The Multi-Cluster/Sector Initial Rapid Assessment (MIRA) is a joint needs assessment tool that can be used in sudden onset emergencies, including IASC System-Wide Level 3 Emergency Responses (L3 Responses).
A training manual for identifying, assessing, preventing and controlling the risks of pandemics in the workplace. This training manual has been developed for both medical and non-medical personnel who may be called upon to lead emergency response, (eg epidemic outbreak, etc), ensure effective conta...inment whiles work continues and essential goods and services continue to be supplied.
The manual provides insight into some of the local epidemics experienced in Ghana such as Cholera, Cerebrospinal meningitis (CSM) and Influenza(s), the causes, signs and symptoms and preventive measures with a view to increasing knowledge among management, staff and their families as well as immediate communities within which they work.
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The aim of this “model contingency plan” is to assist programme managers and planners in devel-oping a national, context-specific, dengue outbreak response plan in order to: (a) detect a dengue outbreak at an early stage through clearly defined and validated alarm signals; (b) precisely define w...hen a dengue outbreak has started; and (c) organize an early response to the alarm signals or an “emergency response” once an outbreak has started.
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The guide summarizes an assessment of War Child Canada’s three-pronged legal protection model as implemented with South Sudanese refugees in Northern Uganda and uses it to identify the most important lessons for ensuring legal protection mechanisms are in place at the onset of an emergency
The report offers 20 top recommendations for getting ahead of future outbreaks in Yemen and similarly complex humanitarian settings.
In 2015, Yemen was declared a Level 3 emergency by the UN, kicking into gear the highest level of humanitarian support. A massive cholera outbreak followed, leading t...o 1 million suspected cases in 2 waves from September 2016-July 2018.
“We largely know ‘what to do’ to control cholera, but context-specific practices on ‘how to do it’ in order to surmount challenges to coordination, logistics, insecurity, access and politics remain needed,” the report states.
While the response improved between the 2 waves, there were gaps. For one, Yemen’s history of cholera should have triggered a heavy focus on pre-planning for an epidemic, such as stockpiling supplies and doubling down on community-based surveillance, the report fou
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‘Psychosocial Support of Children in Emergencies’ is a reference document for humanitarian workers who want to increase their understanding of the experiences of children in emergency situations and how to support them in mitigating the negative effects of these experiences and how to prevent fu...rther harm. While the book is not designed to be a day-to-day programming tool, it outlines UNICEF’s orientation to the psychosocial principles integral to any work with children and provides a number of examples from field work of how these principles can be turned into concrete actions.
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Purpose: This research study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of the services provided by CBR programmes in Jordan.
Method: This was a mixed- methods investigation. A survey was carried out with 47 participants (stakeholders and volunteers) from four CBR centres in Jordan. It comprised 18 que...stions that collected both qualitative and quantitative data with both closed- and open-ended questions. The quantitative data were analysed using SPSS Version 22.0. Qualitative data were analysed through thematic content analysis and open coding to identify emergent themes.
Results: 40.4% of the participants evaluated the effectiveness of CBR services as low. This mainly stemmed from the lack of efforts to increase the local community’s knowledge about CBR, disability and the role of CBR programmes towards people with disabilities.
Conclusions: A proposal was offered concerning the priorities of CBR programmes in Jordan. Efforts need to be directed at promoting livelihood and empowerment components in order to actualise the principles of CBR, mainly by promoting multispectral collaboration as a way of operation.
Implications: This study was inclusive of all types of disability. Barriers to the effectiveness of services may stem from accessibility issues to the families of persons with disabilities (hard to reach) or from CBR services themselves (hard to access). The culturally specific evaluative tool in this study was of “good” specificity and sensitivity, this evaluative instrument can be transferrable to measure the impact of CBR programmes in other settings.
