Health & Fitness

The World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF today signed a new collaborative framework which will accelerate joint public health efforts that put the most marginalized and vulnerable populations first.

The new Strategic Collaboration Framework builds on a robust 70-year collaboration between the two organizations, and prioritizes four strategic areas for immediate attention and action at all levels of the organizations: universal health coverage, through a primary health care and health systems approach; mental health and psychosocial wellbeing and development; public health emergencies; and maternal and child nutrition.

Additionally, the two organizations signed a new Joint Programme on Mental Health and Psychosocial Well-being and Development of Children and Adolescents. This 10-year collaborative effort will promote mental health and psychosocial well-being and development, increase access to care for mental health conditions, reduce suffering and enhance quality of life among children and adolescents, and their caregivers

Both organizations are particularly concerned about the urgent need to better tackle issues affecting adolescents. Depression is is one of the leading causes of illness and disability among adolescents, and suicide is the second leading cause of death in adolescents.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed huge gaps in accessing health, well-being and nutrition services among children and vulnerable populations,” said Henrietta Fore, UNICEF Executive Director. “There has never been a more urgent need to work together. This new framework will help us strengthen health and food systems, and invest in mental health and psychosocial support in every country in the world.” 

For more than 70 years, WHO and UNICEF have worked together worldwide to ensure children survive and thrive, and benefit from a safe and clean environment. The two organizations collaborated to provide high-impact health, immunization, nutrition, HIV and early child development interventions, as well as safe water and sanitation services in every region of the world, including in fragile and conflict settings.

"At the heart of our work with UNICEF is seeing that every child not only survives but ultimately thrives and transforms their communities and future generations," said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General. "With great appreciation and respect for our unique and complementary roles, we stand together in our commitment to achieve health for all. As this pandemic demonstrates, no-one is safe until everyone is safe.”

Today, WHO and UNICEF continue to work together to stop the COVID-19 pandemic and ensure that every woman and every child have access to the essential health services they need, including immunizations and health check-ups.

The two organizations are also working together to support countries to introduce and deliver COVID-19 vaccines under the vaccines pillar of the “Access to COVID-19 Tools – Accelerator” (ACT-A) initiative, along with Gavi, CEPI and global immunization partners.

Additionally, the organizations are strengthening health systems through primary health care, as agreed in the Declaration of Astana, and the UN High-level declaration on UHC, in order to accelerate achievement of universal health coverage and Sustainable Development Goal 3 targets by 2030.

The World Health Organization

The World Health Organization provides global leadership in public health within the United Nations system. Founded in 1948, WHO works with 194 Member States, across six regions and from more than 150 offices, to promote health, keep the world safe and serve the vulnerable. Our goal for 2019-2023 is to ensure that a billion more people have universal health coverage, to protect a billion more people from health emergencies, and provide a further billion people with better health and wellbeing.

For updates on COVID-19 and public health advice to protect yourself from coronavirus, visit www.who.int and follow WHO on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, Pinterest, Snapchat, YouTube

UNICEF

UNICEF works in some of the world’s toughest places, to reach the world’s most disadvantaged children. Across 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, everywhere, to build a better world for everyone. For more information about UNICEF and its work for children, visit www.unicef.org. For more information about COVID-19, visit www.unicef.org/coronavirus.  Follow UNICEF on Twitter and Facebook.

Lockdowns and protective measures like the widespread wearing of face masks as a result of the coronavirus pandemic have driven influenza infections to record lows, according to a new CDC study.

The World Health Organization (WHO) is calling on governments and health care leaders to address persistent threats to the health and safety of health workers and patients.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has reminded all of us of the vital role health workers play to relieve suffering and save lives,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General. “No country, hospital or clinic can keep its patients safe unless it keeps its health workers safe. WHO’s Health Worker Safety Charter is a step towards ensuring that health workers have the safe working conditions, the training, the pay and the respect they deserve.”

The pandemic has also highlighted the extent to which protecting health workers is key to ensuring a functioning health system and a functioning society.

The Charter, released today for World Patient Safety Day, calls on governments and those running health services at local levels to take five actions to better protect health workers. These include steps to protect health workers from violence; to improve their mental health; to protect them from physical and biological hazards; to advance national programmes for health worker safety, and to connect health worker safety policies to existing patient safety policies.

Mounting reports of infections, illness and attacks among health workers fighting COVID-19

COVID-19 has exposed health workers and their families to unprecedented levels of risk. Although not representative, data from many countries across WHO regions indicate that COVID-19 infections among health workers are far greater than those in the general population.

