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Yearbook of Medical Informatics Aug 2021On December 16, 2020 representatives of the International Medical Informatics Association (IMIA), a Non-Governmental Organization in official relations with the World...
BACKGROUND
On December 16, 2020 representatives of the International Medical Informatics Association (IMIA), a Non-Governmental Organization in official relations with the World Health Organization (WHO), along with its International Academy for Health Sciences Informatics (IAHSI), held an open dialogue with WHO Director General (WHO DG) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus about the opportunities and challenges of digital health during the COVID-19 global pandemic.
OBJECTIVES
The aim of this paper is to report the outcomes of the dialogue and discussions with more than 200 participants representing different civil society organizations (CSOs).
METHODS
The dialogue was held in form of a webinar. After an initial address of the WHO DG, short presentations by the panelists, and live discussions between panelists, the WHO DG and WHO representatives took place. The audience was able to post questions in written. These written discussions were saved with participants' consent and summarized in this paper.
RESULTS
The main themes that were brought up by the audience for discussion were: (a) opportunities and challenges in general; (b) ethics and artificial intelligence; (c) digital divide; (d) education. Proposed actions included the development of a roadmap based on the lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic.
CONCLUSIONS
Decision making by policy makers needs to be evidence-based and health informatics research should be used to support decisions surrounding digital health, and we further propose next steps in the collaboration between IMIA and WHO such as future engagement in the World Health Assembly.
Topics: Artificial Intelligence; Biomedical Technology; COVID-19; Global Health; Health Information Exchange; Humans; Interinstitutional Relations; Medical Informatics; Societies, Medical; Telemedicine; World Health Organization
PubMed: 33882596
DOI: 10.1055/s-0041-1726480 -
Annals of Oncology : Official Journal... Dec 2022
Topics: Humans; World Health Organization; Analgesics
PubMed: 36456102
DOI: 10.1016/j.annonc.2022.08.085 -
Eastern Mediterranean Health Journal =... Oct 2019The World Health Organization (WHO) Eastern Mediterranean Region occupies an exceptional place in the world; not only is it home to over 600 million people and some of...
The World Health Organization (WHO) Eastern Mediterranean Region occupies an exceptional place in the world; not only is it home to over 600 million people and some of the oldest civilizations recorded, it is also unfortunately suffering an unprecedented number of natural and man-made disasters and social conflicts. Regional conflict has led to a multitude of humanitarian crises including displaced populations, trans-border refugee movements, destruction of medical facilities and reduced availability of essential health-care workers. In addition, natural disasters in the form of extreme weather events, as witnessed by the unprecedented flooding in the Islamic Republic of Iran, had the World Bank declaring that the Region is among the most vulnerable to climate change and rising sea levels, with Egypt, Kuwait, Libya, Qatar, Tunisia and the United Arab Emirates particularly at risk. Moreover, much of the Region has been exposed to continuous drought since 1998, the worst dry period for 900 years according to NASA, and an estimated 80-100 million people will be vulnerable to water stress by 2025.
Topics: Africa, Northern; Delivery of Health Care; Developing Countries; Health Status; Humans; Maternal-Child Health Services; Middle East; Noncommunicable Diseases; Socioeconomic Factors; World Health Organization
PubMed: 31625583
DOI: 10.26719/2019.25.9.595 -
Bulletin of the World Health... Nov 2022
Topics: Humans; World Health Organization; Medicine
PubMed: 36324548
DOI: 10.2471/BLT.22.289236 -
JAMA Health Forum Apr 2023
Topics: Anniversaries and Special Events; World Health Organization; Global Health
PubMed: 37103943
DOI: 10.1001/jamahealthforum.2023.1568 -
BMJ Global Health 2020Countries should ensure equitable access to quality medicines. Regulatory systems for medicines and other health technologies are an essential part of well-functioning... (Review)
Review
Countries should ensure equitable access to quality medicines. Regulatory systems for medicines and other health technologies are an essential part of well-functioning health systems and are a requisite for achieving Universal Health and the Sustainable Development Goals. The Pan American Health Organization, the World health Organization (WHO) regional office for the Americas, has assessed national regulatory capacities using a precursor of WHO Global Benchmarking Tool, and conducted an analysis of the data which suggests an association of regulatory capacity with population and the size of the economy. Regulatory capacity tends to decrease as population and gross domestic product decreases. This predominantly impacts the Caribbean sub-region in the Americas, which includes many states with small populations and economies. This paper will use the World Bank's term 'small states' to refer to countries with 1.5 million people or less and other larger countries that face similar challenges. The regulatory challenges of small states include small markets and limited human and financial resources. However, small states can build regulatory systems with a narrower scope that are less resource intensive and still ensure appropriate regulation and oversight. The approach should be tailored to accomplish a subset of WHO recommended essential functions, including marketing authorisation, licensing of establishments and postmarket surveillance/pharmacovigilance, depending on the need to oversee local manufacturing, which requires a comprehensive system. The approach should also include adoption of efficiencies, such as regionalisation and reliance. This model is currently being put in practice in the small states of the Caribbean Community and Pacific Islands and can inform other small states around the world.
