Plan sets out the partnership’s key priorities and ways of working, as countries transition to managing COVID-19 as a long-term public health issue
The plan’s focus is on vaccinating high-risk populations, introducing new treatments, boosting testing and securing sustained access to COVID-19 tools
The Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator is a global collaboration to accelerate development, production, and equitable access to COVID-19 tests, treatments, and vaccines.
The Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator today launches its plan for the next six months, setting out how, as a partnership of global health agencies working alongside government, civil society and other partners, it will support countries as the world transitions to long-term COVID-19 control.
Recognizing the evolving nature of the COVID-19 virus and pandemic, the plan outlines changes to ACT-A’s set-up and ways of working, to ensure countries continue to have access to COVID-19 tools in the longer term, while maintaining the coalition’s readiness to help address future disease surges.
Developed through a consultative process with ACT-A agencies, donors, industry partners, civil society organizations (CSOs) and Facilitation Council members, the plan summarizes priority areas of focus for the partnership’s pillars, coordination mechanisms and other core functions, and highlights the work to be maintained, transitioned, sunset, or kept on standby. The transition plan supports the work of ACT-A agencies as they evolve the financing, implementation and mainstreaming of their COVID-19 efforts.
The next phase of ACT-A partners’ work will centre on three overarching areas:
· Focusing research and development (R&D) and market shaping activities to ensure a pipeline for new and enhanced COVID-19 tools
· Securing institutional arrangements for sustained access for all countries to COVID-19 vaccines, tests and treatments, including oxygen
· Concentrating in-country work on new product introduction (e.g., new oral antivirals for those at highest risk) and protection of priority populations (e.g., full vaccination of health care workers and older populations), in support of national and international targets
“As the world moves towards managing COVID-19 over the long-term, ACT-A will continue to support countries by providing access to vaccines, tests, and treatments," said WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. "But as this plan lays out, we still have a lot of work to do to achieve equitable access to these life-saving tools, with health workers and at-risk populations as our top priority.”
Other changes outlined in the plan include the transition to a new ACT-A Tracking and Monitoring Taskforce, co-chaired by senior officials of India and the US, with the political-level Facilitation Council going into ‘standby’ mode, with the capacity to reactivate if needed due to a surge in severe disease.
ACT-A agencies have driven resource mobilization efforts and this plan sets out the shift to mainstream partnership-level financing and resource mobilization into the regular work of each agency going forward. Based on the three over-arching areas of work outlined above, existing financial commitments and country demand for tools, the ACT-A agencies require an estimated US$400 million for their transition work over the next six months. The ACT-A hub will continue to provide a transparent view of ACT-A agencies’ financing situation during this period.
The ACT-Accelerator is the world’s only end-to-end solution for accelerating the development of, and equitable access to, COVID-19 vaccines, tests and treatments. This partnership has played a key role in facilitating access to COVID-19 countermeasures for low- and lower-middle-income countries throughout the pandemic, most notably:
· Providing more than 1.8 billion doses of vaccine to 146 countries and territories – including 75% of the vaccines deployed in low-income countries and the majority of doses supplied to Africa – through COVAX, the vaccines pillar led by CEPI, Gavi, WHO and UNICEF.
· Delivering over 161 million tests, more than halving the cost of rapid tests to under $1 per test, and supplying around 80% of tests used in Africa in the first year of the pandemic through the Diagnostics Pillar led by FIND and the Global Fund.
· Delivering over 40 million COVID-19 treatment courses, investing an unprecedented US$ 1 billion in expanding sustainable oxygen access in LMICs, and initiating the delivery of new antivirals, through the Therapeutics Pillar, led by the Global Fund, Unitaid and Wellcome.
· Delivering over 2 billion items of personal protective equipment (PPE), supporting health systems to deliver COVID-19 tools, and boosting their laboratory, waste management and treatment capacities, through the Health Systems and Response Connector, led by the Global Fund, WHO and the World Bank.
The Transition Plan can be accessed here .
Seth Berkley, CEO of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance: “As the lead agencies of COVAX, our goal is to continually evolve to meet the needs of the communities we serve. This ability to adapt to the changing pandemic environment and its challenges has helped COVAX enable a historic global rollout at scale in the face of an unprecedented emergency. Through 2023, COVAX will continue to support lower-income countries to protect their populations. In parallel, we will be supporting countries to integrate COVID-19 vaccination into routine national immunization programs, while also preparing for surges and other worst-case scenarios.”
Ted Chaiban, Global Lead Coordinator for COVID Vaccine Country Readiness and Delivery, said: “COVID-19 vaccine delivery is most successful when it is country-driven and partners align to support government ownership by accelerating funding disbursement, leveraging political engagement, and providing technical advice and assistance. Looking to the future, it's important to have a mechanism in place grounded in the multilateral system that ensures equity in all phases of future pandemics (prevention, preparation, and response) and strengthens essential health systems.”
