Left unabated, climate change will have catastrophic effects on the health of present and future generations. Such effects are already seen in Europe, through more frequent and severe extreme weather events, alterations to water and food systems, and changes in the environmental suitability for infe...ctious diseases. As one of the largest current and historical contributors to greenhouse gases and the largest provider of financing for climate change mitigation and adaptation, Europe’s response is crucial, for both human health and the planet. To ensure that health and
wellbeing are protected in this response it is essential to build the capacity to understand, monitor, and quantify health impacts of climate change and the health co-benefits of accelerated action.
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Air pollution’s impact on life expectancy in Nigeria is greater than that of HIV/AIDS and almost on par with malaria and unsafe water and sanitation, shortening the average Nigerian’s life expectancy by 1.8 years, relative to what it would be if the World Health Organization (WHO) guideline of 5... μg/m3 was met.1 Some areas of Nigeria fare much worse than average, with air pollution shortening lives by almost 4 years on average in parts of Taraba state in Northeastern Nigeria.
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This review of the IFRC support to the Sierra Leone Red Cross Society response to the 2012 cholera outbreak provides ideas and concepts to promote a more coherent and evidence based rationale on how to make more effective use of IFRC global assets to stop, control, mitigate and respond to cholera ep...idemics. No fit and healthy person should die from cholera – that should be the indicator of success.
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What near-term climate impacts should worry us most?
Supporting the most exposed and vulnerable societies to reduce
regional and global climate risks
For the past years, Haiti has been engulfed in a socioeconomic, political, and humanitarian crisis that has reached critical levels since mid-September 2022 with the intensification of gang violence and social unrest. The widespread insecurity and
political instability have drastically affected the... country’s access to essential goods and services, including food, water, and health. The current fuel supply crisis has affected the water and electricity supply to the population, health centers, and hospitals. Due to problems of insecurity and violence, patients and health personnel have difficulty accessing hospitals and health services.
In parallel, the public health system and international partners face limited response capacity due to reduced international personnel in Haiti, logistics issues, and difficulties in importing supplies. Indeed insecurity, roadblocks, and lockdowns are affecting the importation of internationally procured goods, which may slow the arrival of essential lifesaving supplies to support cholera response efforts. This scenario is particularly problematic, as cholera recently resurfaced in early October.
Armed gangs now control over 60% of the metropolitan area of Port-au-Prince, affecting at least 1.5 million people, and have expanded their influence outside of the capital city, interrupting vital humanitarian programs in most of the national territory,
including COVID-19 vaccination campaigns.
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The United Nations Network on Migration is committed to supporting all partners in pursuit of the implementation of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration, recognizing that this cooperative framework provides an invaluable tool for ensuring inclusive, collective responses to COVI...D-19 and its impact.
To that end, this briefing is part of a series by the Network looking at different aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic and how they relate to migrants and their communities. The document provides practical guidance to States and other stakeholders for an improved common understanding of safe and inclusive access to services for migrants. The brief makes the case for enhanced access to services for migrants in the context of COVID-19 preparedness, prevention, and response – and beyond.
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History has shown that governments tend to deprioritize environmental commitments during times of financial and public crises as they work to mitigate immediate needs—and the age of COVID-19 has been no different. Even though human interaction with wildlife is believed to be the cause of the pande...mic, the focus on COVID’s fallout has deprioritized the importance of reversing the damage humans have done to the planet.
COVID has had a multifaceted and detrimental effect on environmental conservation. Not only has funding been diverted to deal with the pandemic, conservation-oriented organizations are operating with minimal staff or have closed entirely. People whose daily work it is to advance environmental science and protect the land and water have become ill or have been forced to stay home because of travel restrictions. Plastic use is at an all-time high.
The good news is that there is an unprecedented opportunity for philanthropy to recharge the effort to protect the planet. This Giving Smarter Guide examines the state of environmental philanthropy, and provides an overview of potential strategic starting points for philanthropy and impact capital to play a role in saving the planet. In addition to offering recommendations specific to the COVID-19 response, the Center for Strategic Philanthropy also asks the questions that philanthropists should consider at the start of their journey into the field of conservation philanthropy.
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The "National Guideline for Cholera Surveillance and Outbreak Response" by the Ethiopian Public Health Institute (EPHI) provides a comprehensive approach to combating cholera outbreaks in Ethiopia. It emphasizes the importance of a multisectoral approach, including case management, WASH measures, an...d the use of cholera vaccines. A key component is the establishment of Cholera Treatment Centers (CTCs) that provide 24/7 care. Additionally, the guideline stresses water quality monitoring and hygiene practices to prevent the spread of cholera and protect public health.
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Improving the quality of hospital antibiotic use is a major goal of WHO’s global action plan to combat antimicrobial resistance. The WHO Essential Medicines List Access, Watch, and Reserve (AWaRe) classification could facilitate simple stewardship interventions that are widely applicable globally.... We aimed to present data on patterns of paediatric AWaRe antibiotic use that could be used for local and national stewardship interventions.
www.thelancet.com/lancetgh Vol 7 July 2019
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The COVID-19 pandemic has provided a dramatic illustration of the extent to which the health of people, animals and the environment is interdependent, which is why “One Health” is now high on the political agenda. This document provides an overview of KfW Development Bank’s approach to promoti...ng human, animal and environmental health. Involvement in areas like agriculture, biodiversity, health and water is already contributing to the One Health objectives. Moving forward, it will also be important to give greater consideration to interdependencies between sectors and ensure that structural connections are taken into account in cross-sectoral programmes.