While health workers represent less than 3% of the population in the large majority of countries and less than 2% in almost all low- and middle-income countries, around 14% of COVID-19 cases reported to WHO are among health workers. In some countries, the proportion can be as high as 35%.  However, data availability and quality are limited, and it is not possible to establish whether health workers were infected in the work place or in community settings. Thousands of health workers infected with COVID-19 have lost their lives worldwide.

In addition to physical risks, the pandemic has placed extraordinary levels of psychological stress on health workers exposed to high-demand settings for long hours, living in constant fear of disease exposure while separated from family and facing social stigmatization. Before COVID-19 hit, medical professionals were already at higher risk of suicide in all parts of the world. A recent review of health care professionals found one in four reported depression and anxiety, and one in three suffered insomnia during COVID-19^[1].  WHO recently highlighted an alarming rise in reports of verbal harassment, discrimination and physical violence among health workers in the wake of COVID-19.

5 steps to improve health worker safety and patient safety

On World Patient Safety Day, WHO reminds governments that they have a legal and moral responsibility to ensure the health, safety and wellbeing of health workers. The Organization’s health worker charter  calls on all Member States and relevant stakeholders to take steps to:

Establish synergies between health worker safety and patient safety policies and strategies:

• Develop linkages between occupational health and safety, patient safety, quality improvement, and infection prevention and control programmes.
• Include health and safety skills in personal and patient safety into education and training programmes for health workers at all levels.
• Incorporate requirements for health worker and patient safety in health care licensing and accreditation standards.
• Integrate staff safety and patient safety incident reporting and learning systems.
• Develop integrated metrics of patient safety, health worker safety and quality of care indicators, and integrate with health information system.  

Develop and implement national programmes for occupational health and safety of health workers:

• Develop and implement national programmes for occupational health for health workers in line with national occupational health and safety policies.
• Review and upgrade, where necessary, national regulations and laws for occupational health and safety to ensure that all health workers have regulatory protection of their health and safety at work.
• Appoint responsible officers with authority for occupational health and safety for health workers at both the national and facility levels.
• Develop standards, guidelines, and codes of practice on occupational health and safety.
• Strengthen intersectoral collaboration on health worker and patient safety, with appropriate worker and management representation, including gender, diversity and all occupational groups.

Protect health workers from violence in the workplace

• Adopt and implement in accordance with national law, relevant policies and mechanisms to prevent and eliminate violence in the health sector.
• Promote a culture of zero tolerance to violence against health workers
• Review labour laws and other legislation, and where appropriate the introduction of specific legislation, to prevent violence against health workers.
• Ensure that policies and regulations are implemented effectively to prevent violence and protect health workers.
• Establish relevant implementation mechanisms, such ombudspersons and helplines to enable free and confidential reporting and support for any health worker facing violence.

Improve mental health and psychological well-being

• Establish policies to ensure appropriate and fair duration of deployments, working hours, rest break and minimizing the administrative burden on health workers.
• Define and maintain appropriate safe staffing levels within health care facilities.
• Provide insurance coverage for work-related risk, especially those working in high-risk areas.
• Establish a ‘blame-free’ and just working culture through open communication and including legal and administrative protection from punitive action on reporting adverse safety events.
• Provide access to mental well-being and social support services for health workers, including advice on work-life balance and risk assessment and mitigation.
  
  

Protect health workers from physical and biological hazards

• Ensure the implementation of minimum patient safety, infection prevention and control, and occupational safety standards in all health care facilities across the health system.
• Ensure availability of personal protective equipment (PPE) at all times, as relevant to the roles and tasks performed, in adequate quantity and appropriate fit and of acceptable quality. Ensure an adequate, locally held, buffer stock of PPE. Ensure adequate training on the appropriate use of PPE and safety precautions.
• Ensure adequate environmental services such as water, sanitation and hygiene, disinfection and adequate ventilation at all health care facilities.
• Ensure vaccination of all health workers at risk against all vaccine-preventable infections, including Hepatitis B and seasonal influenza, in accordance with the national immunization policy, and in the context of emergency response, priority access for health workers to newly licenced and available vaccines.
• Provide adequate resources to prevent health workers from injuries, and harmful exposure to chemicals and radiations; provide functioning and ergonomically designed equipment and work stations to minimize musculoskeletal injuries and falls.

In addition to the Health Worker Safety Charter, WHO has also outlined specific World Patient Safety Day 2020 Goals for health care leaders to invest in, measure, and improve health worker safety over the next year. The goals are intended for health care facilities to address five areas:  preventing sharps injuries; reducing work-related stress and burnout; improving the use of personal protective equipment; promoting zero tolerance to violence against health workers, and reporting and analyzing serious safety related incidents.  

