Plan Benin used the Integrated Management for Child Illnesses (IMCI) framework in creating the project "Collaborative Approach to Community based Malaria Prevention.” The project targeted 20 pilot villages in the communes of Aplahoué and Djakotomey, with the goal of reducing maternal and infant m...ortality related to malaria in the Couffo district. In order to assess the effects of the project on the beneficiary communities, the evaluation was initiated to measure the progress and the perfomance outcomes achieved at the end of the pilot stage. The evaluation was conducted from March to April 2009.
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The "Global NCD action plan" provides a road map and a menu of policy options for countries to take in order to attain the 9 voluntary global targets, including that of a 25% relative reduction in premature mortality from cardiovascular diseases, cancer, diabetes or chronic respiratory diseases by 2...025. The main focus of this action plan is on 4 types of NCDs (cardiovascular diseases, cancer, chronic respiratory diseases, diabetes) which make the largest contribution to morbidity and mortality due to NCDs, and on 4 shared behavioural risk factors (tobacco use, unhealthy diet, physical inactivity, harmful use of alcohol).
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Effective implementation of WHO PEN, combined with other very cost effective population-wide interventions, will help even resource constrained settings to attain the global voluntary targets related to reduction of premature mortality and preventionof heart attacks and strokes.
UNICEF analysis indicates that:
- Investments that increase access to high-impact health and nutrition interventions by poor groups have saved almost twice as many lives as equivalent investments in non-poor groups.
- Access to high-impact health and nutrition interventions has improved ra...pidly among poor groups in recent years, leading to substantial improvements in equity.
- During the period studied, absolute reductions in under-five mortality rates associated with improvements in intervention coverage were three times faster among poor groups than non-poor groups.
- Because birth rates were higher among the poor, the reduction in the under-five mortality rate translated into 4.2 times more lives saved for every 1 million people. Indeed, of the 1.1 million lives saved across the 51 countries during the final year studied for each country, nearly 85 per cent were among the poor.
- Intensified focus on equity-enhancing policies and investments can help countries achieve the Sustainable Development Goal newborn and child mortality targets (SDG3.2).
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Tuberculosis (TB) control in the African Region has evolved since the disease was declared a global emergency by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 1993. Member States have adopted and implemented successive global and regional strategies and resolutions, with demonstrable positive impacts on in...cidence, prevalence and mortality, albeit with variations across countries. By the end of 2015, the Region as a whole met the key Millennium Development Goal (MDG) target of halting and beginning to reverse TB incidence. However only 35 of the 47 Member States met the MDG target.
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National Tuberculosis Programme and Senior Paediatricians
This guideline was first developed in 2007 but further updated in 2012 and 2016 to ensure the use of the latest evidence-based international recommendations on childhood TB. The guidelines will fill the gaps in a systematic approach to T...B in children and will help to achieve an internationally recommended standard of care at all levels of the health system in Myanmar.
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The report focuses on several key areas where health outcomes are falling short, and provides insight into ways in which countries can improve the situation for their children and adolescents. Areas in focus include mental health, overweight/obesity and adolescent risk-taking behaviour.
The report ...shows, for example, that:
- mental health remains a neglected subject – only one quarter of countries are collecting data on the number of children treated by a mental health professional;
- half of countries do not regulate the marketing of food to children, despite the fact that childhood obesity rates are high across the Region and physical activity rates are low;
- almost half of countries have no policy that affects the availability of unhealthy foods at school;
- 2 in 5 girls and 1 in 3 boys who are having sex do not protect themselves; and
one third of countries do not offer legal access to contraception without parental consent for those under 18 years of age.
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In 2014, GHS/NACP, with support from UNICEF and other partners, conducted a situation analysis on paediatric HIV care and treatment in Ghana. The purpose of this analysis was to identify the gaps within the current delivery of paediatric HIV care and support system and develop a road map for effecti...ve implementation of Early Infant Diagnosis (EID) and to increase paediatric antiretroviral therapy (ART) coverage. The analysis identified gaps such as lack of task shifting on ART services, low paediatric ART coverage, and poor linkage of ART, EID, and PMTCT services with other RCH - immunization and nutrition services.