Dr Philippe Duneton, Executive Director of Unitaid, said: “As part of the global response to COVID-19, Unitaid, co-leader of the ACT-Accelerator's therapeutics pillar, and partners have improved access to critical oxygen supplies and facilitated adoption of life-saving therapeutics alongside vital diagnostic tests. But this is not the end of it, much work remains to be done. Despite uncertainties on how the pandemic will evolve, we must focus on building resilience at market and country level in light of unpredictable and fast evolving scenarios. COVID-19 has shown us that reaching equitable global access to medical countermeasures requires a continuum between pandemic preparedness and response efforts.”
Sir Jeremy Farrar, Director of Wellcome, said: “It’s now almost three years since Covid-19 was first discovered and no one can say for certain what will happen next. What we do know is that we can’t afford to be complacent. This pandemic is not over. We still need to improve access to vaccines, treatments and tests globally, which means fully funding the ACT-Accelerator. The Accelerator has played a pivotal, and at times lonely, role in pushing for global equity and access to be at the heart of the pandemic response, despite many of the world’s advanced economies taking a very nationalistic approach to the sharing of these lifesaving tools.
It’s vital we maintain an integrated and equitable approach to this phase of the pandemic through ACT-A, invest in developing new vaccines – ones that can block infection and transmission – and better treatments, and continue testing and sequencing the virus globally. Only then can we stop Covid-19 circulating and avoid a new variant emerging that overcomes our hard-won defences.”
Dr Richard Hatchett, CEO of CEPI, said: “Much of the world has moved into a phase of coexisting with COVID-19, but we must remain vigilant against the persistent and evolving threat that the virus represents and continue to strive for equity in terms of access to vaccines and other countermeasures. In parallel, we must continue to evolve new and better countermeasures, which provide broader immunity and can be more easily produced, while building sustainable platforms to manufacture them. For that reason global leaders must sustain their support for COVAX, ACT-A and their constituent agencies.”
Dr Bill Rodriguez, CEO of FIND, said: “Diagnostics are a critical enabler of health for all and were among the first tools deployed via ACT-A in collaboration with in-country partners. We are now entering a new phase of managing COVID-19 and stand ready to work alongside countries to integrate testing into routine health programmes, ensuring that those in need can be linked to timely treatment, while maintaining vigilance and readiness for potential new waves.”
Catherine Russell, Executive Director of UNICEF, said: “The impact of the pandemic continues to threaten decades of progress for children, so the work of the ACT-A partnership is as important as ever. UNICEF will continue working with our ACT-A partners to ensure that every country and community has equitable access to the vaccines and tools they need to combat the COVID-19 virus – and to strengthen primary health systems and other vital services like routine immunization that can save children’s lives and help them fulfil their potential.”
Peter Sands, Executive Director of the Global Fund, said: "As the world transitions towards managing COVID-19 in the longer term and preparing for the next pandemics, the Global Fund will continue working with its ACT-Accelerator partners towards building stronger health systems and ensuring equitable and efficient procurement of life-saving products.”
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.
An estimated 10.6 million people fell ill with tuberculosis (TB) in 2021, an increase of 4.5% from 2020, and 1.6 million people died from TB (including 187 000 among HIV positive people), according to the World Health Organization’s 2022 Global TB report. The burden of drug-resistant TB (DR-TB) also increased by 3% between 2020 and 2021, with 450 000 new cases of rifampicin-resistant TB (RR-TB) in 2021.This is the first time in many years an increase has been reported in the number of people falling ill with TB and drug resistant TB. TB services are among many others disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021, but its impact on the TB response has been particularly severe. Ongoing conflicts across Eastern Europe, Africa and the Middle East have further exacerbated the situation for vulnerable populations.
“If the pandemic has taught us anything, it’s that with solidarity, determination, innovation and the equitable use of tools, we can overcome severe health threats. Let’s apply those lessons to tuberculosis. It is time to put a stop to this long-time killer. Working together, we can end TB,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General.
Continued challenges with providing and accessing essential TB services have meant that many people with TB were not diagnosed and treated. The reported number of people newly diagnosed with TB fell from 7.1 million in 2019 to 5.8 million in 2020. There was a partial recovery to 6.4 million in 2021, but this was still well below pre-pandemic levels.
Reductions in the reported number of people diagnosed with TB suggest that the number of people with undiagnosed and untreated TB has grown, resulting first in an increased number of TB deaths and more community transmission of infection and then, with some lag-time, increased numbers of people developing TB.
The number of people provided with treatment for RR-TB and multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) has also declined between 2019 and 2020. The reported number of people started on treatment for RR-TB in 2021 was 161 746, only about one in three of those in need.
