Much can be done to prevent suicide. WHO recommends four key interventions which have proven to be effective:

Close to 800 000 people die by suicide every year. Furthermore, for each suicide, there are more than 20 suicide attempts.

Suicides and suicide attempts have a ripple effect that impacts on families, friends, colleagues, communities and societies.

Suicides are preventable. Much can be done to prevent suicide at individual, community and national levels. 

What you can do

Up to two billion people around the world lack access to necessary medicines, vaccines, medical devices including in vitro diagnostics,  and other health products, which creates a vacuum that is too often filled by substandard and falsified products. This problem is growing as global supply chains become more complex, meaning products manufactured in one country may be packaged in a second country and distributed across borders to be marketed or sold to consumers in a third.

More needs to be done to integrate stillbirth prevention within global and national agendas for high quality health care for women, adolescents, and babies.

Through the Global Strategy for Women's, Children's and Adolescents Health 2016-2030 and implementing the recommendations of the Every Newborn Action Plan (2014), WHO is working to end preventable stillbirths, as part of efforts to improve maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health.

With quality health care throughout pregnancy and childbirth, most stillbirths are preventable.

Depending on the severity of the pneumonia, signs and symptoms may include:

• Cough
• Shortness of breath
• Fever, sweating and shaking chills
• Fatigue
• Chest pain 
• Nausea, vomiting or diarrhea
• Confusion, especially in older adults

The best way to prevent pertussis is through immunization. The three-dose primary series diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis (DTP3) (- containing) vaccines decrease the risk of severe pertussis in infancy. In 2018, 86% of the global target population had received the recommended three doses of DTP-containing vaccine during infancy.

Pertussis, also known as whooping cough, is a highly contagious respiratory infection caused by the bacterium Bordetella pertussis. In 2018, there were more than 151 000 cases of pertussis globally.

Pertussis spreads easily from person to person mainly through droplets produced by coughing or sneezing. The disease is most dangerous in infants, and is a significant cause of disease and death in this age group.

Recognizing the huge burden of patient harm in health care, the 72nd World Health Assembly, in May 2019, adopted a resolution (WHA72.6) on “Global action on patient safety”, which endorsed the establishment of World Patient Safety Day, to be observed every year on 17 September; and recognized “patient safety as a global health priority”.

In 2015, the Tokyo declaration on dental care and oral health for healthy longevity was adopted.

Oral health is a key indicator of overall health, well-being and quality of life. It encompasses a range of diseases and conditions that include dental caries, periodontal (gum) disease, tooth loss, oral cancer, oral manifestations of HIV infection, oro-dental trauma, noma and birth defects such as cleft lip and palate. The Global Burden of Disease Study 2017 estimated that oral diseases affect 3.5 billion people worldwide.

Poor oral health causes millions of people to suffer from devastating pain and increases the out-of-pocket financial burden for society. Oral diseases can affect an individual’s effectiveness in school and work settings and can cause social and personal problems. The psychosocial impact of many oral diseases significantly reduces the quality of life.

WHO recommends treating onchocerciasis with ivermectin at least once yearly for 10 to 15 years. Where O. volvulus co-exists with Loa loa, treatment strategies have to be adjusted. Loa loa is a parasitic filarial worm that is endemic in Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nigeria and South Sudan. Treatment of individuals with high levels of L. loa in the blood can sometimes result in severe adverse events.

Despite the critical role they play in health care, there is a shortage of nurses worldwide that is expected to rise as the population grows. Initiatives to expand health care services, particularly in low- and middle-income countries, are succeeding in providing access to previously underserved communities, which furthers the need for trained nurses. Every country needs a competent, motivated, well-distributed and supported health workforce as part of the global drive for universal health coverage, and nurses are central to these efforts.

Reducing the major risk factors of NCDs – primarily tobacco use, an unhealthy diet, harmful use of alcohol and physical inactivity – is the focus of WHO’s Department for the Prevention of NCDs. In 2013, WHO develop the Global action plan for the prevention and control of NCDs 2013-2020. The plan included nine global targets with the greatest impact towards prevention and management of NCDs.