The 2014-2015 outbreak of Ebola virus disease (EVD) in Liberia resulted in over 10,000 cases and 5,000 deaths. Recognizing the importance of addressing children’s trauma, the Ebola recovery and restoration trust fund (EERTF) funded the implementation of a Comfort for kids (C4K) program which encou...rages psychological healing, and promotes resilience in children who have experienced a crisis or disaster. The C4K program in Liberia was implemented between January 2015 and December 2016 in fifteen townships in Montserrado County through a collaboration between Mercy Corps Liberia, the World Bank’s Liberian health task team, and the government of Liberia. C4K primarily centers on the My Story workbook and associated classroom activities, which provide children with the opportunity to express their emotions about their experiences through drawing, writing, and facilitated discussion. C4K also provides capacity building for parents, teachers, and other caretakers on how to identify and more effectively respond to children’s trauma responses and to support their recovery
more
Suicide is largely preventable. Unlike for many other health issues, the tools to significantly reduce the most tragic loss of life by suicide are available. With collective action to acknowledge and address this serious problem, as well as commitment to effective interventions, supported by politic...al will and resources, preventing suicide globally is within reach. Importantly, it is a
national suicide prevention strategy that allows communities to come together, and begin to tackle suicide and the issues specific to their needs without stigmatization.
more
This companion document to Ending the neglect to attain the Sustainable Development Goals: a road map for neglected tropical diseases 2021-2030 ("the road map") aims to support a range of stakeholders - including countries in which neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) are endemic, international organi...zations and non-State actors - to achieve the road map targets through a transdisciplinary, cross-cutting One Health approach. Specifically, it provides guidance on the One Health actions needed by major stakeholders and how to support a paradigm shift towards One Health in national NTD programmes. Examples of common One Health challenges and how they can be overcome as well as illustrative cases studies are provided throughout. The companion document was developed through a global consultative process involving stakeholder interviews, interactive workshops, and online public consultation.
more
Nearly 260 000 people died in parts of Somalia between October 2010 and April 2012, including
133 000 children under five during the famine and food crisis in Somalia making it the worst famine in history.
A study commissioned and funded by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Natio...n’s food security and nutrition analysis unit for Somalia stated that the famine early warning systems clearly identified the risk of famine in South Central Somalia in 2010–2011 but timely action to prevent the onset of famine was not taken. The result was large scale
mortality, morbidity and population displacement.
more
The development of this target product profile (TPP) was led by the WHO Department of Control of Ne-
glected Tropical Diseases (NTD) following standard WHO guidance for TPP development. In order to
identify and prioritize diagnostic needs, a WHO NTD Diagnostics Technical Advisory Group (DTAG)
was... formed, and different subgroups were created to advise on specific NTDs, including a subgroup
working on the human African trypanosomiasis (HAT) diagnostic innovation needs. This group of in-
dependent experts included leading scientists, public health officials and endemic-country end-user rep-
resentatives. Standard WHO Declaration of Interest procedures were followed. A landscape analysis of
the available products and of the development pipeline was conducted, and the salient areas with unmet
needs were identified
more
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.
more
Schistosoma haematobium is a parasitic digenetic trematode responsible for schistosomiasis (also known as bilharzia). The disease is caused by penetration of the skin by the parasite, spread by intermediate host molluscs in stagnant waters, and can be treated by administration of praziquantel. Schis...tosomiasis is considered to be an important but neglected tropical disease.
more
Atlas of African Health Statistics 2022: Health situation analysis of the WHO African Region
Since 2019, we have been implementing Phase 2 of the regional Transformation Agenda, which informs and aligns with the global WHO Transformation, to ensure WHO is accountable, driven by re- sults and provid...ing value for money in the pursuit of better health. Our global priority in this period is to contribute to delivering on the triple billion targets of expanding universal health coverage, protecting people from emergencies, and promoting health and well-being for people across the Region.
