Each year on April 7th, the world celebrates World Health Day. On this day around the globe, thousands of events mark the importance of health for productive and happy lives. To reduce child mortality, improve maternal health and combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases are among the Millennium Development Goals which all Member States have pledged to meet by the year 2015.
Health
A Shared Responsibility
Millions of people, most of them children, die each year in developing countries from diseases that are preventable and treatable. Poverty contributes to ill-health because it forces people to live without decent shelter, clean water or adequate sanitation -- environments that make them sick. But health problems not only exist in developing countries –- disease transcends borders and health issues affect people globally.
The World Health Organization (WHO) coordinates efforts to address global health problems. WHO works with local governments to monitor the spread of diseases such as birdflu and the global threat of obesity. It also highlights the importance of other health-related issues such as smoking.
WHO helps countries design and implement health policies that prioritize and respond to the needs of all people. This work includes global advocacy, regional initiatives and direct support to ministries of health in developing countries. To prevent or cure some of the world’s biggest killers, such as HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis, health solutions that are effective and affordable are needed. Millions of lives hang on the development of better, faster treatments. Ç
UNICEF and WHO are working to protect all children from polio by immunizing every child until the disease is eradicated. Along with national governments, Rotary International and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, they are partnering in the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) – the largest and most far-reaching public health initiative of all time. This global initiative has a single goal – a polio-free world for all children.
Twenty years ago, HIV/AIDS was not clearly linked to poverty and inequality but it is now rapidly becoming a disease of the poor, the young and the uneducated. The risk of HIV/AIDS is exacerbated by lack of access to information and basic health care, deteriorating public health infrastructure, political instability and lack of political will to address issues that affect the less powerful. In the 21st century, health is a shared responsibility, involving equitable access to essential care and collective defense against transnational threats. The increased rates of new infections among women and girls must be addressed, otherwise global and national efforts to curb the spread of HIV and achieve other key development goals will be impossible.
In endorsing the Millennium Development Goals world leaders committed to a series of critical steps to stop the spread of HIV. The increased rates of new infections among women and girls must be addressed, otherwise global and national efforts to curb the spread of HIV and achieve other key development goals will be impossible.
All lives, no matter where they are lived, have equal value. Learn how the UN Works to encourage the development of lifesaving medical advances and to ensure they reach the people who are disproportionately affected.
World Health Day 2010
Be part of a global movement to make cities healthier
World Health Day 2010 will focus on urbanization and health. With the campaign "1000 cities - 1000 lives", events will be organized worldwide calling on cities to open up streets for health activities. Stories of urban health champions will be gathered to illustrate what people are doing to improve health in their cities.
About the Global Health Atlas
In a single electronic platform, the WHO’s Communicable Disease Global Atlas is bringing together for analysis and comparison standardized data and statistics for infectious diseases at country, regional, and global levels. The analysis and interpretation of data are further supported through information on demography, socioeconomic conditions, and environmental factors. In so doing, the Atlas specifically acknowledges the broad range of determinants that influence patterns of infectious disease transmission.
Over the next year, the system aims to provide a single point of access to data, reports and documents on the major diseases of poverty including malaria, HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, the diseases on their way towards eradication and elimination (such as guinea worm, leprosy, lymphatic filariasis) and epidemic prone and emerging infections for example meningitis, cholera, yellow fever and anti-infective drug resistance.
The database will be updated on an ongoing basis and in addition to epidemiological information, the system aims to provide information on essential support services such as the network of communicable diseases collaborating centres, the activities of the Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network among others.
How to use the Global Health Atlas
Data Query - That allows users to browse, view, query, search the contents of the WHO’s Communicable Disease global database and output data in reports, charts and maps.
Interactive Mapping - That provides a user-friendly mapping interface that allows users to select geographic areas of interest and create maps of diseases, the location of health facilities, schools, roads, geographic features.
Maps and Resources - That provides access to the public domain to static maps and related documents, publications and statistics on infectious diseases.
Health and the Millennium Development Goals
In September 2000, the largest-ever gathering of Heads of State ushered in the new millennium by adopting the Millennium Declaration. The Declaration, endorsed by 189 countries, was then translated into a roadmap setting out goals to be reached by 2015.
The eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) build on agreements made at United Nations conferences in the 1990s and represent commitments to reduce poverty and hunger, and to tackle ill-health, gender inequality, lack of education, lack of access to clean water and environmental degradation.
The MDGs are framed as a compact, which recognizes the contribution that developed countries can make through trade, development assistance, debt relief, access to essential medicines and technology transfer.
Some of WHO's work is tied directly to one MDG, for example, WHO's work on HIV/AIDS. Other work touches not one specific goal, but several at the same time, for example, WHO's work on strengthening health systems.
Improving Reproductive Health
Everyone has the right to enjoy reproductive health, which is a basis for having healthy children, intimate relationships and happy families. Reproductive health encompasses key areas of the UNFPA vision – that every child is wanted, every birth is safe, every young person is free of HIV and every girl and woman is treated with dignity and respect.
