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Health and well-being profile of the Eastern Mediterranean Region. An overview of the health situation in the Region and its countries in 2023

9789292744656-engHealth and well-being profile of the Eastern Mediterranean Region. An overview of the health situation in the Region and its countries in 2023

In 2015, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development was adopted by all Member States of the United Nations. Rapid progress on health indicators, which had gained momentum in 2000, has stalled since 2015 with rising rates of maternal and child mortality, premature mortality from NCDs and road traffic mortality. The 767 million people of the Eastern Mediterranean Region represent almost 10% of the global population. The Region includes many countries facing high rates of material and financial deprivation exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, socioeconomic challenges, including access to education and health care, gender and geographical inequity concerns, environmental risk factors, natural disasters and conflicts and protracted humanitarian crises in several countries of the Region. The documented slowdown across many health-related indicators of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) calls for a more strategic approach to reverse regional trends and address upstream issues such as risks and determinants of health.

Situation analysis of gender and health in the Eastern Mediterranean Region

9789292740788-engSituation analysis of gender and health in the Eastern Mediterranean Region

Women and men alike have the right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health. Understanding the influence gender plays on health is essential to improving health outcomes, addressing inequalities, achieving universal health coverage (UHC) and advancing progress on Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3 (good health and well-being), SDG 5 (gender equality) and SDG 10 (reduced inequality), among others. The World Health Organization (WHO) contributes to this ambitious development agenda through the triple billion targets of its Thirteenth General Programme of Work globally and through the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region’s Vision 2023, Health for All by All regionally. The term gender describes the socially and culturally constructed ideas of roles, responsibilities, attitudes and behaviours that a society expects from men and women in a specific context. Gender influences all aspects of a person’s life, and this certainly applies to health. It affects people’s access to and use and experience of health care and their resultant health outcomes.

Evidence-informed policy-making: a glossary of key terms

9789292745165-engEvidence-informed policy-making: a glossary of key terms

A significant challenge within the ecosystem of evidence-informed policy-making is the absence of a shared vocabulary and consistent application of related terminology. Although various fields – including health, research, epidemiology and policy-making – offer definitions for certain terms, few are specifically tailored to evidence-informed policy-making, and none offer a fully comprehensive definition. As a result, there is considerable overlap among terms and confusion regarding their usage among practitioners and policy-makers. This glossary has been developed to address these gaps by clarifying the existing definitions of terms related to evidence-informed policy-making and by incorporating newly introduced terms previously lacking proper definitions.

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