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2nd edition. This toolkit provides step-by-step guidance to NTD programme managers and partners on how to engage and work collaboratively with the WASH community to improve delivery of water, sanitation and hygiene services to underserved population affected by many neglected tropical diseases. The ...toolkit draws on tools and practices used in the delivery of coordinated and integrated programmes for control, elimination and eradication of NTDs. This second edition include revisions and new tools based on experiences of using the toolkit in more than 20 countries.
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Three billion people – 40 per cent of the world’s population – do not have a place in their homes to wash their hands with water and soap. Three quarters of those who lack access to water and soap live in the world’s poorest countries and are amongst the most vulnerable: children and familie...s living in informal settlements, migrant and refugee camps, or in areas of active conflict. This puts an estimated 1 billion people at immediate risk of COVID-19 simply because they lack basic handwashing facilities.
The Hand Hygiene for All initiative aims to move the world towards this goal: supporting the most vulnerable communities with the means to protect their health and environment. It brings together international partners, national governments, public and private sectors, and civil society to ensure affordable products and services are available, especially in disadvantaged areas, and to enable a culture of hygiene.
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Schistosomiasis is widely recognized as a disease that is socially determined. An
understanding of the social and behavioural factors linked to disease transmission and
control should play a vital role in designing policies and strategies for schistosomiasis
prevention and control. To this must b...e added the awareness that schistosomiasis is
also a disease of poverty. It still survives in poverty-stricken, remote areas where there
is little or no safe water or sanitation, and health care is scarce or non-existent. For
a variety of complex reasons, many of which are addressed in this book, the disease
is particularly prevalent in sub-Saharan Africa, and persists in certain areas of rural
China. This concern for human behaviour in an environment of poverty echoes the
concerns of the new research priority for “diseases of poverty” identified by the
Special Programme for Research & Training in Tropical Diseases.
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In the light of the transmissibility of coronaviruses, and the global experience with MERS-CoV (ongoing) and SARS in 2003 which were also caused by coronaviruses, South African authorities have compiled this guideline document to support surveillance, case finding, diagnosis, management and public h...ealth responses to cases under investigation.
*Please note*
The interim guidelines are based on what is currently known about the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). The National Department of Health (NDOH) and National Institute for Communicable Diseases will update these interim guidelines as needed and as additional information becomes available.
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Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) both in human and veterinary medicine has reached alarming levels in
most parts of the world and has now been recognized as a significant emerging threat to global public
health and food security. In June 2015, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nati...ons
(FAO) passed a resolution on AMR at its governing
Conference. This followed the adoption of counterpart
resolutions on AMR by The World Organisation
for Animal Health (OIE) and the World Health Organization
(WHO) in May 20152, and marked the
beginning of a joint effort by the three organizations
to combat AMR globally.
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This open access book not only describes the challenges of climate disruption, but also presents solutions. The challenges described include air pollution, climate change, extreme weather, and related health impacts that range from heat stress, vector-borne diseases, food and water insecurity and ch...ronic diseases to malnutrition and mental well-being.
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The coronavirus outbreak that began in late 2019 (COVID-19) has evolved rapidly and globally. On 30 January 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the outbreak of COVID-19 a Public Health Emergency of International Concern and a pandemic on 11 March 2020 indicating global spread of a new... disease.
Addressing COVID-19 requires critical preparedness and a prepared response, particularly within places of detention (prisons). Prison staff play a crucial role in contributing to the effort of preventing the spread of the disease, promoting safer prison environments, and responding to outbreaks in a timely and effective manner.
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Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a threat to human and animal health and refers to the ability of microorganisms to defy the medicines prescribed. For instance when antibiotics are used improperly, such as an incorrect dose, insufficient duration or wrong frequency, resistance is heightened. The mi...suse of antimicrobials affects their efficacy, and increasingly more infections and diseases become untreatable. Many gains made in modern medicine throughout the 20th century will be lost, making AMR a global public and animal health issue that requires concerted action. AMR and the use of antimicrobials (AMU) affect food safety and security, people’s livelihoods, as well as economic and agricultural development.
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24 Nov. 2021
Action against gender-based violence being pushed to the outlying margins of the global COVID-19 response
A new Oxfam report shows an undeniable increase in gender-based violence (GBV) during the COVID-19 pandemic around the world to which too many governments and donors are not doi...ng enough to tackle.
The report, The Ignored Pandemic: The Dual Crisis of Gender-Based Violence and COVID-19, showed the number of calls made by survivors to domestic violence hotlines in ten countries during the first months of lockdown. The data reveals a 25 – 111 percentage surge; in Argentina (25%), Colombia (79%), Tunisia (43%), China (50%), Somalia (50%), South Africa (69%), UK (25%), Cyprus (39%), Italy (73%) and the largest increase in Malaysia where calls surged by over 111%.
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This document provides an overview of WHO's Refugee and migrant health toolkit, a web-based one-stop comprehensive platform of tools and resources to support the global, regional, and country efforts in implementing health and migration-related activities.