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The purpose of the WHO Manual for the Public Health Management of Chemical Incidents is to provide a comprehensive overview of the principles and roles of public health in the management of chemical incidents and emergencies. While this information is provided for each phase of the emergency cycle, ...including prevention, planning and preparedness, detection and alert, response and recovery, it is recognized that the management of chemical incidents and emergencies requires a multi-disciplinary and multi-sectoral approach and that the health sector may play an influencing, complementary or a leadership role at various stages of the management process. The target audience includes public health and environmental professionals, as well as any other person involved in the management of chemical incidents.
WHO and all those involved in the development of the publication hope that the publication will have wide application, especially in developing countries and countries with economies in transition, and that in the future the health sector will be better prepared to acknowledge and fulfill its roles and responsibilities in the management of chemical incidents and emergencies, thereby contributing to the prevention and mitigation of their health consequences.
The publication is also available in French: http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/246117/9789242598148-fre.pdf?sequence=1 and in Spanish: http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/246118/9789243598147-spa.pdf?sequence=1
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The document is intended to facilitate the detection, evaluation and management of incident EVD cases in Germany. It primarily addresses public health service staff and health care workers in hospitals, outpatient clinics and emergency services in Germany. It is a work in progress, intended to evolv...e over time. Updated 14 August 2015
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Overview
Learning objectives
• Promote respect and dignity for people with psychoses.
• Name common presentations of psychoses.
• Name assessment principles of psychoses.
• Name management principles of psychoses.
• Perform an assessment for psychoses.
• Use effective communicatio...n skills when interacting with a person psychoses.
• Assess and manage physical health concerns in psychoses.
• Assess and manage emergency presentations of psychoses.
• Provide psychosocial interventions to persons with psychoses and their carers.
• Deliver pharmacological interventions as needed and appropriate in psychoses
considering special populations.
• Plan and performs follow-up sessions for people with psychoses.
• Refer to specialist and links with outside agencies for psychoses as appropriate and
available.
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Globally, it is estimated that 128.6 million people are currently in need of humanitarian assistance. Of these individuals, approximately one-fourth are women and girls of reproductive age. Although family planning is one of the most life-saving, empowering, and cost-effective interventions for wome...n and girls, it remains an overwhelming gap in emergency responses due to a lack of prioritisation and funding. Consequently, many women and girls are forced to contend with an unmet need for family planning and unplanned pregnancies in addition to the traumas of conflict, disaster, and displacement.
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Gender-based violence, including rape is a problem throughout the world, occurring in every society, country and region. Refugees and internally displaced people are particularly at risk of this violation during every phase of an emergency situation. The systematic use of sexual violence as a method... of warfare is well documented and constitutes a grave breach of international humanitarian law.
The Arabic Version can be downloaded here: http://reliefweb.int/report/syrian-arab-republic/guidelines-health-staff-caring-gender-based-violence-survivors-including
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The intent of these guidelines is to develop a holistic, coordinated, proactive and technology driven strategy for management of biological disasters through a culture of prevention, mitigation and preparedness to generate a prompt and effective response in the event of an emergency. Th...e document contains comprehensive guidelines for preparedness activities, biosafety and biosecurity measures, capacity development, specialised health care and laboratory facilities, strengthening of the existing legislative/
regulatory framework, mental health support, response, rehabilitation and recovery, etc. It specifically lays down the approach for implementation of the guidelines by the central ministries/departments, states, districts and other stakeholders, in a time bound manner.