Reproductive health problems remain the leading cause of ill health and death for women of childbearing age worldwide. Impoverished women, especially those living in developing countries, suffer disproportionately from unintended pregnancies, maternal death and disability, sexually transmitted infections including HIV, gender-based violence and other problems related to their reproductive system and sexual behaviour. Because young people often face barriers in trying to get the information or care they need, adolescent reproductive health is another important focus of UNFPA programming. And all programming relies on the availability of essential supplies.
The critical importance of reproductive health to development has been acknowledged at the highest level. At the 2005 World Summit, world leaders added universal access to reproductive health as a target in Millennium Development Goals framework. UNFPA is fully committed to mobilizing support and scaling up efforts to make reproductive health for all a reality by 2015.
Latest News
05 October 2009
Obstetricians Award UNFPA Head for Her Contributions to Women?s Health
CAPE TOWN, South Africa — FIGO, the International Federation of Gynaecologists and Obstetricians, has conferred its Recognition Award on Thoraya Ahmed Obaid, the Executive Director of UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, for her major contributions to women’s health and rights. This is highest honour that FIGO bestows on those who are not gynaecologists or obstetricians. Ms. Obaid received the award at the XIXth World Congress of Gynaecologists and Obstetricians being held in Cape Town, South Africa. The five-day Congress brings together 8,000 participants in search of solutions to major global problems, such as maternal death, cervical cancer as well as the links between gender violence and HIV infection.
01 October 2009
Empowering Women to Protect Themselves: Promoting the Female Condom in Zimbabwe
New York — When AIDS first struck in the 1980s, it mainly affected men. Today, women account for about half of the 33 million people living with HIV worldwide, and 60 per cent of those infected in sub-Saharan Africa. The large majority of these women acquired the virus through heterosexual intercourse, mostly through unprotected sex with their husbands or long-term primary partners.
18 September 2009
Asian Governments Pledge to Complete Cairo Reproductive Health Agenda
BANGKOK— A global action plan linking reproductive health, women’s rights and development remains an urgent priority 15 years after its adoption, Asian and the Pacific governments affirmed today. Senior officials from 30 countries pledged to do more to promote safe motherhood, family planning, gender equality and adolescent health, at a forum reviewing regional progress since the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD).
09 September 2009
NGO Forum Closing Promises New Action on Women's Health and Rights
BERLIN, Germany — A global forum held in Berlin put governments and international donors on notice that advocates for women’s health and rights will now be speaking more frankly and pressing more strongly for speedy action, investment and an end to gender-based discrimination.
08 September 2009
Geri Halliwell on Mission to Nepal to Highlight Impact of Maternal Death, Injuries
KATHMANDU/LONDON — Former Spice Girl, Geri Halliwell, a Goodwill Ambassador of UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, will be in Nepal from 6 to 9 September to highlight the devastating effects of maternal death and injuries such as uterine prolapse on women in the country. A mother herself, Ms. Halliwell will witness efforts to make motherhood safer in the country.
Strengthening efforts to Prevent HIV
The AIDS epidemic is a global catastrophe responsible for over 20 million deaths worldwide, tens of millions of children left orphaned, and some 33 million people living with HIV. Although global HIV prevalence has levelled off, AIDS is among the leading causes of death globally and remains the primary cause of death in Africa.
Evidence shows that sustained, intensive programmes in diverse settings are reducing HIV incidence through behaviour changes, such as increased use of condoms, delayed sexual initiation and fewer sexual partners.
As one of ten co-sponsors of UNAIDS, UNFPA works to intensify and scale up HIV prevention efforts using rights-based and evidence-informed strategies, including attention to the gender inequalities that add fuel to the epidemic.
Within UNAIDS, the Fund takes a leadership role in condom programming and prevention among young people and women, two groups who are increasingly at risk of infection. It also reaches out to other vulnerable populations. Linking HIV responses with sexual and reproductive health care is the overarching strategy for reaching more people cost-effectively and moving towards the goal of universal access to prevention, treatment, care and support by 2010.
UNFPA is also committed to the human rights of people living with HIV and works to widen their access to sexual and reproductive health care that meets their specific needs.
Latest News
01 October 2009
Empowering Women to Protect Themselves: Promoting the Female Condom in Zimbabwe
New York — When AIDS first struck in the 1980s, it mainly affected men. Today, women account for about half of the 33 million people living with HIV worldwide, and 60 per cent of those infected in sub-Saharan Africa. The large majority of these women acquired the virus through heterosexual intercourse, mostly through unprotected sex with their husbands or long-term primary partners.
02 September 2009
Forum on Women?s Health and Rights Opens With Claim on Economic Stimulus Funds
BERLIN — Activists from 131 countries convened here today to recharge a global movement for women’s health and rights, opening with an appeal from a leading German minister for countries to earmark 1 per cent of their economic stimulus funds for development needs
17 August 2009
UNFPA Marks First-ever World Humanitarian Day
On 19 August 2009, UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, joins the rest of the humanitarian community in marking the first World Humanitarian Day. In the last decade, more than 700 humanitarian workers lost their lives while helping those most in need in the world’s most difficult environments. Thousands more have endured bombing, kidnapping, attacks, hijacking, robbery and rape.