For more information on World Patient Safety Day Campaign

^[1] Pappa, S., Ntella, V., Giannakas, T., Giannakoulis, V. G., Papoutsi, E., & Katsaounou, P. (2020). Prevalence of depression, anxiety, and insomnia among healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Brain, behavior, and immunity, S0889-1591(20)30845-X. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbi.2020.05.026

Twenty-five speakers, including Ministers and senior officials from Member States, WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and Principals of the signatory agencies, participated in an online launch event to release the first progress report of Stronger Collaboration, Better Health: The Global Action Plan for Healthy Lives and Well-being for All (GAP), following the launch of the GAP at the United Nations General Assembly in September 2019.

This marks a strong engagement towards the implementation of GAP and an important step towards accelerating country progress on the health-related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Following the opening remarks by the WHO Director-General, key statements were made by the principals of signatory agencies at the event including:

• Henrietta H. Fore, Executive Director of UNICEF
• Peter Sands, Executive Director of The Global Fund
• Winnie Byanyima, Executive Director of UNAIDS
• Dr Seth Berkley, CEO of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance
• Dr Natalia Kanem, Executive Director of United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)
• Dr Muhammad Pate, Director of the Global Financing Facility for Women, Children and Adolescents and Senior Director of Health and Nutrition at the World Bank
• Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, Executive Director of UN Women
• Dr Philippe Duneton, Executive Director a.i. of Unitaid
• Amir Abdulla, Deputy Executive Director of World Food Programme

The SDG3 GAP progress report presents early evidence of progress achieved and challenges faced during “learning-by-doing-approach” and covers the first 8 months of implementation since its launch and outlines progress made by partner agencies in moving from the key commitments made in the GAP – Engage, Accelerate, Align, Account – to action.

Building on existing collaborations, the agencies are committed to leveraging the Global Action Plan to fill in gaps and add value to existing global, regional and national coordination mechanisms in the response to help countries protect health gains achieved so far, recover from COVID-19 pandemic with more resilient health systems and continue efforts towards achieving of the SDGs.

The report also captures and highlights case studies from five countries and some of the challenges encountered to date, such as the need to further institutionalize the GAP approach to collaboration among the agencies.

Interventions from Member States

Minister of Public Health of Afghanistan, Hon. Dr Ahmad Jawad Osmani 

Afghanistan in the last 2 decades has witnessed significant gains in health outcomes by improving access to health services. Equity and social justice were the guiding principles. In today’s Afghanistan, we are facing an increasing burden of communicable and non-communicable diseases. A majority of women are dying from both maternal and non-maternal related causes. Although more children now are celebrating their 5th birthday, many are critically malnourished. And this year, Afghanistan has the highest number of polio cases. My team and I are working to increase the resilience of our health system and incorporate lessons learned from the pandemic response to meet the needs of the people. Primary health care is the backbone of an essential, responsive and resilient health system and my team is working to improving the implementation of primary healthcare services.

Federal Minister of Health of Germany, Hon. Mr Jens Spahn

Germany very much appreciates the leading role of the WHO within the Global Action Plan and throughout its first implementation phase. This plan is a remarkable example of multilateral cooperation. However, the current pandemic is threatening hard-won improvements towards reaching SDG 3 and could set us back by years. Thus, the Global Action Plan is more important than ever in order to bundle our efforts and face this challenge together. Lessons learned from the first phase of the Global Action Plan can be used to adjust and further support its objectives. The progress report reflects the strong collaboration and coordination of the 12 signatory agencies to support short, medium- and long-term actions in response to COVID-19. Germany is convinced that the Global Action Plan will play an important role in achieving progress towards the health-related SDGs. It also signals strong support of the WHO and other Global Action Plan partners in this joint commitment.

Minister of Health of Ghana, Hon. Mr Kwaku Agyemang-Manu

Ghana is strongly committed to universal health coverage as evidence in the ambitious UHC roadmap that we have prepared to guide our journey towards our UHC goals. Expanding our positive approach to primary health care and strengthening our national health insurance scheme are key pullers of these efforts. Funding is key to our success, hence the need to mobilize new resources for health. The GAP play a key role as we look to operationalize, fund our UHC roadmap and update our health finances strategy. The GAP brings in the coherence, coordination and collaboration that we need and expect from the multilateral system. As we tackle the immediate crisis of COVID-19, the Global Action Plan is critical to ensuring that we do not lose track of our journey towards health-related Sustainable Development Goals.

