Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) advice for the public

Novel Coronavirus 2019


Advice for public

Situation reports
Media resources

Technical guidance



Travel advice



WHO’s standard recommendations for the general public to reduce exposure to and transmission of a range of illnesses are as follows, which include hand and respiratory hygiene, and safe food practices:

Frequently clean hands by using alcohol-based hand rub or soap and water;
When coughing and sneezing cover mouth and nose with flexed elbow or tissue – throw tissue away immediately and wash hands;
Avoid close contact with anyone who has fever and cough;
If you have fever, cough and difficulty breathing seek medical care early and share previous travel history with your health care provider;
When visiting live markets in areas currently experiencing cases of novel coronavirus, avoid direct unprotected contact with live animals and surfaces in contact with animals;
The consumption of raw or undercooked animal products should be avoided. Raw meat, milk or animal organs should be handled with care, to avoid cross-contamination with uncooked foods, as per good food safety practices.

Protect yourself and others from getting sick









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Practice food safety









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Shopping/Working in wet markets in China and Souteast Asia









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Stay healthy while travelling









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WHO training for caregivers of children with developmental disabilities

The World Health Organization’s (WHO) Global Strategy for Women’s, Children’s and Adolescents’ Health calls for the provision of nurturing care to all children. This means a stable, protective and emotionally supportive environment set up by parents and other caregivers that promotes the child’s good health and learning. Given the additional challenges that they experience, parents of children with developmental delays or disorders should be specifically supported in providing nurturing care within a ‘whole family’ approach.

The WHO Caregiver Skills Training programme

Based on the available evidence and experts’ and target users’ guidance, WHO, along with international partners, developed a novel, open-access programme for families of children with developmental delays or disorders, including autism, which could be implemented in low-resource settings by non-specialists. The programme uses a family-centred approach and is designed to be delivered by non specialists (nurses, community-based workers or peer caregivers) as part of a network of health and social services for children and families.

The WHO CST consists of nine group sessions and three individual home visits, focused on training the caregiver on how to use everyday play and home activities and routines as opportunities for learning and development. The sessions specifically address communication, engagement, daily living skills, challenging behaviour and caregiver coping strategies. Additional, booster modules on caregiver well-being and for minimally verbal children are available

Field testing and the way forward

The WHO CST programme is currently undergoing field testing in more than 30 countries in regions throughout the world, including high-, low- and middle-income countries. Two randomised controlled trials are underway in Pakistan and Italy, and future trials are planned in China, Ethiopia and Kenya. More than 300 professionals have been trained and more than 2550 families have received the intervention.

With previous research highlighting the effectiveness of caregiver-mediated interventions and preliminary evidence of good acceptability and feasibility of the WHO CST programme in communities worldwide, the programme is working towards the goal of closing the gap in access to care for children with developmental disorders and delays, ultimately aiming to help them reach their optimal developmental potential.

Miguel Mendes

The WHO Caregiver Skills Training programme for families of children with developmental delays and disorders is available upon request.

https://www.who.int/mental_health/maternal-child/PST/en/

Adopting a healthy lifestyle helps reduce the risk of dementia- WHO

People can reduce their risk of dementia by getting regular exercise, not smoking, avoiding harmful use of alcohol, controlling their weight, eating a healthy diet, and maintaining healthy blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar levels, according to new guidelines issued by the World Health Organization (WHO) today.

“In the next 30 years, the number of people with dementia is expected to triple,” said WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. “We need to do everything we can to reduce our risk of dementia. The scientific evidence gathered for these Guidelines confirm what we have suspected for some time, that what is good for our heart, is also good for our brain.”

The Guidelines provide the knowledge base for health-care providers to advise patients on what they can do to help prevent cognitive decline and dementia. They will also be useful for governments, policy-makers and planning authorities to guide them in developing policy and designing programmes that encourage healthy lifestyles.

The reduction of risk factors for dementia is one of several areas of action included in WHO’s Global action plan for the public health response to dementia. Other areas include: strengthening information systems for dementia; diagnosis, treatment and care; supporting carers of people with dementia; and research and innovation.

WHO’s Global Dementia Observatory, launched in December 2017, is a compilation of information about country activities and resources for dementia, such as national plans, dementia-friendly initiatives, awareness campaigns and facilities for care. Data from 21 countries, including Bangladesh, Chile, France, Japan, Jordan and Togo, have already been included, with a total of 80 countries now engaged in providing data.

