the aid library

COVID-19 review of national clinical practice guidelines for key questions relating to the care of pregnant women and their babies

Cochrane Pregnancy and Childbirth (2020)

Many clinicians and pregnant women with their families are facing similar questions about the care and wellbeing of women and their babies with confirmed or suspected Covid-19. Cochrane believe it is important to identify, collate and summarise na ... more

Nurses as substitutes for doctors in primary care - Review

Laurant M, van der Biezen M, Wijers N et al. Cochrane Library (2018) CC

Current and expected problems such as ageing, increased prevalence of chronic conditions and multi-morbidity, increased emphasison healthy lifestyle and prevention, and substitution for care from hospitals by care provided in the community encourage countries worldwide to develop new models of prima ... more

Methods of fluid administration for treating patients with Ebola Virus Disease

Cochrane Review (2015)

Watch a short film which accompanies this Cochrane Review and talks about applying the findings in relevant clinical settings http://www.cochrane.o ... more

Integrated management of childhood illness (IMCI) strategy for children under five (Review)

Tarun Gera, Dheeraj Shah, Paul Garner et al. (2016) C2

Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2016 Jul 1; (6): 1–61 -Published online 2016 July 1

Cochrane COVID-19 Study Register

Cochrane Library (2020) CC

The aim of the register is to support rapid evidence synthesis by all systematic review producers, including Cochrane's work on Rapid Reviews in response to COVID-19. The register helps systematic r ... more

Evidence summary: systematic review of oral fexinidazole as first line treatment for rhodesiense Human African Trypanosomiasis

World Health Organization WHO (2024) C_WHO

Guidelines for the treatment of human African trypanosomiasis. Web Annex A. Commissioned by WHO Cochrane Response

National Essential Medicines List - Tertiary/Quaternary Medication Review Process

Republic of South Africa (2017) CC

Long Acting Muscarinic Antagonists (LAMA) such as tiotropium and glycopyrronium are used in the management of COPD1. They have been shown to improve lung function, quality of life and exercise tolerance. They have also been associated with reduced COPD-related exacerbations, associated hospitalisati ... more

Government policy interventions to reduce human antimicrobial use: A systematic review and evidence map

Van Katwyk, S. R.; Grimshaw, J. M.; et al (2019) C2

BACKGROUND: Growing political attention to antimicrobial resistance (AMR) offers a rare opportunity for achieving meaningful action. Many governments have developed national AMR action plans, but most have not yet implemented policy interventions to reduce antimicrobial overuse. A systematic evidenc ... e map can support governments in making evidence-informed decisions about implementing programs to reduce AMR, by identifying, describing, and assessing the full range of evaluated government policy options to reduce antimicrobial use in humans. METHODS AND FINDINGS: Seven databases were searched from inception to January 28, 2019, (MEDLINE, CINAHL, EMBASE, PAIS Index, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, Web of Science, and PubMed). We identified studies that (1) clearly described a government policy intervention aimed at reducing human antimicrobial use, and (2) applied a quantitative design to measure the impact. We found 69 unique evaluations of government policy interventions carried out across 4 of the 6 WHO regions. These evaluations included randomized controlled trials (n = 4), non-randomized controlled trials (n = 3), controlled before-and-after designs (n = 7), interrupted time series designs (n = 25), uncontrolled before-and-after designs (n = 18), descriptive designs (n = 10), and cohort designs (n = 2). From these we identified 17 unique policy options for governments to reduce the human use of antimicrobials. Many studies evaluated public awareness campaigns (n = 17) and antimicrobial guidelines (n = 13); however, others offered different policy options such as professional regulation, restricted reimbursement, pay for performance, and prescription requirements. Identifying these policies can inform the development of future policies and evaluations in different contexts and health systems. Limitations of our study include the possible omission of unpublished initiatives, and that policies not evaluated with respect to antimicrobial use have not been captured in this review. CONCLUSIONS: To our knowledge this is the first study to provide policy makers with synthesized evidence on specific government policy interventions addressing AMR. In the future, governments should ensure that AMR policy interventions are evaluated using rigorous study designs and that study results are published. more

Infrastructure, policy and regulatory interventions to increase physical activity to prevent cardiovascular diseases and diabetes: a systematic review

