WHO & Regional Offices [to 2 July 2016]

WHO announces head of new Health Emergencies Programme
WHO statement
28 June 2016
WHO has announced the appointment of Dr Peter Salama as the Executive Director of its new Health Emergencies Programme, at the level of Deputy Director-General. He takes up his new post on 27 July 2016.

Dr Salama is from Australia and is currently UNICEF Regional Director for Middle East and North Africa and Global Emergency Coordinator for the Crises in Syria, Iraq and Yemen. He has previously served with UNICEF as Country Representative in Ethiopia and Zimbabwe, as Global Coordinator for Ebola, and as Chief of Global Health.

Prior to joining UNICEF in 2002, he worked with the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (US CDC), Concern Worldwide and MSF. Dr Salama is a medical epidemiologist who brings a wealth of experience in management of humanitarian crises and disease outbreaks. He has worked in public health for more than 20 years and published widely in the fields of maternal and child survival, refugee and forced migration and complex emergencies.
WHO’s new Health Emergencies Programme is designed to deliver rapid, predictable and comprehensive support to countries and communities as they prepare for, face or recover from emergencies caused by any type of hazard to human health, whether disease outbreaks, natural or man-made disasters or conflicts.

The development of the new Programme is the result of a reform effort, based on recommendations from a range of independent and expert external reports, involving all levels of WHO – country offices, regional offices and headquarters.

The new Programme unifies WHO’s standards and processes to strengthen the Organization’s response to health emergencies across the full risk management cycle of prevention, preparedness, response and early recovery.

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New checklist to make health estimates more transparent, accurate and reliable
June 2016
…The Guidelines for Accurate and Transparent Health Estimates Reporting, or GATHER, is a checklist of 18 best practices that sets the standard for disclosing how health estimates are developed. The GATHER checklist was developed by WHO and researchers from around the world including the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington in Seattle, and was published today in the Lancet and PLOS Medicine.

“When the health and well-being of millions of people is at stake you need to be sure you have the best possible information to make the best possible decisions,” said Dr Ties Boerma, Director of WHO’s Department of Information, Evidence and Research. “GATHER is a crucial step towards making sure health estimates can stand up to scrutiny.”

GATHER includes requirements for disclosing which data are used to calculate estimates, and for making them available to others. It also includes a requirement to disclose how the computer code used to crunch the numbers can be accessed, making it possible for others to reproduce estimates, making them more robust.

Both WHO and IHME have agreed to comply with GATHER when they publish new global health estimates. Journals including the Lancet, PLOS Medicine, the International Journal of Epidemiology and the Bulletin of the World Health Organization plan to ask authors to comply with GATHER, and it is expected that other journals to follow suit. Several estimates compiled by WHO already follow GATHER principles, including child mortality, childhood causes of death and maternal mortality.

Better transparency improves credibility
GATHER will also help researchers to be more efficient and make better use of research funds; greater transparency will enable researchers to build on the work done by others, instead of wasting months or even years of work trying to reproduce it.

“Transparency gets to the essence of credibility in health science,” said Dr Christopher Murray, Director of IHME. “If researchers are not willing to be completely open about their sources of information and methods used for analysis, the credibility of their findings may be questioned. Those who adhere to the guidelines will raise the bar in terms of research excellence. And all of us will benefit from that higher bar.”

The production of global health estimates has increased tremendously in the past years, driven mainly by an increasing global demand for data on key indicators, such as those used to measure progress towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

The Sustainable Development Goals, which are far broader in scope than the MDGs, will only increase the demand for more, better data. Through initiatives such as the Health Data Collaborative, WHO is working with countries and partners to meet that demand.

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Global food safety standards body issues new guidance
28 June 2016 – The international food standards-setting body, the Codex Alimentarius Commission, is meeting to discuss guidelines and standards for a range of issues, including the control of Salmonella in beef and pork, food hygiene to control foodborne parasites, nutrient reference values for food package nutrition labels, safety of food additives, pesticide residues in food, and arsenic levels in rice. The Codex is also considering its future work on antimicrobial resistance

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Highlights
WHO reaches 40 000 people with lifesaving treatments in Syria
June 2016 – As part of the United Nations interagency convoy on 29 June 2016, WHO delivered 43 000 lifesaving treatments to people in need in Arbeen and Zamalka, East Ghouta.

Improving access to quality medicines in Africa
June 2016 — WHO met with the European Union and the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States recently to review a joint 4-year programme to improve access to quality medicines for 15 countries in sub-Saharan Africa. The quality, safety, and pricing of medicines have been addressed by the programme.

Commitment to advancing global health security
June 2016 — WHO, governments, financial institutions, development partners, and health agencies from across the world have committed to accelerate strengthening and implementation of capacities required to cope with disease outbreaks and other health emergencies.

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Weekly Epidemiological Record (WER) 1 July 2016, vol. 91, 26/27 (pp. 329–340)
Contents
329 Index of countries/areas
329 Index, Volume 91, 2016, Nos. 1–27
331 Health conditions for travellers to Saudi Arabia for the pilgrimage to Mecca (Hajj), 2016
336 Performance of acute flaccid paralysis (AFP) surveillance and incidence of poliomyelitis, 2016

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GIN – June 2016 pdf, 1.13Mb 30 June 2016

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Disease Outbreak News (DONs)
:: Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) – Qatar 29 June 2016
:: Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) – Saudi Arabia 22 June 2016

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:: WHO Regional Offices
Selected Press Releases, Announcements
WHO African Region AFRO
:: WHO, governments and health agencies commit to advancing global health security
Bali, Indonesia, 30 June 2016 – The World Health Organization (WHO), governments, financial institutions, development partners, and health agencies from across the world have committed to accelerate strengthening and implementation of capacities required to cope with disease outbreaks and other health emergencies.
:: Fifteen African Countries and Partners Take stock of Progress Made in Access to Medicines – 29 June 2016

WHO Region of the Americas PAHO
No new digest content identified.

WHO South-East Asia Region SEARO
:: WHO, governments and health agencies commit to advancing global health security
30 June 2016

WHO European Region EURO
:: New course builds “soft skills” for greater health equity and well-being in policy 01-07-2016
:: New report calls for improved maternal nutrition to decrease children’s long-term risk of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) and obesity 29-06-2016
:: Fight against TB in focus during Regional Director’s visit to Slovakia 28-06-2016

WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region EMRO
:: WHO, governments and health agencies commit to advancing global health security
30 June 2016

WHO Western Pacific Region
:: Global Youth Tobacco Survey underscores urgent need to protect youth from tobacco harms
28 June 2016