Planetary health is a transdisciplinary approach that aims to advance the understanding of the links between human-driven changes to the planet and their consequences, and to develop appropriate solutions to the challenges identified. This emerging movement has not yet agreed upon a code of ethics t...o underpin the rapidly expanding body of research being carried out in its
name. However, a code of ethics might support the principles for planetary health set out in the Canmore Declaration of 2018. Phrases such as “Public Health 2.0”, “Human Health in an Era of Global Environmental Change”, or “A safe and just operating space for humanity” are often used in planetary health discussions, but are not always clearly defined and so far, the field lacks a strong guiding ethical framework. In this paper, we propose a starting point towards a code of ethics for planetary health that builds on the Canmore Declaration.
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This document provides an overview of sexual and reproductive health and rights issues that may be important for the human rights, health and well-being of adolescents (aged 10–19 years) and the relevant World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines on how to address them in an easilyaccessible, user...-friendly format. The document serves as a gateway to the rich body of WHO guidelines, and as a handy resource to inform advocacy, policy and programme/project design and research. It aims to support the implementation of the Global Strategy for Women’s, Children’s and Adolescents’ Health 2016–2030 (1), and is aligned with the WHO Global Accelerated Action for the Health of Adolescents (AA-HA!) as well as the WHO Operational Framework on Sexual Health and Its Linkages to Reproductive Health (2,3).
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This module has been developed to provide training and guidance to improve the quality of care and human rights conditions in inpatient, outpatient and community based mental health and related services, following the conduct of a comprehensive assessment using the WHO QualityRights assessment toolk...it.
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In this report, potential reasons for this apparent
contradiction between cherished human values
and observed social actions are explored with a
view to better formulating concrete steps that
governments and other stakeholders can take to
reshape social attitudes and public policy.
WHOs Special Initiative for Mental Health has supported the availability of mental health services for more than 40 million more people. Learn about WHOs Special Initiative for Mental Health, which seeks to increase access to quality and affordable care for mental health conditions in 12 countries ...for 100 million more people. The initiative is advancing policies, advocacy and human rights, and scaling-up quality interventions and services for people with mental, neurological and substance use conditions.
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The war is having a devastating impact on health and human capital in Ukraine and is expected to affect generations to come. The most obvious effects on health are immediate: an estimated 4,339 conflict-related deaths and 5,246 people injured. Less visible is the illness caused, and exacerbated, by ...people not being able to access care for acute and chronic conditions.
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he WHO global disability action plan 2014-2021 is a significant step towards achieving health and well-being and human rights for people with disabilities. The action plan was endorsed by WHO Member States in 2014 and calls for them to remove barriers and improve access to health services and progra...mmes; strengthen and extend rehabilitation, assistive devices and support services, and community-based rehabilitation; and enhance collection of relevant and internationally comparable data on disability, and research on disability and related services. Achieving the objectives of the action plan better enables people with disabilities to fulfil their aspirations in all aspects of life.
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The Movement for Global Mental Health (MGMH) is a virtual network of individuals and organisations that aim to improve services for people living with mental health problems and psychosocial disabilities worldwide, especially in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC) where effective services are of...ten scarce.
Two principles are fundamental to the Movement: scientific evidence and human rights.
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In 2012, the World Health Organisation (WHO) set out a roadmap for the control, elimination, or eradication of 17 neglected tropical diseases by 2020. Many were skeptical about the achievability of such goals. Now, still two years away from that end point, good news is emerging for gambiense human A...frican trypanosomiasis (HAT), or sleeping sickness, caused by the tsetse-fly−transmitted protozoan parasite Trypanosoma brucei gambiense in West and Central Africa. The Rhodesiense form of the disease is being pursued under a separate programme.
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The COVID-19 pandemic has been a formative experience for all humanity and a health emergency of global proportions, presenting a huge challenge to national leaders, health systems, and citizens. The findings of a new report by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) sho...ws that it has also been a test to our democracies and the respect for human rights to which countries across the OSCE committed many years ago.
