Coronavirus resource center

The coronavirus pandemic puts an extraordinary and unprecedented burden on health systems, organizations, and professionals. Never before have we faced a global crisis of this magnitude, one that challenges every country’s capacity to deliver health care services. 

Health Care Without Harm has developed this webpage as a resource center for our partners around the world, for members of our Global Green and Healthy Hospitals Network, and for the broader community engaged at the intersection of environment, climate change and health.

Our priorities are to first support the work professionals and organizations are doing on the frontlines by providing strategies, solutions, and resources that address the unique challenges posed by the coronavirus.

Second, together with many others, we are exploring the long-term influence of this pandemic on human and planetary health in order to begin to collectively chart a course for the future.

Our staff has curated a list of resources and guidelines produced by Health Care Without Harm, its partners and multilateral organizations to offer solutions to some of the challenges this crisis brings. We will regularly update this page with new information. 

 

Table of contents

 

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Beyond COVID-19: Toward healthy people, a healthy planet, justice, and equity

A statement by the Health Care Without Harm Global Network. [English] [Spanish

As the world responds to COVID-19 and the intertwined social, political, and economic crises it has spawned, we find ourselves at a crossroads. One path takes us back in the direction we came, propping up old structures and systems that have led to this crisis in the first place. The other leads in the direction of an unprecedented set of opportunities and the urgent need to forge a just transition to equitable, resilient societies that provide decent work for all, universal health care, and contribute to a healthy climate.


Health Care Without Harm regional COVID-19 resource pages

  1. Health Care Without Harm Latin America (in Spanish)
  2. Health Care Without Harm Asia | Blogs and essays on COVID-19, climate change, and health care
  3. Health Care Without Harm Europe
  4. Practice Greenhealth: Resources for hospitals dealing with COVID-19 in the U.S.
  5. Health Care Without Harm U.S. & Canada: Connections between coronavirus pandemic and the climate crisis

Policy and systems change: the road ahead

Resilience and sustainability

  1. World Bank | Coronavirus sustainability checklist for policy makers
  2. Health Care Without Harm | India - Webinar for health partners on COVID-19: Pathway to recovery (Organized by SELCO Foundation, Public Health Foundation of India, Centre for Chronic Disease Control, Shakti Foundation and Health Care Without Harm)
  3. Health Care Without Harm SE Asia | Amplifying the voice of healthcare amidst the climate crisis and a pandemic
  4. Boston Globe | Green hospitals may be better prepared to deal with Covid-19
  5. European Environmental Bureau (EEB) | Turning fear into hope: Corona crisis measures to help build a better future
  6. CleanMed Virtual session | Building community health and resilience beyond COVID-19. Speakers: Denise Fairchild (Emerald Cities Collaborative), Helga Garcia-Garza (Agri-Cultura Network), and Jon E. Utech (Cleveland Clinic). Moderator: Gary Cohen, Health Care Without Harm and Practice Greenhealth founder. Access the virtual session's recording.

Public policies

  1. WHO | Manifesto for a healthy recovery from COVID-19.
  2. COVID-19| In support of a #HealthyRecovery. Letter to G20 leaders.

Public policies | Waste

  1. Health Care Without Harm, World Bank, GEF, Global Platform for Sustainable Cities | COVID-19 vaccination and municipal waste management
  2. UNEP | Waste management an essential public service in the fight to beat COVID-19
  3. European Federation of Waste Management and Environmental Services| Member States Must Recognise Waste as “Essential Public Services”

Public policies | Hand hygiene and disinfectants

  1. WHO | Recommendations to Member States to improve hand hygiene practices by providing universal access to public hand hygiene stations to help prevent the transmission of the COVID-19 virus

Health care operations

Protection without pollution: COVID-19 waste-reduction strategies

  1. Guidance for sustainable glove purchasing: As health care facilities rethink their purchasing and supply chains in the wake of COVID-19, this guidance can serve as a roadmap for advancing sustainable options [English] [Portuguese]
  2. Guidance for immunization waste management: The huge need for masks, gloves, and other personal protective equipment, millions of COVID-19 tests, and lifesaving hospital treatment for victims of the disease has, in many cases, led to an increase in health care waste. This guidance provides recommendations on how to better manage and safely dispose of waste associated with immunization. [English]
  3. Guidance for Personal Protective Equipment for immunizations practices: This document is for health professionals who are using PPE as they administer vaccinations. It will help vaccine administers ensure infection prevention while reducing unnecessary product use and waste. [English]

