The Country Cooperation Strategy is the World Health Organization’s corporate framework developed in response to a country’s needs and priorities. The 2022–2025 CCS is the fourth for WHO in Sierra Leone. It is a medium-term strategic document that defines a broad framework for WHO’s work, at... all levels, with the Government of Sierra Leone and all health partners for the next four years. This document is guided by the country’s major policy and strategy documents including the 2020 National Health and Sanitation Policy (NHSP); the 2021–2025 National Health Sector Strategic Plan (NHSSP); and the 2019–2023 National Medium-term Development Plan (NMTDP). The current CCS also reflects the broad priorities of WHO as outlined in its Thirteenth General Programme of Work (2019–2023, extended to 2025) with a focus on improving access to universal health coverage, protecting people from health emergencies, and improving people’s health and well-being. The CCS priorities are also in alignment with the United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF) in Sierra Leone and will contribute to attaining the country's SDG targets
more
Key facts about major deadly diseases.This manual provides concise and up-to-date knowledge on 15 infectious diseases that have the potential to become international threats, and tips on how to respond to each of them.
You can download an interactive version directly at the website
http://www.who....int/emergencies/diseases/managing-epidemics/en/
more
The Malaria Ministerial Conference, co-hosted by WHO and the Government of Cameroon on 6 March 2024, brought together more than 400 stakeholders, including Ministers of Health and senior representatives from the African countries hardest hit by malaria, global health leaders, scientists, civil socie...ty and other partners. The pivotal meeting sought to leverage political commitment, scientific innovation and community engagement to reshape the trajectory of malaria control in high burden African countries, and beyond.
At the end of the meeting and in the weeks that followed, Ministers of Health from the 11 “High Burden High Impact” African countries (Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ghana, Mali, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Sudan, Uganda and United Republic of Tanzania) signed the Yaoundé Declaration, pledging their “unwavering commitment” to the principle that “no one should die from malaria given the tools and systems available.” Success in reducing malaria morbidity and mortality will hinge on efforts by countries to translate this political commitment into actions and resources that will save lives.
more
The WHO/UNICEF JMP report, WASH in Health Care Facilities, is the first comprehensive global assessment of water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) in health care facilities. It also finds that 1 in 5 health care facilities has no sanitation service*, impacting 1.5 billion people. The report further rev...eals that many health centres lack basic facilities for hand hygiene and safe segregation and disposal of health care waste.
more
2nd edition. The interagency field handbook on malaria control was developed to set out effective malaria control responses in humanitarian emergencies, particularly during the acute phase when reliance on international humanitarian assistance is greatest. This second edition represents a thorough u...pdating and revision of the first edition. The structure remains similar, but includes an additional chapter on humanitarian coordination. All chapters have been revised to reflect changes in best practices, improvements in technologies, availability of new tools, and changes in WHO recommendations.
more
arrow country studies
Political developments in Myanmar/Burma prompted the Asian-Pacific Resource and Research Centre for Women (ARROW) in 2013 to undertake a small-scale scoping study to re-evaluate and refine its advocacy strategies for sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), and to s...trengthen partnerships for advocacy with civil society organisations (CSO) working on SRHR in the country. The study aimed to identify the status of and the potential for SRHR advocacy by CSOs in Central Myanmar/Burma and in Eastern states along the Thai-Myanmar/Burma border, and increase the current knowledge base on SRHR issues, gaps, and challenges.
more
COVID-19 has heavily emphasized how contact tracing is crucial for managing outbreaks, and as part of the strategy for adjusting, and eventually lifting, lockdowns and other stringent public health and social measures. As the pandemic develops further, it will be a core measure to manage further wav...es of infection. In early June 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) convened an online global consultation on contact tracing in the context of COVID-19, looking at the lessons of the pandemic to date; known and emerging best practices; and the measures necessary for urgent implementation, scale-up, maintenance and enhancement of contact tracing activities.
more
Cholera is a diarrhoeal disease that is usually contracted when drinking water contaminated with Vibrio cholerae bacteria. The fight against this disease requires a multidisciplinary approach that combines a water, hygiene and sanitation (WaSH) response with a monitoring system, improved water suppl...y and quality, sanitation and hygiene, and a health response with the treatment of the disease itself.
more
This document adopts a health determinants framework for examining the evidence related to women’s poor mental health. From this perspective, public policy including economic policy, socio-cultural and environmental factors, community and social support, stressors and life events, personal behavio...ur and skills, and availability and access to health services, are all seen to exercise a role in determining women’s mental health status. Similarly, when considering the differences between women and men, a gender approach has been used. While this does not exclude biological or sex differences, it considers the critical roles that social and cultural factors and unequal power relations between men and women play in promoting or impeding mental health. Such inequalities create, maintain and exacerbate exposure to risk factors that endanger women’s mental health, and are most graphically illustrated in the significantly different rates of depression between men and women, poverty and its impact, and the phenomenal prevalence of violence against women.
more
Today more people are exposed to hazards. While humanitarian action to mitigate the impact of disasters will always be vitally important, the community is facing critical challenge- how to better anticipate, manage and reduce - disaster risks by integrating the potential threat into its planning and... policies at the community level. This manual aims to improve the capacity of the Panchayati Raj Institutions - the local self government and communities that face hazards due to environmental reasons. To help such capacity development efforts, we need learning materials focusing on key areas - water supply, environmental sanitation for better disaster management and preparedness.
more
The South African WHO Country Cooperation Strategy (CCS) 2023–2027 focuses on four key strategic priorities based on the country’s health needs and disease epidemiology, while also considering the need for building resilient health systems for UHC and health security in the post pandemic period....