The report notes a decline in global spending on essential TB services from US$6 billion in 2019 to US$5.4 billion in 2021, which is less than half of the global target of US$13 billion annually by 2022. As in the previous 10 years, most of the funding used in 2021 (79%) was from domestic sources. In other low- and middle-income countries, international donor funding remains crucial. The main source is the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (the Global Fund). The United States Government is the largest contributor of funding to the Global Fund and is also the largest bilateral donor; overall, it contributes close to 50% of international donor funding for TB.
““The report provides important new evidence and makes a strong case on the need to join forces and urgently redouble efforts to get the TB response back-on-track to reach TB targets and save lives,” said Dr Tereza Kasaeva, Director of WHO’s Global TB Programme. “This will be an essential tool for countries, partners and civil society as they review progress and prepare for the 2nd UN High Level Meeting on TB mandated for 2023.”
In the midst of stalling progress, there are some successes. 26.3 million people were treated for TB between 2018 and 2021, still far short of the 40 million targets set for 2018–2022 at the UN High-Level Meeting on TB. Of the 30 high TB burden countries, those with the highest levels of treatment coverage in 2021 included Bangladesh, Brazil, China, Uganda and Zambia. The number of people provided with TB preventive treatment rebounded in 2021 to close to 2019 levels, but the cumulative total of 12.5 million between 2018 and 2021 was still far from the target of 30 million by the end of 2022.
More positively, TB preventive treatment for people living with HIV has far surpassed the global target of 6 million in the period 2018-2022, reaching more than 10 million in only 4 years. Seven countries – India, Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda, the United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe – collectively accounted for 82% of those started on preventive treatment in 2021.
Seven high TB burden countries in the region - Ethiopia, Kenya, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa, the United Republic of Tanzania and Zambia- have reached or surpassed the 2020 milestone of a 20% reduction in the TB incidence rate compared with 2015.
Countries are also increasing the uptake of new tools and guidance recommended by WHO, resulting in early access to TB prevention and care and better outcomes. The proportion of people diagnosed with TB who were initially tested with a rapid diagnostic increased from 33% in 2020 to 38% in 2021. 109 countries were using all-oral longer regimens (up from 92 in 2020) for the treatment of MDR/RR-TB, and 92 were using shorter regimens (up from 65 in 2020).
There has been increased access to shorter (1–3 months) rifamycin-based regimens for TB preventive treatment. In 2021, 185 350 people in 52 countries were reported to have been treated with rifapentine-containing regimens, up from 25 657 in 37 countries in 2020.
The report reiterates its call for countries to put in place urgent measures to restore access to essential TB services. It further calls for increased investments, multisectoral action to address the broader determinants that influence TB epidemics and their socioeconomic impact as well as the need for new diagnostics, drugs and vaccines. To intensify vaccine development, building on lessons from the pandemic, WHO will be convening a high-level summit in early 2023.
The 2022 report features data on trends of disease and the response to the epidemic from 215 countries and areas, including all 194 WHO Member States.
TB, the second (after COVID- 19) deadliest infectious killer, is caused by bacteria (Mycobacterium tuberculosis) that most often affect the lungs. It can spread when people who are sick with TB expel bacteria into the air – for example, by coughing.
Most people who develop the disease are adults –in 2021 - men accounted for 56.5% of the TB burden, adult women accounted for 32.5% and children for 11%. Many new cases of TB are attributable to five risk factors: undernutrition, HIV infection, alcohol use disorders, smoking and diabetes.
TB is preventable and curable. About 85% of people who develop TB disease can be successfully treated with a 4/6-month drug regimen; treatment has the added benefit of curtailing onward transmission of infection.
Economic and financial barriers can affect access to health care for TB diagnosis and completion of TB treatment; about half of TB patients and their households face catastrophic total costs due to TB disease. Progress towards universal health coverage (UHC), better levels of social protection and multisectoral action on broader TB determinants are all essential to reduce the burden of TB disease.
While there is TB in every part of the world, 30 countries carry the highest burden. These include: Angola, Bangladesh, Brazil, Central African Republic, China, Congo, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Gabon, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Mongolia, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Thailand, Uganda, United Republic of Tanzania, Viet Nam and Zambia.
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.
COVID-19, conflict, climate crises exacerbate setbacks for childhood and adolescent prospects, women’s rights
Berlin, 18 October 2022 – A new UN report shows that women’s and children’s health has suffered globally, as the impacts of conflict, the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change converge with devastating effects on prospects for children, young people and women.
Data presented in the report show a critical regression across virtually every major measure of childhood wellbeing, and many key indicators of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Since the last Every Woman Every Child Progress Report published in 2020, food insecurity, hunger, child marriage, risks from intimate partner violence, and adolescent depression and anxiety have all increased.
