Since its identification in China in December 2019, the novel coronavirus COVID-19 has rapidly evolved into a pandemic. COVID-19 manifests with non-specific respiratory symptoms of variable severity and may require advanced respiratory support. The diagnosis of COVID-19 is currently confirmed by laborato...
During public health emergencies, people need to know what health risks they face, and what actions they can take to protect their health and lives. Accurate information provided early, often, and in languages and channels that people understand, trust and use, enables individuals to make choices and tak...
The World Health Organization (WHO) convened a technical consultation during 1–2 December 2016 to review new evidence on the risk of HIV acquisition with the use of hormonal contraception. The issue was recognized as a critical one, particularly for sub-Saharan Africa, where women have a high lifetime ...
The AA-HA! guidance aims to assist governments in deciding what they plan to do – and how they plan to do it – as they respond to the health needs of adolescents in their countries. It is intended as a reference document for national-level policy-makers and programme managers to assist them in planni...
This document is part of the process for improving the quality of care in family planning. Specifically, it is one of two evidence-based cornerstones (guidance documents) of the World Health Organization’s (WHO’s) initiative to develop and implement family planning guidelines for national programmes....
Endorsed, by the UN Secretary-General, this is a comprehensive WHO guideline on routine ANC for pregnant women and adolescent girls. It aims to complement existing WHO guidelines on the management of specific pregnancy-related complications. The guidance aims to capture the complex nature of the issues s...
These guidelines are intended primarily for health-care professionals involved in the care of girls and women who have been subjected to any form of female genital mutilation (FGM). This document also provides guidance for policy-makers, health-care managers and others in charge of planning, developing a...
Infections are responsible for about one fifth of the world’s annual 2.7 million neonatal deaths. In South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa about one quarter of all neonatal deaths are due to infections. Many sick infants only have non-specific signs, and thus are not recognized to have infection. Even when...
This document is part of the process for improving the quality of care in family planning. Medical eligibility criteria for contraceptive use (MEC), the first edition of which was published in 1996, presents current WHO guidance on the safety of various contraceptive methods for use in the context of spe...
Planned and regulated task shifting and task sharing can have a range of benefits. It can ensure a rational optimization of the available health workforce, address health system shortages of specialized health-care professionals, improve equity in access to health care and increase the acceptability of h...
