As countries aim to progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and achieving universal health coverage, health inequities driven by racial discrimination and intersecting factors remain pervasive. Inequities experienced by indigenous peoples as well as people of African descent, Roma ...and other ethnic minorities are of concern globally; they are unjust, preventable and remediable.
Health systems themselves are important determinants of health and health equity. They can perpetuate health inequities by reflecting structural racism and discriminatory practices of wider society. For instance, systemic racism, implicit bias, misinformed clinical practice, or discrimination by health professionals contributes to health inequities. However, health systems can also be a leading force for tackling the inequities faced by populations experiencing racial discrimination.
Primary health care (PHC) is the essential strategy for reorientating health systems and societies to become healthier, equitable, effective and sustainable. In 2018, on the 40th anniversary of the Declaration of Alma-Ata, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) renewed the emphasis on PHC with their strategy,
WHO outlines 14 strategic and operational levers for policy-makers to strengthen PHC. Within each lever, there are multiple potential entry points for targeted actions to address racial discrimination, foster intercultural care, and reduce health inequities experienced by indigenous peoples as well as people of African descent, Roma and other ethnic minorities.
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Mientras los países se esfuerzan por avanzar hacia los Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible (ODS) y lograr la cobertura sanitaria universal, las desigualdades sanitarias provocadas por la discriminación racial y los factores interrelacionados siguen estando omnipresentes. Las desigualdades que sufre...n los pueblos indígenas, los afrodescendientes, los romaníes y otras minorías étnicas son preocupantes a nivel mundial; son injustas, prevenibles y remediables
Los propios sistemas de salud son determinantes importantes de la salud y la equidad sanitaria. Pueden perpetuar las desigualdades sanitarias al reflejar el racismo estructural y las prácticas discriminatorias de la sociedad en general. En este sentido, el racismo sistémico (por ejemplo, relacionado con la ubicación de los servicios o los requisitos para acceder a ellos), los prejuicios implícitos, la práctica clínica mal informada o la discriminación por parte de los profesionales de la salud contribuyen a las desigualdades sanitarias. Ahora bien, los sistemas de salud también pueden convertirse en una de las principales fuerzas para combatir las desigualdades a las que se enfrentan las poblaciones que sufren discriminación racial.
La atención primaria de salud (APS) representa la estrategia esencial que permite reorientar los sistemas de salud y las sociedades para que sean más saludables, equitativos, eficaces y sostenibles. En 2018, al cumplirse el 40.º aniversario de la Declaración de Alma-Ata, la Organización Mundial de la Salud (OMS) y el Fondo de las Naciones Unidas para la Infancia (UNICEF) renovaron el énfasis en la atención primaria de salud con su estrategia sobre la atención primaria de salud en el siglo XXI.
La OMS ha señalado 14 mecanismos estratégicos y operacionales con los que los responsables políticos pueden reforzar la atención primaria de salud. Cada mecanismo dispone de múltiples puntos de partida posibles para emprender acciones específicas dirigidas a combatir la discriminación racial, fomentar la atención de salud intercultural y reducir las desigualdades sanitarias que sufren los pueblos indígenas, los afrodescendientes, los romaníes y otras minorías étnicas
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Loss and damage is an urgent concern, driven by the increasingly harmful effects of climate change. Communities are experiencing new types and forms of climate impact, of higher frequency and intensity, which they are not equipped to handle. These impacts compel vulnerable communities to migrate to ...find alternative livelihoods and ways to survive. But migration generates grave socioeconomic consequences. Through case study analysis from 12 regions in Asia, Africa and the Pacific, this paper explores how climate change-induced migration is creating physical health, mental health and wellbeing issues — both for migrants and the families they leave behind. It then provides recommendations to policymakers on how to strengthen policy, planning and response frameworks to support communities manage health and wellbeing risks created by climate impacts.
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Amid food and climate crises, investing in sustainable food cold chains crucial
- More than 3 billion people can’t afford a healthy diet
- Lack of effective refrigeration directly results in the loss of 526 million tons of food production, or 12 percent of the global total
- Developing countrie...s could save 144 million tonnes of food annually if they reached the same level of food cold chain infrastructure as developed countries
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UNCTAD sets out actions to support least developed countries in the global low-carbon transition
New report says COP27 is an opportunity to accelerate action to achieve mutually beneficial climate and development goals in the world's most vulnerable countries.
As climate change increasingly contributes to migration and displacement in many parts of the world, there is a pressing need for measures that build resilience and prevent displacement as well as those that help climate-affected people move to safety and support receiving communities. Multilateral ...development banks (MDBs) are critical, if sometimes overlooked, players because of their ability to invest in large-scale projects that contribute to sustainable development, primarily in low- and middle-income countries.
