This report presents information outlining "the ways in which mental health concerns intersect with women’s reproductive health. It includes a discussion of the bio-psycho-social factors that increase vulnerability to poor mental health, those that might be protective and the types of programmes that could mitigate adverse effects and promote mental health." This review is useful for public health professionals, planners, policy makers and programme managers to raise awareness of mental health aspects of women’s reproductive health
This analysis highlights factors that particularly affect older people in emergencies, especially health-related concerns. It also proposes a strategy to raise awareness about older people in emergencies, and recommends policies and practices to address these considerations. It sets out objectives for the three phases of an emergency response: the preparedness phase; the emergency response and operations phase; and the recovery and transition phase
This report provides in-depth information on: treatment and care for people living with HIV; HIV testing and counselling; health sector interventions for HIV prevention; scaling up HIV services for women and children; strengthening health systems and health information; and towards universal access as the way forward
These guidelines are designed to promote personal mobility and enhance the quality of life of wheelchair users. The aim is to assist Member States in developing a system of wheelchair provision that is consistent with the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Chapter topics includes: design and production, service delivery, training, and policy planning
The purpose of this document is to provide easy-to-read detailed information on specific questions related to the Code. It is intended for policy-makers and others concerned with the Code, as well as the general public
These guidelines are to assist in the care of children in emergencies. They are designed to serve as a reference manual for the evaluation and management of children in emergencies, and as the basis for the training of health care workers. The target audience is first level health workers who provide care to children under the age of 5 years. Physicians and health care workers with more advanced training are referred to the WHO Pocket Book of Hospital Care for Children: Guidelines for the Management of Common Illnesses with Limited Resources (2005)
This report presents information about maternal mental health and child health in developing countries. Summaries are given of the meeting presentations and discussions, as well as the main conclusions and recommendations. This resource is useful for people interested in maternal mental health and child health in developing countries
WHO-UNFP Meeting
Geneva, Switzerland
30 Jan - Feb 2008
This guide outlines the steps for planning and conducting rapid assessments of alcohol and other substance use among conflict-affected and displaced populations. It also details information for action plans and report writing, as well as key resources and annexes with sample forms. This guide is useful for practitioners and researchers to conduct rapid assessments of alcohol and other substance use in conflict-affected and displaced populations
This toolkit aims to improve the primary health care response for older persons. The information presented assists health care workers in the diagnosis and management of chronic diseases and the four main issues of memory loss, urinary incontinence, depression and falls/immobility that often impact people as they age. The toolkit contains a number of instruments that can be used by primary health care workers to assess and address older persons' health, such as evaluation forms, slides, figures, graphs, diagrams, scale tables, country guidelines, exam sheets, screening tools, cards, and checklists
Note: The link provided also contains Annex 1: Trainers guide for normal ageing and communication, a Normal Ageing power point presentation and Communication with older people power point presentation
This report sees an indivisible link between early childhood development and improved rates of child survival and child health, and considers that this lays the basis for adults who can make a positive contribution to the community - both socially and economically. While it acknowledges that early childhood development is of global importance it stresses its value in resource-poor countries. It gathers evidence which shows priority associations between social determinants for health and health inequalities across different country contexts. This report is for governments, international agencies and civil society partnerships and is intended to stimulate societal debate on action around social determinants for health within the context of early childhood development
This document builds on previous WHO publications and explores the different reasons for collecting information about sexual violence in emergency situations. It applies to all forms of enquiry about sexual violence and makes a number of recommendations that are intended to ensure that the necessary safety and ethical safeguards are in place at the beginning of any information gathering exercise. The document sets out the key safety and ethical issues that need to be addressed and the questions that need to be asked. There are examples of good practice and details of further information and resources that are available. This document is not intended to be a standalone guidance document but is designed to complement existing internationally-agreed ethical guidelines for research and to inform ethics review processes
These guidelines are intended to improve awareness of medicine safety issues among everyone who has an interest in the safety of medicines in children and to provide guidance on effective systems for monitoring medicine safety in the paediatric populations. The document will be of interest to all healthcare professionals, medicine regulatory authorities, pharmacovigilance centres, academia, the pharmaceutical industry and policy-makers
Informed by WHO's approach to active ageing, the purpose of this guide is to engage cities to become more age-friendly so as to tap the potential that older people represent for humanity. An age-friendly city encourages active ageing by optimising opportunities for health, participation and security in order to enhance the quality of life of older people. Working with groups on 33 cities in all WHO regions, WHO asked older people in focus groups to describe the advantages and barriers they experience in 8 areas of city living. The results from these led to the development of a set of age-friendly city checklists
"This report seeks to fill a gap in the collective knowledge about engaging men and boys and to build on the three decades of experience in evaluating interventions to empower women and girls from a gender perspective....[It examines] the engagement of men and boys in programmes around sexual and reproductive health; HIV prevention, treatment, care and support; fatherhood; gender-based violence; maternal, newborn and child health; and gender socialisation"
This guide is written for programme managers in governments and their partners, primarily those working in maternal and child health and nutrition. It proposes a step-wise process to develop a country-specific strategy, with plans to be implemented in support of appropriate infant and young child feeding, especially in the first two years of life
This report aims to clarify and refine existing UN guidance on HIV and infant feeding. It follows a previous technical consultation in 2000 and presents a summary of findings, conclusions and recommendations regarding HIV and Infant Feeding between 2000 and 2006
This report provides detailed information about the resources and services for people with intellectual disabilities based upon a study of 147 countries. The methods of the study, themes of the findings and recommendations for the future are given, as well as detailed tables, figures and maps. Intellectual disability is one of the most vulnerable groups among disability categories. This study would be useful for people seeking information about intellectual disabilities worldwide
This article explores the "household practices that can affect neonatal health, from the perspective of caregivers and health workers; to identify signs in neonates leading either to recognition of illness or health-care seeking; and to ascertain the proportion of caregivers who recognize the individual items of the integrated management of neonatal and childhood illnesses (IMNCI) programme"
Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 84(10)
In this editorial, the author comments on the feasibility of the Integrated Management of Childhood Illness (IMCI) strategy of the World Health Organization aimed at serving the poor. He analyses the reasons behind the failure of IMCI strategy to reach the poor. According to the author, IMCI failed due to several faults in its implementation including its initiation in well-off areas, a horizontal approach, and bad financial infrastructure of the poor regions
Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 84(10)
The African region has the highest rates of neonatal mortality in the world, and has shown the slowest progress so far in reducing neonatal deaths. New policies, however, seem to provide opportunities to accelerate progress for maternal, newborn and child health. Section 1 presents an overview of neonatal deaths, and lives that could be saved in Africa in order to guide policy and programme priority setting. Section 2 explores the the continuum of care through pre-pregnancy, pregnancy, childbirth and the postnatal period, highlighting current gaps in coverage of care and opportunities to address these gaps at all levels - family and community care, outreach services, and primary and referral care facilities. Section 3 contains an overview of the current situation for 9 key programmes related to newborn health. Section 4 discusses lessons learned and existing gaps between new policies and their implementation. Section 5, finally, contains a summary of relevant data for decision making for 46 countries in sub-Saharan Africa regarding maternal, newborn and child health status and policy. This accessible and comprehensive tool will be of use to policy makers, health and community workers and programme managers