These standards for the quality of paediatric care in health facilities form part of normative
guidance for improving the quality of maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health care.
In view of the importance of the continuum of both the life-course and service delivery (1),
these standards bu...ild on the Standards for improving the quality of maternal and newborn
care in health facilities (2), during labour, childbirth and the early postnatal period.
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The standards for the care of small and sick newborns in health facilities define, standardize and mainstream inpatient care of small and sick newborns, building on essential newborn care and ensuring consistency with the WHO quality of care framework. The standards will guide countries in caring fo...r this vulnerable population and support the quality of care of newborns in the context of universal health coverage. They will provide a resource for policy-makers, health care professionals, health service planners, programme managers, regulators, professional bodies and technical partners involved in care
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4th edition
The WHO Laboratory Biosafety Manual (LBM) has been in broad use at all levels of clinical and public health laboratories, and other biomedical sectors globally, serving as a de facto global standard that presents best practices and sets trends in biosafety.
LBM encouraged countries t...o accept and implement basic concepts in biological safety and to develop national codes of practice for the safe handling of biological agents in laboratories within their geographical borders.
This fourth edition of the manual builds on the risk assessment framework introduced in the third edition. A thorough, evidence-based and transparent assessment of the risks allows safety measures to be balanced with the actual risk of working with biological agents on a case-by-case basis.
This novel evidence- and risk-based approach will allow optimised resource use and sustainable laboratory biosafety and biosecurity policies and practices that are relevant to their individual circumstances and priorities, enabling equitable access to clinical and public health laboratory tests and biomedical research opportunities without compromising safety.
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The Global guidance framework for the responsible use of the life sciences: mitigating biorisks and governing dual-use research (the framework) aims to provide values and principles, tools and mechanisms to support Member States and key stakeholders to mitigate and prevent biorisks and govern dual-u...se research.
The framework adopts the One health approach and focuses on the role that responsible life sciences research can play in preventing and mitigating risks caused by accidents, inadvertent or deliberate misuse with the intention to cause harm to humans, nonhuman animals, plants and agriculture, and the environment.
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Infectious disease outbreaks and epidemics are increasing in frequency, scale and impact. Health care facilities can amplify the transmission of emerging infectious diseases or multidrug-resistant organisms (MDRO) within their settings and communities. Therefore, evidence-based infection prevention ...and control (IPC) measures in health care facilities are critical for preventing and containing outbreaks, while still delivering safe, effective and quality health care. This toolkit is intended to support IPC improvements for outbreak management in all such facilities, both public and private throughout the health system. Specifically, this document systematically describes a framework of overarching principles to approach the preparedness, readiness and response outbreak management phases. The document also provides a toolkit of resource links to guide specific actions for each infectious disease and/or MDRO outbreak management phase at any health facility. This document is specifically tailored to an audience of stakeholders who establish and monitor health care facility-level IPC programs including: IPC focal points, epidemiologists, public health experts, outbreak response incident managers, facility-level IPC committee(s), safety and quality leads and managers, and other facility level IPC stakeholders.
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During the pandemic, Brazil has provided its citizens with support in the areas of long-term care and disability, the labor market, social assistance, education, and pensions. This report focuses on two social policy areas, health-care and family benefits (including labor policies), as these were th...e most crucial social policies implemented in Brazil during the Covid-19 pandemic in terms of the resources allocated and the magnitude of social impact. Brazil’s relatively generous social policies were uncoordinated with public health interventions, which contributed to poor compliance with these public health interventions. This suggests that social policy initiatives alone are insufficient in mitigating the social consequences of the pandemic. They need to be accompanied by and coordinated with public health measures, including regulations on testing, social distancing and mask wearing.
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n 2015, Member States of the United Nations adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its accompanying Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), with the third goal of the agenda focusing on health – good health and well-being. This has the attainment of universal health coverage (UHC) a...s its umbrella target. Since then, the WHO Regional Office for Africa has been supporting countries plan, and monitor progress towards this goal. This report represents an analysis of the evidence so far countries are making towards this goal, and includes the effect COVID-19 has had on its attainment so far. It also makes recommendations on how countries can prioritize their health actions post COVID-19, in a manner that allows acceleration of progress towards UHC.
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The African Region has been experiencing unprecedented health challenges due to the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, which have compounded the already difficult task the Region was facing in moving towards universal health coverage (UHC) attainment.
