WHO’s new user guide for countries, ‘Selection of medicines at country level’, is based on the WHO Model List of Essential Medicines. It sets out the key actions countries should undertake to develop and update their own national essential medicines lists based on the treatment needs of their populations and their capacity to reimburse payments…
The COVID-19 pandemic is straining health systems worldwide. The rapidly increasing demand on health facilities and health care workers threatens to leave some health systems overstretched and unable to operate effectively. Previous outbreaks have demonstrated that when health systems are overwhelmed, mortality from vaccine-preventable and other treatable conditions can also increase dramatically. During the 2014-2015…
Latest news and updates from WHO Dear colleagues and friends, World TB Day, this year, comes at a sobering time – as the world grapples with the COVID-19 pandemic. We stand in solidarity with those affected, those at the frontlines of the fight to combat COVID-19, as well as those who continue efforts to support…
WHO’s focus at all times is to ensure that all areas of the globe have the information they need to manage the health of their people. In a recent interview, the WHO official who headed the joint international mission to China, did not answer a question on Taiwan’s response to the COVID-19 outbreak. The question…
The COVID-19 pandemic requires sufficient public funding to ensure a comprehensive response. Reprioritizing public spending toward bolstering the economy and the health system requires timely action from government leaders and a supportive public finance environment. Highly-affected countries have taken various approaches to budgetary allocation, depending on their public financial management (PFM) and regulatory systems. Adjustments…
Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization, addressed Heads of State at today’s extraordinary G20 Leaders’ Summit focused on COVID-19. He told them, “You have come together to confront the defining health crisis of our time: We are at war with a virus that threatens to tear us apart – if we…
Substantial progress has been made during the past decade to prevent and control schistosomiasis (also known as bilharziasis) globally. The disease affects more than 230 million people, mostly in sub-Saharan Africa. Progress is mainly due to large-scale periodic treatment of affected populations with praziquantel, the only medicine recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) against…
The response to the COVID-19 pandemic raises a number of difficult ethical issues, related to e.g. clinical trials, social distancing, priority-setting, health-care workers’ rights and obligations etc. WHO has established an international Working Group on Ethics & COVID-19 in order to develop advice on key ethical questions that Member States need to address. Related document…
The COVID-19 pandemic is testing the resilience of robust health systems around the world. Recognizing the heavy toll that malaria exacts on vulnerable populations in sub-Saharan Africa, as well as the region’s fragile health infrastructure, WHO underlines the critical importance of sustaining efforts to prevent, detect and treat malaria. “As COVID-19 continues its rapid…
GENEVA As the world comes together to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic, it is important to ensure that essential health services and operations are continued to protect the lives of people with TB and other diseases or health conditions. Health services, including national programmes to combat TB, need to be actively engaged in ensuring an effective…