This report explores the unique role of MDBs in the climate finance landscape and highlights opportunities for migration, humanitarian, and other key actors to partner with them on projects that effectively target climate-related migration and displacement. After reviewing the evidence on the complex linkages between climate and mobility, the report examines MDBs’ climate-related work to date, challenges they face to scaling up these efforts, and strategies to begin to address hurdles. These recommendations include learning from past MDB investments that have touched on climate migration, funding data collection or sharing to strengthen understanding of climate migration trends, and developing partnerships to support policy and project development, financing, and implementation.
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Interactive website of the World Food Programme on climate, hunger & economic situation of individual countries
The State of the Climate in Asia 2021 report highlighted how climate change impacts are wreaking an ever-increasing human, financial and environmental toll, worsening food insecurity and poverty and holding back sustainable development.
This draft Roadmap for the Global Health for Peace Initiative has been developed in response to decision WHA75(24) of the 75th World Health Assembly (2022), which requested that WHO develop, in full consultation with Member States and Observers, and in full collaboration with other organizations of ...the United Nations system and relevant non-State actors in official relations with WHO, a Roadmap, if any, for the Global Health and Peace Initiative.
It incorporates feedback received from Member States through a first round of consultation carried out at the end of 2022. This (second) draft is being made available ahead of the 152nd session of the Executive Board, that will consider the draft Roadmap.
The Roadmap for the Global Health for Peace Initiative aims to provide a framework for the Initiative at global level, defining concepts, establishing principles, setting strategic goals and objectives as well as operational priorities. It also describes the “Health for Peace approach” to programming, which lies at the core of the Global Health for Peace Initiative (GHPI). The GHPI is a global initiative of WHO that aims to enhance the existing links between health (and health interventions) and peace
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The Arab region in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) represents a substantial area of the terrestrial landmass encompassing several countries and ecosystems. This area is generally drier and warmer compared to the rest of the world and has extreme resource limitations that are highly vulnerabl...e to a changing climate, geopolitical instability and land degradation (Slimani & Aidoud, 2004). Agriculture (crops and livestock) is a critical source of employment and a potential option for engaging rural youth. However, environmental degradation coupled with declining and variable agricultural productivity may pose a massive challenge already beset by instability and declining oil reserves (Tagliapietra, 2017). The Arab region is also subjected to short and long-duration climate extreme events, and the overall impact of their cascading effects on ecosystems, societies and economies is still an open question. Climate change, along with post-war geopolitical complexities, has greatly affected the Arab region in terms of its economy and social balance. Climate change has penetrating effects on the region’s agriculture sector and hence its economy. These are mainly manifested via changes in water resources and extreme weather conditions such as heatwaves and a drastic decline in precipitation.
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Chagas disease is caused by Trypanosoma cruzi, a protozoal organism primarily transmitted by triatomine insect vectors, also known as “kissing bugs.” It is a zoonotic disease originally described by Brazilian physician Dr. Carlos Chagas in 1909 and is widespread in Latin America. Although triato...mines and T. cruzi have long been endemic to the southern United States, awareness and identification of infected vectors and animals have recently increased throughout the United States. Canine Chagas disease can be acute or chronic and is predominantly characterized by inflammation and fibrosis of the heart, resulting in arrhythmias, myocardial dysfunction, heart failure, and sudden death, although many infected dogs are asymptomatic.
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Epidemiology
Chagas disease (American trypanosomiasis) is caused by the protozoan parasite Trypanosoma cruzi, and transmitted to humans by infected triatomine bugs, and less commonly by transfusion, organ transplant, from mother to infant, and in rare instances, by ingestion of contaminated food or... drink.1-4 The hematophagous triatomine vectors defecate during or immediately after feeding on a person. The parasite is present in large numbers in the feces of infected bugs, and enters the human body through the bite wound, or through the intact conjunctiva or other mucous membrane.
Vector-borne transmission occurs only in the Americas, where an estimated 8 to 10 million people have Chagas disease.5 Historically, transmission occurred largely in rural areas in Latin America, where houses built of mud brick are vulnerable to colonization by the triatomine vectors.4 In such areas, Chagas disease usually is acquired in childhood. In the last several decades, successful vector control programs have substantially decreased transmission rates in much of Latin America, and large-scale migration has brought infected individuals to cities both within and outside of Latin America.
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Climate change presents the single biggest threat to human development, and its widespread impacts disproportionately burden the poorest and most vulnerable households in fragile and rural developing contexts – particularly women and children.
According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate C...hange’s (IPCC) latest report, ‘between 2010 and 2020, droughts, floods and storms killed 15 times as many people in highly vulnerable countries, particularly in Africa — which is responsible for less than 3 percent of global emissions – than in the wealthiest countries’.
Recognising environmental degradation and climate change are key accelerators of extreme child vulnerability, World Vision (WV) approved the Environmental Stewardship Management Policy (‘the Policy’) and Guidelines (‘the Guidelines’) in 2021.
