scholarly journals WHO Knew. How the World Health Organization (WHO) Became a Dangerous Interloper on Workplace Health and Safety and COVID-19

Author(s):  
Rory O’Neill

The World Health Organization’s (WHO) workplace health and safety guidelines on COVID-19 are unacceptably complacent in parts, patently dangerous in others, and contain serious gaps. Omissions include no mention of the essential role of labor inspection and enforcement, and a lack of recognition of potential interactions with other workplace hazards. WHO also omitted discussion of the necessity for wider employment protections to make safety and safe behavior a realistic prospect. Potential risks in outdoor work and the need to address the impact of job segregation related to inequalities in health outcomes are also absent. WHO’s advice influences national practice, official guidance, and binding rules.The International Trade Union Confederation has assessed the flaws in WHO’s arguments and has prepared a critique so they are understood and can be challenged.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lukman Olagoke ◽  
Ahmet E. Topcu

BACKGROUND COVID-19 represents a serious threat to both national health and economic systems. To curb this pandemic, the World Health Organization (WHO) issued a series of COVID-19 public safety guidelines. Different countries around the world initiated different measures in line with the WHO guidelines to mitigate and investigate the spread of COVID-19 in their territories. OBJECTIVE The aim of this paper is to quantitatively evaluate the effectiveness of these control measures using a data-centric approach. METHODS We begin with a simple text analysis of coronavirus-related articles and show that reports on similar outbreaks in the past strongly proposed similar control measures. This reaffirms the fact that these control measures are in order. Subsequently, we propose a simple performance statistic that quantifies general performance and performance under the different measures that were initiated. A density based clustering of based on performance statistic was carried out to group countries based on performance. RESULTS The performance statistic helps evaluate quantitatively the impact of COVID-19 control measures. Countries tend show variability in performance under different control measures. The performance statistic has negative correlation with cases of death which is a useful characteristics for COVID-19 control measure performance analysis. A web-based time-line visualization that enables comparison of performances and cases across continents and subregions is presented. CONCLUSIONS The performance metric is relevant for the analysis of the impact of COVID-19 control measures. This can help caregivers and policymakers identify effective control measures and reduce cases of death due to COVID-19. The interactive web visualizer provides easily digested and quick feedback to augment decision-making processes in the COVID-19 response measures evaluation. CLINICALTRIAL Not Applicable


2021 ◽  
Vol 104 (2) ◽  
pp. 003685042110198
Author(s):  
Helen Onyeaka ◽  
Christian K Anumudu ◽  
Zainab T Al-Sharify ◽  
Esther Egele-Godswill ◽  
Paul Mbaegbu

COVID-19, caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) on the 11th of March 2020, leading to some form of lockdown across almost all countries of the world. The extent of the global pandemic due to COVID-19 has a significant impact on our lives that must be studied carefully to combat it. This study highlights the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown on crucial aspects of daily life globally, including; Food security, Global economy, Education, Tourism, hospitality, sports and leisure, Gender Relation, Domestic Violence/Abuse, Mental Health and Environmental air pollution through a systematic search of the literature. The COVID-19 global lockdown was initiated to stem the spread of the virus and ‘flatten the curve’ of the pandemic. However, the impact of the lockdown has had far-reaching effects in different strata of life, including; changes in the accessibility and structure of education delivery to students, food insecurity as a result of unavailability and fluctuation in prices, the depression of the global economy, increase in mental health challenges, wellbeing and quality of life amongst others. This review article highlights the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown across the globe. As the global lockdown is being lifted in a phased manner in various countries of the world, it is necessary to explore its impacts to understand its consequences comprehensively. This will guide future decisions that will be made in a possible future wave of the COVID-19 pandemic or other global disease outbreak.


2020 ◽  
pp. 07-19
Author(s):  
Hiba Takieddine ◽  
Samaa AL Tabbah

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a highly infectious disease that has rapidly swept across the world, inducing a considerable degree of fear, worry and concern in the population at large and among certain groups in particular, such as older adults, healthcare providers and people with underlying health conditions. Authorities around the world tried to prevent the virus spread by imposing social distancing measures, quarantining citizens and isolating infected persons. Apart from its physical impact, COVID-19 pandemic has brought numerous changes to people’s lives. It changed daily routines, caused worldwide economic crisis, increased unemployment, and placed people under emotional and financial pressures. It affected people psychologically and mentally especially in terms of emotions and cognition. During the acute crisis, everyone to varying degrees experienced fear of infection, somatic concerns, worries about the pandemic’s consequences, loneliness, depression, stress, as well as increased alcohol and drug use. As part of its public health response, the World Health Organization (WHO) has worked with partners to develop a set of new guidelines and messages that can be used to prevent, manage, and support mental and psychological well-being in different vulnerable target groups during the outbreak. Whether people like it or not, the psychological sequela of this pandemic will emerge and persist for months and years to come leading to long-term consequences. New lifestyles and “New Normals” will surely emerge. The main purpose of this review is to summarize the impact of coronavirus pandemic on the psychological and mental health of people around the world especially vulnerable groups. It also presents the relevant intervention actions and recommendations to cope efficiently and effectively with the psychological short-term and long-term outcomes, mental changes, and the “New Normal” during and after COVID-19. Keywords: COVID-19; Coronavirus, Psychological; Mental; New Normal


2011 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 290-297 ◽  
Author(s):  
TIKKI PANG

“I want my leadership to be judged by the impact of our work on the health of two populations: women and the people of Africa.” This is how Dr. Margaret Chan, the current Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), described her leadership mission. The reason behind this mission is evident. Women and girls constitute 70% of the world’s poor and 80% of the world’s refugees. Gender violence against women aged 15–44 is responsible for more deaths and disability than cancer, malaria, traffic accidents, and war. An estimated 350,000 to 500,000 women still die in childbirth every year. The negative health implications of absolute poverty are worst in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Hence, Chan aims to have the biggest impact on the world’s poorest people.