Durão, S.; Burns, J.; Schmidt, B. et al. BMC Public Health (2023) CC

Background Noncommunicable diseases are major contributors to morbidity and mortality worldwide. Modifying the risk factors for these conditions, such as physical inactivity, is thus essential. Addressing the context or circumstances in which physical activity occurs may promote physical activity a ... t a population level. We assessed the effects of infrastructure, policy or regulatory interventions for increasing physical activity. Methods We searched PubMed, Embase and clinicaltrials.gov to identify randomised controlled trials (RCTs), controlled before-after (CBAs) studies, and interrupted time series (ITS) studies assessing population-level infrastructure or policy and regulatory interventions to increase physical activity. We were interested in the effects of these interventions on physical activity, body weight and related measures, blood pressure, and CVD and type 2 diabetes morbidity and mortality, and on other secondary outcomes. Screening and data extraction was done in duplicate, with risk of bias was using an adapted Cochrane risk of bias tool. Due to high levels of heterogeneity, we synthesised the evidence based on effect direction. Results We included 33 studies, mostly conducted in high-income countries. Of these, 13 assessed infrastructure changes to green or other spaces to promote physical activity and 18 infrastructure changes to promote active transport. The effects of identified interventions on physical activity, body weight and blood pressure varied across studies (very low certainty evidence); thus, we remain very uncertain about the effects of these interventions. Two studies assessed the effects of policy and regulatory interventions; one provided free access to physical activity facilities and showed that it may have beneficial effects on physical activity (low certainty evidence). The other provided free bus travel for youth, with intervention effects varying across studies (very low certainty evidence). Conclusions Evidence from 33 studies assessing infrastructure, policy and regulatory interventions for increasing physical activity showed varying results. The certainty of the evidence was mostly very low, due to study designs included and inconsistent findings between studies. Despite this drawback, the evidence indicates that providing access to physical activity facilities may be beneficial; however this finding is based on only one study. Implementation of these interventions requires full consideration of contextual factors, especially in low resource settings. more

Health care workers and infection prevention and control (IPC) for respiratory infectious diseases: Implementation considerations

Cochrane Library (2020) C1

Review Summary

Patient education in the management of coronary heart disease

Anderson, L.; Brown, J.PR.; Clark, A.M. et al. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (2017) CC

Coronary heart disease (CHD) is the single most common cause of death globally. However, with falling CHD mortality rates, an increasingnumber of people live with CHD and may need support to manage their symptoms and improve prognosis. Cardiac rehabilitation is acomplex multifaceted intervention whi ... more

Personal protective equipment for preventing highly infectious diseases due to exposure to contaminated body fluids in healthcare staff

Verbeek, J.H.; B. Rajamaki; S. Ijaz; et al. (2019) C2

Cochrane Systematic Review - Intervention Version published: 15 April 2020 https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD011621.pub4

Comparison of routes for achieving parenteral access with a focus on the management of patients with Ebola virus disease

Ker K, Tansley G, Beec her D, Perner A, Shakur H, Harris T, Roberts I (2015)

Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2015, Issue 2. Art. No.: CD011386. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD011386.pub2 Free access from the website http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/enhanced/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD011386.pub2 Watch a short film which accompa ... more

Children’s Mental Health Research: Quarterly - Helping Children Overcome Trauma

Children’s Health Policy Centre (2011) C2

Vol. 5, No. 3 - 2011 | The Quarterly provides summaries of the best available research evidence on a variety of children’s mental health topics, prepared using systematic review and synthesis methods adapted from the ... more

Antibiotic stewardship interventions in hospitals in low-and middle-income countries: a systematic review

Van Dijck C., Vlieghe E., Cox J.A. Bulletin of the World Health Organization (2018) C_WHO

Objective: To review the effectiveness of antibiotic stewardship interventions in hospitals in low- and middle-income countries.

A systematic review of healthcare-associated infections in Africa: An antimicrobial resistance perspective

Emmanuel O. Irek, Adewale A. Amupitan, Temitope O. Obadare, Aaron O. Aboderin (2018) CC

African Journal of Laboratory Medicine | Vol 7, No 2 | a796 | 06 December 2018

Physical distancing, face masks, and eye protection to prevent person-to-person transmission of SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19: a systematic review and meta-analysis
recommended

Chu, D.K.; E.A Akl, S. Duda, et al. (2020) CC

a systematic review and meta-analysis Derek K Chu et al. on behalf of the COVID-19 Systematic Urgent Review Group Effort (SURGE) study authors. Published: The Lancet June 01, 2020 DOI: https://doi. ... more

Practitioner Review: Posttraumatic stress disorder and its treatment in children and adolescents

Patrick Smith, T. Dalgleish and R. Meiser‐Stedman (2019) CC

Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry60:5 (2019), pp 500–515

Impact of WASH Interventions during Disease Outbreaks in Humanitarian Emergencies: A systematic review protocol
recommended

Tufts University, Oxfam (2016) CC

In this review, the editors will investigate the impact of eight WASH interventions in preventing (reducing the risk of) and controlling outbreaks in LMIC, with particular focus on three diseases of current concern to the response community – chol ... more