Minister of Health of Norway, Hon. Mr Bent Høie

With today’s launch of the progress report, we are reminded that the deadline for the SDGs is only ten years away. The Global Action Plan is more important than ever.  The message today is clear: we must step up action on the targets where we are furthest behind. We must remain focused on this important instrument for working together to ensure healthy lives and well-being for all. Building strong primary health care systems that include everyone, is absolutely crucial. Not only for the individual person or a country's preparedness, but also for the world's security. Because no-one is safe until everyone is safe. Norway remains a consistent partner for our common future. We are determined to continue working with others to ensure health for all by 2030. The Global Action Plan is the much-needed tool that will help us get there. We will leave no one behind.

Minister of Health and Social Protection of Somalia, Hon. Ms Fawziya Abikar Nur

I am representing Somalia today, a country which has suffered and is continuing to suffer from protracted crises and complex humanitarian emergencies. The profound effects of these crises have weakened and fragmented our health systems, creating a huge loss of human capital and these have been reflected in our health indicators such as high maternal and child deaths, low immunization coverage and depleted access to healthcare. As we recover from COVID-19 and rebuilt our system, I urge our development partners especially the GAP signatories to understand more than ever our local context, health priorities, and the value of having a strong collaborative and cohesive partnership that’s led by the government. And the shared responsibility and commitment to monitor and evaluate the result of financing in the health sector. More than ever, we need to act together and push for universal health coverage using evidence and data on what works in fragile and vulnerable settings and what are the low cost but high impact interventions. We need to rebuild our systems and ensure services are accessible, affordable and equitable to all. 

President Trump said CDC Director Robert Redfield "made a mistake" about when a COVID-19 vaccine would be ready.

Testifying before Congress on Wednesday, Dr. Robert Redfield strongly disputed that the CDC’s scientific research has been influenced by political appointees attempting to bring those findings in line with President Trump’s views.

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The World Health Organization (WHO) and the Russian Federation are organizing an official UN General Assembly virtual side-event: PROGRESS AND MULTISECTORAL ACTION TOWARDS ACHIEVING GLOBAL TARGETS TO END TB on 23 September from 10:00H – 12:00H EDT (16:00H-18:00H CEST). 

The event will bring together Heads of State, Ministers of Health and other ministries, Heads of Agencies, partners and civil society, to discuss how we can collectively implement the recommendations outlined in the 2020 progress report of the UN Secretary General on reaching global TB targets and advancing multisectoral action to end TB. A spotlight will also be placed on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on progress towards ending TB.

Background:
Despite progress over the last decades, TB remains the leading infectious killer worldwide, claiming nearly 4000 lives a day. To accelerate action to end TB, Heads of State came together at the first-ever UN high-level meeting on TB in September 2018. The meeting resulted in an action-oriented political declaration that included bold targets to close gaps in care, and a request to the UN Secretary General for a 2020 report on progress towards achieving targets and implementation of the UN political declaration on TB.

The 2020 progress report of the UN Secretary-General to the General Assembly has been developed with the support of the WHO Director-General and will be released at the 75th Session of the UN General Assembly. It incorporates inputs from partners and civil society and covers, progress towards global TB targets; progress in translating commitments into action; the impact and implications of the COVID-19 pandemic on the TB response and ten priority recommendations. The report will inform a comprehensive review at a high-level meeting on TB in 2023. Overall, the report shows that high-level commitments and targets have galvanized global and national progress towards ending TB, but that urgent and more ambitious investments and actions are required to put the world on track to reach targets, especially in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. WHO modelling and analysis highlights that the progress made in the fight against TB is at risk– COVID-19 disruptions to TB services will lead to an increase in 400,000 TB deaths worldwide in 2020 alone.

Join us for a special UN General Assembly virtual side event to
discuss how we can collectively implement the recommendations outlined in the 2020 progress report of the UN Secretary-General on reaching global TB targets and advancing multisectoral action to end TB.

Key speakers include Heads of State, Ministers of Health, WHO leadership, Heads of Agencies, partners and civil society representatives.

Register here

*Connection details to be provided on registration.

Download the flyer and promote on social media, here.

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While more studies are needed, researchers and doctors throughout the country are warning of a likely connection between COVID-19 and a serious heart condition.

The World Health Organization’s first global report on sepsis finds that the effort to tackle millions of deaths and disabilities due to sepsis is hampered by serious gaps in knowledge, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. According to recent studies, sepsis kills 11 million people each year, many of them children. It disables millions more.

But there’s an urgent need for better data. Most published studies on sepsis have been conducted in hospitals and intensive care units in high-income countries, providing little evidence from the rest of the world. Furthermore, the use of different definitions of sepsis, diagnostic criteria and hospital discharge coding makes it difficult to develop a clear understanding of the true global burden of sepsis.

“The world must urgently step up efforts to improve data about sepsis so all countries can detect and treat this terrible condition in time,” says Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General. “This means strengthening health information systems and ensuring access torapid diagnostic tools, and quality care including safe and affordable medicines and vaccines.”

