Disproportionate infection, hospitalisation and death from COVID-19 in ethnic minority groups and Indigenous Peoples: an application of the Priority Public Health Conditions analytical framework.

The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in disproportionate consequences for ethnic minority groups and Indigenous Peoples. We present an application of the Priority Public Health Conditions (PPHC) framework from the World Health Organisation (WHO), to explicitly address COVID-19 and other respiratory viruses of pandemic potential. This application is supported by evidence that ethnic minority groups were more likely to be infected, implying differential exposure (PPHC level two), be more vulnerable to severe disease once infected (PPHC level three) and have poorer health outcomes following infection (PPHC level four).

Towards leaving no one behind in North Macedonia: a mixed methods assessment of barriers to effective coverage with health services.

Background: The Government of North Macedonia's Primary Health Care reform is committed to leaving no one behind on the path to Universal health Coverage (UHC). During mid-2022 to March 2023, the World Health Organization (WHO) collaborated with the Government and other national stakeholders for an assessment of barriers to effective coverage with health services experienced by adult citizens, with a specific focus on rural areas and subpopulations in situations of vulnerability.

Methods: This study constituted the piloting of a draft forthcoming WHO handbook on assessing barriers for health services, grounded in the Tanahashi framework for effective coverage with health services.

Exploring the ideas of young healthcare professionals from selected countries regarding rural proofing.

Introduction: Globally, most countries struggle to meet the health needs of rural communities. This has resulted in rural areas performing poorly when compared to urban areas in terms of a range of health indicators. There have been few coherent or systematic strategies that target rural communities and address their needs within the rural context.

COVID-19 preparedness and response in rural and remote areas: A scoping review.

This scoping review used the Arksey and O'Malley approach to explore COVID-19 preparedness and response in rural and remote areas to identify lessons to inform future health preparedness and response planning. A search of scientific and grey literature for rural COVID-19 preparedness and responses identified 5 668 articles published between 2019 and early 2022. A total of 293 articles were included, of which 160 (54.

Primary health care as a platform for addressing racial discrimination to "leave no one behind" and reduce health inequities.

The health inequities faced by populations experiencing racial discrimination, including indigenous peoples and people of African descent, Roma, and other ethnic minorities, are an issue of global concern. Health systems have an important role to play in tackling these health inequities. Health systems based on comprehensive Primary Health Care (PHC) are best placed to tackle health inequities because PHC encompasses a whole-of-society approach to health.

Opportunities to tackle structural racism and ethnicity-based discrimination in recovering and rebuilding from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The impact of COVID-19 has been disproportionately felt by populations experiencing structural racial- and ethnicity-based discrimination. Here, we describe opportunities for COVID-19 response and recovery efforts to help build more equal and resilient societies, through investments in: (i) interventions focused on explicitly addressing racial and ethnicity-based discrimination; (ii) interventions supporting the delivery of universal services, and in ways that address compounding and intersecting drivers of exclusion and marginalization; and (iii) cross-cutting enabling measures, such as participatory mechanisms and data disaggregation.

Exploring the potential for a new measure of socioeconomic deprivation status to monitor health inequality.

Background: Monitoring health inequalities is an important task for health research and policy, to uncover who is being left behind - and where - and to inform effective and equitable policies and programmes to tackle existing inequities. The choice of which measure to use to monitor and analyse health inequalities is thereby not trivial. This article explores a new measure of socioeconomic deprivation status (SDS) to monitor health inequalities.

Assessing Barriers to Effective Coverage of Health Services for Adolescents in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: A Scoping Review.

Purpose: Understanding barriers to health services, as experienced by adolescents, is important to expand effective and equitable coverage; however, there is limited discussion on methods for conducting barrier assessments and translating findings into action.

Methods: We conducted a scoping review of literature published between 2005 and 2019 on barriers to health services for adolescents in low- and middle-income countries. The review was guided by a framework that conceptualized barriers across multiple dimensions of access (availability, geographic accessibility, affordability, and acceptability), utilization, and effective coverage.

Building capacity for health equity analysis in the WHO South-East Asia Region.

"Leaving no one behind" is at the heart of the agenda of the Sustainable Development Goals, requiring that health systems be vigilant to how interventions can be accessed equitably by all, including population subgroups that face exclusion. In the World Health Organization (WHO) South-East Asia Region, inequalities can be found across and within countries but there has been a growing commitment to examining and starting to tackle them. Over the past decade in particular, WHO has been developing an armamentarium of tools to enable analysis of health inequalities and action on health equity.

Tools and approaches to operationalize the commitment to equity, gender and human rights: towards leaving no one behind in the Sustainable Development Goals.

The objective of this article is to present specific resources developed by the World Health Organization on equity, gender and human rights in order to support Member States in operationalizing their commitment to leave no one behind in the health Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and other health-related goals and targets. The resources cover: (i) health inequality monitoring; (ii) barrier analysis using mixed methods; (iii) human rights monitoring; (iv) leaving no one behind in national and subnational health sector planning; and (v) equity, gender and human rights in national health programme reviews. Examples of the application of the tools in a range of country contexts are provided for each resource.

Applying the Innov8 approach for reviewing national health programmes to leave no one behind: lessons learnt from Indonesia.

The World Health Organization's Innov8 Approach for Reviewing National Health Programmes to Leave No One Behind is an eight-step process that supports the operationalization of the Sustainable Development Goals' commitment to 'leave no one behind'. In 2014-2015, Innov8 was adapted and applied in Indonesia to review how the national neonatal and maternal health action plans could become more equity-oriented, rights-based and gender-responsive, and better address critical social determinants of health. The process was led by the Indonesian Ministry of Health, with the support of WHO.

Social determinants of health, universal health coverage, and sustainable development: case studies from Latin American countries.

Many intrinsically related determinants of health and disease exist, including social and economic status, education, employment, housing, and physical and environmental exposures. These factors interact to cumulatively affect health and disease burden of individuals and populations, and to establish health inequities and disparities across and within countries. Biomedical models of health care decrease adverse consequences of disease, but are not enough to effectively improve individual and population health and advance health equity.