Progress in prevention and treatment is faltering around the world, putting millions of people in grave danger. Eastern Europe and central Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East and North Africa have all seen increases in annual HIV infections over several years. In Asia and the Pacific, UNAIDS da...ta now show new HIV infections are rising where they had been falling. Action to tackle the inequalities driving AIDS is urgently required to prevent millions of new HIV infections this decade and to end the AIDS pandemic
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Saving lives is the priority of WHO’s response in Ukraine. WHO works to ensure time-critical, lifesaving multisectoral assistance, non-discriminatory access to emergency and essential health services and priority prevention programmes, and laying the foundation for longer-term health systems recov...ery and strengthening.
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Cryptococcal disease is one of the most common opportunistic infections among people living with advanced HIV disease and is a major contributor to severe illness, morbidity, and mortality, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa.
These guidelines update the recommendations that were first released i...n 2018 on diagnosing, preventing, and managing cryptococcal disease. In response to important new evidence that became available in 2021, these new guidelines strongly recommend a single high dose of liposomal amphotericin B as part of the preferred induction regimen for the treatment of cryptococcal meningitis in people living with HIV. This simplified regimen - a single high dose of liposomal amphotericin B paired with other standard medicines (flucytosine and fluconazole) - is as effective as the previous WHO standard of care, with the benefits of lower toxicity and fewer monitoring demands.
The objective of these guidelines is to provide updated, evidence-informed recommendations for treating adults, adolescents and children living with HIV who have cryptococcal disease. These guidelines are aimed at HIV programme managers, policymakers, national treatment advisory boards, implementing partners and health-care professionals providing care for people living with HIV in resource-limited settings with a high burden of cryptococcal disease.
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The objective of the 2022 Compendium is to compile and highlight emerging innovative health technologies for low-resource settings. It presents a snapshot of technologies that are solutions to an unmet medical/health technology need or are likely to improve health outcomes and the quality of life. H...ealth technologies in the Compendium underwent WHO evidence-based assessments focused on the life cycle of health technology innovations for low-resource settings.
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The Interim Guidance for Risk Communication and Community Engagement (RCCE) outlines recommendations, considerations and methods to raise awareness, manage risk perception, maintain trust and proactively support people at risk to make informed decisions to protect themselves and others from monkeypo...x. The guidance includes recommendations on identifying and communicating with affected populations and key audiences and avoiding stigma in communications outreach. It also includes key messages about symptoms of monkeypox, transmission, prevention measures, and communicating about uncertainty. This document also provides RCCE guidance for managers and planners of gatherings and events, where close physical contact may create an environment conducive for the transmission of monkeypox. Additionally, this document includes a compendium of recommendations for RCCE methods and resources to support the monkeypox response.
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A global shortage of an estimated 18 million health workers is anticipated by 2030, a record 130 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance, and there is the global threat of pandemics such as COVID-19. At least 400 million people worldwide lack access to the most essential health service...s, and every year 100 million people are plunged into poverty because they have to pay for healthcare out of their own pockets. There is, therefore, an urgent need to find innovative strategies that go beyond the conventional health-sector response.
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The WHO Quality Toolkit: Navigating tools to improve the quality of health services helps easy identification and access to a wide range of WHO published materials to improve the quality of health services. These tools support the actions described in the Quality health services: a planning guide, w...hich outlines a structured, systems-based approach to improving quality of health services. Whether you work at the facility, sub-national or national level, or in specific communities, you will find resources within the Quality Toolkit to help you carry out essential tasks to improve quality of care
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iSupport is a self-help skills and training programme for carers of people with dementia. Worldwide, around 55 million people have dementia. Dementia causes significant psychological and emotional impact on families and carers. iSupport aims to prevent and/or decrease mental and physical health prob...lems associated with caregiving and to improve the quality of life of those caring for people with dementia.
iSupport was conceptualized and developed as an online training programme. However, in areas of the world with limited internet bandwidth or low digital literacy, the iSupport hardcopy manual can be printed and used offline.
In five modules, iSupport teaches carers what dementia is and how to respond to common challenges of caregiving. The five modules are (i) introduction to dementia; (ii) being a caregiver; (iii) caring for me; (iv) providing everyday care; and (v) dealing with behaviour changes.
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Mental health is critically important to everyone, everywhere. All over the world, mental health needs are high but responses are insufficient and inadequate. The World mental health report: transforming mental health for all is designed to inspire and inform better mental health for everyone everyw...here. Drawing on the latest evidence available, showcasing examples of good practice from around the world, and voicing people’s lived experience, it highlights why and where change is most needed and how it can best be achieved. It calls on all stakeholders to work together to deepen the value and commitment given to mental health, reshape the environments that influence mental health, and strengthen the systems that care for mental health.
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