Sepsis occurs in response to an infection. When sepsis is not recognized early and managed promptly, it can lead to septic shock, multiple organ failure and death. Patients who are critically ill with severe COVID-19 and other infectious diseases are at higher risk of developing and dying from sepsis.

Even sepsis survivors are not out of danger: only half will completely recover, the rest will either die within 1 year or be burdened by long-term disabilities.

A serious complication of infection

Sepsis disproportionately affects vulnerable populations: newborns, pregnant women and people living in low-resource settings. Approximately 85.0% of sepsis cases and sepsis-related deaths occur in these settings.

Almost half of the 49 million cases of sepsis each year occur among children, resulting in 2.9 million deaths, most of which could be prevented through early diagnosis and appropriate clinical management. These deaths are often a consequence of diarrhoeal diseases or lower respiratory infections.

Obstetric infections, including complications following abortion or infections following caesarean section, are the third most common cause of maternal mortality. Globally, it is estimated that for every 1000 women giving birth, 11 women experience infection-related, severe organ dysfunction or death.

The report also finds that sepsis frequently results from infections acquired in health care settings. Around half (49%) of patients with sepsis in intensive care units acquired the infection in the hospital. An estimated 27% of people with sepsis in hospitals and 42% of people in intensive care units will die. 

Antimicrobial resistance is a major challenge in sepsis treatment as it complicates the ability to treat infections, especially in health-care associated infections.

Improving the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of sepsis

Improved sanitation, water quality and availability, and infection prevention and control measures, such as appropriate hand hygiene can prevent sepsis and save lives - but must be coupled with early diagnosis, appropriate clinical management, and access to safe and affordable medicines and vaccines. These interventions could prevent as many as 84% of newborn deaths due to sepsis.

So WHO calls on the global community to:

• Improve robust study designs and high-quality data collection, especially in low- and middle-income countries.
• Scale-up global advocacy, funding and the research capacity for epidemiological evidence on the true burden of sepsis. 
• Improve surveillance systems, starting at the primary care level, including the use of standardized and feasible definitions in accordance with the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11), and leveraging existing programmes and disease networks. 
• Develop rapid, affordable and appropriate diagnostic tools, particularly for primary and secondary levels of care, to improve sepsis identification, surveillance, prevention and treatment.
• Engage and better educate health workers and communities not to underestimate the risk of infections evolving to sepsis, and to seek care promptly in order to avoid clinical complications and the spread of epidemics.

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Two years into the World Health Organization’s (WHO) ambitious effort to eliminate industrially produced trans fats from the global food supply, the Organization reports that 58 countries so far have introduced laws that will protect 3.2 billion people from the harmful substance by the end of 2021. But more than 100 countries still need to take actions to remove these harmful substances from their food supplies.

Consumption of industrially produced trans fats are estimated to cause around 500,000 deaths per year due to coronary heart disease.

“In a time when the whole world is fighting the COVID-19 pandemic, we must make every effort to protect people’s health. That must include taking all steps possible to prevent noncommunicable diseases that can make them more susceptible to the coronavirus, and cause premature death,” said WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. “Our goal of eliminating trans fats by 2023 must not be delayed.”

Fifteen countries account for approximately two thirds of the worldwide deaths linked to trans fat intake. Of these, four (Canada, Latvia, Slovenia, United States of America) have implemented WHO-recommended best-practice policies since 2017, either by setting mandatory limits for industrially produced trans fats to 2% of oils and fats in all foods or banning partially hydrogenated oils (PHO).

But the remaining 11 countries (Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Ecuador, Egypt, India, Iran, Mexico, Nepal, Pakistan, Republic of Korea) still need to take urgent action.

The report highlights two encouraging trends. First, when countries do act, they overwhelmingly adopt best-practice policies rather than less restrictive ones. New policy measures passed and/or introduced in the past year in Brazil, Turkey and Nigeria all meet WHO’s criteria for best-practice policies. Countries, such as India, that have previously implemented less restrictive measures, are now updating policies to align with best practice.

Second, regional regulations that set standards for multiple countries are becoming increasingly popular, emerging as a promising strategy for accelerating progress towards global elimination by 2023. In 2019, the European Union passed a best-practice policy, and all 35 countries that are part of the WHO American Region/Pan American Health Organization unanimously approved a regional plan of action to eliminate industrially produced trans fats by 2025. Together, these two regional initiatives have the potential to protect an additional 1 billion people in more than 50 countries who were not previously protected by trans fat regulations.

