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According to the United Nations

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Around the world

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Grade 3 emergencies

Grade 3: a single or multiple country event with substantial public health consequences that requires a substantial WCO response and/or substantial international WHO response. Organizational and/or external support required by the WCO is substantial. An Emergency Support Team, run out of the regional office, coordinates the provision of support to the WCO.

Grade 2 emergencies

Grade 2: a single or multiple country event with moderate public health consequences that requires a moderate WCO response and/or moderate international WHO response. Organizational and/or external support required by the WCO is moderate. An Emergency Support Team, run out of the regional office (the Emergency Support Team is only run out of HQ if multiple regions are affected), coordinates the provision of support to the WCO.

Grade 1 emergencies

Grade 1: a single or multiple country event with minimal public health consequences that requires a minimal WCO response or a minimal international WHO response. Organizational and/or external support required by the WCO is minimal. The provision of support to the WCO is coordinated by a focal point in the regional office.

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Grade 3: a single or multiple country event with substantial public health consequences that requires a substantial WCO response and/or substantial international WHO response. Organizational and/or external support required by the WCO is substantial. An Emergency Support Team, run out of the regional office, coordinates the provision of support to the WCO.

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400 million people do not have access to essential health services

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New report shows that 400 million do not have access to essential health services

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A WHO and World Bank Group report launched today shows that 400 million people do not have access to essential health services and 6% of people in low- and middle-income countries are tipped into or pushed further into extreme poverty because of health spending.

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Health system governance refers to the rules and norms that shape roles and responsibilities, incentives and interactions in the health sector. Governments play a major role in setting the governance arrangements in the health sector. They act through a broad range of legal, policy, planning and monitoring instruments. Health service providers, both public and private, and citizens, further constitute the core actors in conventional health governance models. Linkages between these three groups are essential to health system performance and the achievement of universal health coverage (UHC).

International organizations, corporations and other networks also play a role in health system governance. Beyond the legal and other formal instruments available to government, a variety of conventions, norms, cultural traditions, forms of persuasion, force, economic pressure and other mechanisms are increasingly shaping governance arrangements and health system performance.

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Health system governance refers to the rules and norms that shape roles and responsibilities, incentives and interactions in the health sector. Governments play a major role in setting the governance arrangements in the health sector. They act through a broad range of legal, policy, planning and monitoring instruments.

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10 top countries

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Many American conservatives oppose universal health insurance because they see it as fundamentally antithetical to a free society. "If we persevere in our quixotic quest for a fetishized medical equality we will sacrifice personal freedom as its price," wrote a guest editorialist in the ]Wall Street Journal in 2009. But according to the Heritage Foundation, a leading conservative think tank, ten nations freer than the United States have achieved universal health coverage. It turns out that the right kind of health reform could cover more Americans while increasing economic freedom.

Today, Heritage published its 2015 Index of Economic Freedom, an annual look at economic liberty around the world. The United States stayed put at #12, just below Ireland, Mauritius, and Denmark.

What's striking about the list is that of the eleven countries ahead of the U.S. in economic freedom, ten have achieved universal coverage. Many Americans on both the right on the left subscribe to the myth that the U.S. has a free-market health care system. It doesn't. U.S. government entities spend more per-capita on health care than all but two other countries in the world.
The Swiss and Singaporean models
The two advanced economies with the most economically free health care systems-Switzerland and Singapore-have achieved universal health insurance while spending a fraction of what the U.S. spends. Switzerland's public spending on health care is about half of America's, and Singapore's is about a fifth of ours. If we had either of those systems, we wouldn't have a federal budget deficit.

Tellingly, on the Heritage Index of Economic Freedom, both Switzerland (#5) and Singapore (#2) rank far higher than the U.S. on overall economic freedom. Both countries serve as models for my health reform plan, Transcending Obamacare, which would adapt features of the Swiss and Singaporean health care systems to liberate U.S. health care from onerous regulations and wasteful spending. We've modeled the plan as reducing federal spending by $10.5 trillion over 30 years, while increasing the number of people with health insurance by 12 million.

