The WHO—World Health Organization—is the directing and coordinating authority for health within the United Nations system. It assesses health trends and provides technical assistance to countries that need it. The WHO’s website includes an international travel and health section with a number of resources beneficial to missionary and humanitarian travelers.
WHO provides an interactive travel map with details on requirements, risks and recommendations related to yellow fever, malaria and rabies. The site can be accessed directly at http://apps.who.int/tools/geoserver/www/ith/index.html.
WHO also provides pertinent information on each of its member countries. Each nation has its own web page that includes the country’s health profile, country brief, current outbreaks and crises, risk factors, and more. The outbreaks and crises section is especially helpful for travelers as it provides detailed current and archived information on emergency situations.
If the country was included in a weekly “regional situation update” then a link to that report is provided in the emergency section. These updates give a snap-shot of health and safety concerns affecting the region, list any acute crises presently faced, and summarize the “countries under surveillance.” The latter is a paragraph report on countries where dangerous or potentially dangerous activities are taking place.
To access the list of countries, go to http://www.who.int/countries/en/. To get a quick list of countries and regions currently experiencing a crisis, go to http://www.who.int/hac/crises/en/.
In addition to the travel information, humanitarian and medical mission teams will find the country background materials very beneficial. The country brief gives an overview of the country’s health and development, along with health-related opportunities and challenges. Through a link on its regional websites, you can access a detailed country health report. Risk factors faced by the country are also identified along with corresponding reports.
These background reports and related information can enable humanitarian teams to prioritize their response to the country’s needs. They also provide insight into current health strategies and how the team might connect with them.
Information like that provided on the WHO site is especially important to humanitarian and ministry team leaders, and to the organizations they represent. By staying abreast of the current health and safety situation, these leaders can better prepare their teams and take appropriate precautions to protect themselves.