An estimated 25 million children were un- or under-vaccinated in 2021 – 6 million more than in 2019 - increasing their risk of contracting deadly and debilitating diseases. Millions of children missed out on school during the pandemic, many for more than a year, while approximately 80% of children in 104 countries and territories experienced learning-loss because of school closures. Since the start of the global pandemic, 10.5 million children lost a parent or caregiver to COVID-19.
“At the core of our unkept promise is the failure to address the gaping inequities at the root of global crises, from the COVID-19 pandemic to conflicts and the climate emergency. The report describes the impacts of these crises on women, children and adolescents, from maternal mortality to education losses to severe malnutrition,” said Antonio Guterres, United Nations Secretary-General.
The report provides wide-ranging evidence that children and adolescents face wildly divergent chances of leading a healthy life simply based on where they are born, their exposure to conflict, and the economic circumstances of their families. For example:
· A child born in a low-income country has an average life expectancy at birth of around 63 years, compared to 80 in a high-income country. This devastating 17-year survival gap has changed little over recent years. In 2020, 5 million children died even before the age of 5, mostly from preventable or treatable causes. Meanwhile, most maternal, child, and adolescent deaths and stillbirths are concentrated in just two regions – sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.
· More than 45 million children had acute malnutrition in 2020, a life-threatening condition which leaves them vulnerable to death, developmental delays and disease. Nearly three-quarters of these children live in lower-middle-income countries. A staggering 149 million children were stunted in 2020. Africa is the only region where the numbers of children affected by stunting increased over the past 20 years, from 54.4 million in 2000 to 61.4 million in 2020.
· The six countries with the highest numbers of internally displaced persons – Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Sudan, the Syrian Arab Republic and Yemen – are also among the top 10 food insecure countries.
· A woman in sub-Saharan Africa has around a 130 times higher risk of dying from causes relating to pregnancy or childbirth than a woman in Europe or North America. Coverage of antenatal care, skilled birth attendance, and postnatal care is far from reaching all women in low- and middle- income countries, leaving them at elevated risk of death and disability.
· Millions of children and their families are experiencing poor physical and mental health from recent humanitarian disasters in Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Pakistan, Somalia, Ukraine and Yemen. In 2021, a record 89.3 million people worldwide were driven from their homes by war, violence, persecution, and human rights abuse.
The report calls upon the global community to address this damaging trajectory and protect the promises made to women, children, and adolescents in the Sustainable Development Goals. In particular, it advocates for countries to continue investing in health services, to address all crises and food insecurity, and empower women and young people around the world.
The report, titled Protect the Promise, is published by global partners, including WHO, UNICEF, UNFPA, Partnership for Maternal, Newborn & Child Health (PMNCH) and Countdown to 2030, as a bi-annual summary of progress in response to the UN Secretary General's Every Woman Every Child Global Strategy for Women, Children's and Adolescents' Health. The most comprehensive synthesis of evidence on the current state of maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health, it updates the last Every Woman Every Child Global Strategy Progress Report published in 2020.
“Almost three years on from the onset of COVID-19, the pandemic’s long-term impact on the health and well-being of women, children and adolescents is becoming evident: their chances for healthy and productive lives have declined sharply,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General. “As the world emerges from the pandemic, protecting and promoting the health of women, children and young people is essential for supporting and sustaining the global recovery.”
“The impacts of COVID-19, conflicts, and climate crises have raised the stakes for vulnerable communities, revealing the weaknesses and inequities in health care systems and reversing hard-won progress for women, children, and adolescents – but we are not powerless to change this,” said UNICEF Executive Catherine Russell. “By investing in resilient, inclusive primary health care systems, jumpstarting routine immunization programmes, and strengthening the health workforce, we can make sure that every woman and every child can access the care they need to survive and thrive.”
“There is a crisis of inequity that is piling on already increasing and compounding threats. In a world where too many children, adolescents and women are dying, equity, empowerment and access are what needs urgent focus,” said H.E. Ms. Kersti Kaljulaid, Global Advocate for Every Woman Every Child and President of the Republic of Estonia, 2016-2021. “We are calling on all to think and act broadly and profoundly to protect the promise. This promise refers not only to the commitments made in the Sustainable Development Goals, and all of the campaigns that followed, but also to the larger promise of potential that everyone is born with. Too often this promise remains unclaimed, or even denied.”
“In the face of increasing political pushback against sexual and reproductive health and rights in many countries, women, children and adolescents today are left without many of the protections of just a decade ago, and many others still have not seen the progress they need,” said Dr. Natalia Kanem, UNFPA Executive Director. “Access to sexual and reproductive health services, including contraception, is a fundamental right that directly and acutely affects the ability of women and adolescent girls to thrive. We need to expand these rights and services to the most marginalized, leaving no one behind.”