Not all nations ranking higher than the U.S. for overall economic freedom have exemplary health care systems. Canada (#6) has a government-run, single-payer health insurance system with long wait times, restricted access to the latest technology, and fiscal challenges. But imagine how much freer Canada is in other economic spheres, given that it ranks so much higher the U.S. despite government-run health care.
Conservatives have succumbed to the left's view of health care
Here's something you hear a lot in conservative circles: "We'll never outbid the left when it comes to covering more people, so we shouldn't even try." Philip Klein makes this argument in his new e-book, Overcoming Obamacare, in which he argues that "supporting Roy's proposal would be a huge leap for limited government conservatives" because they would "be expected to embrace the goal of universal coverage." Conservatives like Klein have accepted the left's framing of health care: that the only way to cover more people is to expand the scope and scale of government.

Think about that for a second. Would you ever hear a conservative say "We'll never outbid the left on job growth, so we shouldn't even try?" Or "We'll never outbid the left on education reform, so we shouldn't even try?" Or "We'll never outbid the left on the number of Americans with smartphones, so we shouldn't even try?"

Of course not. In each of those instances, the advocate of free markets would say: "Economic freedom will lead to more job growth, better schools, and technological innovation." So why is it that conservatives have accepted that the only way to expand access to health care is through more government?

It's bollocks. The reason why U.S. government health care is so big already, without achieving universal coverage, is that we heavily subsidize health coverage for Americans with high incomes, while leaving many Americans with low incomes unsubsidized. If we had a true safety net, in which we helped the poor and sick get coverage-while letting the wealthy buy health care in the free market-we'd spend a fraction of what we do today.

These are the lessons driven home today by the Heritage Foundation's annual rankings. They're lessons that conservatives ought to consider.

* * *

READ AVIK'S NEW HEALTH-REFORM PLAN, Transcending Obamacare: A Patient-Centered Plan for Near-Universal Coverage and Permanent Fiscal Solvency. Follow @Avik on , Google+, and YouTube, and The Apothecary on Facebook. Or, sign up to receive a weekly e-mail digest of articles from The Apothecary.

... Read More

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Conservative Think Tank: 10 Countries With Universal Health Care Have Freer Economies Than The U.S.

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Many American conservatives oppose universal health insurance because they see it as fundamentally antithetical to a free society. "If we persevere in our quixotic quest for a fetishized medical equality we will sacrifice personal freedom as its price," wrote a guest editorialist in the Wall Street Journal in 2009.

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remember the login uwcsea and password secret

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Zika has been around for decades, but it started making waves once it hit South America's shores. Find out why this virus has been hogging news headlines.

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Top 16 countries

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Focusing On Good Eating Habits

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Newsela | A cooking-as-medicine revolution is entering the health care world

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80% of diabetes deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries.

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WHO: Halt the rise, take the steps needed to beat diabetes! World Health Day 2016

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Most Malawians live in rural areas, far from hospitals, so the government has opened its airspace to test delivery drones that can carry medicines.

Most Malawians live in rural areas and if they get sick, it can be incredibly difficult to get testing kits or medicines in time. Malawi's government has now opened up part of its sky to companies and charities who want to use drones to solve this problem, creating what's being called the world's first humanitarian drone testing corridor. World Hacks travels to rural Malawi to assess the opportunities and dangers from this new technology, and to see how much Malawians could benefit.

Image: Villagers in rural Malawi look on as a drone carrying medical supplies is unloaded / Credit: BBC

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BBC World Service - People Fixing the World, Drone Delivery: Medicines By Air

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Most Malawians live in rural areas, far from hospitals, so the government has opened its airspace to test delivery drones that can carry medicines. Most Malawians live in rural areas and if they get sick, it can be incredibly difficult to get testing kits or medicines in time.

