать сообщения для аудитории, что может смягчать кризисные ситуации. Этот документ предоставляет базисные знания заинтересованным сторонам, которые разрабатывают коммуникационные стратегии или содействуют проведению семинаров по коммуникациям и деятельности по созданию доверия в связи с вакцинами и иммунизацией, таким как подразделения программы иммунизации, министры здравоохранения, подразделения по связи с общественностью и укреплению здоровья, преподаватели по коммуникации относительно безопасности вакцин и консультативные органы по иммунизации
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All personnel performing SARS-CoV-2 antigen rapid diagnostic tests (Ag-RDT) need to understand how to safely perform testing, ensure quality testing and interpret results. This course is developed to provide theoretical knowledge on SARS-CoV-2 Ag-RDT testing. The learning package consists of 10 modu...les, which include recorded presentations and videos.
Availble in different languages
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sur la base des orientations actuelles de l’OMS, 31 may 2021. Aide mémoire
This aide-mémoire presents information on use and procurement of masks for community outreach interventions, with a focus on those for malaria, neglected tropical diseases, tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS and vaccine-preventable ...diseases. It details requirements for the different types of professionals involved (e.g. health workers, social mobilizers, data collectors, logisticians, insecticide spraying personnel, etc.), based on their level of risk of potential exposure to SARS-CoV-2.
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Investment in all the drivers and facilitators of hand hygiene action in health care to ensure that it occurs at the point of care and other critical moments requires a multidisciplinary, multifaceted approach. WHO describes such an approach as a “multimodal improvement strategy” (MMIS) which is... at the core of its implementation models for hand hygiene and infection prevention and control (IPC) programmes. The focus of this document is on the resource considerations for investing in hand hygiene improvement in health care (primary, secondary and tertiary) using the MMIS approach.
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July 2021. This publication brings together important clinical and programmatic updates produced by WHO since 2016 and provides comprehensive, evidence-informed recommendations and good practice statements within a public health, rights-based and person-centred approach.
These guidelines bring in... the most recent guidance on HIV testing strategies - the entry point for HIV prevention and treatment - and include comprehensive guidance on infant diagnosis. Key recommendations are presented on rapid antiretroviral therapy (ART) initiation and the use of dolutegravir. Updated recommendations are included on the timing of ART for people with TB, and the use of point-of-care technologies for treatment monitoring.
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The menu was developed using the WHO-CHOICE methodology to prepare and update, as appropriate, WHO estimates of the cost-effectiveness of a range of mental health interventions, in line with the development of Appendix 3 to the global action plan for the prevention and control of noncommunicable dis...eases 2013–2020.
WHO-CHOICE is a programme that helps countries to identify priorities based on health impact and cost-effectiveness. It can be applied to a wide range of strategies relevant to policies affecting health outcomes. All options are compared to a common comparator, a null scenario in which the impacts of currently implemented interventions are removed, thereby enabling comparison of interventions across geographical areas and aspects of health.
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