scholarly journals Negotiating South–South cooperation for mental health: the World Health Organization and the African Mental Health Action Group, 1970s–90s

2021 ◽  
Vol 65 (4) ◽  
pp. 403-419
Author(s):  
Yolana Pringle
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
International Health ◽  
World Health ◽  
Action Group ◽  
Short Period ◽  
The World ◽  
Regional Project ◽  
Health Action ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
National Governments

AbstractThis article explores the African Mental Health Action Group (AMHAG), one of the earliest examples of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) attempts to promote ‘ownership’ over development through the South–South cooperation envisaged in Technical Cooperation in Developing Countries. Formed in 1978, the AMHAG was intended to guide national and regional policy on mental health, while also fostering national and collective self-reliance. For a short period, between the late 1970s and the early 1990s, it was central to the WHO’s strategy for promoting policies of mental health in primary healthcare in Africa. It was a largely ineffective tool, with national governments having different opinions on the value of mental health, and poor coordination between AMHAG countries. Approaching the AMHAG as a regional project and transnational network, however, the article provides explores the importance of regions and regionalism in international health cooperation, as well as the inequities of participation in health development. Drawing on WHO archival material spanning over twenty countries and two national liberation movements, it argues that participating countries were differently positioned not only to navigate relationships between countries, but also to contend with the shifting landscape of international assistance, as well as – for some – contexts of war, violence and political and economic instability. The article not only serves as a case study of power imbalances in a failed development initiative, but also sheds light on the WHO’s engagement with mental health during a period that historians of psychiatry in Africa have tended to overlook.

Organization of restrictive quarantine measures to prevent especially dangerous infections

2020 ◽  
pp. 6-11
Author(s):  
Petr Ilyin
Keyword(s):  
Infectious Diseases ◽  
Clinical Symptoms ◽  
International Health ◽  
World Health ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of ◽  
Entire History ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
Former Ussr ◽  
Health Regulations

Especially dangerous infections (EDIs) belong to the conditionally labelled group of infectious diseases that pose an exceptional epidemic threat. They are highly contagious, rapidly spreading and capable of affecting wide sections of the population in the shortest possible time, they are characterized by the severity of clinical symptoms and high mortality rates. At the present stage, the term "especially dangerous infections" is used only in the territory of the countries of the former USSR, all over the world this concept is defined as "infectious diseases that pose an extreme threat to public health on an international scale." Over the entire history of human development, more people have died as a result of epidemics and pandemics than in all wars combined. The list of especially dangerous infections and measures to prevent their spread were fixed in the International Health Regulations (IHR), adopted at the 22nd session of the WHO's World Health Assembly on July 26, 1969. In 1970, at the 23rd session of the WHO's Assembly, typhus and relapsing fever were excluded from the list of quarantine infections. As amended in 1981, the list included only three diseases represented by plague, cholera and anthrax. However, now annual additions of new infections endemic to different parts of the earth to this list take place. To date, the World Health Organization (WHO) has already included more than 100 diseases in the list of especially dangerous infections.

scholarly journals COVID-19 pandemic: A review of the global lockdown and its far-reaching effects

2021 ◽  
Vol 104 (2) ◽  
pp. 003685042110198
Author(s):  
Helen Onyeaka ◽  
Christian K Anumudu ◽  
Zainab T Al-Sharify ◽  
Esther Egele-Godswill ◽  
Paul Mbaegbu
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Global Economy ◽  
World Health ◽  
Global Pandemic ◽  
The World ◽  
Education Delivery ◽  
Environmental Air ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
Almost All ◽  
The Impact

COVID-19, caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) on the 11th of March 2020, leading to some form of lockdown across almost all countries of the world. The extent of the global pandemic due to COVID-19 has a significant impact on our lives that must be studied carefully to combat it. This study highlights the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown on crucial aspects of daily life globally, including; Food security, Global economy, Education, Tourism, hospitality, sports and leisure, Gender Relation, Domestic Violence/Abuse, Mental Health and Environmental air pollution through a systematic search of the literature. The COVID-19 global lockdown was initiated to stem the spread of the virus and ‘flatten the curve’ of the pandemic. However, the impact of the lockdown has had far-reaching effects in different strata of life, including; changes in the accessibility and structure of education delivery to students, food insecurity as a result of unavailability and fluctuation in prices, the depression of the global economy, increase in mental health challenges, wellbeing and quality of life amongst others. This review article highlights the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown across the globe. As the global lockdown is being lifted in a phased manner in various countries of the world, it is necessary to explore its impacts to understand its consequences comprehensively. This will guide future decisions that will be made in a possible future wave of the COVID-19 pandemic or other global disease outbreak.

Maternal Care and Mental Health

PEDIATRICS ◽  
1967 ◽  
Vol 39 (5) ◽  
pp. 801-803
Author(s):  
PETER H. WOLFF
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Maternal Care ◽  
Historical Perspective ◽  
Maternal Deprivation ◽  
Critical Discussion ◽  
World Health ◽  
Homeless Children ◽  
The World ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
New Generation

When Bowlby first published his comprehensive report to the World Health Organization on maternal deprivation, his conclusions and recommendations stimulated useful research and provoked critical discussion. The republication of this report 15 years later, together with six articles by others evaluating the monograph's implications, gives us a welcome opportunity to reconsider the findings from a historical perspective, and to acquaint a new generation of physicians with the problems of homeless children, which are still very much with us.

