Regional Tuberculosis Program, Pan American Health Organization (PAHO/WHO)
Vaccines are powerful weapons in the fight against pandemic viruses as shown by responses to both the 2009 H1N1 influenza and the COVID-19 pandemics. However, planning for accessing, allocating and deploying vaccines in a pandemic situation is a complex endeavour, beset with multiple challenges at a...ll levels – local, regional and global. The World Health Organization (WHO) and its partners have prepared this revised guidance document to assist countries update their national deployment and vaccination plans (NDVPs) by leveraging global learnings from past pandemic responses, including the recent COVID-19 vaccination effort. The development and testing of a NDVP would not only advance pandemic preparedness efforts but would also have benefits in terms of increasing national capabilities to manage other health emergencies which require emergency vaccination campaigns.
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In recognition of the growing problem of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), its increasing threat to human, animal and plant health, and the need for a One Health approach to address this issue, the 39th Session of the Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC) agreed it was important for the food safety comm...unity to play its part and re-established the ad hoc Codex Intergovernmental Task Force on Antimicrobial Resistance (TFAMR) ). The objectives of the Task Force were
to revise the current Codex Code of Practice to Minimise and Contain Antimicrobial Resistance and to develop new guidance on surveillance programmes relevant to foodborne AMR.
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These guidelines provide updated evidence-based recommendations on the priority HCV-related topics from the 2018 WHO Guidelines for the care and treatment of persons diagnosed with chronic hepatitis C infection and the 2017 WHO Guidelines on hepatitis B and C testing. These priority areas are:
... direct-acting antiviral (DAA) treatment of adolescents and children ages ≥3 years of age
simplified HCV service delivery (decentralization, integration and task sharing)
HCV diagnostics – use of point-of-care (POC) HCV ribonucleic acid (RNA) assays and reflex HCV RNA testing.
These guidelines also update existing chapters without new recommendations, such as the inclusion of new manufacturers’ protocols on the use of dried blood spot (DBS) for HCV RNA testing and new data to inform the limit of detection for HCV RNA assays as a test of cure, in addition to their use for diagnosis.
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The purpose of this Emergency Response Framework (ERF) is to clarify WHO’s roles and responsibilities in this regard and to provide a common approach for its work in emergencies. Ultimately, the ERF requires WHO to act with urgency and predictability to best serve and be accountable to populations... affected by emergencies.
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Diabetes is a serious, chronic disease that occurs either when the pancreas does not produce enough insulin (a hormone that regulates blood sugar, or glucose), or when the body cannot effectively use the insulin it produces. Diabetes is an important public health problem, one of four priority noncom...municable diseases (NCDs) targeted for action by world leaders. Both the number of cases and the prevalence of diabetes have been steadily increasing over the past few decades.
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School health programmes have been demonstrated to be the most cost-effective way to influence health behaviours in young people. The purpose of this two-part handbook is to support schools as they seek to implement interventions aimed at reducing the main modifiable risk behaviours f...or noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) . The background provided in this Introduction handbook and the approaches and advice outlined in the Practical application handbook focuses on providing young people with the knowledge, attitudes, beliefs and life skills necessary for making informed decisions, and creating a healthy school environment that can reduce the risk of NCDs
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Evidence-to-Decision and Grade tables
Technical Meeting Report, 14-15 July 2020, Geneva
This document is intended for a wide audience including national and local policymakers, implementers and managers of national and local maternal and child health programmes, non-governmental and other organizations and professional societies involved in the planning and management of maternal and c...hild health services, health professionals including obstetricians, midwives, nurses, general medical practitioners, academic staff involved in training health professionals, managers of maternal and child health programmes and public health policymakers in all settings.
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Cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) is a premalignant lesion that may exist at any one of three stages: CIN1, CIN2, or CIN3. If left untreated, CIN2 or CIN3 (collectively referred to as CIN2+) can progress to cervical cancer. Instead of screening and diagnosis by the standard sequence of cytolo...gy, colposcopy, biopsy, and histological confirmation of CIN, an alternative method is to use a ‘screen-and-treat’ approach in which the treatment decision is based on a screening test and treatment is provided soon or, ideally, immediately after a positive screening test. This guideline provides recommendations for strategies for a screen-and-treat programme
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Prevention, early identification, assessment and intervention in low- and middle-income countries | A Review | CHILD AND ADOLESCENT HEALTH AND DEVELOPMENT
This technical report presents the results of a cross-sectional survey conducted in Banja Luka, the Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina, between July and August 2017, as part of the FEEDcities Project (Food Environment Description in cities – eastern Europe and central Asia). The aim of the r...eport is to describe the city’s local street food and takeaway food environment, exploring the characteristics of food vending sites, the industrially produced and homemade foods they typically offer, and the nutritional composition of these foods. Finally, the report provides guidance on how to address its findings through policy action.
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The 2nd edition is publised in 2017.
Humanitarian emergencies, regardless of type and cause, have a number of common risk factors for communicable diseases inextricably linked to excess risk of morbidity and mortality which can come from vaccine–preventable diseases (VPDs). The reduction of VPDs is a significant aim of public-health ...interventions during crises.
The WHO Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) on Immunization carried out a comprehensive review of evidence on vaccination decision-making processes and considerations in humanitarian emergencies.
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The WHO Guide on Oral Cholera Vaccines in Mass Immunization Campaigns provides guidance on the planning and implementation of oral cholera vaccine (OCV) campaigns. It covers key aspects such as when and where to use OCVs, vaccine specifications, and recommendations for use in endemic areas, outbreak... settings, and complex emergencies. The document outlines steps for macro- and micro-planning, logistics, budgeting, human resource allocation, and risk communication. It also highlights challenges, including cold chain management, vaccine supply, and community engagement, ensuring that vaccination campaigns are efficient and effective in reducing cholera outbreaks.
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