Climate change and health vulnerability and adaptation assessment
In 2013 the World Health Organization (WHO) published the report Protecting health from climate change:
vulnerability and adaptation assessment. The aim was to provide basic and flexible guidance on conducting national or subnati...onal assessments of current and future vulnerability (the susceptibility of a population or region to harm) to the health risks of climate change, and of policies and programmes that could increase resilience, taking into account the multiple determinants of climate-sensitive health outcomes.
That guidance has been a very useful tool, applied to more than 50 countries and settings, and has helped countries to prepare their health contributions to United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change national adaptation plans.
Since the launch of the guidance, WHO, technical partners such as Health Canada, and countries have learned much in terms of its applicability in different countries, at national and local levels.
At the same time, knowledge on climate change and health has increased.
WHO, the Pan American Health Organization and Health Canada have produced this updated version, which aims to better support countries in their assessments by proposing a simpler tool that incorporates all lessons learned.
more
Policy Note: Thailand Health Systems in Transition
By 2002, Universal Health Coverage was achieved through three public insurance schemes: the Civil Servant Medical Benefit Scheme (CSMBS) for civil servants and their dependents, Social Health Insurance (SHI) for formal sector employees, and the U...niversal Coverage Scheme (UCS) for the remainder of the population.
The establishment of these three schemes has changed the way health care is financed. A supply-led system, under which all Ministry of Public Health (MOPH) health facilities received an annual budget allocation from the MOPH, has now been completely replaced by a system in which the three public purchasers - separated through a purchaser-provider split - manage a demand-led system of financing.
more
Project protocol
Introduction Ready-to-eat food sold in the street represents a global phenomenon, more common in urbanized areas, that constitutes an important dietary source in populations from low- and middle-income countries. However, research on the kind of street food offered and its composit...ion is scarce. The main objective of this study is to characterize the urban street food environment, including vending places, the food offered, its nutritional composition, food purchasing patterns and advertising.
Methods and analysis This protocol provides a framework for a stepwise, standardized characterization of the street food environment; it consists of three steps that are of increasing complexity and demand increasingly great human and technical resources. Step 1 comprises identification of street food vending sites and characterization of the products available; this stage may be complemented with an evaluation of food advertising in the streets. Step 2 comprises description of street food purchasing patterns, by direct observation. Step 3 requires collection of food samples for bromatological analysis. Different levels of data collection may be defined for each step; hereafter, these are presented as core and expanded evaluations. For the most part, data analysis involves descriptive statistics and basic spatial analysis.
more
The goal of this Global Action Plan is to articulate synergistic actions that will be required to prevent HIVDR from undermining efforts to achieve global targets on health and HIV, and to provide the most effective treatment to all people living with HIV including adults, key populations, pregnant ...and breastfeeding women, children and adolescents. The Global Action Plan has five strategic objectives: 1) prevention and response; 2) monitoring and surveillance; 3) research and innovation; 4) laboratory capacity; and 5) governance and enabling mechanisms.
more
The Central African Republic is at a major turning point in its history. The country
is just emerging from a very violent conflict, during which thousands of human lives were lost and one-third of the population was displaced. After
a three-year transition, and with the support of the internationa...l community, authorities successfully created the conditions required to conduct credible presidential and legislative
elections. Central African citizens mobilized to express their desire for peace and to break
with the cycle of past violence. Their exemplary democratic maturity ensured the electoral
process was peaceful, despite palpable tensions. The welcome given Pope Francis in Bangui in
November 2015 and visible reconciliation efforts demonstrate the population wishes to turn
the page on this conflict.
more
This report aims to raise awareness about the role that the reform of public health laws can play in advancing the right to health and in creating the conditions for people to live healthy lives. By encouraging a better understanding of how public health law can be used to improve the health of the ...population, the report aims to encourage and assist governments to reform their public health laws in order to advance the right to health.
