Obesity and diet-related noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) have been steadily increasing globally, and with them, a pressing need to implement effective responses to address the contributing factors. Among the available evidence-based policy options that enable healthier choices and improved diets is ...the implementation of taxes on sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs).
This tax manual is a practical guide for policy-makers and others involved in SSB tax policy development to promote healthy diets and populations. It features summaries and case studies of SSB global taxation evidence, and provides support on the policy-cycle development process to implement SSB taxation — from problem identification and situation analysis through policy design, development and implementation to the monitoring and evaluation phase. Additionally, the manual identifies and debunks industry tactics designed to dissuade policy-makers from implementing these taxes.
SSB taxes can be a win-win-win strategy: a win for public health (and averted health-care costs), a win for government revenue, and a win for health equity.
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Monitoring financial protection and utilization of health services in Mongolia 2009-2018 is based on national representative household socioeconomic surveys. The study finds that between 2009 and 2018, despite ambitious health reforms, the incidence of catastrophic health spending and impoverishing ...spending at the relative poverty line have increased. These increases were mainly driven by out-of-pocket spending on medicines and inpatient care. In the same period, inequity in access to and utilization of health services remained constant among population groups. Evidence suggests health financing policies need to be further strengthened to make progress towards universal health coverage. Continuous tracking of out-of-pocket payments and service utilization to inform policymaking is needed.
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Pakistan is on the verge of a public health disaster as a result of the massive monsoon rainfalls and unprecedented levels of flooding that are affecting 33 million people across the country.
The risk of disease outbreaks is extremely high and malnutrition rates are rising.
WHO requires US$ 81.5 m...illion to respond to this health crisis in flood-affected Pakistan, to ensure a coordinated delivery of essential health care services, efficient management of severe acute malnutrition, and stronger outbreak detection and control.
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After a decade of crisis, Syria remains one of the world’s most complex humanitarian crises. Continued hostilities, new and protracted displacement, increased returns and the sustained destruction of communities have impacted Syrians’ lives and futures in a devastating way. The 2021 Humanitarian... Needs Overview (HNO) identified that 13.4 million people, more than half of country’s pre-crisis population, need humanitarian support. Of this figure, 12.4 million require health care.
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The Lancet. 13 March 2022. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(21)02868-3. Previous Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) studies have reported
national health estimates for Ethiopia. Substantial regional variations in socioeconomic status, population, demography, and access to hea...lth care within Ethiopia require comparable estimates at the subnational level. The GBD 2019 Ethiopia subnational analysis aimed to measure the progress and disparities in health across nine regions and two chartered cities.
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The Mental Health Atlas, released every three years, is a compilation of data provided by countries around the world on mental health policies, legislation, financing, human resources, availability and utilization of services and data collection systems. It serves as a guide for countries for the de...velopment and planning of mental health services. The Mental Health Atlas 2020 includes information and data on the progress made towards achieving mental health targets for 2020 set by the global health community and included in WHO’s Comprehensive Mental Health Action Plan. It includes data on newly-added indicators on service coverage, mental health integration into primary health care, preparedness for the provision of mental health and psychosocial support in emergencies and research on mental health. It also includes new targets for 2030.
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This updated Comprehensive Mental Health Action Plan 2013-2030 builds upon its predecessor and sets out clear actions for Member States, the WHO Secretariat and international, regional and national partners to promote mental health and well-being for all, to prevent mental health conditions for thos...e at-risk and to achieve universal coverage for mental health services. While the updated action plan includes new and updated indicators and implementation options, the original four major objectives remain unchanged: more effective leadership and governance for mental health; the provision of comprehensive, integrated mental health and social care services in community-based settings; implementation of strategies for promotion and prevention; and strengthened information systems, evidence and research.
In English, French, Spanish, Arabic and Russian available
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Almost 25% of deaths worldwide could be prevented if the actions in the compendium were fully implemented
This compendium provides a systematic compilation of published guidance from WHO and other UN organizations on health and environment. Guidance on policies and actions as well as awareness rais...ing and capacity building interventions is presented for all major areas of health and environment. Guidance referring to priority settings for action such as cities and other urban settlements, housing, workplaces and health care facilities is also listed.
For greater practical relevance, each guidance is classified according to principally involved sectors, level of implementation and instruments for implementation.
The compilation of guidance for each area of health and environment or priority setting for action is accompanied, as available, by information on main sources, exposure assessment and existing guideline values. Important tools and further resources are presented alongside.
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Interim guidance. 12 May 2021. The Continuity of essential health services: Facility Assessment Tool can be used by countries to rapidly assess the capacity of health facilities to maintain the provision of essential health services during the COVID-19 pandemic. It can help to alert the authorities ...and other stakeholders about where service delivery and utilization may require modification and/or investment. This assessment tool covers the following aspects of essential health services:
health workforce (numbers, absences, COVID-19 infections, health workforce management, training and support);
financial management and barriers;
service delivery and utilization (facility closures, changes in service delivery, community communication campaigns, changes in service utilization and catch-up strategies);
IPC capacities (protocols, safety measures, guidelines and the availability of personal protective equipment (PPE) for staff);
availability of therapeutics, diagnostics and supplies, and vaccine readiness; and
provision of COVID-19 primary care services.
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The Covid-19 pandemic has so far infected more than 30 million people in the world, having major impact on global health with collateral damage. In Mozambique, a public state of emergency was declared at the end of March 2020. This has limited people's movements and reduced public services, leading ...to a decrease in the number of people accessing health care facilities. An implementation research project, The Alert Community for a Prepared Hospital, has been promoting access to maternal and child health care, in Natikiri, Nampula, for the last four years. Nampula has the second highest incidence of Covid-19. The purpose of this study is to assess the impact of Covid-19 pandemic Government restrictions on access to maternal and child healthcare services. We compared health centres in Nampula city with healthcare centres in our research catchment area. We wanted to see if our previous research interventions have led to a more resilient response from the community.