“With the global economic downturn, more than ever, countries are looking for best buys in public health,” said Dr Tom Frieden, President and CEO of Resolve to Save Lives. “Making food trans fat-free, saves lives and saves money, and, by preventing heart attacks, reduces the burden on health care facilities.”

Despite the encouraging progress, important disparities persist in policy coverage by region and country income level. Most policy actions to date, including those passed in 2019 and 2020, have been in higher-income countries and in the WHO Regions of the Americas and Europe. Best-practice policies have been adopted by seven upper-middle-income countries and 33 high-income countries; no low-income or lower-middle-income countries have yet done so.

Note to editors:

Industrially produced trans fats are contained in hardened vegetable fats, such as margarine and ghee, and are often present in snack food, baked foods, and fried foods. Manufacturers often use them as they have a longer shelf life and are cheaper than other fats. But healthier alternatives can be used that do not affect taste or cost of food.

WHO recommends that trans fat intake be limited to less than 1% of total energy intake, which translates to less than 2.2 g/day with a 2,000-calorie diet. To achieve a world free of industrially produced trans fats by 2023, WHO recommends that countries:

• develop and implement best-practice policies to set mandatory limits for industrially produced trans fats to 2% of oils and fats in all foods or to ban partially hydrogenated oils (PHO);

• invest in monitoring mechanisms, e.g. lab capacity to measure and monitor trans fats in foods; and

• advocate for regional or sub-regional regulations to expand the benefits of trans fat policies.

This report launches during 2020 Global Week for Action on Noncommunicable Diseases (NCDs) from 7 to 13 September. This year's theme is accountability to ensure that commitments made by governments, policy makers, industries, academia, and civil society become a reality.

Link to Report:

https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/334170/9789240010178-eng.pdf

About WHO

The World Health Organization provides global leadership in public health within the United Nations system. Founded in 1948, WHO works with 194 Member States, across six regions and from more than 150 offices, to promote health, keep the world safe and serve the vulnerable. Our goal for 2019-2023 is to ensure that a billion more people have universal health coverage, to protect a billion more people from health emergencies, and provide a further billion people with better health and wellbeing.

For updates on COVID-19 and public health advice to protect yourself from coronavirus, visit www.who.int and follow WHO on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, Pinterest, Snapchat, YouTube

About Resolve to Save Lives

Resolve to Save Lives, an initiative of the global health organization Vital Strategies, focuses on preventing deaths from cardiovascular disease and by preventing epidemics. Resolve to Save Lives is funded by Bloomberg Philanthropies, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and Gates Philanthropy Partners, which is funded with support from the Chan Zuckerberg Foundation. It is led by Dr. Tom Frieden, former director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. To find out more, visit: https://www.resolvetosavelives.org or Twitter @ResolveTSL and @DrTomFrieden

About Vital Strategies

Vital Strategies is a global health organization that believes every person should be protected by a strong public health system. We work with governments and civil society in 73 countries to design and implement evidence-based strategies that tackle their most pressing public health problems. Our goal is to see governments adopt promising interventions at scale as rapidly as possible. To find out more, please visit www.vitalstrategies.org or Twitter @VitalStrat.

With the number of under-five deaths at an all-time recorded low of 5.2 million in 2019, disruptions in child and maternal health services due to the COVID-19 pandemic are putting millions of additional lives at stake

The number of global under-five deaths dropped to its lowest point on record in 2019 – down to 5.2 million from 12.5 million in 1990, according to new mortality estimates released by UNICEF, the World Health Organization (WHO), the Population Division of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs and the World Bank Group.

Since then, however, surveys by UNICEF and WHO reveal that the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in major disruptions to health services that threaten to undo decades of hard-won progress.

“The global community has come too far towards eliminating preventable child deaths to allow the COVID-19 pandemic to stop us in our tracks,” said Henrietta Fore, UNICEF Executive Director. “When children are denied access to health services because the system is overrun, and when women are afraid to give birth at the hospital for fear of infection, they, too, may become casualties of COVID-19. Without urgent investments to re-start disrupted health systems and services, millions of children under five, especially newborns, could die.”

Over the past 30 years, health services to prevent or treat causes of child death such as preterm, low birthweight, complications during birth, neonatal sepsis, pneumonia, diarrhea and malaria, as well as vaccination, have played a large role in saving millions of lives.

Now countries worldwide are experiencing disruptions in child and maternal health services, such as health checkups, vaccinations and prenatal and post-natal care, due to resource constraints and a general uneasiness with using health services due to a fear of getting COVID-19.

A UNICEF survey conducted over the summer across 77 countries found that almost 68 per cent of countries reported at least some disruption in health checks for children and immunization services. In addition, 63 per cent of countries reported disruptions in antenatal checkups and 59 per cent in post-natal care.