This year’s Atlas of African Health Statistics is being produced in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic that we have been expe- riencing for over two years. The ongoing coronavirus pandemic, together with other health emergencies in the WHO African Re- gion, is yet again testing the strength and resilience of our health systems. Indeed, the impact of COVID-19 is visible in the disruption of services. The report also presents the latest data for more than 50 health-related indicators of the Sustainable Development Goals and WHO’s “triple billion” targets and provides comprehensive country-level statistics using the results chain of the AFRO frame- work of actions for strengthening health systems to achieve UHC and the health-related SDGs.
more
This global progress report attempts to lay the groundwork for the kind of accelerated action needed. Section 1 presents key data, trends and developments in women’s, children’s and adolescents’ health and well-being. That is followed in Section 2 by a deeper dive into the impact of the COVID-...19 pandemic, which has created and contributed to many threats and challenges to progress for women, children and adolescents. In Section 3, the report concludes with recommendations for accelerating progress towards the achievement of the 2030 Agenda even in such challenging times, with an emphasis on partnership
and clear-eyed recognition of the consequences of failing to do better.
more
Ensuring mental health and well-being has become a worldwide imperative and an important target
of the Sustainable Development Goals.
But in all countries around the world, our response has been woefully insufficient, and we have made
little progress to advance mental health as a fundamental huma...n right.
One in ten people are affected by a mental health condition, up to 200 million people have an
intellectual disability and an estimated 50 million people have dementia. Many persons with mental
health conditions, or psychosocial, intellectual, or cognitive disabilities lack access to quality mental
health services that respond to their needs and respect their rights and dignity.
more
Proper Sanitation is the only method to success
MEDBOX Issue Brief no.23.
The intent of this Issue Brief is to raise awareness about heat waves as a result of climate change and its impact on
health. More information on the topic of climate change and planetary health you can find in our PLANETARY
HEALTH TOOLBOX www.planetaryhealthbox.org
The purpose of this publication is to to provide a practical, stepwise approach to the implementation of the national action plans on AMR within the human health sector; and to provide a process and collation of existing WHO tools to prioritize, cost, implement, monitor and evaluate national action ...plan activities. The target audience of the publication are national/subnational stakeholders working on AMR within the human health sector. This includes national health authorities, national multi-sectoral coordination groups, senior technical experts and policymakers involved in implementing AMR activities at all levels of the health system, and implementation partners to accelerate sustainable implementation and monitoring and evaluation of national action plans on AMR.
more
The WHO Global strategy on human resources for health: workforce 2030 encourages development partners and global health initiatives to leverage their support to health systems in countries to sustainably strengthen the health workforce. To assess the impact of these investments, a methodology was de...veloped and pilot tested by WHO.
The impact assessment tool (consisting of an MS Excel calculator with two subsets) supports users to:
• assess and quantify the health impact of HRH investments made in the context of HIV, tuberculosis (TB) and malaria programmes through their modelled effect on health service coverage of these three diseases; and
• provide aggregate indicative estimates of the range of health workers required to attain high coverage of selected health services.
more
A framework to implement the Agenda for the Americas on Health, Environment, and Climate Change 2021–2030
This guide is designed to accompany the training module, Communicating with health workers about COVID-19 vaccination. It provides detailed explanations, resources and guidance to accompany the slides in the training module and support those implementing the training. It is intended for training fac...ilitators or trainers of trainers (ToTs) who will be conducting the training at the country level either face-to-face or online with a group of participants. Facilitators can use this guidance document to help them adapt the training content to their local context and facilitate discussion with training participants. Facilitators are encouraged to have this guide available to them as a tool during the training session.
more
Modelling the health impacts of disruptions to essential health services during COVID-19 Module 1
Several epidemiological models have been created to assess the potential impact of disruptions to essential health services caused by COVID-19 on morbidity and mortality from conditions other than COVI...D-19 illness. This guide presents models that have been used to assess these indirect impacts. The effects have been studied in various settings, using a variety of models.
The guide is intended for people who need to understand what the models say, their construction and their underlying assumptions, or need to use models and their outcomes for planning and programme development and to support policy decisions for a country or region.
more
The WHO Guidance on community mental health services: Promoting person-centred and rights-based approaches document is part of the WHO Guidance and technical packages on community mental health services set of publications. It provides a detailed description of person-centred and human rights-based ...approaches in mental health, and summary examples of good practice services around the world. It describes the linkages needed with housing, education, employment and social protection sectors, and presents examples of integrated regional and national networks of community-based mental health services. Specific recommendations and action steps are presented for developing community mental health services that respect human rights and focus on recovery. This comprehensive document is accompanied by a set of seven technical packages focused on specific categories of mental health services and guidance for setting up new services.
The WHO Guidance on community mental health services: Promoting person-centred and rights-based approaches is a set of publications that provides information and support to all stakeholders who wish to develop or transform their mental health system and services to align with international human rights standards including the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
more