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Newsela | What the new health care bill means, if it passes

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People with pre-existing health problems may find it hard to pay for affordable coverage.

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Newsela | Increasing air pollution levels pose greater risk to children than adults

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Some 90 percent of world's children live in places with high air pollution.

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African Girls and the UN Sustainability goals

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African Girls and the UN Sustainability goals

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See section on Health

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Working to improve health, hygiene and sanitation globally...

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SurfAid

A non-profit humanitarian organisation whose aim is to improve the health, wellbeing and self-reliance of people living in isolated regions connected to us through surfing.

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A non-profit humanitarian organisation whose aim is to improve the health, wellbeing and self-reliance of people living in isolated regions connected to us through surfing.

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Making a difference in healthcare globally

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We already have the breakthrough technologies needed to provide safe and affordable sanitation services to the billions of people who are at risk of waste-borne diseases. Building markets and attracting businesses to this emerging sector are the next big challenges.

By Doulaye Kone Deputy Director, Water, Sanitation, & Hygiene, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Subscribe to The Optimist to get weekly updates on the latest in global health, gender equality, education, and more.

Subscribe to The Optimist to get weekly updates on the latest in global health, gender equality, education, and more.

Foundation facts

For the year ended December 31, 2022. Amount in U.S. dollars.

More about the foundation

For 20 years, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has been committed to fighting the greatest inequities in the world.

We are focused on results. Those that can be measured. And those measured in ways beyond numbers.

Learn about the origins of the foundation and the values that drive our work.

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We are a nonprofit fighting poverty, disease, and inequity around the world

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How vaccinating children is making a difference

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Vaccines are among the greatest advances in global health and development. For over two centuries, vaccines have safely reduced the scourge of diseases like polio, measles and smallpox, helping children grow up healthy and happy. They save more than five lives every minute - preventing up to three million deaths a year, even before the arrival of COVID-19.
>>Read more on immunization and COVID-19
Thanks to immunization efforts worldwide, children are able to walk, play, dance and learn. Vaccinated children do better at school, with economic benefits that ripple across their communities. Today, vaccines are estimated to be one of the most cost-effective means of advancing global welfare.

Despite these longstanding benefits, low immunization levels persist. Some 20 million children miss out on life-saving vaccines annually. The most poor and marginalized children - often most in need of vaccines - continue to be the least likely to get them. Many live in countries affected by conflict, in remote areas, or where polio remains endemic.

Low immunization rates also compromise progress in areas of maternal and child health and well-being.

In 2019, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared vaccine hesitancy to be one of the top threats to public health. While vaccine hesitancy is as old as vaccination itself, the nature of the challenge continues to shift with the social landscape. Today, vaccine hesitancy and the 'infodemic' it fuels are key drivers of under-vaccination across the globe.

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Vaccines are among the greatest advances in global health and development. For over two centuries, vaccines have safely reduced the scourge of diseases like polio, measles and smallpox, helping children grow up healthy and happy. They save more than five lives every minute - preventing up to three million deaths a year, even before the arrival of COVID-19.

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Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals requires a global shift from treating diseases to strengthening health systems, so that children and women of reproductive age have access to affordable, quality care. UNICEF works around the world - including in some of the hardest-to-reach places - to help children grow up healthy and happy. Through public and private partnerships at the global, national and community levels, we focus on:

Maternal, newborn and child survival: UNICEF works to end preventable maternal, newborn and child deaths and stillbirths by scaling up essential maternal and newborn care, sustaining immunization programmes, and supporting preventive, promotive and curative services for pneumonia, diarrhoea, malaria and other child health conditions.

Child and adolescent health and well-being: We help children and adolescents build a solid foundation for adulthood by strengthening national health plans and age-specific services. UNICEF works with countries to combat non-communicable diseases, improve mental health, prevent injuries and support children with developmental delays and disabilities.