The report highlights important issues that may arise during the process of public health law reform. It provides guidance about issues and requirements to be addressed during the process of developing public health laws. It also includes case studies and examples of legislation from a variety of countries to illustrate effective law reform practices and some features of effective public health legislation.
more
9 September 2020
In a snapshot, fair allocation of vaccines will occur in the following way:
An initial proportional allocation of doses to countries until all countries reach enough quantities to cover 20% of their population
This document is also available in Arabic | Chinese | French | R...ussian | Spanish | Portuguese
A follow-up phase to expand coverage to other populations. If severe supply constraints persist, a weighted allocation approach would be adopted, taking account of a country’s COVID threat and vulnerability.
The document is a final working document and may be adjusted in the future as new information about the vaccines and the epidemiology of COVID-19 becomes available.
more
Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a global epidemic with significant morbidity. Diabetic
retinopathy (DR) is the specific microvascular complication of DM and affects 1 in 3 persons with DM. DR remains a leading cause of vision loss in working adult populations. Patients with severe levels of DR are report...ed to have poorer quality of life and reduced levels of physical, emotional, and social well-being, and they utilize more health care resources.
Epidemiological studies and clinical trials have shown that optimal control of blood glucose, blood pressure, and blood lipids can reduce the risk of developing retinopathy and slow its progression. Timely treatment with laser photocoagulation, and increasingly, the appropriate use of intraocular administration of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) inhibitors can prevent visual loss in vision- threatening retinopathy, particularly diabetic macular edema (DME). Since visual loss may not be present in the earlier stages of retinopathy, regular screening of persons with diabetes is essential to enable early intervention.
more
The main goal of the National Health Plan (NHP) 2017-2021 is to extend access to a basic Essential Package of Health Services (EPHS) to the entire population while increasing financial protection. In order to extend service delivery to all communities, the NHP calls for all health workers (whether c...ommunity-based, outreach-based or facility-based) involved in the delivery of health promotion, prevention and treatment services to be fully recognised and institutionalized within the health system to ensure efficient use of resources, necessary oversight and quality service provision (regardless of whether the health workers are voluntary or salaried). The first year Annual Operational Plan (AOP) of the NHP 2017-2021 calls for a comprehensive literature review of the situation of all Village Based Health Workers (VBHWs) in the country to inform the development of a comprehensive, institutionalized approach to community health for the country.
more
Over the ages, human societies have altered local ecosystems and modified regional climates. Today the human influence has attained a global scale. This reflects the recent rapid increase in population size, energy consumption, intensity of land use, international trade and travel, and other human a...ctivities. These global changes have heightened awareness that the long-term good health of populations depends on the continued stability of biosphere's ecological, physical and socioeconomic systems.
The world's climate system is an integral part of the complex of life-supporting processes. Like other large systems, the global climate system is coming under pressure from human activities.
This book seeks to describe the context and process of global climate change, its actual or likely impacts on health, and how human societies and their governments should respond with particular focus on the health sector.
more
In a prospective cohort study in Bangwe primary care clinic, Blantyre, Malawi, all adults (18 years or older) presenting with an acute illness were screened for TB symptoms (cough, fever, night sweats, weight loss). Demographic characteristics were linked to exit interview by fingerprint bioidentifi...cation. Multivariable logistic regression models were constructed to estimate the proportion completing same-visit HIV testing, comparing between those with and without TB symptoms.
more
The attainment of Zambia’s goal of being a prosperous and middle-income country by 2030 as stipulated in its Vision 2030 is dependent on among others, a healthy and productive population. Therefore, the Government of the Republic of Zambia (GRZ) has prioritized health as a key socio-economic inves...tment in the Seventh National Development Plan 2017-2021. The government is also committed to achieving the targets under the health goal number three and other health related targets under other goals of the 2030 Sustainable Development agenda. Despite progress which has been made in improving the health of Zambians, the country still faces a high burden of communicable diseases and a growing burden of non-communicable diseases. Structural and social deprivation including poverty, inequalities and marginalisation also remain major threats to health. In order to effectively address all the social determinants of health, all sectors should take into account health and well-being as a key element of policy development.
