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Increasing confidence in vaccines and boosting the fight against COVID-19 in Africa
WHO Representative to Uganda gets COVID-19 vaccine jab. Story published by AFRO/WHO on 20 April 2021.
Following work to combat vaccine hesitancy among frontline health workers in Uganda’s Hoima district, WHO and the Ministry of Health helped significantly increase COVID-19 vaccine uptake with a mix of interventions. A campaign that included the distribution of informational materials helped debunk misinformation and rumours as well as demonstrate the benefits of vaccination. Through activities which also included publicly vaccinating influential health care workers and officials such as the WHO Representative to Uganda, the teams have improved vaccination rates to stop the spread of COVID-19 and save lives. WHO and the Ministry are rolling out similar measures to further priority groups in the region.
In Comoros, WHO delivered a batch of medical equipment worth over US$ 500 000 to help strengthen the country’s COVID-19 response. The equipment will improve laboratories testing capacity and protect health workers.
The WHO Regional Office for Africa has also been active on a number of fronts to strengthen the region’s research, innovation and evidence gathering, Pillar 11 of WHO’s response to COVID-19. The office has coordinated nearly 100 related studies in 36 Member States and has provided technical, financial and material support.
Coordinating vaccine delivery to conflict-affected countries and providing guidance for religious gatherings in the Eastern Mediterranean region
Syria received its first batch of COVID-19 vaccines through COVAX. Story published by WHO/EMRO on 22 April 2021.
The first batch of doses of COVID-19 was recently delivered to Damascus, Syria through the COVAX Facility. Th e vaccines will be allocated to frontline health workers, including in northeast Syria. Simultaneously, a separate batch of doses of vaccines for high-risk populations in northwest Syria was shipped through WHO and UNICEF.
Also in the region, ahead of the holy month of Ramadan, Dr Ahmed Al-Mandhari, WHO Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean, encouraged safe COVID-19 precautions during fasting and gatherings.
WHO partners with Wikimedia, delivers oxygen, engages youth and increases testing with support from Australia in Western Pacific
Story published by the WHO Philippines Office on 19 April 2021.
WHO recently procured and delivered 50 lifesaving oxygen concentrators and their accessories to the Department of Health in the Philippines. The supplies will help improve preparedness in manage a potential surge of cases in areas where cases of COVID-19 are expected to increase in the coming weeks.
The WHO Representative Office for Malaysia, Brunei Darussalam and Singapore and the Wikimedia Community User Group in Malaysia have launched the first ever article-writing competition seeking to increase awareness and coverage of multiple health topics in the Malay language on Wikipedia. The competition will help provide accurate information related to COVID-19, vaccine-preventable diseases, tuberculosis, cardiovascular and other noncommunicable diseases, and nutrition. Also in Malaysia, WHO and the Impact Hub Kuala Lumpur, in partnership with the Social Entrepreneurship to Spur Health and the University of North Carolina, have launched a project to mobilize youth and young adults to contribute to health policies to build a better post-pandemic world.
In Mongolia, Australia recently provided a grant to assist the government and WHO to increase COVID-19 testing capacity. The funding will strengthen and expand PCR testing and diagnosis in Ulaanbaatar and key regional centres.
South-East Asia: KnowCOVID – special edition comic book helps protect people in Thailand from COVID-19
Story published by the WHO Thailand Office on 11 April 2021.
In May 2021, WHO and its partners are launching the Thai version of the special edition of popular comic magazineKai Hua Ror (Laughter for Sale) designed to show how families can protect themselves from COVID-19.
In addition to COVID-related hygiene, the cartoons also take on sensitive topics in simple and easy-to-understand terms demonstrating how to reduce stigma around coronavirus infection, providing knowledge on vaccines and more.
Protecting the elderly, detecting variants and providing critical medical equipment in the Americas with support from Canada and the World Bank
PAHO/WHO Representative, Dr Erica Wheeler in Trinidad and Tobago.
As part of the fight COVID-19, the WHO Regional Office for the Americas, in collaboration with the Canadian government, has donated a large stock of equipment to the Ministry of the Health in Suriname. The donation included personal protective equipment as well as medical, computer and other supplies destined to protect older residents in care homes.
In Honduras, thanks to support from the World Bank, WHO recently helped improve and equip medical facilities and laboratories that will benefit over 500 000 people and mitigate the effects of COVID-19 in the Comaygua region.
In Ecuador, the WHO Regional Office for the Americas recently delivered testing equipment to the National Centre for Influenza and Surveillance of COVID-19 to help identify variants of concern. The donation, made possible thanks to funding from the Government of Canada, is part of ongoing capacity-building activities to improve COVID-19 surveillance .
Amid a surge in case numbers and deaths in Brazil, the WHO Regional Office for the Americas recently donated a large stock of equipment to support the country’s COVID-19 vaccination campaigns.
Drawing lessons for the future in Europe
WHO Representative in Bulgaria, Dr Skender Syla (left) and WHO Public Health Expert, Dr Michail Okoliyski.
A new report from WHO Europe on health spending calls on governments to not repeat past mistakes when rebuilding from COVID-19. The report by the WHO Barcelona Office for Health Systems Financing has highlighted the need for governments to maintain a higher level of public spending on health for the wider benefit of society despite expected budgetary pressures following the pandemic. Titled “Spending on health in Europe: entering a new era”, it is the first in-depth analysis of health spending across all 53 Member States in the WHO European Region over nearly two decades. Increased public investment in health is needed in most countries to make progress towards universal health coverage and to improve health, well-being and protection from health emergencies, WHO Triple Billion Targets.
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