Strengthening health systems: UNICEF supports primary health care, especially at the community level, to help achieve universal health coverage. We strengthen integrated services for children, adolescents and women of reproductive age - focusing on health, nutrition, early childhood development, HIV and AIDS, and WASH (water, sanitation and hygiene).

Health in emergencies: We help countries develop resilient health systems that can withstand crises, and provide frontline support in places affected by conflicts, natural disasters, migration, urbanization, and political and economic instability.

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Every child has the right to survive and thrive.

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Universities work to research and improve life and health in slums

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Professor Onno van Schayck, and Cristian, Preeti and Megha - the three PhD researchers working on Project Exhale - attended the International Primary Care Respiratory Group (IPCRG) South Asian Scientific Conference in Colombo, Sri Lanka at the beginning of August, 2017. Professor Onno van Schayck spoke on the "Global impact of air pollution and local [...]

A health camp organized by Health in Slums, Bangalore Baptist Hospital and Pragathi Charitable Trust was held in Ashrayanagar in July, 2017. During the health camp, the local community was provided with a health check (with approximately 100-150 consultations) and free medicines as needed. One member of the community - a 65 year old woman [...]

We are pleased to announce that a new article entitled "COPD and asthma: the emergency is clear, now is the time for action" by Onno van Schayck and Esther Boudewijns has been published in The Lancet. You can access it here.

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Professor Onno van Schayck, and Cristian, Preeti and Megha - the three PhD researchers working on Project Exhale - attended the International Primary Care Respiratory Group (IPCRG) South Asian Scientific Conference in Colombo, Sri Lanka at the beginning of August, 2017. Professor Onno van Schayck spoke on the "Global impact of air pollution and local [...]

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"Two Teenage Girls Find the 'Elixir' to India's Clean Water Crisis" Global Youth Voices.

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"Two Teenage Girls Find the 'Elixir' to India's Clean Water Crisis" Global Youth Voices.

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This article tells the story of two girls using science to make a change.

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"As Experts Ponder World Water Crisis, teenagers show creativity" Christian Science Monitor. 2006

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"As Experts Ponder World Water Crisis, teenagers show creativity" Christian Science Monitor. 2006

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This article highlights what several teens are doing to educate communities about proper hygiene and collaborate with each other on projects around the world.

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As water experts meet in Mexico City to debate the world's daunting water crisis, 15-year-old Dolly Akhter is here to share her simple approach.

She and 6,000 other girls canvass the slums of Dhaka, going door to door in the Bangladeshi capital to tout good hygiene. "We talk to families and especially the teenage girls about the importance of washing their hands," explains Dolly.

She is among 100 or so children from more than 30 countries participating in the Children's Water Forum held parallel to the 4th World Water Forum. While the adults argue over ideological differences, the youngsters showcase the grass-roots action that reaches those hardest hit by the lack of safe water and basic sanitation:

* Suresh Baral, 13, leads a club in rural Nepal that helps communities pay for toilets through microfinancing;

* As leader of Nigeria's Children Parliament, 15-year-old Ibrahim Adamuy implores government officials to put aside their "mounds of paper" and talk about solutions;

* Anyeli González, 16, heads a program at her high school in Colombia that brings in local storytellers, puppeteers, and water company executives to raise environmental awareness;

* 9th-grader Happy Sisomphone directs a radio program in Laos to improve sanitation;

"Youth-led ideas may seem simple," says Jamal Shagir, the World Bank's director of water and energy. "But they represent fantastic opportunities for changing behavior and attitudes within communities. The international community must continue to push these programs along and harness young people's energy."

Coming together to find solutions

In the conference halls, the teenagers mix with the larger forum's 11,000 adult participants - industry leaders, government ministers, and nongovernmental groups - from more than 100 countries.