“The report advocates for countries to continue investing in health services, in all crises, and to re-imagine health systems that can truly reach every woman, child, and adolescent, no matter who they are or where they live,” said the Rt. Hon Helen Clark, Board Chair of PMNCH (The Partnership for Maternal, Newborn & Child Health) and former Prime Minister of New Zealand. “Experts and world leaders are calling for more women in policy- and decision-making at every level, meaningful engagement with young people, and primary health care systems which deliver what people need when and where they need it most.”
· Rt. Hon. Helen Clark, Former Prime Minister of New Zealand and Board Chair of PMNCH (@HelenClarkNZ)
· H.E. Kersti Kaljulaid, Former President of Estonia and UN SG’s Global Advocate for Every Woman Every Child (@KerstiKaljulaid)
· Dr. Austin Demby, Minister of Health and Sanitation, Sierra Leone (@mohs_sl)
· Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director General, WHO (@DrTedros)
· Aboubacar Kampo, Director of Health, UNICEF (@AbouKampo)
· Natalia Kanem, Executive Director, UNFPA (@Atayeshe)
· Anshu Banerjee, Director, Department of Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health & Ageing, WHO (@ABanerjeeWHO)
· Yana Panfilova, Founder of Teenergizer, Activist and Ukrainian refugee (@YPanfilova)
· Elhadj As Sy, Board Chair, Kofi Annan Foundation (@Elhadj_As_Sy)
· Inger Ashing, CEO, Save the Children International (@SaveCEO_Intl)
· Maziko Matemvu, President and Founder, Uwale (@mazikospeaks)
· Loyce Pace, Assistant Secretary for Global Affairs, Department of Health and Human Services, USA (@HHS_ASGA)
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.
GENEVA, 18 October 2022: Today at the World Health Summit, in front of an audience including more than 40 parliamentarians from 30 different countries, WHO signed a Memorandum of Understanding with UNITE, Parliamentarians Network for Global Health.
This represents a new step in strengthening WHO engagement with parliaments. With this agreement, UNITE commits to support WHO in raising awareness and building capacity of parliamentarians in three strategic areas of global public health: equitable access to health, with a focus on universal health coverage; health system strengthening, with a focus on supporting sustainable financing for global health; and efficient global health architecture and security, with a focus on the creation of the global health architecture and security, and the promotion of the pandemic treaty.
“Parliaments play a vital role in promoting and protecting health, by putting in place the legislative, regulatory and budgetary measures that can prevent diseases, and create the conditions for health to thrive,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General. “WHO is committed to working with parliaments and parliamentary platforms. We welcome the collaboration with UNITE, which will be instrumental in mobilizing parliamentary support, in particular for sustainable financing and strengthening the global health architecture."
Dr Ricardo Baptista Leite, President and Founder of UNITE added: “For the last five years, the UNITE Parliamentarians Network for Global Health has been actively promoting evidence-based policy making, in an effort led by our members from more than 85 countries. As current and former members of parliaments, congresses and senates from around the world, we are committed to ensuring that our actions, as politicians and agents for change, lead to a more equitable society in which no one is left behind. UNITE envisions this collaboration as an opportunity to ensure that trustworthy scientific recommendations are delivered to parliamentarians, leading towards new laws and policies that ensure Health is a reality for all. This partnership will empower both UNITE and WHO in achieving our ambitions goals together.”
For more information about UNITE: https://www.unitenetwork.org/
For more information about WHO parliamentary engagement: Elisa Scolaro, External Relations officer, parliamentary engagement, WHO. scolaroe@who.int
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.
GENEVA, 18 October 2022: Today at the World Health Summit, in front of an audience including more than 40 parliamentarians from 30 different countries, WHO signed a Memorandum of Understanding with UNITE, Parliamentarians Network for Global Health.
This represents a new step in strengthening WHO engagement with parliaments. With this agreement, UNITE commits to support WHO in raising awareness and building capacity of parliamentarians in three strategic areas of global public health: equitable access to health, with a focus on universal health coverage; health system strengthening, with a focus on supporting sustainable financing for global health; and efficient global health architecture and security, with a focus on the creation of the global health architecture and security, and the promotion of the pandemic treaty.
“Parliaments play a vital role in promoting and protecting health, by putting in place the legislative, regulatory and budgetary measures that can prevent diseases, and create the conditions for health to thrive,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General. “WHO is committed to working with parliaments and parliamentary platforms. We welcome the collaboration with UNITE, which will be instrumental in mobilizing parliamentary support, in particular for sustainable financing and strengthening the global health architecture."
Dr Ricardo Baptista Leite, President and Founder of UNITE added: “For the last five years, the UNITE Parliamentarians Network for Global Health has been actively promoting evidence-based policy making, in an effort led by our members from more than 85 countries. As current and former members of parliaments, congresses and senates from around the world, we are committed to ensuring that our actions, as politicians and agents for change, lead to a more equitable society in which no one is left behind. UNITE envisions this collaboration as an opportunity to ensure that trustworthy scientific recommendations are delivered to parliamentarians, leading towards new laws and policies that ensure Health is a reality for all. This partnership will empower both UNITE and WHO in achieving our ambitions goals together.”