A recent WHO survey based on responses from 105 countries revealed that 52 per cent of countries reported disruptions in health services for sick children and 51 per cent in services for management of malnutrition.

Health interventions such as these are critical for stopping preventable newborn and child deaths. For example, women who receive care by professional midwives trained according  to internationals standards are 16 per cent less likely to lose their baby and 24 per cent less likely to experience pre-term birth, according to WHO.

"The fact that today more children live to see their first birthday than any time in history is a true mark of what can be achieved when the world puts health and well-being at the centre of our response,” said Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General. “Now, we must not let the COVID-19 pandemic turn back remarkable progress for our children and future generations. Rather, it’s time to use what we know works to save lives, and keep investing in stronger, resilient health systems.”

Based on the responses from countries that participated in the UNICEF and WHO surveys, the most commonly cited reasons for health service disruptions included parents avoiding health centers for fear of infection; transport restrictions; suspension or closure of services and facilities; fewer healthcare workers due to diversions or fear of infection due to shortages in personal protective equipment such as masks and gloves; and greater financial difficulties. Afghanistan, Bolivia, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Libya, Madagascar, Pakistan, Sudan and Yemen are among the hardest hit countries.

Seven of the nine countries had high child mortality rates of more than 50 deaths per 1000 live births among children under five in 2019. In Afghanistan, where 1 in 17 children died before reaching age 5 in 2019, the Ministry of Health reported a significant reduction in visits to health facilities. Out of fear of contracting the COVID-19 virus, families are de-prioritizing pre- and post-natal care, adding to the risk faced by pregnant women and newborn babies.

Even before COVID-19, newborns were at highest risk of death. In 2019, a newborn baby died every 13 seconds. Moreover, 47 per cent of all under-five deaths occurred in the neonatal period, up from 40 per cent in 1990. With severe disruptions in essential health services, newborn babies could be at much higher risk of dying. For example, in Cameroon, where 1 out of every 38 newborns died in 2019, the UNICEF survey reported an estimated 75 per cent disruptions in services for essential newborn care, antenatal check-ups, obstetric care and post-natal care.

In May, initial modelling by Johns Hopkins University showed that almost 6,000 additional children could die per day due to disruptions due to COVID-19.

These reports and surveys highlight the need for urgent action to restore and improve childbirth services and antenatal and postnatal care for mothers and babies, including having skilled health workers to care for them at birth. Working with parents to assuage their fears and reassure them is also important.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has put years of global progress to end preventable child deaths in serious jeopardy,” said Muhammad Ali Pate, Global Director for Health, Nutrition and Population at the World Bank. “It is essential to protect life-saving services which have been key to reducing child mortality. We will continue to work with governments and partners to reinforce healthcare systems to ensure mothers and children get the services they need.”

"The new report demonstrates the ongoing progress worldwide in reducing child mortality,” said John Wilmoth, Director of the Population Division of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs. “While the report highlights the negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on interventions that are critical for children’s health, it also draws attention to the need to redress the vast inequities in a child's prospects for survival and good health.”

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Download photos, b-roll, the full child mortality estimates report and data files here.  For the UNICEF survey on disruptions due to COVID-19, click here.

These links will go live after 00.01 GMT 9 September.

Main report landing page: https://data.unicef.org/resources/levels-and-trends-in-child-mortality/

Datasets: https://data.unicef.org/resources/dataset/child-mortality/

Narrative page https://data.unicef.org/topic/child-survival/under-five-mortality/

About UN IGME
The United Nations Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation or UN IGME was formed in 2004 to share data on child mortality, improve methods for child mortality estimation, report on progress towards child survival goals and enhance country capacity to produce timely and properly assessed estimates of child mortality. UN IGME is led by UNICEF and includes the World Health Organization, the World Bank Group and the United Nations Population Division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs. For more information visit: http://www.childmortality.org/

A month after 460,000 motorcycle enthusiasts converged on Sturgis, S.D., researchers have found that thousands have been sickened across the nation, leading them to brand the rally a “superspreader” event that will involve more than $12 billion in health care costs.

How have country-based malaria experts adapted to the double challenge of malaria and COVID-19? What successes have they achieved, and where are the remaining gaps?  In a virtual forum on 3 September, 10 Ministry of Health representatives shared their experiences and reflections; you can watch their presentations below.

On 4 September, participants heard from senior political and health leaders from 2 regions that are heavily impacted by malaria; you will find below the presentations of WHO’s Regional Director for Africa, India’s Health Secretary and the Ugandan Minister of Health. See, also, our photo story with images and quotes from global health leaders participating in the forum.