Creating national policies and plans for dementia are among WHO’s key recommendations for countries in their efforts to manage this growing health challenge. During 2018, WHO provided support to countries such as Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Qatar, Slovenia and Sri Lanka to help them develop a comprehensive, multi-sectoral public health response to dementia.

An essential element of every national dementia plan is support for carers of people with dementia, said Dr Dévora Kestel, Director of the Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse at WHO. “Dementia carers are very often family members who need to make considerable adjustments to their family and professional lives to care for their loved ones. This is why WHO created iSupport. iSupport is an online training programme providing carers of people with dementia with advice on overall management of care, dealing with behaviour changes and how to look after their own health.”

iSupport is currently being used in eight countries, with more expected to follow.

Dementia: a rapidly growing public health problem

Dementia is an illness characterized by a deterioration in cognitive function beyond what might be expected from normal ageing. It affects memory, thinking, orientation, comprehension, calculation, learning capacity, language and judgement. Dementia results from a variety of diseases and injuries that affect the brain, such as Alzheimer disease or stroke.

Dementia is a rapidly growing public health problem affecting around 50 million people globally. There are nearly 10 million new cases every year. Dementia is a major cause of disability and dependency among older people. Additionally, the disease inflicts a heavy economic burden on societies as a whole, with the costs of caring for people with dementia estimated to rise to US$ 2 trillion annually by 2030.

https://www.who.int/news-room/detail/14-05-2019-adopting-a-healthy-lifestyle-helps-reduce-the-risk-of-dementia

New WHO Guidelines recommend specific interventions for reducing the risk of cognitive decline and dementia

WHO: Thirteenth general programme of work 2019−2023

Major global health gains have been made in recent years, yet complex, interconnected threats − from poverty and inequality to conflict and climate change – remain.


Based on the Sustainable Development Goals, the 13th General Programme of Work (GPW) sets out WHO’s strategic direction for the next five years. It also outlines how the Programme will be implemented and provides a framework to measure progress.


The central focus of GPW 13 is impact in countries. It articulates WHO’s mission to promote health, keep the world safe and serve the vulnerable.


GPW 13 is structured around key interconnected strategic priorities:
ensuring healthy lives and well-being for all at all ages;
achieving universal health coverage;
addressing health emergencies and promoting healthier populations.




These priorities are linked to three bold targets:

One billion more people to benefit from universal health coverage.
One billion more people better protected from health emergencies; and,
One billion more people enjoying better health and well-being.




They are supported by three strategic shifts:

stepping up leadership;
driving public health impact in every country; and,
focusing global public goods on impact.




WHO is committed to ensuring gender equality, equity and rights-based approaches to health that enhance participation, build resilience and empower communities.



Making WHO fit-for-purpose

To boost impact for the people we serve, WHO announced the most wide-ranging reforms in the Organization’s history in March 2019.

WHO’s transformation, aligned with the wider United Nations reform agenda, also aims to enhance our normative and technical work to ensure it better meets the needs of all 194 Member States.

Our goal is clear - to make WHO a modern organization that works seamlessly to make a measurable difference in people’s health at country level.

There are five key elements:
The GPW
A new operating model
Fit-for-purpose processes and tools
Organizational culture and staff engagement
New external engagement actions and new partnerships



After establishing our new strategy, the GPW13, we embarked on a radical redesign of our core processes and operating model to enable our vision of a WHO that works seamlessly to deliver on the triple billion targets and beyond.WHO Headquarters adopts the new structure in January 2020, and Regional and Country Offices are restructuring and aligning to the new model.




The Seventy-first World Health Assembly has approved WHO's 13th General Programme of Work (GPW13).
Thirteenth general programme of work, 2019-2023
Also available in: Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian, Spanish
Triple Billion Targets: Results Report 2018-19
Draft Proposed programme budget 2020–2021
Draft Working Document on the Operationalization of the Proposed Programme Budget 2020-2021
Information Note on the Budgetary Aspects of Polio Eradication and Polio Transition
Proposed programme budget 2020-2021

https://www.who.int/about/what-we-do/thirteenth-general-programme-of-work-2019---2023