PUBLIC HEALTH, NURSING AND MEDICAL SOCIAL WORK

PEDIATRICS ◽  
1953 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 290-293
Keyword(s):  
World Health Organization ◽  
Health Program ◽  
International Health ◽  
World Health ◽  
Expert Committee ◽  
Medical Social Work ◽  
The World ◽  
Health Nursing ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
Sales Agents

STANDARDIZATION of terminology for drugs and scientific substances appears to be a highly desirable goal. Exchange of information through publication and individual communication would be far less subject to misinterpretation if nomenclature were precise and unchanged. Furthermore, increase in world travel makes it more necessary than ever that patients, physicians, and pharmacists be able severally to request and comply with requests for drugs without worry about differences in names. International health co-operation and regional health program would obviously benefit from simplification of terminology. The situation has recently been reviewed by P. Blanc, Secretary of the World Health Organization Expert Committee on the International Pharmacopoeia, before the International Pharmaceutical Federation. His paper has been summarized in the Chronicle of the World Health Organization, for November 1952, volume 6, page 322, from which the following extracts are taken: "At first sight it might seem that, for the numerous drugs which are chemical compounds, the chemical names could be used; but the latter are often so complicated that manufacturers and sales agents spontaneously adopt simpler and shorter names. Obviously `riboflavine' sounds better and is more easily remembered than 6:7-dimethyl-9-(D-1'-ribityl)izo-alloxazine. But, unfortunately, the same substance is known elsewhere by the name of `lactoflavine' or `vitamin B2'. Another example may be cited, namely that of the methadone hydrochloride of the Pharmacopoea Internationalis (6-dimethylamino-4,4-diphenyl-3-heptanone), which is known in different countries under the following names: amidone, miadone, diadone, diaminon, mephenon, symoron, etc.

scholarly journals Re-assessing the Foundations: Worldwide Smallpox Eradication, 1957–67

2019 ◽  
Vol 64 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-93
Author(s):  
Sanjoy Bhattacharya ◽  
Carlos Eduardo D’Avila Pereira Campani
Keyword(s):  
Majority Vote ◽  
World Health ◽  
Significant Progress ◽  
Eradication Programme ◽  
World Health Assembly ◽  
Western Africa ◽  
The World ◽  
Complex Picture ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
National Governments

An expansive, worldwide smallpox eradication programme (SEP) was announced by the World Health Assembly in 1958, leading this decision-making body to instruct the World Health Organization Headquarters in Geneva to work with WHO regional offices to engage and draw in national governments to ensure success. Tabled by the Soviet Union’s representative and passed by a majority vote by member states, the announcement was subject to intense diplomatic negotiations. This led to the formation, expansion and reshaping of an ambitious and complex campaign that cut across continents and countries. This article examines these inter-twining international, regional and national processes, and challenges long-standing historiographical assumptions about the fight against smallpox only gathering strength from the mid-1960s onwards, after the start of a US-supported programme in western Africa. The evidence presented here suggests a far more complex picture. It shows that although the SEP’s structures grew slowly between 1958 and 1967, a worldwide eradication programme resulted from international negotiations made possible through gains during this period. Significant progress in limiting the incidence of smallpox sustained international collaboration, and justified the prolongation and expansion of activities. Indeed, all of this bore diplomatic and legal processes within the World Health Assembly and WHO that acted as the foundation of the so-called intensified phase of the SEP and the multi-faceted activities that led to the certification of smallpox eradication in 1980.

scholarly journals In Memoriam Dietrich Hoffmann

2011 ◽  
Vol 24 (6) ◽  
pp. 254-256 ◽  
Author(s):  
H Klus ◽  
M Kunze ◽  
Beiträge Editors of
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
International Organizations ◽  
Tobacco Industry ◽  
World Health ◽  
Regulatory Agencies ◽  
International Agency ◽  
The World ◽  
In Memoriam ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
National Governments

AbstractDietrich Hoffmann passed away on April 20, 2011, at his home in Larchmont, New York. He had suffered from Parkinson's disease for more than 20 years. With Dietrich Hoffmann's death the tobacco community lost one of its most prominent scientists, who was familiar with all areas of tobacco research. His work guided and influenced a whole generation of scientists working in the tobacco industry, universities, regulatory agencies, national governments or international organizations, such as the World Health Organization and the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). It is an obligation of honor for the authors M. Kunze, H. Klus, and the editors of BeiträgezurTabakforschung International publish a short tribute in memory of Dietrich Hoffmann.

scholarly journals E-HEALTH NURSING VIRTUAL REALITY TREND PADA PASIEN SKIZOFRENIA GUNA MENINGKATKAN KESEHATAN MENTAL: SYSTEMATIC REVIEW