Author(s):  
Catherine Berry

This chapter describes the worrisome trend of resistance development in antibacterial agents with exponential increases in resistance to the most effective classes of antibiotics. Described by the World Health Organization as a major global health security threat, the annual deaths from drug-resistant infection are projected to increase from 700,000 to 10 million by 2050. This chapter outlines the impact of antimicrobial resistance in humanitarian settings and provides practical approaches which can be used by organizations and health providers.


Author(s):  
Anna Fuchs ◽  
Aleksandra Matonóg ◽  
Joanna Pilarska ◽  
Paulina Sieradzka ◽  
Mateusz Szul ◽  
...  

Introduction: Coronavirus disease (COVID−19), announced as a pandemic by the World Health Organization, recently has dominated people’s lifestyle. The impact of COVID−19 seems to be relevant to the sexual health as well. Methods: This prospective study was conducted on two occasions involving 764 female patients between March and April 2020—before and during the time of social quarantine. The sexual function was assessed using the Polish version of the Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI). Every patient filled out the survey concerning socio-demographic characteristics as well as the influence of SARS-CoV−2 pandemic on their lives. Results: The overall FSFI score before the pandemic was 30.1 ± 4.4 and changed to 25.8 ± 9.7 during it. Scores of every domain: desire, arousal, lubrication, orgasm, satisfaction and pain decreased as well (p < 0.001). There was statistically significant association between the workplace and the change of FSFI scores before and during COVID−19 pandemic (p < 0.01). We noticed the biggest decrease in FSFI score in the group of women who did not work at all (5.2 ± 9.9). Religion had a statistically important impact on level of anxiety (p < 0.01). Conclusion: The main finding of our study was the influence of COVID−19 pandemic on the quality of sexual lifestyle and frequency of intercourse among Polish women.


Safety ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 55 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zuzhen Ji ◽  
Dirk Pons ◽  
John Pearse

Historically, the focus of industrial health and safety (H&S) has been on safety and accident avoidance with relatively less attention to long-term occupational health other than via health monitoring and surveillance. The difficulty is the multiple overlapping health consequences that are difficult to separate, measure, and attribute to a source. Furthermore, many health problems occur later, not immediately on exposure, and may be cumulative. Consequently, it is difficult to conclusively identify the cause. Workers may lack knowledge of long-term consequences, and thus not use protective systems effectively. Compounding this is the lack of instruments and methodologies to measure exposure to harm. Historically, the existing risk methodologies for calculating safety risk are based on the construct of consequence and likelihood. However, this may not be appropriate for health, especially for the long-term harm, as both the consequence and likelihood may be indeterminate. This paper develops an instrument to measure the health component of workplace H&S. This is achieved by adapting the established World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule (WHODAS) quality of life score to workplace health. Specifically, the method is to identify the likelihood of an exposure incident arising (as estimated by engineering technologists and H&S officers), followed by evaluation of the biological harm consequences. Those consequences are then scored by using the WHODAS 12-item inventory. The result is an assessment of the Diminished Quality of Life (DQL) associated with a workplace hazard. This may then be used to manage the minimization of harm, exposure monitoring, and the design of safe systems of work.


2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 94-120 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander Medcalf

AbstractWith the advent of new media technologies and approaches in the twentieth century, public health officials became convinced that health needed mass media support. The World Health Organization believed that educating people, as well as informing them about the health situation around the world, could assist in the enduring fight against disease. Yet in an increasingly competitive media landscape, the agency recognized the need to persuade people and hold their attention through attractive presentation. Public information, the name given to the multiple strategies used to communicate with the public, was rarely straightforward and required the agency not only to monitor the impact of its own efforts but also to identify opportunities to further enhance its reputation, especially when this was in danger of damage or misappropriation. The WHO’s understanding of public information provides insights into the development of international information, communication, and education networks and practices after 1945, as well as the increasingly central position of these processes in generating support for and evincing the value of international organizations.


It’s been a while since Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) was characterized as a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO), causing major concerns and unfortunately panic in many countries. The on-going outbreak is of international concern and most countries have already announced a series of protective measures to confront this health threat of unknown magnitude. Travel warnings, scientific congress suspensions, cancellations of national holidays and closing of schools, amusement parks, cinemas, theatres and gyms are only some of these measures. The impact in sports is also tremendous. Major sport events like the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games and Euro 2020 have been postponed. Others like the Miami Open and the Wimbledon tennis tournament have been cancelled and there is an ongoing discussion for forthcoming events. However, few have been said regarding the impact of limiting public exercise.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
I.I Khamidov

Since January 2020, the world faced one of the largest outbreaks of human history that coronavirus (Covid-19) began spreading among countries across the globe. Plenty of research institutes developed insights and estimations regarding the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on agriculture and food security system. The UN estimations indicate that more than 132 million people around the world may have hunger due to the economic recession as a result of the pandemic. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is pushing forward the strategies in order for increasing food supply in developing countries and providing assistance to food producers and suppliers. World Health Organization (WHO) indicated that the pandemic may not finish by the end of 2020 and countries should be prepared for longer effects within 2021. In this regard, ensuring food security as well as sufficient food supply would be one of the crucial aspects of policy functions in developing countries.


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