Health services include all services dealing with the diagnosis and treatment of disease, or the promotion, maintenance and restoration of health. They include personal and non-personal health services. Health services are the most visible functions of any health system, both to users and the general public. Service provision refers to the way inputs such as money, staff, equipment and drugs are combined to allow the delivery of health interventions. Improving access, coverage and quality of services depends on these key resources being available; on the ways services are organized and managed, and on incentives influencing providers and users.
Variola virus repository safety inspections
World Health Assembly resolution WHA60.1 (2007) mandates WHO to inspect the two authorized repositories for variola virus (CDC in Atlanta, GA, USA and VECTOR in Novosibirsk, Russian Federation) every two years to ensure that ‘the conditions of storage of the virus, and the research done in the laboratories meet the highest requirements of biosafety and biosecurity’.
In addition, WHA60.1 requests that inspection-mission reports be made available for public information after appropriate scientific and security redaction.
The inspections are conducted by independent global experts using internationally recognized standards. They are usually planned for a time after the laboratory has been shut down and decontaminated to allow for annual maintenance. This provides an opportunity to visit areas that would normally be difficult to access when live virus was being handled.