In view of the findings of the analysis, it was recommended that an Acceleration Plan for Paediatric HIV Services be developed to address the barriers and bottlenecks identified during the assessment. At the current pace of paediatric HIV Services, it can be extrapolated that paediatric ART coverage will increase from 26% to only about 40% by 2020; Ghana will, therefore, fall short of the global target of 90-90-90 (UNAIDS concept).
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A healthcare worker manual. 2nd edition
The development of this National Manual for the Management of HIV-related Opportunistic Infections and Conditions for use by health care workers at the frontline of our fight against HIV/AIDS is intended to improve their understanding of the causes, preventio...n and appropriate management of opportunistic infections and conditions in adults and adolescents (OIs in children is covered effectively in the Integrated Management of Childhood Illnesses – IMCI – materials). It is also intended to be a practical guide at the clinic level, so as to improve quality of life, treatment outcomes and survival of PLHA. Crucially, this manual uses a “symptom-based” approach to support health care workers at the most basic primary level to be able to effectively initiate the care of PLHA with OIs and refer patients as appropriate (effective triage of patients at the primary care level). The result of this will be to move the management of OIs closer to the patient while ensuring that referral links with higher-level facilities and care is cultivated.
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This document sets out Rwanda's Maternal, Neonatal Child Health (MNCH) national strategy (July 2013- June 2018). The MNCH strategy provides a framework for addressing maternal, neonatal and child health challenges currently facing Rwanda. It is an overarching strategy for scale up of the national re...sponse to reduce the current levels of maternal, neonatal and child mortality and morbidity in line with the
MDG health related targets and HSSP III targets. The life cycle approach and continuum of care concept, starting with care from the home environment to health facility, guided the development of this roadmap. It aims also to maintain and expand the coverage of cost effective and high impact interventions for maternal, neonatal and child survival in order to achieve national and international targets.
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Nepal is on target to meet the Millennium Development Goals for maternal and child health despite high levels of poverty, poor infrastructure, difficult terrain and recent conflict. Each year, nearly 35000 Nepali children die before their fifth birthday, with almost two-thirds of these deaths occurr...ing in the first month of life, the neonatal period. As part of a multi-country analysis, we examined changes for newborn survival between 2000 and 2010 in terms of mortality, coverage and health system indicators as well as national and donor funding.
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The articles in this compendium elaborate on some of the ideas shared at the symposium. Together, they provide a broad view of the dynamic interactions among physical, sexual and brain development that take place during adolescence. They highlight some of the risks to optimal development – includi...ng toxic stress, which can interfere with the formation of brain connections, and other vulnerabilities unique to the onset of puberty and independence. They also point to the opportunities for developing interventions that can build on earlier investments in child development – consolidating gains and even offsetting the effects of deficits and traumas experienced earlier in childhood.
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Weekly Epidemiological Record No 9, 2022, 97, 61–80
This position paper supersedes the 2016 publication, “Malaria vaccine: WHO position paper-2016.”1 It includes the updated WHO recommendations on the wider use of the RTS,S/AS01 vaccine for the reduction of malaria morbidity and mortality in ...children living in areas of moderate to high malaria transmission. It also incorporates findings from the evaluation of the WHO-coordinated Malaria Vaccine Implementation Programme (MVIP), recommended by SAGE and MPAG in 2015, and from additional studies since 2015.
This paper does not include findings on vaccine efficacy in infants first vaccinated at 6–12 weeks of age. Because of the lower vaccine efficacy observed in this age category, WHO did not recommend pilot implementation or RTS,S/AS01 vaccine introduction for these young infants. Recommendations2 on the use of RTS,S/AS01 vaccine were discussed by SAGE and MPAG during a joint session in October 2021; evidence presented at the meeting can be accessed at https://terrance.who.int/mediacentre/data/ sage/SAGE_eYB_Oct2021.pdf
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En 2015, 5,9 millions d'enfants de moins de cinq ans sont décédés (1). Les principales causes de mortalité infantile dans le monde sont la pneumonie, la prématurité, les complications durant l'accouchement, la septicémie néonatale, les anomalies congénitales, la diarrhée, les tra...umatismes accidentels et le paludisme (2). La plupart de ces maladies et de ces problèmes sont, du moins en partie, causés par l'environnement. On a estimé en 2012 que 26 % des décès infantiles et 25 % de la charge totale de morbidité des enfants de moins de cinq ans pourraient être évités par la réduction des risques environnement aux tels que la pollution de l'air, l'insalubrité de l'eau, les mauvaises conditions d'hygiène et d'assainissement ou les produits chimiques.
