Taking the whole of Africa approach to fighting the COVID-19 pandemic has and will continue to require coordinated efforts from multiple stakeholders from across the continent. Africa CDC would like to acknowledge the deep partnership and continued support of AUDA-NEPAD, AVAREF, WHO AFRO, the Bill a...nd Melinda Gates Foundation and the Mastercard Foundation. These partners have helped to shape and drive the continent’s strategic response to the COVID-19 pandemic and have offered support to ensure the continent receives a fair and equitable share of the COVID-19 vaccine without delay.
We look forward to continuing and deepening our partnership for the benefit of the public health of Africa.
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Available in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish. You can download a summary of the main report and background documents!
The report demonstrates that the current system—at both national and international levels— was not adequate to protect people from COVID-19. The time it t...ook from the reporting of a cluster of cases of pneumonia of unknown origin in mid-late December 2019 to a Public Health Emergency of International Concern being declared was too long. February 2020 was also a lost month when many more countries could have taken steps to contain the spread of SARS-CoV-2 and forestall the global health, social, and economic catastrophe that continues its grip. The Panel finds that the system as it stands now is clearly unfit to prevent another novel and highly infectious pathogen, which could emerge at any time, from developing into a pandemic.
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Germany’s overall response to COVID-19 has been evaluated as reasoned and sound. Nonetheless, it has exposed weaknesses and blindspots in the German healthcare system regarding the inclusion of migrant groups. For instance, marginalised groups such as labour migrants and asylum-seekers are not con...sidered for tailored measures in the government’s response to COVID-19. On the other hand, certain efforts to include migrant groups, such as the provision of information in numerous languages, are unprecedented in the German context. They may point to increasing accommodation for diversity.
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3rd editionThe compendium provides guidance on low-cost handwashing facilities that can be widely used in low and middle-income countries. We hope that this can be shared extensively as governments and agencies tackle the crisis in low and middle-income countries where handwashing facilities are urg...ently needed in households, communities, schools and healthcare facilities.
The compendium includes information and further reading on: handwashing facilities – including facilities that are accessible for all, environmental cues to reinforce handwashing behaviours, physical distancing hygiene promotion.
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Air pollution is a major environmental risk factor and contributor to chronic, noncommunicable diseases (NCDs). However, most public health approaches to NCD prevention focus on behavioural and biomedical risk factors, rather than environmental risk factors such as air pollution. This article discus...ses the implications of such a focus. It then outlines the opportunities for those in public health and environmental science to work together across three key areas to address air pollution, NCDs and climate change: (a) acknowledging the shared drivers, including corporate determinants; (b) taking a ‘co-benefits’ approach to NCD prevention; and (c) expanding prevention research and evaluation methods through investing in systems thinking and intersectoral, cross-disciplinary collaborations.
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doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.10.28.20221143
This article is a preprint and has not been peer-reviewed [what does this mean?]. It reports new medical research that has yet to be evaluated and so should not be used to guide clinical practice.
Interim Guidance 31 march 2020
WHO has established a shipment mechanism to expedite and cover the costs of the shipment of clinical samples from patients with suspected COVID-19 from the country of collection to one of the WHO reference laboratories providing confirmatory molecular testing for COVI...D-19. This document explains the process and documentation required for shipment of specimens.
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La Agencia Española de Medicamentos y Producto Sanitarios (AEMPS) está monitorizando de manera continua con los expertos de las agencias europeas, la EMA y el resto de agencias mundiales todos los datos relativos al uso de medicamentos para tratar la COVID-19. Se trata de... un escenario que puede ir cambiando por la enorme cantidad de datos, comunicaciones y publicaciones que se están generando a nivel mundial. El presente documento técnico tiene la finalidad de guiar el manejoclínicode los pacientes conCOVID-19 con un doble objetivo: lograr el mejor tratamiento del paciente que contribuya a su buena evolución clínica; y garantizar los niveles adecuados de prevención y control de la infección para la protección de los trabajadores sanitarios y de la población en su conjunto.
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This document aims to provide advice on the use of cloth face masks and sterilisation of respirators and surgical masks as an alternative in healthcare settings with suspected or confirmed COVID-19 cases if there is a shortage of specialised surgical masks and respirators.
English Analysis on World and 26 other countries about Agriculture, Climate Change and Environment, Drought, Epidemic and more; published on 26 Oct 2021 by WMO
10 May 2021
This scientific brief replaces the WHO Scientific Brief entitled “’Immunity passports’ in the context of COVID-19”, published 24 April 2020.
