The materials focus on promoting healthy eating habits and reducing risk factors for non-communicable diseases such as obesity, diabetes, and heart disease. They emphasize actions to limit sugar, salt, and fat intake, including policy recommendations for eliminating trans-fats, reducing saturated fa...ts, and improving public awareness through education and labelling. These strategies aim to create healthier food environments and improve dietary behaviors globally.
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The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development includes a vision of healthy lives and well-being for all at all ages. This major report provides an update on progress towards the health-related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region. It presents regional tren...ds between 2010 and 2022 for 50 health-related SDG indicators using available data from WHO and estimates from other United Nations agencies. The report reveals some successes at the country level amid a marked slowdown regionally with setbacks across indicators on health health risks and determinants and access to services. We are at the halfway point for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development: to reverse current trends and ensure the health and well-being of our population we must take bold steps now.
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Cholera remains a significant public health threat in many countries worldwide. In resource-constrained settings, it disproportionately affects thousands of poor and vulnerable population
The introduction of vaccines for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) added another measure to the existing set of
recommended preventive measures (wearing a mask in public, keeping a distance from other people and regular handwashing). The roll-out of the vaccines, however, raised concerns that vac...cination may lead to lower adherence to the existing
preventive measures. The advice from the World Health Organization (WHO) was to continue these public health and
social measures after being vaccinated.1 However, evidence from other epidemics suggests that there is lower adherence to
preventive measures when some level of protection exists (for example, individuals who use human immunodeficiency virus
pre-exposure prophylaxis
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The article examines the nutritional and lifestyle-related risk factors contributing to the prevalence of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such as cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and cancer in the Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR). It highlights the transition in the disease burden from communic...able diseases to NCDs over the past 30 years. Key risk factors include obesity, unhealthy diets, physical inactivity, and high fasting plasma glucose. The article underscores the importance of promoting healthy dietary habits, physical activity, and policy interventions to curb NCDs in the region. It also discusses the economic and public health implications of these diseases and proposes strategies to mitigate their prevalence.
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The document outlines strategies for reducing salt intake to combat high blood pressure, strokes, and heart disease in the Eastern Mediterranean Region. It highlights the need for progressive reductions in salt consumption, particularly in staple foods like bread, while promoting public awareness, e...ngaging stakeholders, and setting regulatory standards to achieve sustainable health benefits.
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The documents focus on promoting healthier nutrition by addressing issues like sugar, salt, and fat intake, emphasizing their role in non-communicable diseases such as obesity, diabetes, and heart diseases. They include educational tools for children and adults to support balanced diets and public h...ealth strategies to reform food systems and improve dietary habits globally.
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The report "Assessing National Capacity for the Prevention and Control of Noncommunicable Diseases" provides an overview of the capacities of countries in the Eastern Mediterranean Region to address noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) based on a 2019 survey. It evaluates the progress of 22 countries in ...areas such as governance, policy implementation, health infrastructure, data collection, and healthcare resources for NCD prevention. The report highlights achievements and gaps, emphasizing the need for strengthened health systems, surveillance, and cross-sectoral collaboration to meet the WHO's global NCD targets. The findings guide further actions to reduce the burden of NCDs in the region.
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Internally displaced persons (IDPs), refugees, migrants and returnees constitute a sizeable population in the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region. There were 12 million refugees (half are Palestinians) and 13 million IDPs in the Region as of 2018. These populations are often vul...nerable to poor health due to the conditions they live in and limited access to needed quality health care. In addition, those who can access care, are often faced with financial hardship. There are also 46 million professionals and low-income labour migrants in the Region (of which 22 million are from the Region), with differential access to health services and varied health coverage schemes
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An in-depth analysis of the health-seeking behaviour of patients and health system response in seven countries of the Eastern Mediterranean Region
The WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region's Noncommunicable Diseases (NCD) Data and Statistics page offers comprehensive information on NCD surveillance, including mortality rates, morbidity, and risk factor exposures. It emphasizes the importance of monitoring NCD trends to inform prevention and control... strategies, aligning with global targets such as reducing premature NCD deaths by one-third by 2030. The page also highlights the WHO STEPwise approach to NCD risk factor surveillance, providing standardized methods for data collection and analysis.
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The WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region's Noncommunicable Diseases (NCD) Data and Statistics page offers comprehensive information on NCD surveillance, including mortality rates, morbidity, and risk factor exposures. It emphasizes the importance of monitoring NCD trends to inform prevention and control... strategies, aligning with global targets such as reducing premature NCD deaths by one-third by 2030. The page also highlights the WHO STEPwise approach to NCD risk factor surveillance, providing standardized methods for data collection and analysis.
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The WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region's Noncommunicable Diseases (NCD) Data and Statistics page offers comprehensive information on NCD surveillance, including mortality rates, morbidity, and risk factor exposures. It emphasizes the importance of monitoring NCD trends to inform prevention and control... strategies, aligning with global targets such as reducing premature NCD deaths by one-third by 2030. The page also highlights the WHO STEPwise approach to NCD risk factor surveillance, providing standardized methods for data collection and analysis.
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WHO has developed a new health kit to support treatment for chronic disease patients in emergency settings. The prevalence of NCDs is increasing worldwide, including in emergency/crisis-prone areas. Yet current humanitarian response has not accounted for this emerging burden. The NCD kit attends to ...cover this gap by providing essential medicines and medical devices for the management of hypertension and cardiac conditions, diabetes and endocrine conditions, chronic respiratory diseases, and mental health and neurological conditions and neurological conditions for outpatient care in primary health care settings.
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