10 August 2009
End Discrimination Against People at Greatest Risk, UNFPA Stresses at Asian AIDS Congress
NUSA DUA, Indonesia — Speaking at the 9th International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific (ICAAP) in Bali, Ms. Mane called for an end to harassment of sex workers, injecting drug users and men who have sex with men, and said HIV prevention efforts in the region need to focus on these groups, which account for most new infections in the region. “An absolutely necessary first step” in responding more effectively to the epidemic “is to ensure legal protection for populations that engage in high-risk behaviours,” she said.
11 July 2009
Investing in Women and Girls: Cost-Effective and Smart Economics, Says UNFPA
UNITED NATIONS, New York—Investing in women and girls during the global financial crisis will help set the stage for economic recovery and reduce inequality and poverty, according to Thoraya Ahmed Obaid, Executive Director of UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund.
Improving the health of children is one responsibility among many in the fight against poverty. Healthy children become healthy adults: people who create better lives for themselves, their communities and their countries. Improving the health of the world's children is a core UNICEF objective. Since our founding, we have made significant progress in immunization, oral rehydration to save the lives of infants with severe diarrhoea, promoting and protecting breastfeeding, fighting HIV/AIDS, micronutrient supplementation and health education.
UNICEF has an extensive global health presence, and strong partnerships with governments and non-governmental organizations at national and community levels. UNICEF understands the reasons why children are dying. On a daily basis we work to bring practical solutions to the women and children at greatest risk. UNICEF knows what it takes to ensure the survival and health of children and women.
UNICEF approaches all of the threats to child health – and there are many – with extensive experience, efficient logistics and creativity.
Children and HIV and AIDS
Over twenty-five years into the AIDS epidemic, the children in its path remain at grave risk. In 2007, over two million children under 15 years of age were estimated to be living with HIV and 370,000 children became newly infected. Millions of children live in communities heavily burdened with disease, where it is not uncommon for a child to have lost a parent, both parents, or caregivers to AIDS. Without proper support, many of these children may experience poverty, school drop-out, indignities or early death.
Recognizing this, UNICEF has placed HIV at the heart of its response for children. The Unite for Children, Unite against AIDS campaign, launched in 2005, first drew the world’s attention to children, the missing face of AIDS. The Campaign, in line with UNICEF's priorities, works to meet Millennium Development Goal 6. The annually released "Stocktaking Report" takes ana hard look at global progress in prevention, testing, treatment and support for children affected by HIV or AIDS and their parents. 'Children and AIDS: Third Stocktaking Report' is now available.
The four "P"s guide UNICEF's response for children:
(1) Preventing mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) of HIV;
(2) Providing paediatric treatment;
(3) Preventing infection among adolescents and young people; and
(4) Protecting and supporting children affected by AIDS.
UNICEF also provides support to healthcare delivery systems in resource-constrained areas and the management of HIV supplies needed by children and their parents.
Immunization
Immunization describes the whole process of delivery of a vaccine and the immunity it generates in an individual and population. A vaccine is a special form of a disease-causing agent (e.g., virus or bacteria) that has been developed to protect against that disease.
Edward Jenner demonstrated the value of immunization against smallpox in 1792. Nearly 200 years later, in 1977, smallpox was eradicated from the world through the widepsread and targeted use of the vaccine. In 1974, based on the emerging succes of smallpox, the World Health Organization (WHO) established the Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI). Through the 1980s, UNICEF worked with WHO to achieve Universal Childhood Immunization of the six EPI vaccines (BCG, OPV, diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, and measles). As a result global immunization coverage increased from less than 20 per cent to nearly 80 per cent by 1990. Progress stagnated in the 1990s, but coverage has been improving since the formation of the GAVI Alliance in 2000. Nearly 30 million children are still not fully immunized every year.
The last 20 years have seen an explosion in the number of new vaccines. By the end of 2006, 164 countries had added hepatitis B vaccine (HepB) and 104 countries had added Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) vaccine is not as good, with only 104 Member States having introduced it by 2006 (compared with 101 in 2005).
UNICEF uses the opportunity of immunization to deliver other life-saving services, too. This includes providing regular vitamin A supplements, insecticide-treated mosquito nets to help protect families from malaria, and other locally appropriate interventions.
UNICEF is a global leader in vaccine supply, reaching 40 per cent of the world’s children. Immunization is a central part of our commitment to protecting the world’s most vulnerable children.
Sources:
http://www.un.org/depts/dhl/health/index.html
http://www.un.org/works/sub2.asp?lang=en&s=13
http://www.who.int/world-health-day/en/
http://apps.who.int/globalatlas/default.asp
http://www.who.int/mdg/en/
http://www.unfpa.org/rh/
http://www.unfpa.org/hiv/index.htm
http://www.unicef.org/health/index.html
http://www.unicef.org/aids/index.php
http://www.unicef.org/immunization/index.html