For more information about UNITE: https://www.unitenetwork.org/
For more information about WHO parliamentary engagement: Elisa Scolaro, External Relations officer, parliamentary engagement, WHO. scolaroe@who.int
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.
GENEVA, 17 October 2022: The World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF welcomed today funding agreements from the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre (KSRelief) valued at US$ 10 million to further bolster polio and measles programmes in eight countries. The agreement was signed on the sidelines of the World Health Summit in Berlin.
The new funding will provide UNICEF and WHO with US$ 5 million each in response to a call for emergency action by WHO and UNICEF to avert major polio and measles epidemics. WHO and UNICEF have urged countries to prioritize vaccination for children as they rebuild their immunization systems following major global immunization disruptions caused by COVID-19. The pandemic has left millions of vulnerable children at heightened risk of preventable childhood diseases.
With this generous contribution from KSrelief, WHO will support the polio and measles programmes in Somalia, Iraq, and Sudan through the procurement of laboratory equipment; enhancing surveillance; digitalisation of EPI; strengthening the cold chain; and trainings of campaign vaccinators. UNICEF will support the five high-risk countries of Afghanistan, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Guinea, and Pakistan with the procurement and in-country distribution of polio and measles vaccines and supplies like cold chain equipment and syringes; recruitment and training of vaccinators; and sustainably strengthening immunization systems.
“COVID-19 has had a devastating effect on immunization services globally," said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of WHO. "KSrelief's generous support will help WHO to save children’s lives, benefiting an estimated 50 million people and averting major outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases including polio and measles in Somalia, Iraq and Sudan."
“We can't let COVID-19 drive new epidemics of childhood disease," said UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell. "The pandemic disrupted routine immunization services around the world, leaving millions of vulnerable children at heightened risk of polio, measles and other preventable childhood diseases. This new agreement will translate into lives saved and stronger immunization systems that will benefit millions of children.”
Dr Abdullah Al Rabeeah, Supervisor General of King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre (KSrelief) stated: “This cooperation agreement will strengthen global action to protect vulnerable children at increased risk from preventable childhood diseases; it also affirms the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's dedication to saving lives and safeguarding futures. The agreement is the result of the Kingdom’s commitment to working with the WHO and UNICEF to jointly address global health challenges.”
At the World Health Summit, which brings together governments, donors, civil society and advocates, UNICEF and WHO renewed calls for urgent action to avert measles and polio epidemics and reaffirm commitments to eradicate vaccine-preventable diseases.
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.
· 32 benches – representing each participating FIFA World Cup nation – are being built to promote mental health
· Benches announcement coincides with today’s World Mental Health Day and symbolic inauguration event at 974 Stadium, Doha
· H.E. Sheikha Hind and Sir Mo Farah unveiled England bench during World Innovation Summit for Health
10 October 2022 – Doha: A unique project involving custom-made public benches to promote the critical importance of mental health, and the role that football and sport more broadly can play to promote mental wellbeing, was announced today. Thirty-two “Friendship Benches” – one for each nation competing in the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ – are being built for installation in prominent Doha locations, including the precincts of tournament stadiums.
The project is part of the Sport for Health partnership, led by the World Health Organization and Qatar’s Ministry of Public Health (MoPH). Its goal is to demonstrate the importance of mental health and offer advice on ways to promote mental well-being, including through the importance of physical activity and sport. The initiative is supported by FIFA, the Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy, WISH, the Friendship Benches NGO and the WHO Universal Health Coverage Partnership.
In conjunction with World Mental Health Day, a selection of the first benches is being presented today at 974 Stadium, in Doha, one of the venues for this year’s FIFA World Cup. The bench initiative was symbolically inaugurated with the preview of the England bench at Qatar Foundation’s global health event, the World Innovation Summit for Health (WISH) in the lead-up a larger reveal of the benches on World Mental Health Day.
English athlete Sir Mo Farah, whose ten Olympic and World Championship gold medals make him the most successful male track distance runner ever, inaugurated the England bench, where he was joined by Her Excellency Sheikha Hind bint Hamad Al Thani, Vice Chairperson and CEO of Qatar Foundation, for a conversation about sport and mental health – a symbolic recognition of the initiative.
“Meeting Sir Mo and hearing the compelling story of how he left Mogadishu for London as a young boy and the mental health challenges he faced highlighted the importance of sitting down and talking about our mental health,” H.E. Sheikha Hind said. “I’m proud that Qatar Foundation’s global health initiative is among those helping shine a spotlight on mental health in such an innovative and practical way.”