2021 ◽  
pp. 172-180
Author(s):  
Fitrio Deviantony ◽  
Grysha Viofananda ◽  
Nurul Hidayah ◽  
Nadhifa Eriyanti
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Systematic Review ◽  
Virtual Reality ◽  
World Health Organization ◽  
World Health ◽  
Reality Therapy ◽  
Virtual Reality Therapy ◽  
The World ◽  
Health Nursing ◽  
Health Organization

permasalahan serius di dunia dan Indonesia. Data dari World Health Organization sekitar 21 juta orang mengalami skizofrenia. Prevalensi skizofrenia di Indonesia mengalami peningkatan proporsi per 1000 penduduk (1,7%) pada tahun 2013 menjadi (7%) pada tahun 2018. Faktanya terapi keperawatan untuk halusinasi belum optimal sedangkan teknologi terus berkembang seperti Virtual Reality (VR). VR mampu menurunkan gejala pada skizofrenia dengan kemampuan membuat perilaku interaktif dan tersimpan dalam otak agar tidak menimbulkan halusinasi. Teknologi ini digunakan untuk mengetahui manfaat E-Health Nursing VR sebagai terapi halusinasi pada pasien skizofrenia. Metode penelitian menggunakan systematic review dari 5 database yaitu Nature, Frontiers, BMC, Science Direct, NEJM sehingga didapat total 55 literatur. Mayoritas 63% mengulas terapi VR untuk mengurangi halusinasi pada skizofrenia. Perkembangan manfaat VR diverifikasi dalam beberapa pengobatan: skizofrenia, PTSD, kecemasan, akrofobia, ganguan citra tubuh, claustrophobia, dan lain-lain. Beberapa studi skizofrenia menyatakan terapi VR sangat efektif menangani delusi, halusinasi, gejala kepribadian skizoid. VR juga berguna dalam rehabilitas kognitif pada orang dewasa atau anak-anak autis dalam keterampilan dan kemandirian. Kesimpulan penelitian ini adalah VR terbukti efektif sebagai terapi kesehatan jiwa di masa mendatang. Disisi lain terdapat terapi psikologis pilihan seperti terapi perilaku kognitif, dan psikoterapi interpersonal. Oleh karenanya diperlukan kombinasi terapi VR dengan terapi komplementer tersebut dalam mengurangi halusinasi pada skizofrenia.   Mental health become a severe problem in the world and Indonesia. Data from the World Health Organization (WHO, 2016) estimated that 21 million people have schizophrenia. The prevalence of schizophrenia in Indonesia has increased proportion per 1000 population (1,7%) in 2013 to (7%) in 2018. In fact of nursing, therapy for hallucination is not optimal while constantly evolving technology such as Virtual Reality (VR). VR can reduce symptoms in schizophrenia with the ability to create interactive behavior and stored in the brain in order to cause hallucinations. The objective of this study was to review the benefit of VR as a hallucination therapy in schizophrenia patients. This research used a systematic literature review from five databases Nature, Frontiers, BMC, Science Direct, NEJM, and resulted in the retrieval of 55 papers. The majority of a result found a 63% review in Virtual Reality therapy can reduce hallucination in schizophrenia. VR is a technology browser and manipulator sensory environment in real-time 3D. The progressing benefit of VR verified in the treatment of schizophrenia, PSTD, anxiety, acrophobia, body image disorder, claustrophobia, and others. Some studies of schizophrenia declare that virtual reality therapy is effective in treating delusions, hallucinations, and a symptom of schizoid behavior. VR also has benefits in cognitive rehabilitation in adults or children with autism's inability and self-reliance. VR has a bright future as the treatment of mental health. The progressing of technology and research has an excellent opportunity for VR to reduce schizophrenia. Moreover, there is psychological therapy, such as cognitive-behavioral therapy and interpersonal psychotherapy. Therefore a combination needed of virtual therapy with the complementary therapy for reducing hallucination in schizophrenia.

The Reaction to the Ebola Epidemic within the United Nations Framework: What Next for the World Health Organization?

2014 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 405-424
Author(s):  
Pia Acconci
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
World Health Organization ◽  
Security Council ◽  
International Health ◽  
World Health ◽  
Director General ◽  
The World ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
Health Organization

The World Health Organization (who) was established in 1946 as a specialized agency of the United Nations (un). Since its establishment, the who has managed outbreaks of infectious diseases from a regulatory, as well as an operational perspective. The adoption of the International Health Regulations (ihrs) has been an important achievement from the former perspective. When the Ebola epidemic intensified in 2014, the who Director General issued temporary recommendations under the ihrs in order to reduce the spread of the disease and minimize cross-border barriers to international trade. The un Secretary General and then the Security Council and the General Assembly have also taken action against the Ebola epidemic. In particular, the Security Council adopted a resolution under Chapter vii of the un Charter, and thus connected the maintenance of the international peace and security to the health and social emergency. After dealing with the role of the who as a guide and coordinator of the reaction to epidemics, this article shows how the action by the Security Council against the Ebola epidemic impacts on the who ‘authority’ for the protection of health.

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