Waste

  1. Health Care Without Harm | Coronavirus update: Health care waste management factsheet [English] [Spanish] [Portuguese] [Bahasa] [Polish]
  2. Health Care Without Harm | Training video on coronavirus health care waste management
  3. Health Care Without Harm SE Asia | Mobilizing health care to prevent plastic pollution | A toolkit for COVID-19 waste management
  4. Health Care Without Harm SE Asia | Op-ed and infographic - Philippines: Managing COVID-19 - related health care waste
  5. Health Care Without Harm SE Asia | Build back healthier: A compendium of zero waste & sustainable waste practices from around Southeast Asia for a healthier pandemic recovery
  6. Health Care Without Harm | Global Green and Healthy Hospitals (GGHH) waste guidance document
  7. Health Care Without Harm | GGHH SE Asia webinar recording - "Strengthening best hospital practices and do away with waste incineration" (COVID-19 waste management)
  8. World Health Organization (WHO) | Water, sanitation, hygiene and waste management for COVID-19
  9. Department of Labor, Occupational Safety and Health Administration (U.S) | COVID-19 Control and Prevention including solid waste 
  10. GGHH | Africa webinar recording: Health care waste management

Disinfectants

  1. Health Care Without Harm | Coronavirus update: Disinfection tunnels factsheet [English] [Spanish] [Portuguese]
  2. WHO | Recommended handrub formulations
  3. WHO | Cleaning and disinfection of environmental surfaces in the context of COVID-19

Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) in health care

  1. Health Care Without Harm | Antimicrobials in hospital furnishings: Do they help combat COVID-19?
  2. WHO | Infection prevention and control during health care when novel coronavirus (nCoV) infection is suspected 
  3. WHO | Online trainings on facility design, country preparedness, clinical management and more

Occupational health and safety

  1. United States National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) | Protecting yourself from COVID-19 in the workplace
  2. United States National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) | Health and safety resources for workers who may be at risk of exposure to COVID-19

Personal Protection Equipment (PPE)

  1. WHO | Advice on the use of masks in the community, during home care and in healthcare settings in the context of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak
  2. WHO | Rational use of personal protective equipment for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)
  3. United Kingdom | National Infection Prevention and Control Manual: Best Practice - Putting On and Removing PPE
  4. U.S. Center for Disease Control | Decontamination and reuse of filtering facepiece respirators using contingency and crisis capacity strategies (USA)
  5. ECRI | Safety of Extended Use and Reuse of N95 Respirators
  6. N95DECON research group | Three approaches to N95 decontamination for the COVID19 pandemic: Heat and humidity, UV-C, Hydrogen peroxide gas vapor or plasma
  7. U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) | Emergency authorisations for PPE use and disinfection

Mental health

  1. WHO | Mental health and psychological resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic 

General information, context, and education

General information

  1. WHO | Main webpage: Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) Pandemic
  2. Health Care Without Harm Europe | Sustainable healthcare during a pandemic. How COVID-19 will change our outlook on sustainable healthcare. 

Coronavirus and air pollution

  1. World Economic Forum | The deadly link between COVID-19 and air pollution (Co-authored by Arvind Kumar, Founder and Managing Trustee, Lung Care Foundation of India, Jane Burston, Executive Director, Clean Air Fund, and Josh Karliner, International Director for Program and Strategy, Health Care Without Harm)
  2. Health Care Without Harm | India: Dr. Arvind Kumar from the Lung Care Foundation discusses COVID-19 and air pollution
  3. New York Times | New Research Links Air Pollution to Higher Coronavirus Death Rates | study materials from Harvard School of Public Health

Coronavirus and climate change

  1. Skoll Foundation and Health Care Without Harm | Virtual Skoll World Forum session - Coronavirus and climate crisis: Mobilizing health for common solutions
  2. Health Care Without Harm | Coronavirus and the climate crisis: Common causes and shared solutions - In-depth analysis
  3. Climate Outreach | Communicating climate change during the coronavirus crisis - what the evidence says

Education

  1. Health Care Without Harm | India: Comic book for children to learn about COVID-19

Skoll - Health Care Without Harm virtual sessions

March 31, 2020 | Coronavirus and climate crisis: Mobilizing health for common solutions

  1. Session recording
  2. Graphic representation of the session
  3. Poll results and audience map
  4. COVID-19 Narratives, a set of ongoing online briefings by Dr. David Nabarro
  5. Collective strength in a time of plague: article by Gary Cohen, President and Co-Founder of Health Care Without Harm and moderator of the online session. Published by The Skoll Foundation.

September 16, 2020 | Local Solutions for Global Recovery: Taking on Climate, COVID, and Health Inequity

  1. Session recording
  2. Poll results and audience map

 

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