The strategic framework gives guidance to public and private health facilities and health workers on compliance with standards relating to IPC practices. To further assist health facilities to implement the IPC strategic framework, this practical implementation manual has been developed in parallel ...to accompany the document.
These implementation strategies should be read in conjunction with the National Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) Strategic Framework (2020) to support an IPC programme at health facility level towards reducing healthcare-associated infections (HAI) and antimicrobial resistance (AMR). This manual is aligned with the World Health Organization (WHO) Core Component IPC programme recommendations and highlights the essentials for developing and improving IPC at health facility level in a systematic, stepwise manner for South Africa. It supports the Framework for the Prevention and Containment of AMR in South African Hospitals (2018).
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8 March 2022
A very large number of people from Ukraine are fleeing the country and entering the European Union (EU) countries bordering Ukraine (Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia) and the EU-neighbourhood country of the Republic of Moldova. Those fleeing Ukraine - mainly women and children - are ...currently dispersing into communities, but as more people congregate at border crossings it is likely that they will also need to be housed in reception centres.
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There is a broad consensus nowadays that the Earth is warming up as a result of greenhouse gas emissions caused by anthropogenic activities. It is also clear that current trends in the fields of energy, development and population growth will lead to continuous and ever more dramatic climate change. ...This is bound to affect the fundamental prerequisites for maintaining good health: clean air and water, sufficient food and adequate housing. The planet will warm up gradually, but the consequences of the extreme weather conditions such as frequent
storms, floods, droughts and heat-waves will have sudden onset and acute repercussions. It is widely accepted that climate change will have an impact on the spread of infectious diseases in Europe, which is likely to bring about new public health risks in the majority of cases. Transmission of infectious diseases depends on a number of factors, including climate and environmental elements. Foodborne and waterborne diseases, for instance, are associated with high temperatures. Disease-transmitting vectors (e.g. mosquitoes, sandflies and ticks) are highly sensitive to climate conditions, including temperature and humidity; their geographical distribution will widen as climate conditions change, potentially allowing them to spread into regions where they are not currently able to live.
The primary purpose of this manual on climate change and infectious diseases is to raise the awareness and the level of knowledge of health workers at national, regional and local levels in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia on the health risks associated with climate change and infectious diseases. This manual was devel-
oped as part of the WHO Regional Office for Europe project, Protecting health from climate change: a seven–country initiative, implemented with financial support from the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety.
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The Arid and Semi-Arid lands (ASAL) constitute about 80% (467,200 sq. km) of Kenya’s total land mass and is grouped into geographical zones including the Savannah covering most of the North- eastern and South-eastern parts, the Coastal region, the North Rift Valley, the Highlands and the Lake Vict...oria Basin. The ASAL host about 35% of Kenyas population (13 million people) and over 60% of its inhabitants live below the poverty line, subsisting on less than one US dollar per day.
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The report notes that the number of people in need of one or more assistive products is likely to rise to 3.5 billion by 2050, due to populations ageing and the prevalence of noncommunicable diseases rising across the world. The report also highlights the vast gap in access between low- and high-inc...ome countries. An analysis of 35 countries reveals that access varies from 3% in poorer nations to 90% in wealthy countries.
Affordability is a major barrier to access, the report notes. Around two thirds of people with assistive products reported out-of-pocket payments for them. Others reported relying on family and friends to financially support their needs.
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A systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019. The Lancet Vol.399 Issue 10341 p.2129-2154
Human resources for health (HRH) include a range of occupations that aim to promote or improve human health. The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the WHO Health Workforce 2030 s...trategy have drawn attention to the importance of HRH for achieving policy priorities such as universal health coverage (UHC). Although previous research has found substantial global disparities in HRH, the absence of comparable cross-national estimates of existing workforces has hindered efforts to quantify workforce requirements to meet health system goals. We aimed to use comparable and standardised data sources to estimate HRH densities globally, and to examine the relationship between a subset of HRH cadres and UHC effective coverage performance.
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Pharmaceutical News
Evaluation of Saccharide Content of the WHO 2nd International Standard for Haemophilus Influenzae Polysaccharide Polyribosyl Ribitol Phosphate (PRP) by HPAECPAD Analysis Following Acid Hydrolysis
Consultation Documents
Lamivudine and tenofovir disoproxil fumarate tablets (lami...vudini et tenofoviri disoproxili fumarati compressi)
Tenofovir disoproxil fumarate tablets (tenofoviri disoproxili fumarati compressi)
ATC/DDD Classification
Temporary
Final
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Trypanosoma cruzi is the etiological agent of Chagas disease (CD), considered one of the most important parasitic infections in Latin America. Between 25 and 90 million humans are at infection risk via at least one of multiple infection mechanisms. Under natural conditions, the principal transmissio...n modes are transplacental or via one of more than 140 hematophagous triatomine bugs (Reduviidae: Triatominae). Triatomines acquire the parasite from mammal reservoirs due to their obligate blood-feeding (albeit triatomines can also feed on non-reservoir vertebrates such as birds and reptiles). The disease burden for CD in the Latin America and Caribbean region, based on disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs), is at least five times greater than that of malaria, and is approximately one-fifth that of HIV/AIDS. In recent decades, CD has extended to other continents outside natural reservoir or vector distributions due to human migration, with a minimum estimated 10 million individuals infected worldwide.
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Theodor Bilharz, a German professor of anatomy and chief of surgery at the Kasr El Ani Hospital of Cairo from 1850, first identified an infective organism, Distomum hematobium in 1851, which was renamed Schistosoma haematobium in 1858. It arose from a cestode worm, Hymenoleptis nana, lying in the sm...all colon of an Egyptian patient. He also discovered a trematode worm at the same time from an autopsy, thought to be the cause of urinary Schistosomiasis. Bilharz died from typhoid fever in 1862 at the age of 37. The Theodor Bilharz Research Institute in Giza, Egypt, stands as a tribute to him today. F. Milton published the first recorded peer-reviewed article report on Schistosomiasis in 1914.
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The epidemiology of the disease is mediated by the interaction of the parasite (trypanosome) with the vectors (tsetse flies), as well as with the human and animal hosts within a particular environment. Related to these interactions, the disease is confined in spatially limited areas called “foci..., which are located
in Sub-Saharan Africa, mainly in remote rural areas. The risk of contracting HAT is, therefore, determined by the possibility of contact of a human being with an infected tsetse fly. Epidemics of HAT were described at the beginning of the 20th century; intensive activities have been set up to confront the disease, and it was under control in the 1960s, with fewer than 5,000 cases reported in the whole continent.
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Terminology used to describe the transmission of pathogens through the air varies across scientific disciplines, organizations and the general public. While this has been the case for decades, during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, the terms ‘airborne’, ‘airborne transmission’ a...nd ‘aerosol transmission’ were used in different ways by stakeholders in different scientific disciplines, which may have contributed to misleading information and confusion about how pathogens are transmitted in human populations.
This global technical consultation report brings together viewpoints from experts spanning a range of disciplines with the key objective of seeking consensus regarding the terminology used to describe the transmission of pathogens through the air that can potentially cause infection in humans.
This consultation aimed to identify terminology that could be understood and accepted by different technical disciplines. The agreed process was to develop a consensus document that could be endorsed by global agencies and entities. Despite the complex discussions and challenges, significant progress was made during the consultation process, particularly the consensus on a set of descriptors to describe how pathogens are transmitted through the air and the related modes of transmission. WHO recognizes the important areas where consensus was not achieved and will continue to address these areas in follow-up consultations.
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