Benchmarking is a strategic process often used by businesses and institutes to standardize performance in relation to the best practices of their sector. The World Health Organization (WHO) and partners have developed a tool with a list of benchmarks and corresponding suggested actions that can be a...pplied to implement the International Health Regulations 2005 (IHR) and strengthen health emergency prevention, preparedness, response and resilience capacities.
The first edition of the benchmarks was published in 2019 to support countries in developing, implementing and documenting progress of national IHR or health security plans (e.g. national action plan for health security (NAPHS), national action plan for emerging infectious diseases, public health emergencies and health security and other country level plans for health emergencies). The tool has been updated to incorporate lessons from COVID-19 and other health emergencies, to align with the updated IHR monitoring & evaluation framework (IHR MEF) tools and the health systems for health security framework, and to support strengthening health emergency prevention, preparedness, response and resilience (HEPR) capacities and the Preparedness and Resilience for Emerging Threats (PRET) initiative.
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The climate crisis has many consequences – among them widespread health impacts that will lead to immense societal, ecological, and economic harm.
Over the past two decades multiple large-scale reviews on climate change and health have made clear the need for a multi-sectoral approach to target t...he drivers and impacts of climate change, biodiversity loss, and ecosystem degradation. Despite this abundance of scientific evidence underscoring urgency of action, policy implementation responses lag behind. Even at COP26, itself delayed due to an ongoing pandemic, health continues to be considered by many countries a problem independent from climate and environment.
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A manual for developing national action plans.This manual for developing national action plans to address antimicrobial resistance has been developed at the request of the World Health Assembly to assist countries in the initial phase of developing new, or refining existing national action plans in ...line with the strategic objectives of the Global Action Plan. It proposes an incremental approach that countries can adapt to the specific needs, circumstances and available resources of each individual country. Details of actions to be taken will vary according to national contexts
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This paper focuses on the Sustainable Development Goals related to poverty, economic growth, inequality, health, food production and the environment. It presents concrete examples of the underlying and complex aspects of antibiotic resistance and its impacts across different Sustainable Development ...Goals. The aim of this paper is to inform and stimulate discussions on how to further advance the implementation of 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the Global Action Plan on Antimicrobial Resistance, National Action plans on Antimicrobial Resistance, as well as work within all sectors that affect and are affected by antibiotic resistance
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This report summarizes the World Health Organization’s (WHO) global work on water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) during 2022. It describes how the Organization continued to deliver its essential WASH programming as elaborated in its 2018–2025 strategy.
There is growing international consensus that food systems transformation is important to address the challenges of malnutrition in all its forms, the burden of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), environmental sustainability, increasing inequality and ensuring the welfare of workers and animals. In li...ght of the urgency of these challenges, there are questions about the role of red and processed meat in healthy and sustainable food systems. Globally, production and consumption of all types of meat has increased substantially in the last 50 years, and – although red meat consumption is now plateauing in high-income countries (HICs) – is predicted to increase by a further 50% by 2050. Meat consumption remains highly unequal both between and within countries, and animal-source food intakes, including red meat, are lowest among those at most risk of undernutrition
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This new publication presents the continuing and emerging challenges to children’s environmental health.
Mission report: June 11-20, 2017
The position papers are intended for use by national public health officials and managers of immunization programmes. They may also be of interest to international funding agencies, vaccine advisory groups, vaccine manufacturers, health professionals, researchers, the scientific media and the genera...l public.
Les notes de synthèse s’adressent aux responsables nationaux de la santé publique et aux administrateurs des programmes de vaccination, mais elles peuvent également présenter un intérêt pour les organismes internationaux de financement, les groupes consultatifs sur la vaccination, les fabricants de vaccins, les professionnels de la santé, les chercheurs, les médias scientifiques et le grand public.
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A WHO Guideline for Emergency Risk Communication (ERC) policy and practice.
Recent public health emergencies, such as the Ebola virus disease outbreak in West Africa (2014–2015), the emergence of the Zika virus syndrome in 2015–2016 and multi-country yellow fever outbreaks in Africa in 2016, h...ave highlighted major challenges and gaps in how risk is communicated during epidemics and other health emergencies. The challenges include the rapid transformation in communications technology, including the near-universal penetration of mobile telephones, the widespread use and increasingly powerful influence of digital media which has had an impact on ‘traditional’ media (newspapers, radio and television), and major changes in how people access and trust health information. Important gaps include considerations of context – the social, economic, political and cultural factors influencing people’s perception of risk and their risk-reduction behaviours.
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The framework responds to the demand from Member States and partners for guidance on how the health sector and its operational basis in health systems can systematically and effectively address the challenges increasingly presented by climate variability and change. This framework has been designed ...in light of the increasing evidence of climate change and its associated health risks (1); global, regional and national policy mandates to protect population health (2); and a rapidly emerging body of practical experience in building health resilience to climate change (3).
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The Lancet Microbe Series Chagas Disease 2 Volume 5, Issue 10100946 October 2024
The guide to implementing the One Health Joint Plan of Action (OH JPA) at national level provides practical guidance on how countries can adopt and adapt the OH JPA to strengthen and support national One Health action.
Building on the OH JPA theory of change, this guide describes three pathways a...nd five key steps to implement the OH JPA at national level:
Pathway 1 -- Governance, policy, legislation, financing and advocacy
Pathway 2 -- Organizational and institutional development, implementation and sectoral integration
Pathway 3 -- Data, evidence, information systems and knowledge exchange.
The stepwise approach comprises:
Situation analysis including stakeholder mapping and review of existing assessment results
Set-up/strengthening of a multisectoral, One Health coordination mechanism
Planning for implementation, including activity prioritization and leveraging of resources
Implementation of national One Health action plans
Review, sharing and incorporation of lessons learned.
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The COVID-19 pandemic has provided a dramatic illustration of the extent to which the health of people, animals and the environment is interdependent, which is why “One Health” is now high on the political agenda. This document provides an overview of KfW Development Bank’s approach to promoti...ng human, animal and environmental health. Involvement in areas like agriculture, biodiversity, health and water is already contributing to the One Health objectives. Moving forward, it will also be important to give greater consideration to interdependencies between sectors and ensure that structural connections are taken into account in cross-sectoral programmes.
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The idea to the ANDEMIA online course manual is based on the challenge that resources for sending ANDEMIA students to a variety of face to face courses is limited not only due to financial but also time constraints. Online course provide a good basis for the students, Master, PhD and Post Docs to pr...ovide them with an overview about certain topics and help them to identify their own gaps and needs. They can create more interest for a specific field and build demand for more advanced knowledge on specific topics.
The courses and resources in this manual are meant to reflect a variety of online courses selected from different universities and organisations on topics perceived to be useful for ANDEMIA students. Albeit not complete, we believe that the selection of courses in this manual covers quite comprehensively a wide range of topics.
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This checklist is an operational tool to help national authorities develop or revise national respiratory pathogen (inclusive of influenza and coronaviruses) pandemic preparedness plans.