The benches project aligns with common goals and campaigns of each of partner organization, including the FIFA-WHO #REACHOUT campaign, the “Are You OK?” project of the MoPH, Qatar, and the groundbreaking Friendship Benches project itself, originally developed in Zimbabwe and supported by WHO. The WISH event has in the past also been used as a platform to promote the Friendship Benches concept. This initiative also aims at promoting physical activity as one of the key outcomes of the Sport and Health project. To this end a special feature appearing on each bench are illustrations with advice describing easy and effective exercises that visitors can practice for their physical health.
“The bench is a simple yet powerful vehicle for promoting mental health, from park benches where people gather to football stadiums where players and staff watch their teams play for the joy and promise of sport and success,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General. “The Friendship Benches project is a powerful reminder of the importance of how health, from mental to physical health, is precious and common to all people and nations, and how, through sports, people can reach out to others, as fellow human beings, in the spirt of solidarity and support.”
H.E. Dr Hanan Al Kuwari, Minister of Public Health, Qatar, said the benches project was a tangible, lasting symbol of the importance of the Sport for Health partnership and the goals it is striving to achieve for the upcoming FIFA World Cup™ in Qatar – the first held in the Middle East and Arab world – and the legacy WHO and the MOPH are working to leave.
“Mental health is a core component of the Sport For Health partnership and our goal is for the Friendship Benches to provide a place, during and after the FIFA World Cup, for residents and visitors to Qatar to come together and ask each other ‘Are You OK?’ and use the opportunity to engage in dialogue and physical activities,” H.E. Dr Al Kuwari said.
H.E. Hassan Al Thawadi, Secretary General, SC, said: “We are proud to support this project and further leverage our hosting of the FIFA World Cup. The benches will provide a permanent reminder of the first World Cup in the Middle East and Arab world, while promoting the importance of mental health in communities throughout the country.”
Final locations of each of the 32 benches will be announced shortly. Once installed, information will be shared on how residents of Qatar and visitors will be able to visit their national benches, and others, in a show of support for mental health promotion.
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.
WHO has ranked South Africa’s vaccine regulatory system at a functional level of maturity, according to WHO’s global classification system for national medical products regulatory authorities. This recognises that South Africa has a stable, well-functioning and integrated regulatory system to ensure the quality, safety, and effectiveness of vaccines manufactured, imported or distributed in the country.
WHO confirmed the country’s attainment of maturity level three (ML3)—the third of four levels in the WHO’s classification. Maturity level four (ML4) is the highest.
“This achievement affirms South Africa’s trailblazing endeavour in health research. Beyond its technical aspects, this milestone carries real implications for people’s health. We cannot talk about better health care without quality medical supplies,” said Dr Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa. “This is an important new step not only for South Africa, but for the region towards self-sufficiency in vaccines and medicines.”
“This rapid progress on vaccines regulation is a significant milestone for South Africa, the Southern African region and the continent. It is an important win for vaccine equity, as the country is a major manufacturer of medical products and this regulatory milestone will help maximise the impact of the mRNA vaccine technology hub.” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General.
“We commend the tireless efforts of all those involved in ensuring the integrity and rigour of the health products registration processes. This achievement is testament to the role the regulator has played in ensuring that vaccines that are safe, efficacious and of a high quality are available in South Africa. SAHPRA will continue to be an agile and responsive African health products regulator, whilst working towards the aim of being a globally recognised as an enabler of access to safe, effective and quality health products” said Dr Boitumelo Semete-Makokotlela, South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) Chief Executive Officer.
In 2019, SAHPRA participated in WHO-supported self-benchmarking of its regulatory system and functions. Between July and August 2021, SAHPRA further refined and enhanced this self-benchmarking with WHO assistance.
In November 2021, WHO completed its benchmarking of SAHPRA, with a team of 19 international experts from 10 countries, which concluded that SAHPRA was required to address several gaps with regards to vaccines regulation. Recommendations were provided in the form of an Institutional Development Plan (IDP) for SAHPRA.
Between November 2021 and August 2022, SAHPRA made major progress in several areas including: staffing, quality management, establishing a framework for renewal of marketing authorization of medical products, and regulatory presence at ports of entry.
In September 2022, a subsequent WHO formal benchmarking mission concluded that SAHPRA had achieved ML3 for vaccines regulation.
SAHPRA is the fourth National Regulatory Authority (NRA) to become a ML3 regulatory authority for vaccines in the WHO African Region alongside Tanzania, Ghana and Nigeria. It is the fifth to achieve this status in the African continent, following Egypt which achieved ML3 for vaccines earlier in 2022. This move to ML3 will significantly contribute to WHO work to build capacity in low- and middle-income countries to produce mRNA vaccines through a centre of excellence and training (the mRNA vaccine technology hub) located in Cape Town, South Africa.
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.