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Due to high routine vaccination coverage, overall counts of diphtheria case have significantly declined in the Western Pacific Region recently. However, diphtheria is still prevalent in several countries and areas of the Region and remains a public health issue due to its high case fatality rate.
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This Field Guide for Preparedness and Response to Diphtheria Outbreaks in the Western Pacific Region is a reference resource for Member States to develop national guidelines adapted to their local context. Countries may also use this Guide to facilitate outbreak preparedness and public health responses to reduce morbidity and mortality due to diphtheria.
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Building on the 2021 Interim guidance, this second version and update, incorporates the lessons and feedback from the hepatitis pilots that successfully demonstrated the feasibility of measuring hepatitis B and C impact targets to demonstrate elimination, whilst highlighting challenges caused by hig...h disease burden in some countries, as well as delays in reaching mortality targets due to the long natural history of disease progression to liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma.
The path to elimination provides a framework with 3 levels of achievements for which WHO certification is available. Each stepwise progression from bronze to silver to gold tiers will promote an iterative expansion of prevention, diagnosis and treatment services for viral hepatitis services and strengthen measurement systems to support attainment of the 2030 elimination goals.
This updated version also includes changes, clarifications and new guidance on alternative measurement approaches for country validation of elimination. Through the validation process, WHO and partners continue to provide country support for strengthening health system capacity and patient-centred services that respect and protect the human rights of people living with viral hepatitis and ensures meaningful engagement of communities in the national, regional and global viral hepatitis response.
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The Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste has the highest TB incidence rate in the South East Asian Region - 498 per 100,000, which is the seventh highest in the world. In Timor-Leste TB is the eighth most common cause of death.
The salient observations are as follows:
In 2018, 487 (12.5%) of the... 3906 notified TB patients were tested for RR-TB and only 12 lab confirmed RR-TB patients were initiated on standard MDR-TB treatment of 20-months duration, (a 3-fold increase in RR-TB detection compared with 2017). This amounts to treatment coverage of only 17% of 72 estimated MDR/RR-TB among notified TB patients (3906) and 5% of 240 estimated incident MDR-TB patients as compared to 62% treatment coverage of 6300 incident drug sensitive TB patients estimated in TLS. The treatment success in the 2016 annual cohort of 6 MDR-TB patients has been reported at 83%. 80% of TB patients know their HIV Status with around 1% TB-HIV co-infection, 37/ 77 (48%) TB-HIV Co-infection Detected. Of the 387 PLHIV currently alive on ART, exact status on TB screening and testing is unknown. % of PLHIV newly enrolled in HIV care who received IPT is not known.
In 2018, the mortality rate for TB was 94 deaths per 100,000 people (1200 per annum) in TL with an increasing mortality trend (Figure 1), despite TB services being available for nearly two decades.
A survey of catastrophic costs due to TB (2016) highlights that 83% of TB patients are reported to be facing catastrophic costs due to the disease. This is the highest rate in the world.
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The document, "Progress on the Prevention and Control of Non-Communicable Diseases," reports on global efforts to reduce the impact of NCDs, such as heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and chronic respiratory diseases, following the commitments made at high-level United Nations meetings. It highlights ...the inadequate progress in meeting the targets set under the Sustainable Development Goal 3.4 to reduce premature NCD mortality by one-third by 2030. Key challenges include insufficient funding, limited implementation of effective interventions, and political and economic barriers, especially in low-income countries. The report calls for strengthened international cooperation, policy reform, and innovative approaches to meet global health targets.
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This review examines high-quality research evidence that synthesises the efects of extreme heat on human health in tropical
Africa. Web of Science (WoS) was used to identify research articles on the efects extreme heat, humidity, Wet-bulb Globe
Temperature (WBGT), apparent temperature, wind, Heat ...Index, Humidex, Universal Thermal Climate Index (UTCI), heatwave, high temperature and hot climate on human health, human comfort, heat stress, heat rashes, and heat-related morbidity
and mortality
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The Global Asthma Report (GAR) 2022, prepared by the Global Asthma Network (GAN), is the fourth such report (others 2011, 2014, 2018). GAN builds upon the work of the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood (ISAAC) and The International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (T...he Union) to monitor asthma and improve asthma care, particularly in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).
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