9th edition; 4th English edition 2020
This bi-weekly brief details the latest developments in scientific knowledge and public health policy from around the world as well as updates to the COVID-19-related guidance from Africa CDC, WHO and other public health agencies.
Joint EUAA, IOM and OECD report provides new insights on displacement from and within Ukraine
The European Union Agency for Asylum (EUAA), the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) have published a Joint Report on profil...es, experiences, and aspirations of forcibly displaced people by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The Joint Report provides an in-depth study of the scale of displacement to EU countries and people seeking protection there, by building on initial findings derived from a June EUAA-OECD Survey.
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Recognition, Assessment and Treatment
National Clinical Guideline Number 159
The harmful use of alcohol causes approximately 3 million deaths every year and the overall burden of disease and injuries attributable to alcohol consumption remains unacceptably high. The pace of development and implementation of alcohol policies has been uneven in WHO regions, and resources and c...apacities for implementation of the WHO Global strategy to reduce the harmful use of alcohol 10 years after its endorsement do not correspond to the magnitude of the problems. On this basis, the WHO Executive Board in its decision EB146 (14) called for accelerated action to reduce the harmful use of alcohol.
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Available in English, French and Spanish
1.1 Why this course is needed
The first few hours and days of a newborn baby’s life are a critical window for establishing breastfeeding and for providing mothers with the support they need to breastfeed successfully. Since 1991, the Baby-friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI) has helped to motivate... facilities providing maternity and newborn baby services worldwide to better support breastfeeding. It has been adopted by many countries and organizations. The BFHI aims to provide a health-care environment that supports mothers to acquire the skills necessary to exclusively breastfeed for six months, and to continue breastfeeding for two years or beyond.
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Cholera is an acute diarrhoeal disease caused by the ingestion of food or water contaminated with the bacterium V.
cholerae. It has a short incubation period of a few hours to 5 days. It is endemic in some countries, frequently
showing seasonal variations in the number of reported cases. Cholera a...lso has the potential to cause explosive
outbreaks which may be localized or may expand to large geographic areas
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These guidelines provide updated evidence-based recommendations on the priority HCV-related topics from the 2018 WHO Guidelines for the care and treatment of persons diagnosed with chronic hepatitis C infection and the 2017 WHO Guidelines on hepatitis B and C testing. These priority areas are:
... direct-acting antiviral (DAA) treatment of adolescents and children ages ≥3 years of age
simplified HCV service delivery (decentralization, integration and task sharing)
HCV diagnostics – use of point-of-care (POC) HCV ribonucleic acid (RNA) assays and reflex HCV RNA testing.
These guidelines also update existing chapters without new recommendations, such as the inclusion of new manufacturers’ protocols on the use of dried blood spot (DBS) for HCV RNA testing and new data to inform the limit of detection for HCV RNA assays as a test of cure, in addition to their use for diagnosis.
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hese are two parallel guidelines, one for small hospitals and another one for large hospitals. In view of heavy burden of malaria and prevalence of drug resistant falciparum malaria in the South-East Asia Region, the guidelines were developed for use by medical personnel who treat severe malaria pat...ients, referred from lower-level health facilities. The guidelines were developed by the WHO Regional Office for South-East Asia and the WHO Collaborating Centre for the Clinical Management of Malaria, Faculty of Tropical Medicine, Mahidol University, Thailand. The guidelines are based on a review of current evidence, existing WHO guidelines and experience in the management of malaria in the Region
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Training module on malaria control
Chapter 21 from "Where there is no doctor"
The power relations around global decisions which shape population health can be changed through new alliances and information flows. The Democratising Global Health Governance Initiative, of which WHO Watch is a project, is designed to contribute to improved population health (and health equity) th...rough new alliances and information flows.
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Handbook on pregnancy, childbirth, childhood illnesses, child development and the care of children. The handbook, Facts for Life, provides vital messages and information for mothers, fathers, other family members and caregivers and communities to use in changing behaviours and practices that can sav...e and protect the lives of children and help them grow and develop to their full potential.
This version of Facts for Life builds on the three previous editions, which have been helping families and communities around the world since 1989. Newborn Health has been added to the Safe Motherhood chapter, giving attention to child survival from the first stage of life. A new chapter, Child Protection, has been included, focusing attention on the actions needed to ensure children grow up in protective environments.
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Declarations of interests were collected from all external contributors and assessed for any conflicts of interest. Summaries of the reported interests can be found on the SAGE meeting website and SAGE Covid-19 Working Group webpage. This guidance should be considered along with the broader COVID-...19 policy advice to WHO member states and in particular the advice on how to reach the COVID-19 vaccination targets.
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This report provides an overview of air pollution levels and associated health impacts in cities around the world. Since urban areas are often hotspots for poor air quality, city-level data can help to inform targeted efforts to curb urban air pollution and improve public health. This report draws o...n data from the Global Burden of Disease project and from peer-reviewed analyses led by Susan Anenberg of the George Washington University.
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As of September 2022, just over one million forced
migrants from Ukraine have entered Germany, making Germany the third largest recipient of migrants
(Ukraine Refugee Situation, 2022).
As early as March 2022, several news outlets reported that accommodation centers were at or near
capacity in ma...ny German states and lacked the resources to quickly register new arrivals (Süddeutsche
Zeitung, 2022; Herz, 2022). Consequently, some states asked for the use of the Königstein Key —
an algorithm used to redistribute forced migrants to different states based on each state’s capacity.5
Depending on which state forced migrants arrive in or where they relocate to, their first stop is typically
a reception facility where they are able to register, begin the asylum application procedure, and access
support services
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A Learning Programme for Professionals
The Sierra Leone National Infection Prevention and Control Guidelines were jointly developed and updated by the Ministry of Health and Sanitation in collaboration with the World Health Organization and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.