Overwhelming evidence shows that a range of health concerns—mental illness, substance dependence, HIV/AIDS, and noncommunicable diseases—affect prisoners disproportionately. But, while incarceration poses risks to health—including inadequate nutrition and exposure to violence—prisons also pr...esent important opportunities to promote health and risk reduction that need to be tapped.
Some recommended remedies:
Health ministries, not ministries of justice, should manage health care responsibilities
Ensure that testing is available, but not mandatory, for infectious diseases
Make prison health part of the broader public health agenda
more
The CB MHPSS operational guidelines were developed in response to emerging evidence on the determinants of children’s resilience, lessons learned from the evaluation of existing approaches, and the unique challenges that today’s crises pose for children’s safety, wellbeing and optimal developm...ent.
more
Technical Note on Antimicrobial Resistance
This document reflects UNICEF’s response to the growing global threat of AMR to child survival, growth and development. It identifies UNICEF’s AMR-specific and AMR-sensitive actions in reducing infections, promoting access to and optimal use of antimic...robials, and increasing AMR awareness and understanding. Of particular relevance to this group, UNICEF country offices are directed to provide technical support for development and implementation of national AMR action plans, linking them as appropriate to maternal, newborn and child health programmes and ensuring these are prioritized in both surveillance and policy changes. The guidance note on AMR is intended to inform UNICEF’s AMR-related internal initiatives, programming and activities, as well as external engagements with governments and other stakeholders.
more
After almost 50 years of military dictatorship, and following the 2010 general elections which were rigged in favour of the military Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), Myanmar underwent a series of political reforms from 2011 onwards. In November 2015, the first free general elections si...nce the 1990 elections resulted in a victory for the National League for Democracy (NLD). The NLD formed a new government in 2016 with Htin Kyaw as the first non-military president since 1962, and with Aung San Suu Kyi in the newly-created position of State Counsellor.
more
This report is jointly released by the Human Rights Division (HRD)
of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and focuses on the right to freedom of opinion and expression in South Sudan.
It covers the per...iod from July 2016 to December 2017 and presents
information gathered by HRD on progress and challenges faced by
individuals to freely form, hold and express their opinions and
views on a wide range of issues, including the political and security situation, peace negotiations, and other developments affecting the country.
more
A stated objective of WHO’s European Mental Health Action Plan 2013–2020 is to ensure better information and knowledge for service planning, development, monitoring and evaluation, including requesting Member States to report on the indicators in the Plan.
Progress towards achieving the int...ernationally agreed mental health objectives and targets is monitored in the periodic WHO Mental Health Atlas, which collates global information on mental health policies, resources and services.
This booklet provides a snapshot of the situation in countries in the WHO European region with regard to a number of core mental health targets and indicators, derived from the WHO’s Mental Health Atlas 2017.
more
The survey is representative of the Union Territory, its states and regions and urban and rural areas. It was conducted in all the districts and in 296 of the 330 townships of Myanmar. A total of 13,730 households were interviewed. It collects data on the occupations of people, how much income they ...earn, and how they use this to meet the food, housing, health, education and other needs of their families. The main focus of the survey is to produce estimates of poverty and living conditions, to provide core data inputs into the System of National Accounts and the Consumer Price Index and to support monitoring of the Sustainable Development Goals.
more
Application of a One Health approach .
The present guidance was developed with the support of the WHO Advisory Group on Integrated Surveillance of Antimicrobial Resistance (AGISAR) to assist countries and other stakeholders in the establishment and development of programmes of integrated surveillan...ce of antimicrobial resistance in the foodborne bacteria (i.e., bacteria commonly transmitted by food) by taking a One Health approach.
more
From the 11th to the 18th of July, in Ougadougou (Burkina Faso), Bridging the Gap II held the training activity entitled “The Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disability (CRPD) and inclusion: promotion and integrated protection of the rights of persons with disabilities through synergies b...etween institutions and civil society – The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the local regulatory framework and their application” « Formation sur la CDPH, les objectifs du développement durable, le cadre réglementaire national et l’application des règles ». The initiative aimed at strengthening the capacities of the focal points of the National Multisectoral Committee for the Protection and Promotion of Persons with Disability (COMUD/Handicap) in line with the expected results 2 and 3 of the Project Bridging the Gap.
more
The Government of India is embarking on a mammoth task to prevent COVID-19 spread among communities. The Rapid Evidence Synthesis team received a request to support the planning and development of resources for ensuring preparedness of FLHWs for COVID-19 . The rapid evidence synthesis was conducted ...in a period of three days.
The findings highlight what we can learn from recent pandemics such that we are prepared for potential scenarios and challenges due to COVID-19. Key issues which decision-makers need to consider, based on available evidence
more
Key Messages and Recommendations.
The Report, Todos y todas sin excepción, produced by the Global Education Monitoring (GEM) Report and the Regional Bureau for Education in Latin America and the Caribbean (OREALC /UNESCO Santiago), along with the Laboratory of Education, Research and Innovation in... Latin America and the Caribbean (SUMMA) shows that, prior to the pandemic, in 21 countries, children from the richest households were five times as likely as the poorest to complete upper secondary school.