more
Childhood Respiratory Diseases & the Environment learning objectives
•To understand how the respiratory tract is affected by the environment
•To describe respiratory diseases linked to the environment
•To list one population-level intervention and one personal-level intervention for d...ecreasing risk of respiratory diseases
more
Digital health technology can make health systems more efficient and sustainable, facilitating the provision of high-quality
care across a wide range of contexts and for diverse population health needs. The pace of innovation in digital health is
rapid and constant, with new interventions bein...g developed, implemented, tested and refined against a diversity of contexts,
constraints and challenges to address a variety of health and health system needs.
more
Herd immunity by mass vaccination offers the potential to substantially limit the continuing spread of COVID-19, but high levels of vaccine hesitancy threaten this goal. In a cross-country analysis of vaccine hesitant respondents across Latin America in January 2021, we experimentally tested how fiv...e features of mass vaccination campaigns—the vaccine’s producer, efficacy, endorser, distributor, and current population uptake rate—shifted willingness to take a COVID-19 vaccine. We find that citizens preferred Western-produced vaccines, but were highly influenced by factual information about vaccine efficacy. Vaccine hesitant individuals were more responsive to vaccine messengers with medical expertise than political, religious, or media elite endorsements. Citizen trust in foreign governments, domestic leaders, and state institutions moderated the effects of the campaign features on vaccine acceptance. These findings can help inform the design of unfolding mass inoculation campaigns.
more
This publication offers practical advice on implementing HIV and STI programmes for transgender people, with a focus on transgender women, aligned with the 2011 Recommendations and the 2014 Key Populations Consolidated Guidelines. It contains examples of good practice from around the world that may ...support efforts in planning programmes and services, and describes issues that should be considered and how to overcome challenges.
This tool describes how services can be designed and implemented to be acceptable and accessible to transgender women. To accomplish this, respectful and ongoing engagement with them is essential.
This tool gives particular attention to programmes run by transgender people themselves, in contexts where this is possible.
more
The main objective of this guidance is to provide scientific advice, based on an evidence-based assessment of targeted public health interventions, to facilitate effective screening and vaccination for priority infectious diseases among newly arrived migrant populations to the EU/EEA. It is intended... to support EU/EEA Member States to develop national strategies to strengthen infectious disease prevention and control among migrants and meet the health needs of these populations.
more
The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated and added yet another layer of vulnerability to an already dire web of vulnerabilities of girls in the African continent, which constitute about 49% of the total child population. Critically, gender equality and girls’ multidimensional vulnerability have been ...accentuated to an unprecedented level. The pandemic has triggered major concerns about the potential reversal of the strides achieved over the years towards gender equality and human development in Africa.
more
Abstract: Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a chronic psychological disorder that can develop after exposure to a traumatic event. This review summarizes the literature on the epidemiology, assessment, and treatment of PTSD. We provide a review of the characteristics of PTSD along with associa...ted risk factors, and describe brief, evidence-based measures that can be used to screen for PTSD and monitor symptom changes over time. In regard to treatment, we highlight commonly used, evidence-based psychotherapies and pharmacotherapies for PTSD. Among psychotherapeutic approaches, evidence-based approaches include cognitive-behavioral therapies (e.g., Prolonged Exposure and Cognitive Processing Therapy) and Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing. A wide variety of pharmacotherapies have received some level of research support for PTSD symptom alleviation, although selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors have the largest evidence base to date.
more
This Global Competency Standards sets the benchmark for the health workforce in providing equality of care to refugees and migrants. Refugee and migrant populations are highly diverse, with significant variation in life experiences, health needs and access to health care. The standards described out...line expected behaviours of health workers in delivering quality care to refugees and migrants and can be used to inform the outcomes of education programmes aligned with standards for care. The Competency Standards is designed to provide a foundation to support the development of competency-based curricula tailored to the local context and for health workers to achieve a minimum level of competence. The importance of person-centred, culturally responsive care is emphasized in the nine competency standards, which recognize the need for health workers to be trained, supported and empowered within strong health systems
more