• WHO Director-General's opening remarks at the webinar

Prerecorded videos of the webinar

Video 1:

• Dr Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa
• Dr Rajesh Bhushan, Health Secretary, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, India
• Dr Jane Ruth Aceng, Minister of Health, Uganda

Video 2:

• Dr Jimmy Opigo, Ministry of Health, Uganda
• Dr Paola Marchesini, Ministry of Health, Brazil
• Dr Sovannaroth Siv, Ministry of Health, Cambodia
• Dr Dorothy Achu, Ministry of Health, Cameroon
• Dr Baltazar Candrinho, Ministry of Health, Mozambique

Video 3:

• Dr Harriet Pasquale, Ministry of Health, South Sudan
• Dr Neeraj Dhingra, Ministry of Health, India
• Dr Mariam Adam, WHO, Sudan
• Dr Helene Hiwat, Ministry of Health, Suriname
• Dr Olugbenga Mokuolu, Ministry of Health, Nigeria

In recent days, experts have become increasingly convinced — and alarmed — that President Trump is pushing to cut corners and rush the release of a COVID-19 vaccine before Nov. 3 to improve his chances in the election.

Ending Preventable Maternal Mortality (EPMM) is a global initiative with the ultimate goal of ending preventable maternal mortality to support achievement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) targets to attain an average global maternal mortality ratio (MMR) of less than 70 per 100 000 live births by 2030. 

By 2030, all countries should reduce their Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR) by at least two thirds of their 2010 baseline level.

The supplementary national target is that no country should have an MMR greater than 140 per 100 000 live births by 2030.

Many countries have been successful at reducing MMR, but efforts are needed to accelerate progress to achieve SDG targets in all countries.  Between 2000 and 2017, the average annual rate of reduction in global maternal mortality was 2.9%, which is far short of what is needed to achieve the global SDG targets.

The EPMM management team, chaired by WHO and UNFPA, is in the process of refining the EPMM initiative. In addition to mortality reduction targets, EPMM is establishing coverage targets and milestones to track progress for 2020 to 2025. As maternal and newborn health are inextricably linked, the coverage targets will be linked with the Every Newborn Action Plan (ENAP) targets as feasible, to provide countries with opportunities for accelerating implementation of integrated country level maternal and newborn health programmes.

The purpose of this open consultation is to solicit feedback from maternal and newborn stakeholders on the proposed EPMM coverage targets for 2020-2025. Each indicator will have a global target and a national target. Sub-national targets will be defined based on the national targets identified by this online consultation.

Please click here for participating to the survey (opened until September 30, 2020).

WHO and UNFPA (on behalf of the EPMM Management Team)

The World Health Organization convened its first Technical Advisory Group on Behavioural Insights and Sciences for Health.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has taught the world that public health agencies and experts need a better understanding of how people and societies behave and make decisions in relation to their health," said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of WHO, to whom the Technical Advisory Group will report. "WHO wants to ensure that such understanding and evidence inform every policy, guideline and programme.” 

Following a global call which attracted over 200 applications from 47 countries, some 21 advisers have been selected to represent a variety of countries and expertise in related disciplines, to design and implement policies and programmes – not only in terms of COVID-19, but on public health in general.

Psychology, anthropology, health promotion, social and behavioural sciences, neurosciences, behavioural economics, social marketing, design thinking and epidemiology are some of the areas of expertise of the members that come from government agencies, academia, international organizations and civil society – and are now to provide advice to WHO on a range of topics.

While behavioural and social sciences have for decades studied human behaviour, decision making and social and cultural drivers, past years have seen a growing integration into policies and programmes - ultimately translating into increased efficiency and better health.

“Providing evidence-based advice is central to WHO's mission, but for that advice to produce results and save lives, we need to better understand the biases and triggers that affect whether or not people act on it,” Dr Tedros said. 

The creation of the technical advisory group is part of a new behavioural insights and sciences initiative, expected to give a more prominent role and louder voice to disciplines that have social and behavioural sciences in common – in the context of health. In addition to supporting the design of global policies, other outcomes of this sharpened focus are more defined methods, tools and mechanisms to support how WHO’s regional and country offices gather local and contextual evidence for a better understanding of individual and community behaviour.  

The establishment of the Advisory Group is in line with WHO’s 13^th Global Programme of Work for the 2019-2023 period which aims at 1 billion more people benefitting from universal health coverage; 1 billion more people better protected from health emergencies; and 1 billion more people enjoying better health and well-being.

The image above captures the diversity of disciplines and areas of work that contributes to understanding human behaviour to improve health policies and programmes. The contributions were discussed by the members of the Technical Advisory Group during the introductory meeting on July 20, 2020. Click here to download image in full size