Topics: Americas; Government Programs; Humans; United States; World Health Organization
PubMed: 32180997
DOI: 10.1136/bmjgh-2019-001912 -
The Lancet. Global Health Jul 2022
Topics: Global Health; Humans; International Cooperation; International Health Regulations; World Health Organization
PubMed: 35714632
DOI: 10.1016/S2214-109X(22)00254-6 -
Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) May 2019Chronic pain is a global health concern. This special issue on matters related to chronic pain aims to draw on research and scholarly discourse from an eclectic mix of... (Review)
Review
Chronic pain is a global health concern. This special issue on matters related to chronic pain aims to draw on research and scholarly discourse from an eclectic mix of areas and perspectives. The purpose of this non-systematic topical review is to précis an assortment of contemporary topics related to chronic pain and its management to nurture debate about research, practice and health care policy. The review discusses the phenomenon of pain, the struggle that patients have trying to legitimize their pain to others, the utility of the acute-chronic dichotomy, and the burden of chronic pain on society. The review describes the introduction of chronic primary pain in the World Health Organization's International Classification of Disease, 11th Revision and discusses the importance of biopsychosocial approaches to manage pain, the consequences of overprescribing and shifts in service delivery in primary care settings. The second half of the review explores pain perception as a multisensory perceptual inference discussing how contexts, predictions and expectations contribute to the malleability of somatosensations including pain, and how this knowledge can inform the development of therapies and strategies to alleviate pain. Finally, the review explores chronic pain through an evolutionary lens by comparing modern urban lifestyles with genetic heritage that encodes physiology adapted to live in the Paleolithic era. I speculate that modern urban lifestyles may be painogenic in nature, worsening chronic pain in individuals and burdening society at the population level.
Topics: Chronic Pain; Humans; International Classification of Diseases; Medical Overuse; World Health Organization
PubMed: 31117297
DOI: 10.3390/medicina55050182 -
Journal of Traditional Chinese Medicine... Feb 2020In the 11th revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD), the World Health Organization included traditional medicine disorders and patterns originated...
In the 11th revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD), the World Health Organization included traditional medicine disorders and patterns originated from ancient Chinese medicine that are commonly used in China, Japan, Korea and elsewhere around the world. For the first time, a chapter on traditional medicine was incorporated, which has completely changed the status quo on the lack of information on traditional medicine and health statistics in the ICD. In this study, we systematically analyzed the background, structure, content and characteristics of the Traditional Medicine chapter, with focus on its positive effects on promoting the development and utilization of Traditional Chinese Medicine worldwide.
Topics: Internationality; Medicine, Traditional; World Health Organization
PubMed: 32227778
DOI: No ID Found -
Clinics in Chest Medicine Dec 2019The World Health Organization Supranational TB Reference Laboratory Network (SRLN) has served as the backbone for TB drug-resistance surveillance and diagnosis since... (Review)
Review
The World Health Organization Supranational TB Reference Laboratory Network (SRLN) has served as the backbone for TB drug-resistance surveillance and diagnosis since 1994 and remains a key WHO programme for antimicrobial resistance (AMR) surveillance at the global level. SRLN is a great technical resource for proficiency testing to ensure accuracy of drug-susceptibility testing, scale-up, capacity development in countries and provides unique support to the reliable detection of drug resistance. Technical assistance from individual SRLs has been supported by a variety of mechanisms but funding for the SRLN has become increasingly challenging.
Topics: Humans; Laboratories; Quality Assurance, Health Care; Tuberculosis; World Health Organization
PubMed: 31731982
DOI: 10.1016/j.ccm.2019.07.005