Who Emro Health Promotion

This function includes disease prevention and health promotion. Disease prevention, understood as specific, population-based and individual-based interventions for primary and secondary (early detection) prevention, aiming to minimize the burden of diseases and associated risk factors. Primary prevention refers to actions aimed at avoiding the manifestation of a disease (this may include actions to improve health through changing the impact of social and economic determinants on health; the provision of... Secondary prevention deals with early detection when this improves the chances for positive health outcomes (this comprises activities such as evidence-based screening programs for early detection of diseases or for prevention of congenital malformations;... It should be noted that while primary prevention activities may be implemented independently of capacity-building in other health care services, this is not the case for secondary prevention. Screening and early detection is of limited value (and may even be detrimental to the patient) if abnormalities cannot be promptly corrected or treated through services from other parts of the health care system.

Moreover, a good system of primary health care with a registered population facilitates the optimal organization and delivery of accessible population based screening programs and should be vigorously promoted. “Health promotion is the process of enabling people to increase control over, and to improve their health.” Health Promotion Glossary, 1998 The first International Conference on Health Promotion was held in Ottawa in 1986, and was primarily a response to growing expectations for a new public health movement around the world. It launched a series of actions among international organizations, national governments and local communities to achieve the goal of "Health For All" by the year 2000 and beyond. The basic strategies for health promotion identified in the Ottawa Charter were: advocate (to boost the factors which encourage health), enable (allowing all people to achieve health equity) and mediate (through collaboration across all... Since then, the WHO Global Health Promotion Conferences have established and developed the global principles and action areas for health promotion.

Most recently, the 9th global conference (Shanghai 2016), titled ‘Promoting health in the Sustainable Development Goals: Health for all and all for health’, highlighted the critical links between promoting health and the 2030 Agenda... Whilst calling for bold political interventions to accelerate country action on the SDGs, the Shanghai Declaration provides a framework through which governments can utilize the transformational potential of health promotion. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) provides a bold and ambitious agenda for the future. WHO is committed to helping the world meet the SDGs by championing health across all the goals. WHO’s core mission is to promote health, alongside keeping the world safe and serving the vulnerable. Beyond fighting disease, we will work to ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages, leaving no-one behind.

Our target is 1 billion more people enjoying better health and well-being by 2023. Promoting health across the life course addresses key influences on health such as family, social networks, social support, relationships, employment, income, health beliefs, and access to health care and health information. It cuts across all areas of WHO’s work including the health of women before, during and after pregnancy, and of newborns, children, adolescents, and older people, taking into account environmental risks, social determinants of... By identifying critical stages in the life course that influence health, opportunities for health promotion can be recognized and addressed along the continuum of care. In 2016, building on the achievements made through the implementation of maternal and child health acceleration plans in countries with a high burden of maternal and child deaths, WHO in collaboration with UNICEF and... Technical support was provided to national efforts to develop or strengthen strategic plans for reproductive, maternal, neonatal, child and adolescent health.

Strategic directions were determined and plans of action developed by all Member States who attended the intercountry meeting on the Every Newborn Action Plan (ENAP) in Amman, Jordan in April 2016. A regional workshop on promoting maternal and neonatal quality of health care was held in Morocco and attended by eight countries with a high burden of maternal and neonatal mortality. The participants were trained on using WHO tools to get a rapid overview of the situation at national and district levels, including a landscaping checklist and analysis framework. Plans of action for promoting the quality of maternal and neonatal health care were developed for implementation to begin in 2017. Member States were supported to establish preconception care to improve the health outcomes of childbirth. WHO has identified evidence-based core and additional interventions and programmatic steps to facilitate efforts to develop preconception care in countries.

In addition, country profiles were developed to foster national efforts in the prevention and management of congenital and genetic disorders. To improve midwifery competencies in line with WHO norms, standards and guidelines, a national workshop on strengthening the Somali midwifery strategy was conducted with UNFPA in October 2016. The workshop helped in prioritizing the main gaps that need to be addressed to strengthen the Somali midwifery programme and integrate evidence-based interventions in the national midwifery care strategy. Similar activities are planned in Libya, Morocco and Tunisia to strengthen their national strategic frameworks for midwifery care. The World Health Organization (WHO) is the directing and coordinating authority for public health within the United Nations system. The WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean is one of WHO’s 6 regional offices around the world.

It serves the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region, which comprises 21 Member States and occupied Palestinian territory (including East Jerusalem), with a population of nearly 745 million people. WHO Investment Case 2025-2028: Eastern Mediterranean Key highlights of WHO's work and impact in the Eastern Mediterranean Region Search for photographs covering WHO's work across the Region Volume 31 No. 9 and No.

10, September/October 2025

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