Work enabled by WHO contributors is building up countries’ health systems to prevent and tackle health threats more effectively, and in closer partnerships with communities.
Recent stories from WHO regional offices describe ways that villages chiefs in Cambodia are applying their new WHO training to promote community health, and how polio vaccinators in the Republic of Congo have harnessed new geo-tracking technology to make sure no children are left behind.
A story from Honduras reports on the country’s first use of genetic sequencing, an essential diagnostics technology, while from Bhutan and Timor-Leste comes good news about rubella elimination.
Read these pieces and others touching on Ghana, Kiribati, Lebanon, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Vanuatu and Viet Nam.
Grassroot heroes: How village chiefs in Cambodia are stepping up to create a healthier future
Mrs Say Sa smiles as she holds her toddler at a Cambodian health clinic. ©WHO/Aforative Media
Village chiefs from across the country’s 25 provinces are using their WHO-supported training to help control the transmission of coronavirus, influenza and other respiratory diseases, while collaborating with authorities on health issues facing their communities.
The training was co-funded by the European Union (EU) as part of a € 20.5 million agreement to support 8 countries from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) over 3 years.
Read about the chiefs’ efforts.
Project seeks to make Pacific Island health systems more resilient to climate change
Government representatives from Kiribati, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu joined representatives from WHO and UNDP in Suva, Fiji, to plan the implementation of a five-year, US$ 17.85 million, GEF-funded project supporting climate resilient health systems. Photo: ©WHO/Crystal Pae
The 5-year project was launched in July with funds from the Global Environment Facility and is being co-financed by Kiribati, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.
“We know that the health impacts of climate and environmental change are already being felt here in the Pacific and, on our current trajectory, things are just going to get worse,” said Dr Mark Jacobs, Director of Pacific Technical Support and WHO Representative to the South Pacific. “Yet, while these countries have contributed so little to the creation of the problem, they often find it difficult to access the level of funding required to counter this increasing health crisis. So that’s why we are grateful to UNDP and GEF for this support which will enable Kiribati, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu and Vanuatu to take meaningful action to keep their health systems running, identify health threats early and save lives.”
Italian-funded cancer drugs arrive to help address Lebanon’s medical crisis
Italian Ambassador visits Lebanon’s central drug warehouse as Italian-funded cancer drugs arrive to help address the country’s medical crisis. Photo: ©WHO
Italy’s € 1.25 million contribution has helped procure oncology medications for more than 300 children and 1000 adults in Lebanon over the past 2 years. The contribution was made through WHO’s Bilateral Emergency Fund.
Read about the Italian ambassador’s visit to Lebanon’s central drug warehouse to meet with Lebanese and WHO partners.
Geo-tracking system enhances polio response in Congo
A polio vaccinator uses a geo tracker in Republic of Congo. ©WHO
The Republic of Congo is using geospatial tracking to help vaccinators reach all children, responding to the detection in March of a circulating poliovirus variant.
“All you have to do is charge your phone and make sure you turn on the tracker when you are out on the streets,” said WHO-trained vaccinator Sandrine Lina, showing her device to the rest of her team. “I just put it in my pocket and go from house to house.”
The tracker acts like any other mobile application, counting steps and using the coordinates collected to locate them on the map. At the end of every day, this information is synthesized to determine which houses still need to be visited by vaccinators, providing clear guidance to teams to help ensure no children are overlooked.
See the full photo story about Congo’s polio vaccinators
Related: Outbreak response assessments boost polio preparedness, one health facility at a timeBhutan and Timor-Leste eliminate rubella
A young mother with her baby and a pregnant woman in Dili, Timor-Leste, waiting at a clinic for vaccination. Focused efforts by countries to strengthen routine immunization services and community engagement have helped achieve elimination of vaccine preventable diseases such as rubella. Photo: WHO/Shamila Sharma
WHO’s South-East Asia Region announced in July that Bhutan and Timor-Leste had eliminated rubella, a vaccine-preventable disease that causes serious illness and birth defects in newborns.
The countries join Maldives and Sri Lanka in having eliminated rubella by 2023, which is a priority in WHO’s South-East Asia Region.
“Strong government leadership and steadfast commitment of health-care workers, volunteers and partners, and community participation have been critical to implementation of strong vaccine-preventable disease surveillance and increasing access to immunization services,” said Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh, WHO Regional Director of South-East Asia, congratulating Bhutan and Timor-Leste on their achievement.
More on technology: How Honduras succeeded in performing genomic sequencing for the first time
Basic emergency care saving lives in Ghana | WHO | Regional Office for Africa
Basic emergency care saving lives in Ghana
A WHO staff joins health workers from the Kintampo South District Hospital to check on the health situation of a hospitalized injured patient. Photo: WHO
Ghana embarked in December 2022 on an initiative by WHO’s Africa Region to reinforce the skills and capacity of health workers to provide basic emergency health services in low-resource settings.
The training aims to train health workers as well as bolster emergency services often hampered by constrained health workforce and facilities.
The story tells the experience of various health workers, including two who, following the training, were able to save a young man’s life after a road crash: “I could tell his condition was so serious that he would need transfer to a bigger facility, which is far away,” recalls Gideon Asare, the brother of the injured man. “But the health-care workers here attended to him quickly and his condition began improving after some hours.”
Viet Nam: Cold chain support helps restore childhood immunization and strengthen primary health care
A health worker in Thanh Hoa Province in Viet Nam uses a motorbike to deliver vaccines to remote areas. Photo: WHO Viet Nam /Linh Pham.
When Viet Nam wanted to rapidly roll out COVID-19 vaccines in remote communities in Thanh Hoa Province in late 2021, there was a problem.
Many of the province’s 500 commune health centres, which serve the population of 3.7 million people, did not have fridges to keep COVID-19 vaccines in.
Instead, health workers used motorbikes to drive several hours each way to a district hospital to pick up just enough supplies for one day’s vaccination campaign in mountainous villages.
This problem also slowed catch-up immunization for children. To help accelerate this programme and strengthen the capacity of commune health centres, WHO, with funding from the Korean International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), delivered 200 fridges to Thanh Hoa Provincial Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.
WHO thanks all governments, organizations and individuals who are contributing to the Organization’s work, with special appreciation for those who provide fully flexible contributions to maintain a strong, independent WHO.
- Donors and partners featured in this story include:
- The European Union
- Global Environment Facility
- Global Polio Eradication Initiative
- Government of the United States of America
- Korean International Cooperation Agency
- United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
- WHO Contingency Fund for Emergencies (contributors in 2022-23: Canada, Estonia, Germany, Kuwait, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Philippines, Portugal, Slovakia, Switzerland, United States of America).