Participation in the World Health Organization

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 261-290 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven A. Solomon ◽  
Claudia Nannini
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Global Health ◽  
World Health Organization ◽  
Regional Level ◽  
World Health ◽  
Global Public Health ◽  
The World ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
Collaborative Efforts

Participation in the World Health Organization (WHO) is a multifaceted matter and should be understood as not only referring to the governance of WHO, but also to its scientific and technical work as well as its collaborative efforts towards advancing global public health more generally. The article is concerned, in particular, with the legal and political framework surrounding attendance and participation of states and various entities in the governing bodies of the Organization, at the global and regional level. It shows that participation in the governance of WHO is still today a domain reserved to the determination of its Member States. At the same time, solutions have been found and continued efforts are necessary to take into account geopolitical considerations and to ensure a meaningful and inclusive participation of all relevant actors in global health discussions.

scholarly journals Global Public Health Guidelines on Physical Activity and Sedentary Behavior for People Living With Chronic Conditions: A Call to Action

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paddy C. Dempsey ◽  
Christine M. Friedenreich ◽  
Michael F. Leitzmann ◽  
Matthew P. Buman ◽  
Estelle Lambert ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Physical Activity ◽  
World Health Organization ◽  
Sedentary Behavior ◽  
Chronic Conditions ◽  
Premature Mortality ◽  
World Health ◽  
Global Public Health ◽  
The World ◽  
Health Organization

Background: In 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) released global guidelines on physical activity (PA) and sedentary behavior, for the first time providing population-based recommendations for people living with selected chronic conditions. This article briefly presents the guidelines, related processes and evidence, and, importantly, considers how they may be used to support research, practice, and policy. Methods: A brief overview of the scope, agreed methods, selected chronic conditions (adults living with cancer, hypertension, type 2 diabetes, and human immunodeficiency virus), and appraisal of systematic review evidence on PA/sedentary behavior is provided. Methods were consistent with World Health Organization protocols for developing guidelines. Results: Moderate to high certainty evidence (varying by chronic condition and outcome examined) supported that PA can reduce the risk of disease progression or premature mortality and improve physical function and quality of life in adults living with chronic conditions. Direct evidence on sedentary behavior was lacking; however, evidence extrapolated from adult populations was considered applicable, safe, and likely beneficial (low certainty due to indirectness). Conclusions: Clinical and public health professionals and policy makers should promote the World Health Organization 2020 global guidelines and develop and implement services and programs to increase PA and limit sedentary behavior in adults living with chronic conditions.

Why vaccine hesitancy needs to be addressed urgently

2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 115-116
Author(s):  
Dorothy Lepkowska
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Global Health ◽  
World Health Organization ◽  
World Health ◽  
Vaccine Hesitancy ◽  
Public Health Priority ◽  
Health Priority ◽  
The World ◽  
Health Threats ◽  
Health Organization

Vaccine hesitancy was recently listed by the World Health Organization as one of the ten current global health threats. Dorothy Lepkowska looks at the reasons behind the movement and why addressing it should be a public health priority.

scholarly journals Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19): The need for a multidimensional approach

2020 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
pp. 107-108
Author(s):  
Manuel E. Cortés ◽  
Andrea A. Alfaro Silva
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
World Health Organization ◽  
Multidisciplinary Approach ◽  
World Health ◽  
Multidimensional Approach ◽  
Global Public Health ◽  
The World ◽  
Health Organization

Coronavirus disease - 2019 (COVID-19), caused by the SARS-CoV-2, is currently a major concern worldwide1. COVID-19 has produced millions of infections worldwide, also causing hundreds of thousands of deaths1, a fact that has led the World Health Organization (WHO) to declare COVID-19 as a pandemic2. This Letter aims to discuss the main characteristics of COVID-19 and to raise the need for a multidimensional and multidisciplinary approach to deal with this type of threat to global public health.

scholarly journals Vaccine Hesitancy, Acceptance, and Anti-Vaccination: Trends and Future Prospects for Public Health

2021 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 175-191
Author(s):  
Ève Dubé ◽  
Jeremy K. Ward ◽  
Pierre Verger ◽  
Noni E. MacDonald
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Global Health ◽  
World Health Organization ◽  
Negative Influence ◽  
World Health ◽  
Vaccine Hesitancy ◽  
Future Prospects ◽  
The Public ◽  
The World ◽  
Health Organization

An often-stated public health comment is that “vaccination is a victim of its own success.” While the scientific and medical consensus on the benefits of vaccination is clear and unambiguous, an increasing number of people are perceiving vaccines as unsafe and unnecessary. The World Health Organization identified “the reluctance or refusal to vaccinate despite availability of vaccines” as one of the 10 threats to global health in 2019. The negative influence of anti-vaccination movements is often named as a cause of increasing vaccine resistance in the public. In this review, we give an overview of the current literature on the topic, beginning by agreeing on terminology and concepts before looking at potential causes, consequences, and impacts of resistance to vaccination.

