17 February 2021
This article is part of a series of explainers on vaccine development and distribution. Learn more about vaccines – from how they work and how they’re made to ensuring safety and equitable access – in WHO’s Vaccines Explained series.
COVID-19 outbreaks in long-term care (LTC) facilities can have devastating effects on the health and well-being of residents, as they are vulnerable to serious infection due to their age and possible underlying medical conditions. Strengthening infection prevention and control (IPC) prac...tice is crucial to prevent spread of COVID-19. This preparedness checklist consists of several elements that are crucial for preparing LTCF for COVID-19. It can be used by facility administrators, IPC focal points or staff, internal or external professionals.
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This updated step by step guide aims to assist the ministries of health (MoHs) in developing the national action plans for noma prevention and control, with a view to sustainably reducing the incidence of noma as a public health problem through programmes that are fully integrated with national heal...th planning, strengthening of primary health care (PHC) and attainment of universal health coverage (UHC).
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“Preferred product characteristics” (PPCs) are key tools to incentivize and guide the development of urgently needed health products. Some of the vector control interventions deployed in complex emergencies and in response to natural disasters – namely insecticide-treated nets (ITNs) and indoo...r residual spraying (IRS) – have already met identified public health needs in more stable settings; other tools such as insecticide-treated tarpaulins have been specifically designed for this use case. Given the diverse mix of existing and potential new interventions and the considerable gaps in the associated evidence base, this PPC aims to clearly articulate the unmet public health needs for tools designed to control malaria transmission in complex emergencies and in response to natural disasters.
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: interim guidance, 17 February 2021
This document provides interim guidance on the management of the blood supply in response to the pandemic outbreak of coronavirus disease (COVID-19). It emphasizes the importance of being prepared and responding quickly and outlines key actions and measures that... the blood services should take to mitigate the potential risk to the safety and sufficiency of the blood supplies during the pandemic.
It should be read in conjunction with WHO Guidance for National Blood Services on Protecting the Blood Supply During Infectious Disease Outbreaks, which provides general guidance on the development of national plans to respond to any emerging infectious threats to the sufficiency or safety of the blood supply.
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Preferred product characteristics” (PPCs) are key tools to incentivize and guide the development of urgently needed health products. The PPC published here describes the characteristics of new types of insecticide-treated nets (ITNs) to control malaria transmission in areas with insecticide-resist...ant mosquito populations. The document was developed to address the public health need caused by the evolution and spread of insecticide resistance, particularly to pyrethroids. Such resistance threatens the effectiveness of the current standard of malaria vector control in many countries, namely pyrethroid-only long-lasting insecticidal nets (LLINs).
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Improving health systems and services for mental health: mental health policy and service guidance package
This document presents an integrated strategy for mental health system development that will lead to enhanced service delivery, improved outcomes, and improved human rights for people with men...tal disorders.
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Join the campaign to call on countries and companies to ensure that by the time World Health Day arrives on 7 April, COVID-19 vaccines are being administered in every country, as a symbol of hope for overcoming both the pandemic and the inequalities that lie at the root of so many global health chal...lenges.
This call to action can be fulfilled through supporting COVAX and the ACT Accelerator to equitably distribute vaccines, treatments and diagnostics globally.
Sign the declaration!
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The Global Breast Cancer Initiative, established by WHO in 2021, will provide guidance to governments on health systems strengthening for breast cancer. This illustrated summary outlines its goals, rationale and framework.
Available in English, French, Chinese, Arabic, Russian
8 February 2021
All countries which are Members of the United Nations may become members of WHO by accepting its Constitution. Other countries may be admitted as members when their application has been approved by a simple majority vote of the World Health Assembly. Territories which are not responsible for the con...duct of their international relations may be admitted as Associate Members upon application made on their behalf by the Member or other authority responsible for their international relations. Members of WHO are grouped according to regional distribution (194 Member States).
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The Platform has functionality for country-level users, such as uploading theNational Deployment and Vaccination Planon the Info tab by the WCO vaccine expert, followed by validation by a government official. The Platform has functionality for regional users, such as Reviewingof National Deployment ...and Vaccination Plan(NDVP) on the Action Checklist tabor uploading a summary of the review of the NDVP on the Info tab and within the NDVP folder.
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This e-course will guide you through the essentials of latest existing WHO guidelines and policy recommendations on drug-resistant TB. You will also learn more about the rationale behind the WHO recommendations for the management of DR-TB, implementation considerations for different regimens for eli...gible patient groups, adjunctive treatment, the active TB drug safety monitoring and management framework, and the analysis and interpretation of performance indicators.
The main focus of the e-course is programmatic; clinical aspects are only discussed when relevant to specific topics.
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The Country Readiness and Delivery(CRD) workstream which is part of the ACT Accelerator and is included in the SPRP– has developed a toolbox with guidance, tools and training.
This article is part four in a series of explainers on vaccine development and distribution
Available in different languages