Learning outcomes were low before COVID-19. Only half of 15-year-olds achieved minimum proficiency in reading. In Guatemala and Panama, barely 10 disadvantaged 15-year-old students master basic mathematics skills for every 100 of their better-off peers. Indigenous people and Afro-descendants also have lower attainment and literacy rates.
The report includes a set of key recommendations for the next decade, which will help countries achieve the objectives of the 2030 Agenda and calls for schools to be more inclusive, which many still are not.
more
The World Health Organization’s comprehensive antenatal care (ANC) guideline WHO recommendations on antenatal care for a positive pregnancy experience was first published in 2016 with the objective of improving the quality of routine health care that all women and adolescent girls receive during p...regnancy. The overarching principle – to provide pregnant service users with a positive pregnancy experience – aims to encourage countries to expand their health-care agendas beyond survival, with a view to maximizing health, human rights and the potential of their populations. Recognizing that ANC provides a strategic platform for important health-care functions, including health promotion and disease prevention, 14 out of the 49 recommendations in the WHO 2016 ANC guideline relate to nutritional interventions in pregnancy.
more
An evidence-informed approach for non-formal, out-of-school CSE programmes that aims to reach young people from left-behind populations
This guidance is intended to assist anyone designing and/or implementing CSE in out-of-school settings, especially in low- and middle-income countries. This includ...es international and national civil-society organizations, community-based organizations, government departments, UN agencies, health authorities, non-formal education authorities and youth development authorities. It is also intended for anyone else involved in the design, delivery and evaluation of sexuality education programmes out of school, especially those working with the specific groups of young people addressed in the guidance.
more
This document outlines the evaluation process that WHO undertakes to assess novel tools and strategies targeted at VBDs. Its aim is to articulate the linkage between the generation of evidence that demonstrates public health impact of novel interventions, and the development of policy recommendation...s based on the generated data. The document defines standards for the evaluation process, as well as the steps that an applicant needs to undertake, along with some guiding principles that aim to support applicants in the development of submissions with WHO.
more
Childhood obesity is a major public health problem globally, which could undermine progress towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. Prevention is recognized as the most efficient means of curbing the epidemic; however, given the scale of the problem and the many children who need profes...sional support due to the severity of the disease and/or obesity-related complications, health systems all over Europe must take steps to develop obesity management systems. The aim of this project was to assess the response of health care delivery systems in 19 countries in the WHO European Region to the childhood obesity epidemic.
more
The Minimum Standards and Indicators for Community Engagement were developed through an inter‑agency consultation process that engaged a large number of experts from around the world. UNICEF wishes to acknowledge the contribution of all those that participated, and who share a passion for placing ...communities at the centre of development and humanitarian action. The consultation process consisted of a series of interviews, meetings and workshops over an 18‑month period. Representatives from countries in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Europe and North America contributed input and feedback based on their experiences of designing, implementing and measuring community engagement approaches
more
The community-BFCI (c-BFCI) manual has been developed to facilitate training of CHVs and stakeholders providing nutrition sensitive services at community level. The manual covers a wide range of topics: basic nutrition, exclusive breastfeeding, complementary feeding, Breast Milk Substitutes Act, gro...wth monitoring and promotion, early childhood development and stimulation, household food and nutrition security and establishment of baby friendly communities.
more
The checklist and reference list has two parts: high-level cross-cutting content (Part A) and specific programme content (Part B). Part A applies to all countries and contains situation and response analysis, the NSP development process, the goal, targets and priority-setting of the NSP and the prin...ciples of human rights and gender equity and sustainability. Part B comprises the programme requirements of prevention, treatment and care, comorbidities and integration, social protection, health systems, community engagement, human rights and gender equity, efficiency and effectiveness, governance, management and accountability, HIV and the humanitarian response
more
Primary health care, as outlined in the 1978 Declaration of Alma-Ata and again 40 years later in the 2018 WHO/UNICEF document A vision for primary health care in the 21st century: towards universal health coverage and the Sustainable Development Goals, is a whole-of-government and whole-of-society a...pproach to health that combines the following three components: multisectoral policy and action; empowered people and communities; and primary care and essential public health functions as the core of integrated health services.(1) Primary health care-oriented health systems are health systems organized and operated so as to make the right to the highest attainable level of health the main goal, while maximizing equity and solidarity. They are composed of a core set of structural and functional elements that support achieving universal coverage and access to services that are acceptable to the population and that are equity enhancing. The term “primary care” refers to a key process in the health system that supports first-contact, accessible, continued, comprehensive and coordinated patient-focused care.
more
In 2007, WHO warned that infectious diseases are emerging and re-emerging at a rate that has not been seen before. The potential for infectious diseases to spread rapidly results in high morbidity and mortality, causing a potential global public health treat of major concern.
Several factors are ...contributing to the (re)emergence of infectious diseases such as population growth, living in close contact with animals, frequent travelling, poverty, destructive ecological changes due to economic development and land use and climate change result in global warming.
Especially Africa is at a threat for (re)emerging infectious diseases due to the huge population growth (expected to reach 2.5 billion by 2050) with rapid urbanisation. Additionally, people across and beyond the continent are excessively mobile which is combined with a weak health system. Moreover, the risk of (re)emerging infectious disease is further heightened by three newly adopted continental initiatives: African Continental Free Trade Area, Free Movement of Persons and African Passport and Single African Air Transport Market.
more