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On 30thJanuary 2020 the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in the People’s Republic of China to be a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) under the international Health Regulations. The following day, the Italian Governm...ent declared a state of emergency, stopping all flights to and from Chinese airports. 1.2On 7th April the foreign, interior, transport and health ministers signed a decree under theInternational Convention on Maritime Search and Rescue stating that Italian ports could no longer be classified as places of safety for foreign naval units, including NGO-run migrantrescue ships, operating outside the Italian Search and Rescue (SAR) area. Despite the national lockdown and the closure of ports to international rescue vessels in the Mediterranean Sea, small ships departing from Libya and Tunisia have continued to sail towards the Italian coastline. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), during the period 1stJanuary –12thApril, 2020 there were an estimated 3,229 sea arrivals in Italy
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The COVID-19 pandemic’s immediate costs, measured in lives lost and damaged, have been appalling and continue to rise. In addition, its effects on individuals’ livelihoods and economies around the world have been deep and are likely to be long lasting. While saving lives was the near-exclusive f...ocus during the first phase of the crisis, governments are now trying to strike a delicate balance between preventing further economic damage by reopening parts of their economies, while managing the obvious health risks of doing so.
In the international mobility and migration arenas—policy areas enormously affected by the health and economic effects of the pandemic—this reflection considers both how these fields have fared thus far and the challenges that lay ahead
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Frontline health workers (FHWs) provide services directly to communities where they are most needed, especially in remote and rural areas. Many are community health workers and midwives, though they can also include local emergency responders/paramedics, pharmacists, nurses, and doctors who serve in... community clinics.
The growing burden of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) on low- and middle-income countries threatens many health systems that are already weakened. In many countries, health systems—and health workers—are not prepared to address the complex nature of NCDs. Health systems are often fragmented, and designed to respond to single episodes of care or long-term prevention and control of infectious diseases.1 Many countries also continue to face shortages and distribution challenges of trained and supported health workers. As most NCDs are multifactorial in origin and are detected later in their evolution, health systems face significant challenges to provide early detection as well as affordable, effective, and timely treatment, particularly in underserved communities.
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This guidance document is meant to support practitioners working in disaster prone contexts to develop and implement more effective integrated resilience programming. It promotes programming that cuts across different fields of work like rights awareness, food security, emergency preparedness, livel...ihoods, education, health etc. whilst at the same time encouraging us to work simultaneously at the individual, household, community and national level. It includes specific recommendations for developing resilience programming for communities prone to floods, cyclone, drought and earthquakes. It also includes recommendations to develop safe school programming to help reduce the impact of disasters on school infrastructure, ensure education continuity and build the resilience of students, teachers and their families.
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This guideline aims to improve the quality of donations and the management thereof and serve as the basis for policies of the State and other organizations in the giving and receiving of donations of medicines, medical devices and IVDs.
Over the last three or four decades, there has been an enorm...ous increase in scientific knowledge about the mode of action, effects and side effects of medicines, medical devices and IVDs. It is important for all
stakeholders to understand that these products have both benefits and risks, that they have to be used carefully and appropriately and that some can do more harm than good.
There are many different scenarios for the donation of medicines, medical devices and IVDs. Donations may take place in acute emergencies or as part of development aid in non-emergency situations. They may involve donations (i.e. direct or through private voluntary organizations), aid by governments or persons authorized to sell medicines, medical devices and/or IVDs.
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There is little doubt that 2019 was a defining year on many fronts for the environment. The repercussions of the climate emergency were experienced across the globe, with floods, devastating wildfires, and unprecedented melting of polar ice sheets and glaciers. While the new decade began with the Au...stralian bushfires still raging after the hottest and driest year on record, the world was soon (and still is) in the grip of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Bioethics 519 (online) doi:10.1111/bioe.12145 Volume 29 Number 8 2015 pp. 488–596;
Pandemic plans recommend phases of response to an emergent infectious disease (EID) outbreak, and are primarily aimed at preventing and mitigating human-to-human transmission. These plans carry presumptive weight ...and are increasingly being operationalized at the national, regional and international level with the support of the World Health Organization (WHO). The conventional focus of pandemic preparedness for EIDs of zoonotic origin has been on public health and human welfare. However, thisfocus on human populations has resulted in strategically important disciplinary silos. As the risks of zoonotic diseases have implications that reach across many domains outside traditional public health, including anthropological, environmental, and veterinary fora, a more inclusive ecological perspective is paramount for an effective response to future outbreaks.
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