Solving the climate crisis. Stopping infectious diseases. Preparing for epidemics. Training health workers. These issues and more make up the World Health Organization’s (WHO) newly issued 13 global health challenges which we face in the next decade.
Nurses and midwives play a vital role in providing health services to people in low-resource communities where doctors are in alarmingly short supply. To honor their work, the World Health Organization (WHO) and its partners named 2020 as the International Year of the Nurse and the Midwife.
The good news: Major infectious diseases such as HIV and malaria are less likely to shorten or take people’s lives today due to medical and healthcare advances. The bad news: Less prominent, “second-tier” diseases such as polio and dengue are on the rise — even though they are easily preventable.
The holiday season is here — but so are the germs that bring colds, coughs and flu.
Ideally, doctors and nurses belong on the scene in any medical emergency. However, in underserved areas of the world, the burden of care more often falls on community health workers (CHWs) who, if trained properly, can save lives and prevent further injury. WiRED International is completing a series of First Aid Modules designed to train CHWs on administering urgent and immediate lifesaving measures that can be performed on injured people by nonmedical professionals when medical personnel are not immediately available.
The World Health Organization states that a strong health force is needed to deliver primary health care to people living in low-resource areas of the world. The current critical shortfall of doctors and nurses can be filled by community health workers (CHWs) — when they are properly trained. WiRED’s CHW curriculum includes training in basic health issues, prevention techniques, taking vital signs, first aid and other health-related skills. Further, it includes WHO-recommended topics such as health surveillance and communication competencies.