In 2019, the Task Force on Fiscal Policy for Health concluded that taxes on tobacco, alcohol, and sugar-sweetened beverages were a highly effective but greatly underused policy tool to reduce consumption, save lives, and raise domestic resources. The Task Force estimated that if all countries increa...sed their excise taxes to raise prices by 50 percent, over 50 million premature deaths could be averted worldwide over the next 50 years while
raising over USD 20 trillion of additional revenue. Since the Task Force first convened, the world has faced a “polycrisis,” including a global pandemic, an economic recession, and the outbreak of wars in Europe and the Middle East. Against this backdrop, the world has also experienced prolonged health and fiscal crises. Health systems, weakened by the COVID-19 pandemic, lack sufficient financing to rebuild and respond to the surging noncommunicable diseases epidemic caused by uncontrolled risk factors such as tobacco, alcohol, and sugar consumption. Opportunities to raise domestic resources are limited and debt burdens have squeezed budgets. The period from 2019 to 2027 risks becoming a “lost decade” for health and social policies, with 110 countries facing little prospect of any
ability to raise government revenues beyond current levels. In this paper, we describe the current health and fiscal crises and review the contribution that health taxes could make in turning around this dire situation. We conclude that taxes on tobacco, alcohol, and
sugar-sweetened beverages are an ideal policy solution—good for the budget and good for health. These taxes are relatively quick to implement, and, unlike other taxes, do not put economic growth at risk—a vital benefit in the current era.
more
The war in Ukraine will have direct and indirect health consequences on conflict affected people, including internally displaced people and refugees. Governments in countries receiving refugees are providing them with access to healthcare. This document aims to provide information to guide individua...l health assessment carried out by frontline health providers at border areas, reception centres, transit centres and individual clinics as well as national public health agencies/authorities in countries receiving refugees and third country nationals.
more
Despite recommendations on the marketing of commercial baby and toddler foods, two new reports from WHO find widespread evidence of inappropriate promotion and poor nutritional quality of foods for infants and young children across the WHO European Region. To address these issues and help countries ...implement nutrition recommendations, a nutrient profile model is proposed to guide decisions on promotion and nutrition quality of baby foods.
more
The purpose of this Strategy is to set out the way to meet the needs of the rural populations for improved domestic water supply services, access to and use of improved sanitation with elimination of open defecation, and improved hygiene behaviour by the Year 2030. It also addresses water, sanitatio...n and hygiene in schools up to high school level and health facilities up to township hospital level. The Strategy is supported by Investment Plans covering a financing period 2015 to 2030 in order to ensure sufficient funding for development and operation of services in accordance with the Strategy.
more
The Urban Health Initiative (UHI) goes beyond improving access to health care and promoting healthy behaviours, and focuses on how to build cities that enable and encourage good health.
A long and healthy life for all South Africans
Little is known about the patterns of development assistance (DA) for each component of reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health (RMNCAH) in conflict-affected countries nor about the DA allocation in relation to the burden of disease
The attainment of Zambia’s goal of being a prosperous and middle-income country by 2030 as stipulated in its Vision 2030 is dependent on among others, a healthy and productive population. Therefore, the Government of the Republic of Zambia (GRZ) has prioritized health as a key socio-economic inves...tment in the Seventh National Development Plan 2017-2021. The government is also committed to achieving the targets under the health goal number three and other health related targets under other goals of the 2030 Sustainable Development agenda. Despite progress which has been made in improving the health of Zambians, the country still faces a high burden of communicable diseases and a growing burden of non-communicable diseases. Structural and social deprivation including poverty, inequalities and marginalisation also remain major threats to health. In order to effectively address all the social determinants of health, all sectors should take into account health and well-being as a key element of policy development.
more
As of 12June 2020, there are 667confirmed COVID-19 casesin the OPT (565 of which are recovered cases), and 48% of which (320 cases) are in East Jerusalem and its suburbs. Additionally, there have been 5 reported COVID-19 deaths (1 in the West Bank, 1 in Gaza and 3 in East Jerusalem)
Since the beginning of the Ukraine crisis on 24 February 2022, WHO has supported Government-led efforts and initiatives alongside key partners on the ground. Building on efforts to date, and working alongside Bulgaria’s health authorities to bring added value to existing mechanisms, the WHO Countr...y Office Bulgaria, the WHO Regional Office for Europe and the WHO Health and Migration Programme, in close collaboration with the Ministry of Health of Bulgaria and key partners, undertook a joint review mission to support Bulgaria, with a focus on addressing the health system needs of refugees, migrants, asylum seekers and vulnerable host populations in Bulgaria.
The assessment team developed this report on the key findings and a package of potential interventions based on the opportunities identified and the need for technical support and assistance. The report summarizes concrete areas of work for which collaborations can be further strengthened. The joint review team identified key recommendations for consideration across 8 priority areas. The report and the outcomes of the review mission serve as a basis for future technical collaboration in the area of refugee health, to address the health needs of refugees and third-country nationals fleeing from Ukraine.
more
The purpose of the situation assessment was to execute a situation analysis for Autism and Neurodevelopment Disorder (NDD) in Bangladesh. The situation assessment covers the following areas: a review of the scale and prevalence of NDD with trends of the disorder in the recent past in Bangladesh (see... page 17); estimation of likely disease burden in the near future (see page 27); assessment of the social response to NDD in Bangladesh (see page 67); overview of the support and services required by persons with NDD (see page 79); an inventory of service providers working with NDD in Bangladesh (see page 85); an assessment of the adequacy of the existing services and support available for addressing NDD in country (see page 97); an overview of the role and preparedness of MOHFW and other stakeholders in addressing NDD in Bangladesh (see page 108); recommendations for monitoring, supervision and reporting mechanisms for NDD services at the national level (see page 167); and recommended key activities that should be undertaken by the Health and other relevant ministries in the short and medium term (see page 167).
more
Prepared as an outcome of ICMR Expert Group on Immunophenotyping of Hematolymphoid Neoplasms | Coordinated by Division of Non Communicable Diseases | This document addresses on various issue related to good quality practices in laboratory work up of flow cytometric immunophenotyping and will be of u...se to pathologists, cytometrists, hematologists, technologists and scientists working in this field.
more
The World Heart Federation (WHF) commenced a Roadmap initiative in 2015 to reduce the global burden of cardiovascular disease and resultant burgeoning of healthcare costs. Roadmaps provide a blueprint for implementation of priority solutions for the principal cardiovascular diseases leading to death... and disability. Atrial fibrillation (AF) is one of these conditions and is an increasing problem due to ageing of the world’s population and an increase in cardiovascular risk factors that predispose to AF. The goal of the AF roadmap was to provide guidance on priority interventions that are feasible in multiple countries, and to identify roadblocks and potential strategies to overcome them.
more