METHODS: Mixed-methods research, descriptive, cross-sectional, retrospective, using a review of patient visit documentation. We compared maternal and child health care unit statistical indicators from March-May 2019 to the same time-period in 2020. We tested for significant changes in access to maternal and child health services, using KrushKall Wallis, One-way Anova and mean and standard deviation tests. We compared interviews with health professionals, traditional birth attendants and patients in the two areas. We gathered data from a comparable city health centre and the main city referral hospital. The Marrere health centre and Marrere General Hospital were the two Alert Community for a Prepared Hospital intervention sites.
RESULTS: Comparing 2019 quantitative maternal health services access indicators with those from 2020, showed decreases in most important indicators: family planning visits and elective C-sections dropped 28%; first antenatal visit occurring in the first trimester dropped 26%; hospital deliveries dropped a statistically significant 4% (p = 0.046), while home deliveries rose 74%; children vaccinated down 20%.
CONCLUSION: Our results demonstrated the negative collateral effects of Covid-19 pandemic Government restrictions, on access to maternal and child healthcare services, and highlighted the need to improve the health information system in Mozambique.
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Community health workers (CHWs) enable marginalised communities, often experiencing structural poverty, to access healthcare. Trust, important in all patient–provider relationships, is difficult to build in such
communities, particularly when stigma associated with HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and now ...COVID-19, is widespread.
CHWs, responsible for bringing people back into care, must repair trust. In South Africa, where a national CHW programme is being rolled out, marginalised communities have high levels of unemployment, domestic violence and injury. In this complex social environment, we explored CHW workplace trust, interpersonal trust between the patient and CHW, and the institutional trust patients place in the health system
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Every year, nearly 250 million people move across borders temporarily or permanently for a job opportunity, studying, to flee a crisis back home, or for other reasons. Another 750 million move for similar reasons within the borders of their countries. With the understanding that human mobility affec...ts public health, and health affects human mobility and migrants, for decades, IOM has been providing critical health services to women, children and men on the move, while standing by governments for technical and operational support as needed. In 2019, in lower-income settings and in complex emergencies, along the world’s most perilous migration routes, in the aftermath of natural disasters or in response to disease outbreaks, IOM’s health teams have provided hundreds of thousands with primary health-care consultations, mental health and psychosocial support, sexual and reproductive health care, pre-migration health services, and much more.
This year, more than ever before, as the world reels from the socioeconomic impact of COVID-19, we have experienced that health is a cross-cutting component of overall human development and well-being.
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This document was designed to inform educators, amongst others, about enhancing the pre-service curriculum with mental health Gap Action Programme Intervention Guide (mhGAP-IG) materials, which can provide future professionals with the theoretical and clinical knowledge they need to provide mental h...ealth in non-specialized health care settings.
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The purpose of this document is to address specific needs and considerations for essential oral health services in the context of COVID-19 in accordance with WHO operational guidance on maintaining essential health services. This interim guidance is intended for public health authorities, chief dent...al officers at ministries of health and oral health care personnel working in private and public health sectors. The document may be subject to change as new information becomes available.
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Nested case-control study of health workers exposed to confirmed COVID-19 patients.
Similar objectives to the cohort study but case-control studies may be cheaper and provide robust evidence to characterize and assess the risk factors for SARS-CoV-2 infection in health workers exposed to COVID-19 p...atients.
Health workers with confirmed COVID-19 will be recruited as cases and other health workers in the same health care setting without infection will be recruited as controls (incidence density sampling).
Secondary objectives are similar to the cohort study.
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Internally displaced persons (IDPs), refugees, migrants and returnees constitute a sizeable population in the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region. There were 12 million refugees (half are Palestinians) and 13 million IDPs in the Region as of 2018. These populations are often vul...nerable to poor health due to the conditions they live in and limited access to needed quality health care. In addition, those who can access care, are often faced with financial hardship. There are also 46 million professionals and low-income labour migrants in the Region (of which 22 million are from the Region), with differential access to health services and varied health coverage schemes
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Version dated April 1st, 2020.
The flow of migrants and refugees from Venezuela constitutes the largest mobilization of people in the history of Latin America. By March 2020, more than 4.9 million Venezuelans have left their country and from these, more than 4.1 million have been mobilized to count...ries in Latin America and the Caribbean. The motives for this mobilization are diverse, but those related to health care issues stand out, among which is the condition of living with HIV/AIDS. In the situation of demand for medical care that COVID-19 has generated, it is much more difficult to receive attention for people who are not included in the health systems of countries that are recipient due to the limitations that their migratory status may impose.
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Guidance issued as of 25 March 2020
This guidance is intended for use by health authorities to guide the actions taken by health-care providers for refugees and migrants in relation to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. This document is intended to address the needs and rights of refugees a...nd migrants living in all types of setting.
General recommendations made by WHO in the COVID-19 response (link here) are the superseding guidelines. Unfounded measures regarding testing, health screening and quarantine should not be imposed on refugees and migrants.
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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
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At least half of the world’s population does not have full coverage of essential health services. Health expenses push more than 100 million people into extreme poverty each and every year, forcing them into terrible choices that no one should ever have to make: Buy medicine or food? Education or ...health care? These stark statistics make the case for universal health coverage compelling.
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