A new report by the Qatar Foundation, World Innovation Summit for Health (WISH), in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO) finds that at least a quarter of health and care workers surveyed reported anxiety, depression and burnout symptoms. Our duty of care: A global call to action to protect the mental health of health and care workers examines the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the mental health of the health and care workforce and offers 10 policy actions as a framework for immediate follow-up by employers, organizations and policy-makers.
The report found that 23 to 46 percent of health and care workers reported symptoms of anxiety during the COVID-19 pandemic and 20 to 37 percent experienced depressive symptoms.
Burnout among health and care workers during the pandemic ranged from 41 to 52 percent in pooled estimates. Women, young people and parents of dependent children were found to be at greater risk of psychological distress -- significant considering that women make up 67 percent of the global health workforce and are subject to inequalities in the sector, such as unequal pay. The higher risk of negative mental health outcomes among younger health workers is also a concern.
“Well into the third year of the COVID-19 pandemic, this report confirms that the levels of anxiety, stress and depression among health and care workers has become a ‘pandemic within a pandemic,’” said Jim Campbell, WHO Director of Health Workforce.
This report follows landmark decisions at the World Health Assembly and International Labour Conference in 2022 that reaffirmed the obligations of governments and employers to protect the workforce, ensure their rights and provide them with decent work in a safe and enabling practice environment that upholds their mental health and wellbeing. Protecting and safeguarding this workforce is also an investment in the continuity of essential public health services to make progress towards universal health coverage and global health security.
"The increased pressure experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic has clearly had a detrimental impact on the health and wellbeing of health and care workers," said Sultana Afdhal, Chief Executive Officer of WISH. “The pressure isn’t new, but COVID-19 has brought into sharp focus the need for better care for those who care for us. This new report sets out policy actions that promote strengthening health systems and calls for global collaboration across governments and healthcare employers to invest in safeguarding the most valuable asset that our health systems possess, which is the people working within them.”
The report highlights 10 policy actions as a framework for immediate uptake, such as investing in workplace environments and culture that prevent burnout, promote staff wellbeing, and support quality care. This includes the obligations and roles of governments and employers for occupational safety and health.
WHO recently published recommendations for the effective interventions and approaches to support mental health at work, including those specifically for the health and care workforce, which call for organizational level changes that address working conditions and ensure confidential mental health care and support as a priority. Relevant to this framework, the WHO Global health and care worker compact provides technical guidance on how to protect health and care workers and safeguard their rights; it highlights that duty of care is a shared responsibility in every country.
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.
A new report by the Qatar Foundation, World Innovation Summit for Health (WISH), in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO) finds that at least a quarter of health and care workers surveyed reported anxiety, depression and burnout symptoms. Our duty of care: A global call to action to protect the mental health of health and care workers examines the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the mental health of the health and care workforce and offers 10 policy actions as a framework for immediate follow-up by employers, organizations and policy-makers.
The report found that 23 to 46 percent of health and care workers reported symptoms of anxiety during the COVID-19 pandemic and 20 to 37 percent experienced depressive symptoms.
Burnout among health and care workers during the pandemic ranged from 41 to 52 percent in pooled estimates. Women, young people and parents of dependent children were found to be at greater risk of psychological distress -- significant considering that women make up 67 percent of the global health workforce and are subject to inequalities in the sector, such as unequal pay. The higher risk of negative mental health outcomes among younger health workers is also a concern.
“Well into the third year of the COVID-19 pandemic, this report confirms that the levels of anxiety, stress and depression among health and care workers has become a ‘pandemic within a pandemic,’” said Jim Campbell, WHO Director of Health Workforce.
This report follows landmark decisions at the World Health Assembly and International Labour Conference in 2022 that reaffirmed the obligations of governments and employers to protect the workforce, ensure their rights and provide them with decent work in a safe and enabling practice environment that upholds their mental health and wellbeing. Protecting and safeguarding this workforce is also an investment in the continuity of essential public health services to make progress towards universal health coverage and global health security.
"The increased pressure experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic has clearly had a detrimental impact on the health and wellbeing of health and care workers," said Sultana Afdhal, Chief Executive Officer of WISH. “The pressure isn’t new, but COVID-19 has brought into sharp focus the need for better care for those who care for us. This new report sets out policy actions that promote strengthening health systems and calls for global collaboration across governments and healthcare employers to invest in safeguarding the most valuable asset that our health systems possess, which is the people working within them.”
The report highlights 10 policy actions as a framework for immediate uptake, such as investing in workplace environments and culture that prevent burnout, promote staff wellbeing, and support quality care. This includes the obligations and roles of governments and employers for occupational safety and health.
WHO recently published recommendations for the effective interventions and approaches to support mental health at work, including those specifically for the health and care workforce, which call for organizational level changes that address working conditions and ensure confidential mental health care and support as a priority. Relevant to this framework, the WHO Global health and care worker compact provides technical guidance on how to protect health and care workers and safeguard their rights; it highlights that duty of care is a shared responsibility in every country.
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.