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Operational shifts – the “how”
While NCDs, health security threats, and climate and environmental change are not new, they are all issues on which the health impact trajectory is moving in the wrong direction: upwards. Population ageing is not a burden – rather, it can be an opportunity – if we plan ahead. Simply, our response to these trends will help shape the future of our societies. For infectious diseases and maternal and infant mortality, for the most part the opposite is true: both incidence and impact are declining as we move closer towards achieving disease elimination and control targets in many areas. However, adequately addressing all of these issues in a complex, changing world requires new thinking and new ways of working: to reverse or at least stabilize upward trends – for instance, in NCDs – to go the last mile in order to “reach the unreached” still afflicted by infectious disease and maternal and child mortality, and to reduce health inequities in doing so. Accordingly, WHO needs not only to strengthen its support to countries, but also to modify how this support is delivered.
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FOR THE FUTURE
