COVID-19 vaccination roll-outs in eleven small countries within the WHO European region; Lessons learned.

The development and administration of COVID-19 vaccines has been an essential element in controlling the COVID-19 pandemic. However, countries worldwide have faced challenges in planning and implementing vaccination strategies. The aim of the current paper is to describe the situation faced by small countries in the WHO European Region in implementing their national vaccination strategies during the first stages of the planned roll-out (up to May 2021).

The Stress Barometer: Validation of a Bio-Psycho-Social Brief Screening Instrument of Pandemic Stress Reaction.

Background: To capture the psychosocial impact of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, a model based on the International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health (ICF) was developed during the first lockdown in Germany in April 2020. , the questionnaire for the assessment of pandemic stress load, measures (1) pre-pandemic stress, (2) pandemic stress, and (3) contextual factors (functioning as facilitators or barriers). Derived from this model, the stress barometer as a brief screening instrument captures these factors.

Beyond building back better: imagining a future for human and planetary health.

COVID-19 is disrupting and transforming the world. We argue that transformations catalysed by this pandemic should be used to improve human and planetary health and wellbeing. This paradigm shift requires decision makers and policy makers to go beyond building back better, by nesting the economic domain of sustainable development within social and environmental domains.

Effects of air temperature on the number of ambulance calls for asthma during cold season in Nur-Sultan- the second coldest capital in the world.

Deleterious effect of cold on overall mortality is well-established. We studied associations between the air temperature and the number f ambulance calls for asthma in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan - the second coldest capital in the world. Daily counts of ambulance calls for asthma in Nur-Sultan for the cold seasons (October-March) 2006-2010 were obtained from the Municipal Ambulance Station.

Health and well-being for all: an approach to accelerating progress to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in countries in the WHO European Region.

Background: Forty-three out of 53 of the WHO European Member States have set up political and institutional mechanisms to implement the United Nations (UN) 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. This includes governance and institutional mechanisms, engaging stakeholders, identifying targets and indicators, setting governmental and sectoral priorities for action and reporting progress regularly. Still, growing evidence suggests that there is room for advancing implementation of some of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and targets at a higher pace in the WHO European Region.