This update is focused on what is currently understood about SARS-CoV-2 immunity from natural infection. More information about considera...tions on vaccine certificates or “passports” will be covered in an update of WHO interim guidance, as requested by the COVID-19 emergency committee.
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The World Health Organization Regional Office for Africa (WHO AFRO), in accordance with recommendations from various WHO committees, has developed three flagship programmes to support Member States in the African region to prepare for, detect and respond to public health emergencies. They are the re...sult of extensive consultations with more than 30 African government ministers, technical actors, partners across the continent as well as regional institutions such as the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), whose contributions have shaped the priority activities. This report provides the second quarterly summary of progress in implementing the flagship programmes.
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The Vienna Declaration was signed at the end of the Fifth High-level Meeting on Transport, Health and Environment. The virtual meeting, hosted by the Federal Government of Austria, brought together 46 ministers and representatives of 56 countries in the pan-European region.
The group discussed ho...w to introduce substantial changes in transport and mobility systems in order to address multiple challenges such as ambient air pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, physical inactivity and noncommunicable diseases, and social inequity in access to transport and mobility.
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23 décembre 2020 Ce document résume les recommandations de l'OMS concernant l'utilisation rationnelle des équipements de protection individuelle (EPI) dans les établissements de soins de santé et les stratégies temporaires en cas de pénurie aiguë d'approvisionnement. Ce document contient ég...alement 2 sections en annexe qui décrivent les recommandations actualisées d'utilisation des EPI pour les travailleurs de la santé en fonction du scénario de transmission, du milieu et de l'activité dans le contexte de COVID-19 (annexe 1), et des considérations actualisées pour la décontamination ou le retraitement des EPI (annexe 2). Ce guide est destiné aux autorités de santé publique, aux organisations et aux personnes de référence impliquées dans les décisions concernant la distribution, la gestion et l'utilisation des EPI par les travailleurs de la santé.
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23 February 2021
This document describes the medical devices required for the clinical management of COVID-19, selected and prioritized according to the latest available evidence and interim guidelines. This includes: oxygen therapy, pulse oximeters, patient monitors, thermometers, infusion and suc...tion pumps, X-ray, ultrasound and CT scanners as well as personal protective equipment. In order to facilitate access to quality assured priority medical devices, the document also includes technical and performance characteristics, related standards, accessories and consumables. It is intended for policy-makers and planning officers in Ministries of Health, procurement and regulatory agencies, intergovernmental and international agencies as well as the medical device industry.
This document is an update to the List of priority medical devices for COVID-19 case management and Technical specifications for invasive and non-invasive ventilators for COVID-19.
This document complements the Technical specifications of personal protective equipment for COVID-19.
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MEDICINA (Buenos Aires) 2020; Vol. 80 (Supl. VI): 100-10;
La tuberculosis es una enfermedad infecciosa crónica endémica en la República Argentina causada por Mycobacterium tuberculosis, cuya localización más frecuente es la pulmonar. Suele afectar grupos poblacionales carenciados y tiene gran... repercusión sobre la salud pública. COVID-19 es una infección viral aguda caus 101-ada por SARS-CoV-2 que tiene típico compromiso respiratorio y, en ocasiones, puede presentar similitudes clínicas y radiológicas con la tuberculosis pulmonar. Ambas entidades pueden tener desenlace fatal si no son diagnosticadas y tratadas a tiempo. Presentamos una serie de casos en los que se diagnosticó tuberculosis pulmonar y COVID-19 en forma simultánea.
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Dolutegravir HIV drug resistance (HIVDR) data from Africa remain sparse. We reviewed HIVDR results of Malawians on
dolutegravir-based antiretroviral therapy (November 2020– September 2021). Of 6462 eligible clients, 33 samples were submitted to South Africa, 27 were sequenced successfully, and 8 ...(30%) had dolutegravir HIVDR. Malawi urgently requires adequate HIVDR testing capacity.
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This document, produced by IFRC, UNICEF and WHO, suggests key actions on how people and communities can stay safe and slow down the spread of COVID-19, particularly for contexts where you might have been asked by your local authorities to maintain physical distance or stay home.
Available in: Arabi...c, Bangla, Hindi, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Malay, Myanmar, Portuguese, Simplified Chinese, Spanish, Tagalog, Thai, Traditional Chinese, Vietnamese
https://communityengagementhub.org/resource/community-action-guide/
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