To support the implementation of the Policy and Guidelines, WV has developed this Environmental Stewardship and Climate Action Handbook (‘the Handbook’) to help offices across the WV Partnership implement best practice environmental management strategies both in the field and in our operations and facilities.
Integrating environmental stewardship and climate action into all our work – whether that be in our Area Programmes, grant projects, responses to disasters or advocacy – is critical to achieving WV’s strategy.
As a Christian organisation we are compelled to follow the ways of Jesus Christ, calling us to care for the ‘least of these’ (Matthew 25:40) – the vulnerable children who are disproportionately impacted by climate change. Our response to the degradation of the environment is not motivated by political expediency or funding – but because we are called to steward God’s creation (Genesis 1:28).
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After five consecutive below-average rains, the humanitarian crisis in the Horn of Africa is expanding and deepening.
Combined with insecurity and macroeconomic volatility, the impact of the drought on food and nutrition security has been devastating. Across Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia, an estima...ted 22 million people are now acutely food insecure because of the drought. The malnutrition situation is also critical. Some 5.1 million children across drought-affected areas of the three countries are acutely malnourished in 2023, with dire implications for their health, growth and survival. Concerningly, the upcoming March-May 2023 rains are also forecast to be below-average. Should these rains fail, and humanitarian assistance not be delivered at scale, food insecurity will continue to deteriorate.
Regardless of how the 2023 rains perform, extremely high humanitarian needs will persist through 2023 while a full recovery from a drought of this magnitude will take years. To address the devastating drought-induced hunger and malnutrition across the region, WFP is pursuing an integrated dual track approach; meeting immediate life-saving food and nutritional needs while simultaneously building resilience to extreme climate variability.
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Schistosomiasis is a neglected tropical disease of global medical and veterinary importance. As efforts to eliminate schistosomiasis as a public health problem and interrupt transmission gather momentum, the potential zoonotic risk posed by livestock Schistosoma species via viable hybridisation in s...ub-Saharan Africa have been largely overlooked. We aimed to investigate the prevalence, distribution, and multi-host, multiparasite transmission cycle of Haematobium group schistosomiasis in Senegal, West Africa.
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This sourcebook aims to detail why health needs to be part of urban and territorial planning and how to make this happen. It brings together two vital elements we need to build habitable cities on a habitable planet: 1) Processes to guide the development of human settlements – in this document ref...erred to as “urban and territorial planning (UTP)”; and 2) concern for human health, well-being and health equity at all levels – from local to global, and from human to planetary health.
This sourcebook identifies a comprehensive selection of existing resources and tools to support the incorporation of health into UTP, including advocacy frameworks, entry points and guidance, as well as tools and illustrative case studies. It does not provide prescriptions for specific scenarios – these should be determined by context, people and available resources.
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Ce guide de référence a pour objectif d’expliquer en détail pourquoi la santé doit être intégrée dans la planification urbaine et territoriale et comment y parvenir. Il réunit deux éléments essentiels dont nous avons besoin pour construire des villes habitables sur une planète habitable... : les processus pour guider le développement des établissements humains — appelés dans cet ouvrage « Planification Urbaine et Territoriale » (PUT) ; et le souci de la santé humaine, du bien-être et de l’équité en matière de santé à tous les niveaux – du local au mondial et de la santé humaine à la santé planétaire.
Ce guide de référence identifie une sélection complète de ressources et d’outils existants pour soutenir l’intégration de la santé dans la PUT : notamment des activités de plaidoyers, des points d’entrées et des conseils, ainsi que des outils et des études de cas illustratifs. Toutefois, il ne fournit pas de prescriptions pour des scénarios spécifiques – ceux-ci doivent être déterminés par le contexte, les personnes et les ressources disponibles.
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Le présent Atlas 2022 a été préparé par une équipe centrale du groupe organique Sous-Directrice régionale du Bureau régional de l’OMS pour l’Afrique sous la direction et l’orientation de Lindiwe Makubalo, directrice du groupe organique, et de Humphrey Cyprian Karamagi, chef de ...l’équipe Analyse des données et gestion du savoir. L’équipe technique principale était composée de Berence Relisy Ouaya Bouesso, Anaclet Geraud Nganga Koubemba, Bertha Kembabazi, Jadice Mandimba, Aminata Seydi, Sokona Sy, Monde Mambimongo Wangou et Auge Wilson, qui ont travaillé sous la coordination de Serge Bataliack.
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Issue Brief 31: Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) can occur when viruses, bacteria, parasites and fungi change over time. There is no longer a response to medicines, and the infection treatment gets really difficult which increases the risk of a disesase spread, which can lead to severe health problems.... AMR is an increasing threat to global public health worldwide that requires cross-sectional and cross-disciplinary action. It is present in every country and is spurred by several human-made factors, including over- and/or inadequate use of antibiotics, poor hygiene and infection prevention control, and excessive usage of antibiotics outside the health care sector e.g. in life stock production.
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