Since 2000, concerted efforts by national programmes, supported by public–private partnerships, nongovernmental organizations, donors and academia under the auspices and coordination of the World Health Organization (WHO), have produced important achievements in the control of human African trypan...osomiasis (HAT). As a consequence, the disease was targeted for elimination as a public health problem by 2020. The Sixty-sixth World Health Assembly endorsed this goal in resolution WHA66.12 on neglected tropical diseases, adopted in 2013.
National sleeping sickness control programmes (NSSCPs) are core to progressing control of the disease and in adapting to the different epidemiological situations. The involvement of different partners, as well as the support and trust of long-term donors, has been crucial for the achievements.
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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
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The WHO Health Emergencies Programme is currently monitoring 118 events in the region. This week’s main articles cover the following events:
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Togo
Measles in Chad
Ebola virus disease (EVD) in Équateur Province, Democratic Republic of the Congo.
This year marked the beginning of the WHO biennium 2016-2017 action plan; this annual report highlights WHO’s key achievements in 2016
It also documents the extraordinary efforts by a broad coalition of government ministries, municipalities, international agencies, community groups, women’s or...ganizations, religious and traditional leaders, media, private sector and donors towards restoration and improving health indicators.
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Rwanda’s national health sector is focused on the equitable delivery of high-quality health services. The Government of Rwanda (GoR) recognizes that developing human resources in the health sector is a critical factor to the well-being of the population. Development of the health workforce has bee...n guided by the Human Resources for Health (HRH) Programme (2012-2019) and its successor, the National Strategy for Health Professions Development (NSHPD) (2020-2030). Rwanda has made significant progress in enhancing its skilled health workforce, with notable improvements in the health professional-to-population ratio over the past decade, attaining 13.4 doctors, nurses, midwives, pharmacists, and dentists per 10 000 people in 2022. Despite such progress, health workforce levels remain below national and global recommendations.
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This Curriculum Guide accompanies the Refugee and Migrant Health: Global Competency Standards for Health Workers and the Knowledge Guide to support the operationalization of the Standards. The Curriculum Guide provides guidance for institutions, health organizations and individuals engaged in the ed...ucation and training of health practitioners and health administrators to support incorporation of the knowledge, skills and attitudes set out in the Knowledge Guide into curricula and for assessment of the achievement of the relevant learning outcomes and Competency Standards.
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Despite the considerable improvement in global health, millions of people still lack access to quality health services, including access to effective antimicrobial medicines, or are impoverished as a result of health spending. At the same time, antimicrobial resistance – a consequence of overuse a...nd misuse of antimicrobials – is increasingly a barrier to accessing effective care. The declining effectiveness of antibiotics is driven by multiple factors, many of which can be addressed through well functioning primary health care. However, primary health care has not always had much attention in national health sector responses to
antimicrobial resistance, which often focus on tertiary care, laboratory detection and surveillance. The three pillars of primary health care (community engagement, front-line health services including primary care and essential public health, and multisectoral action on wider health determinants) are central not just to Universal Health Coverage and the Sustainable Development Goals, but also to an effective response to antimicrobial resistance.
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This paper provides case studies of several food product improvement policies from across the WHO European Region. The aim is to share country experience, assess the various merits of the different approaches, discuss lessons learned, and provide guidance for best practice that may be more widely ap...plicable across the European Region.
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This article describes WHO's efforts to combat a cholera outbreak in South Sudan in July 2017. The organization received 500,000 doses of oral cholera vaccine (OCV) and was working with South Sudan's Ministry of Health to launch a vaccination campaign from July 28 to August 3, 2017. At the time, the... country had reported 17,785 cholera cases and 320 deaths since the outbreak began in June 2016. The vaccination campaign targeted four counties with high transmission rates: Tonj East, Kapoeta South, Kapoeta North, and Kapoeta East. South Sudan was implementing an integrated approach to control cholera, combining patient care, surveillance, social mobilization, water and sanitation improvements, and vaccination. The article notes that approximately 6 million people in South Sudan were facing starvation, with food insecurity and drought exacerbating the risk of cholera spread as people resorted to using contaminated water sources.
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Disability inclusive shelter programming enables persons with disabilities to contribute more to their communities, participate more in consultations and decision-making, and facilitate their own protection. The key concepts include: Disability inclusive shelter programming is both a process and an ...outcome. By engaging persons with disabilities in the process, we will also improve the outcomes for persons with disabilities.
The disability community has the slogan “Nothing about us without us,” reminding that we should include and work with persons with disabilities and their representative groups rather than plan or make decisions on their behalf. Persons with disabilities should be engaged throughout shelter programme planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation.
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A module from the suite of health service capacity assessments in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, Interim guidance 20 October 2020. This assessment tool covers the following aspects:
area distribution;
surface availability versus foreseen occupancy rate;
patient and staff flow...s;
ventilation requirement per specific areas;
visitors’ area and visitor flow; and
surge capacity.
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