#COVID19 has shown that there can be no lasting economic development without #HealthForAll & protection against health emergencies. Here are WHO’s 7⃣ recommendations on building resilient health systems based on #PrimaryHealthCare & #HealthSecurity.
1️⃣ We must leverage the #COVID19 response to strengthen pandemic preparedness & health systems. While tackling the pandemic, countries can also build long-term capacities to manage emergency risks & maintain essential health services.
2️⃣ We must prioritize investments in essential public health functions, including those needed for all-hazards emergency risk management.
Here are actionable recommendations from WHO:
👉 bit.ly/3iRG7ub
3️⃣ Countries must build a 💪 #PrimaryHealthCare foundation ready to scale up to meet increased needs & ensure safety & continuity during emergencies. This is the most cost-efficient & equitable way to achieve #UniversalHealthCoverage & #HealthSecurity.
4️⃣ We must invest in institutionalized mechanisms for whole-of-society engagement. In both high & low-income countries, adequate & effective ways should be put in place to meaningfully engage communities, private sector & civil society.
5️⃣ We must create & promote enabling environments for research, innovation & learning. #COVID19 drove the rapid increase in resources & collaboration for research globally, which provides opportunities for countries to advance developments.
6️⃣ We must increase domestic & 🌎 investment in health system foundations & all-hazards emergency risk management. Cost of ensuring #UniversalHealthCoverage & #HealthSecurity is very ⬇ vs the ⬆ cost of responding unprepared to #COVID19 & future threats
👉bit.ly/3G3x1o7
7️⃣ We must address pre-existing inequities & the disproportionate impact of #COVID19 on vulnerable & conflict-affected populations. This incl. removing financial barriers to health care, enhancing & protecting incomes & jobs, improving social protection.
👉bit.ly/3G3x1o7
To save lives and protect economies everywhere in the 🌎, countries must take every opportunity to rebuild their health systems sustainably & more equitably, with #UniversalHealthCoverage & #HealthSecurity as complementary goals.
@DrTedros "I have often said that universal health coverage and health security are two sides of the same coin. Both depend on health systems that are resilient, efficient and effective, and able to surge to respond to emergencies"-@DrTedros#HealthForAll
@DrTedros "Health systems like that are a vital first line of defence against outbreaks with epidemic and pandemic potential; but they’re also essential for promoting health, preventing communicable and noncommunicable diseases, and for reducing inequalities and inequities"-@DrTedros
The leading causes of reduced eyesight are
👁️Refractive errors
👁️Cataract
👁️Age-related macular degeneration
👁️Glaucoma
👁️Diabetic retinopathy
👁️Corneal opacity
While most people with vision impairment are over the age of 50, vision loss can affect people of all ages.
Take care of your eyes. Get regular eye checks!
Thank you, Henrietta Lacks!
Today @DrTedros honoured Henrietta Lacks posthumously with a WHO Director-General’s award, acknowledging her story - one of inequity - and recognizing her world-changing legacy to science and health bit.ly/ThankYouHenrie…
Henrietta Lacks died of cervical cancer, 70 years ago, on 4 October 1951.
Taken without her consent, her cells have allowed incalculable scientific breakthroughs such as HPV & polio vaccines and #COVID19 research bit.ly/ThankYouHenrie…
Henrietta Lacks' cells, also known as #HeLaCells, became the first “immortal” cell line, allowing numerous scientific breakthroughs.
Shockingly, the global scientific community once hid her race & true story from the world, a historic wrong that today’s recognition seeks to heal.
@DrTedros "The story of Henrietta Lacks and her @LacksFamily has been told in different ways by different people. Many sought to hide or alter things about her: her race; her name; her identity"-@DrTedros
"What happened to Henrietta was wrong, for at least three reasons.
1️⃣ she lived in a time when racial discrimination was legal in her society. Racial discrimination may no longer be legal most countries, but it is still widespread in many countries"-@DrTedros
@DrTedros "The number of weekly reported deaths from #COVID19 continues to decline, and is now at the lowest level in almost a year. But it’s still an unacceptably high level – almost 50,000 deaths a week, and the real number is certainly higher"-@DrTedros
@DrTedros "Deaths are declining in every region except @WHO_Europe, where several countries are facing fresh waves of cases and deaths. And of course, deaths are highest in the countries and populations with the least access to #COVID19 vaccines"-@DrTedros