(Mis)Information on Digital Platforms: Lessons from Twitter and Sina Weibo in the COVID-19 Pandemic (Preprint)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Kreps
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
World Health Organization ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
The United States ◽  
World Health ◽  
Sina Weibo ◽  
Digital Platforms ◽  
The World ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
Relative Prevalence

BACKGROUND Misinformation about COVID-19 has presented challenges to public health authorities during pandemics. Understanding the prevalence and type of misinformation across contexts offers a way to understand the discourse around COVID-19 while informing potential countermeasures. OBJECTIVE The aim of the study was to study COVID-19 content on two prominent microblogging platform, Twitter, based in the United States, and Sina Weibo, based in China, and compare the content and relative prevalence of misinformation to better understand public discourse of public health issues across social media and cultural contexts. METHODS A total of 3,579,575 posts were scraped from both Weibo and Twitter, focusing on content from January 30th, 2020, when the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 a “Public Health Emergency of International Concern” and February 6th, 2020. A 1% random sample of tweets that contained both the English keywords “coronavirus” and “covid-19” and the equivalent Chinese characters was extracted and analyzed based on changes in the frequencies of keywords and hashtags. Misinformation on each platform was compared by manually coding and comparing posts using the World Health Organization fact-check page to adjudicate accuracy of content. RESULTS Both platforms posted about the outbreak and transmission but posts on Sina Weibo were less likely to reference controversial topics such as the World Health Organization and death and more likely to cite themes of resisting, fighting, and cheering against the coronavirus. Misinformation constituted 1.1% of Twitter content and 0.3% of Weibo content. CONCLUSIONS Quantitative and qualitative analysis of content on both platforms points to cross-platform differences in public discourse surrounding the pandemic and informs potential countermeasures for online misinformation.

OBESITY IN SARS-COV-2 INFECTION: LITERATURE REVIEW

2021 ◽  
pp. 19-23
Author(s):  
Donizete Tavares Da Silva ◽  
Priscila De Sousa Barros Lima ◽  
Renato Sampaio Mello Neto ◽  
Gustavo Magalhães Valente ◽  
Débora Dias Cabral ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome ◽  
Gastrointestinal Tract ◽  
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome ◽  
Distress Syndrome ◽  
Circulatory System ◽  
World Health ◽  
Global Public Health ◽  
The World ◽  
Health Organization

In March 2020, the World Health Organization (1) declared COVID-19 as a pandemic and a threat to global public health (2). The virus mainly affects the lungs and can cause acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). In addition, coronavirus 2 severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARSCOV2) also has devastating effects on other important organs, including the circulatory system, brain, gastrointestinal tract, kidneys and liver

scholarly journals An Uncertain Risk: The World Health Organization's Account of H1N1

2014 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 511-529 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sudeepa Abeysinghe
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Influenza Pandemic ◽  
Scientific Evidence ◽  
H1n1 Influenza ◽  
World Health ◽  
Scientific Uncertainty ◽  
Global Public Health ◽  
The World ◽  
Public Risk ◽  
Health Organization

ArgumentScientific uncertainty is fundamental to the management of contemporary global risks. In 2009, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the start of the H1N1 Influenza Pandemic. This declaration signified the risk posed by the spread of the H1N1 virus, and in turn precipitated a range of actions by global public health actors. This article analyzes the WHO's public representation of risk and examines the centrality of scientific uncertainty in the case of H1N1. It argues that the WHO's risk narrative reflected the context of scientific uncertainty in which it was working. The WHO argued that it was attempting to remain faithful to the scientific evidence, and the uncertain nature of the threat. However, as a result, the WHO's public risk narrative was neither consistent nor socially robust, leading to the eventual contestation of the WHO's position by other global public health actors, most notably the Council of Europe. This illustrates both the significance of scientific uncertainty in the investigation of risk, and the difficulty for risk managing institutions in effectively acting in the face of this uncertainty.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document