These include:
1. augment health systems strengthening reforms to accelerate progress towards universal health coverage.
2. address the quadruple burden of diseases and promote well-being across the life course in view of achieving global targets.
3. build health systems resilience and strengthen health emergency preparedness and response capacities.
4. enhance multisectoral collaboration and global partnerships for concerted action on health and its determinants.
In order to harness its expertise across its three levels, namely: the WHO Country Office (WCO), WHO Regional Office for Africa, and WHO headquarters, WHO will work closely and collaboratively with the Government of South Africa to implement the 2023–2027 strategic priorities.
more
This is a report from a National, representative household survey carried out in Swaziland in 2009 – 2010. A large amount of effort has been put into this two‐year exercise until finally we can present the results of the combined efforts. First of all, this is a credit to the Federation of Disab...led People in Swaziland (FODSWA): To the Management Committee headed by Ms. Buyie Masuku for being in control of the whole process, and to the Project Co‐ordinator Mr. Bhekie Jele who for the most of the study handled all aspects in this comprehensive and complex process. Mr Yusman B Kamaleri from SINTEF played an important role in supporting FODSWA during the implementation of the study.
more
Almost 30 countries vulnerable to a new Ebola-style Epidemic, jeopardising the future of millions of Children. The report ranks the world’s poorest countries on the state of their public health systems, finding that 28 have weaker defences in place than Liberia where, alongside Sierra Leone and Gu...inea, the current Ebola crisis has already claimed 9,000 lives, and provoked an extraordinary international response to help contain it.
more
The world is off track to make significant progress towards universal health coverage (UHC) (SDG target 3.8) by 2030 as improvements to health services coverage have stagnated since 2015, and the proportion of the population that faced catastrophic levels of out-of-pocket (OOP) health spending has i...ncreased.
more
Multiple pandemics, numerous outbreaks, thousands of lives lost and billions of dollars of national income wiped out—all since the turn of this century, in barely 17 years—and yet the world’s investments in pandemic preparedness and response remain woefully inadequate. We know by now that the ...world will see another pandemic in the not-too-distant future; that random mutations occur often enough in microbes that help them survive and adapt; that new pathogens will inevitably find a way to break through our defenses; and that there is the increased potential for intentional or accidental release of a synthesized agent. Every expert commentary and every analysis in recent years tells us that the costs of inaction are immense. And yet, as
the havoc caused by the last outbreak turns into a fading memory, we become complacent and relegate the case for investing in preparedness on a back burner, only to bring it to the forefront when the next outbreak occurs. The result is that the world remains scarily vulnerable.
more
he refugee flow to Ethiopia continued during 2018, with 36,1351 persons seeking safety and protection within the country’s borders. At the start of 2019, the nation hosted 905,8312 thousand refugees who were forced to flee their homes as a result of insecurity, political instability, military cons...cription, conflict, famine and other problems in their countries of origin. Ethiopia is one of the largest refugee asylum countries world-wide, and the second largest in Africa, reflecting the ongoing fragility and conflict in the region. Ethiopia provides protection to refugees from some 26 countries. Among the principal factors leading to this situation are predominantly the conflict in South Sudan, the prevailing political environment in Eritrea, together with conflict and draught in Somalia.
more
The interim Emergency Response Preparedness (ERP) guidance is designed to be a short technical step-by-step guide aimed at non-Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) countries to support the development, or strengthening, of preparedness measures to ensure that country teams are operationally ready to imp...lement activities to address the potential non-health impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and its compound effect on existing risks. The interim guidance is based on the IASC 2015 ERP Guidance.
more
Coronavirus Disease-19 (COVID-19) was declared a global pandemic on 11 March 2020, and Malawi declared its first case on 2 April. As of 30 April, there were 36 confirmed positive cases of COVID-19 and 3 deaths. A State of Disaster was declared by President Arthur Peter Mutharika on 20 March and a 21...-day lockdown was implemented from 18 April to 9 May. The lockdown measures include: bans on public gatherings; closure of schools; and bans on international flights and cross-border passenger buses.
more
Comprehensive public health action on population ageing is urgently needed. This will require fundamental shifts, not just in the things we do, but in how we think about ageing itself. The World report on ageing and health outlines a framework for action to foster Healthy Ageing built around the new... concept of functional ability. Making these investments will have valuable social and economic returns, both in terms of health and wellbeing of older people and in enabling their on-going participation in society
Executive summaries : Arabic; Chinese; English; French; German; Japanese; Portuguese; Russian; Spanish
more
In many humanitarian emergencies, there is a serious lack of access to even the most basic materials needed for managing the blood in addition to a lack of appropriate sanitation facilities (including water), which are critical for addressing menstrual hygiene. Privacy in emergencies is often scarc...e, and even if toilets are available they often lack locks, functioning doors, lighting and separation between genders. These barriers are often intensified by cultural beliefs and taboos surrounding menstruation which can restrict the movements and behaviors of girls and women
more