During the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic, the world’s economy slowed. Yet, the global annual average particulate pollution (PM2.5) was largely unchanged from 2019 levels. At the same time, growing evidence shows air pollution—even when experienced at very low levels—hurts human health. T...his recently led the World Health Organization (WHO) to revise its guideline for what it considers a safe level of exposure of particulate pollution, bringing most of the world—97.3 percent of the global population—into the unsafe zone. The AQLI finds that particulate air pollution takes 2.2 years off global average life expectancy, or a combined 17 billion life-years, relative to a world that met the WHO guideline. This impact on life expectancy is comparable to that of smoking, more than three times that of alcohol use and unsafe water, six times that of HIV/AIDS, and 89 times that of conflict and terrorism.
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Every day in 2020, approximately 800 women died from preventable causes related to pregnancy and childbirth - meaning that a woman dies around every two minutes.
Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) target 3.1 is to reduce maternal mortality to less than 70 maternal deaths per 100 000 live births by ...2030.
The United Nations Maternal Mortality Estimation Inter-Agency Group (MMEIG) – comprising WHO, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the World Bank Group and the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (UNDESA/Population Division) has collaborated with external technical experts on a new round of estimates covering 2000 to 2020. The estimates represent the most up to date, internationally-comparable MMEIG estimates of maternal mortality, using refined input data and methods from previous rounds.
The report presents internationally comparable global, regional and country-level estimates and trends for maternal mortality between 2000 and 2020.
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Vitamin A supplementation (VAS) programs targeted at children aged 6–59 months are implemented in many countries. By improving immune function, vitamin A (VA) reduces mortality associated with measles, diarrhea, and other illnesses. There is currently a debate regarding the relevance of VAS, but a...midst the debate, researchers acknowledge that the majority of nationally-representative data on VA status is outdated. To address this data gap and contribute to the debate, we examined data from 82 countries implementing VAS programs, identified other VA programs, and assessed the recentness of national VA deficiency (VAD) data.
Article published in: Nutrients, 2017, 9, 190
https://doi.org/10.3390/nu9030190
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Special Report
This report of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) was coordinated by Teymur Noori, with technical support from Andrew J. Amato-Gauci, Anastasia Pharris, Jan C. Semenza, Denis Coulombier and Piotr Kramarz.
A year ago, the second Special Session of the World Health Assembly (WHASS) unanimously agreed to start a diplomatic process for a new binding instrument aimed at ensuring the international community is better prepared for the next health emergencies. The establishment of an Intergovernmental Negoti...ating Body (INB) at the WHO paved the terrain for a proper negotiation, which has started to unfold. The INB will be releasing the “conceptual zero draft” of the treaty text in early December 2022.
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The 2018 global health financing report presents health spending data for all WHO Member States between 2000 and 2016 based on the SHA 2011 methodology. It shows a transformation trajectory for the global spending on health, with increasing domestic public funding and declining external financing. T...his report also presents, for the first time, spending on primary health care and specific diseases and looks closely at the relationship between spending and service coverage
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In 2019, the Global Fund’s 6th Replenishment raised more than $USD14 billion to fight HIV, Tuberculosis and Malaria. Just two years later, the world has changed significantly. Put simply: COVID-19 devastated prevention and treatment programs. For the first time since the Global Fund’s founding, ...in 2020 the world lost ground in the fight against HIV, Tuberculosis and Malaria.
The Global Fund moved quickly to support countries to respond to COVID-19 and its impact on the three diseases, repurposing and leveraging additional funding to support urgent needs and adapt programs. Despite those efforts, the need for action to resume progress in the fight against HIV, TB and malaria has never been greater.
The world faces a choice.
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Top 10 hungriest countries contribute just 0.08% of global CO2.
-Climate & Food Vulnerability Index shows 10 most food insecure countries emit less than half a tonne of CO2 per person
-Burundi is the world's most food insecure and smallest per capita emitter
-The average Briton gener...ates as much CO2 as 212 Burundians
-IPCC blockers Russia, USA and Saudi some of the worst offenders
As scientists of the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change meet in Geneva this week to publish their Special Report on Climate Change and Land (August 8), a new report by the development charity Christian Aid shows that climate change is having a disproportionate impact on the food systems of the country’s least responsible for causing the climate crisis.
The IPCC is expected to show how climate change will affect global food supply, spiking prices and reducing nutrition. It is also likely to recommend that countries will need to drastically cut emissions if global food security is to be protected.
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Guidance on TB and TB/HIV prevention, diagnosis, treatment and care in the workplace
Evidence from Low and Middle Income Countries
Every Newborn: an action plan to end preventable deaths is a roadmap for change. It takes forward the Global Strategy for Women’s and Children’s Health by focusing specific attention on newborn health and identifying actions for improving their survival, health and development.
War Trauma Foundation strengthens mental health care and psychosocial support through capacity building and development and dissemination of expertise through the implementation of programmes in (post) conflict areas. We develop and evaluate new methods in close cooperation with (local) partner orga...nisations ensuring the inclusion of cultural and context aspects as well as long term sustainability. A couple of programmes will always be highlighted on our website.
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This timely report comes at a decisive moment in history where
we can reshape urban environments and health systems for the
majority of the world’s population that live in cities. Enabling
this transformation are the SDGs, which have reconfigured how
governments and the international community... need to plan and
implement actions to eradicate poverty and inequality, create
inclusive economic growth, preserve the planet and improve
population health. Central to this quest is to create equitable,
healthier cities for sustainable development.
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The Health Equity Assessment Toolkit (HEAT) is a software application for use on desktop or laptop computers and mobile devices (minimum screen size of 7.9 inches recommended). It was developed to facilitate the assessment of within-country health inequalities. The Built-in Database Edition, Version... 1.0 is available as an online application and as a standalone version for download
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Mohamed et al. BMC Public Health 2018, 18(Suppl 3):1215
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-018-6053-xpre-
PlosOne https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0161576; Zoonotic diseases have varying public health burden and socio-economic impact across time and geographical settings making their prioritization for prevention and control important at the national level. We conducted systematic prioritization of ...zoonotic diseases and developed a ranked list of these diseases that would guide allocation of resources to enhance their surveillance, prevention, and control.
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DHS Further Analysis Reports No. 108 - This report examines levels, trends, and inequalities in maternal health in Rwanda from 2010 to 2014-15 among women age 15-49 with a recent birth. The analysis uses Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) data for 15 key indicators of maternal health: 6 for antenat...al care, 3 for delivery, 1 for postnatal care, and 5 for barriers to accessing medical care. Levels and trends in these indicators were analyzed overall and by three background characteristics: women’s education, household wealth quintile, and region.
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