Adult-led seminars on water policy have been marked by ideological feuds: Business-friendly politicians and corporationspromote privatization and private sector control over water delivery, while others - who also push their agenda in street protests outside the conference - believe water is a public domain that should be managed by communities.

Just like the older experts here, the teenage activists rattle off the grim facts: More than a billion people are without adequate sewage and sanitation, according to the United Nations (UN), and more than 3 million deaths a year are blamed on water-borne disease.

The teenagers tend to avoid politics and corporate agendas and focus on cooperative action. They're here to learn about each other's projects and spread the word to more children.

"We must all fight together to change our lives and those of others," says Dolly, who was flown here from her bamboo-and-tin home by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). "How can we stand by and let children die if there are solutions?"

Vanessa Tobin, chief of UNICEF's water and sanitation section, appreciates the straightforward talk. "There's no diplomacy in their dialogue. It's all very direct and very honest."

Ms. Tobin's section also runs education programs at schools in more than 70 countries, and helped kick-start Dhaka's hygiene education program. Such youth-led projects are often launched and funded by UNICEF and other groups, such as the US-based nonprofit Water Education for Teachers and the humanitarian agency Oxfam. They hope that getting kids involved at the grass-roots level now will pay off in the long term.

"When you get young people involved at an early enough age, you're putting in place a mind-set that will be there 20 years from now," says Tobin. "The experiences these children are having now won't be forgotten."

Getting results, bit by bit

Suresh's toilet-financing project in Nepal, started with advice from UNICEF, is already producing results: Two-thirds of homes in his village of Pumbi Bhumbi now have toilets, he says. "Bit by bit, we're managing to bring change," he affirms.

Ethiopian Ojulu Okelli hopes to get running water and latrines in his school, but few places pose a bigger challenge for water activists than his town of Gambella on the border with southern Sudan. It's an area mired in absolute poverty that is just now recovering from years of ethnic conflict. Okelli only gets access to clean water when his mother and sister return from their five-kilometer walk from the nearest well.

Ojulu and his friends spotted a chance to improve their underdog surroundings by getting involved in their school's environmental club. "We started cleaning up the grounds on Saturdays, picking up the litter and all that," he says, adding that he hopes that community leaders will notice the cleanups and bring tap water and latrines to the school.

"The girls need this especially," adds Okelli, who is aware that menstruation means an inconvenient and humiliating trip to a lone bush - sometimes causing girls to drop out of school when they hit puberty.

In other parts of Africa, schoolkids spin on brightly colored merry-go-rounds that pump water from nearby wells when spun. About 600 UNICEF-financed "play pumps" are now in place in South Africa.

Meanwhile, in his southeastern village in Laos, spiky-haired Happy Sisomphone directs a radio segment on sanitation, hygiene, and water-borne diseases.

"In school we're reminded that it's important to wash your hands after playing with dirt," says Happy, trained by UNICEF as a volunteer radio producer. "But we never learn why. So I interview people about the reasons we should be careful."

Claire Hajaj, a UNICEF spokeswoman, considers youths "incomparably useful" to community projects. "They take their messages to their schools, their families and friends," she says. "They create a domino effect. And if adults see kids leading these initiatives then they think, oh, I can do this, too."

Already, a good deal of the talk at the forum has centered on local, homegrown solutions. At the same time, UN studies highlighted that bringing such solutions requires tighter cooperation between governments and private companies, with less of an eye on profits.

But despite the good intentions, some of the youths run into walls. When Happy started up his radio show, some villagers rejected the idea of a young voice over the radio waves lecturing about the ills generated by bad water. "Big messages from little people don't always work," he says. "But little by little people tend to come around."

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As experts ponder world water crisis, teenagers show creativity

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As water experts meet in Mexico City to debate the world's daunting water crisis, 15-year-old Dolly Akhter is here to share her simple approach. She and 6,000 other girls canvass the slums of Dhaka, going door to door in the Bangladeshi capital to tout good hygiene.