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The climate crisis and accelerating environmental changes caused by human activity are posing bigger and bigger threats to health worldwide, so it’s more vital than ever before that we turn our ingenuity to making our planet a healthier place to live
This report was prepared by the Coalition of Organizations for the Right to Life and Health (CODEVIDA), and the Venezuelan Program of Education and Act ion in Human Rights (PROVEA) for consideration of the members of the CESCR, on the occasion of
Venezuela ́s exam, to be held in June 2...015 in Geneva during the 55th Session of the Committee. The report is focused on Article 12 of the Pact, concerning the right to health.
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The spillover of infectious agents from animals to humans in recent decades has had a significant impact on the health of humans, animals, and our environment. To minimize the impact of future pandemic threats, the Southeast Asia One Health University Network (SEAOHUN) was established in 2011 to dev...elop the next generation of skillful and competent One Health (OH) workforce with support from the U.S. Agency for International Development and its One Health Workforce project.
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Our mission ‘To drive transformational change for continuous improvement of health and well-being of humans, animals, and environment through OH principles and approach to research, training and community service’ is a refined version of what we have always known about ourselves. Our focus, comm...itment and mission remain the same.
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This document summarizes current WHO guidance for public health surveillance of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in humans caused by infection with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) (hereafter referred to as COVID19 surveillance).
This resource pack was developed for the country offices of the World Health Organization and national Public Health institutions, as an overview of the key information needed for advising their Member States in response to questions raised on human health due to influenza outbreaks or detections in... animals. It assembles the available information from WHO, FAO and WOAH, on recommendations and guidelines on influenza that might be relevant to a country experiencing detections or outbreaks of influenza in animals or facing suspicion of human infections with animal-origin influenza viruses. This resource pack updates the information provided in the Summary of Key Information Practical to Countries Experiencing Outbreaks of A(H5N1) and Other Subtypes of Avian Influenza, published in 2016. Additionally, the scope of this current document was broadened to address the risks to public health from all animal influenza viruses, not only avian influenza. Links to existing resources were updated and new resources were added where available.
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This report presents a framework to link science, policy and practice for a comprehensive assessment of climate mitigation and adaptation investments and their impact on human health.The framework proposes to use weather and climate data to forecast health impacts over time, as well as biophysical a...nd economic models to quantify the outcomes of investments in climate change adaptation and mitigation for relevant sectoral indicators and health co-benefits. It provides guidance on the economic valuation of health co-benefits of climate action, for inclusion in sector-specific cost–benefit analysis (CBA), including the spatial allocation of such costs and benefits.
The framework developed and presented in this study is comprehensive, and provides various entry points for different audiences, including decision-makers in the public and private sectors, researchers and scientists, working in the health sector as well as in other thematic areas and related sectors affected by climate action.
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Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is an increasing worldwide public health problem with
important implications for the European Union (EU). When antibiotics become
ineffective, bacterial infections lead to increased morbidity, use of healthcare,
mortality and cost. Globally, estimates suggest that ...AMR leads to 700 000 deaths
per annum. For the EU, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control
(ECDC) has estimated that AMR currently causes 25 000 deaths annually and losses of
at least EUR 1.5 billion per annum in extra healthcare costs and productivity.
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This sourcebook aims to detail why health needs to be part of urban and territorial planning and how to make this happen. It brings together two vital elements we need to build habitable cities on a habitable planet: 1) Processes to guide the development of human settlements – in this document ref...erred to as “urban and territorial planning (UTP)”; and 2) concern for human health, well-being and health equity at all levels – from local to global, and from human to planetary health.
This sourcebook identifies a comprehensive selection of existing resources and tools to support the incorporation of health into UTP, including advocacy frameworks, entry points and guidance, as well as tools and illustrative case studies. It does not provide prescriptions for specific scenarios – these should be determined by context, people and available resources.
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Issue Brief No. 29:
Planetary Health is an interdisciplinary academic collective of many scientific disciplines. In addition to the fields of
environmental and social sciences, that of human health is one of many.
Because of the many disciplines involved in this topic and the large number of res...ources available, we would like to
share with you in this Issue Brief the most important documents related to Planetary Health. All of these
documents and many more can be found in the Planetary Health Toolbox
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