Update September 2021. Safe management of health care waste practices play an essential role in protecting human health during all disease outbreaks, including during Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) outbreaks. This question and answer document provides practical, evidence-based recommendations on minimum... requirements and best practices for health care waste management in facilities and communities. It was originally developed in 2014 during the West Africa Ebola Outbreak and has been updated in 2021 to reflect lessons learned and new operational research data, including on the use of low-cost treatment technologies . The key recommendations on health care waste remain the same.
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Accessed 26 June 2015
A prepared Community is a safe Community
This protocol provides information on the safe management of dead bodies and burial of patients who died from suspected or confirmed Ebola virus disease.
These measures should be applied not only by medical personnel but by anyone involved in the management of dead bodies and burial of suspected o...r confirmed Ebola patients.
Twelve steps have been identified describing the different phases Burial Teams have to follow to ensure safe burials, starting from the moment the teams arrive in the village up to their return to the hospital or team headquarters after burial and disinfection procedures
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Cholera is a diarrhoeal disease that is usually contracted when drinking water contaminated with Vibrio cholerae bacteria. The fight against this disease requires a multidisciplinary approach that combines a water, hygiene and sanitation (WaSH) response with a monitoring system, improved water suppl...y and quality, sanitation and hygiene, and a health response with the treatment of the disease itself.
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The Cholera Fact Sheet is available in English, Spanish, Arabic, French, and Haitian Kreyol. This heavily-illustrated, easy-to-read handout provides information for preventing, diagnosing and treating cholera with limited resources. It offers instructions for purifying drinking water and prepari...ng a rehydration drink at home.
You can link to the English sheet, which includes links to all other languages: http://en.hesperian.org/hhg/Cholera_Factsheet#utm_source=MedBox&utm_medium=site&utm_campaign=cholera_hw
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The provision of safe and efficacious blood and blood components for transfusion or manufacturing use involves a number of processes, from the selection of blood donors and the collection, processing and testing of blood donations to the testing of patient samples, the issue of compatible blood and ...its administration to the patient. There is a risk of error in each process in this “transfusion chain” and a failure at any of these stages can have serious implications for the recipients of blood and blood products. Thus, while blood transfusion can be life-saving, there are associated risks, particularly the transmission of bloodborne infections.
Screening for transfusion-transmissible infections (TTIs) to exclude blood donations at risk of transmitting infection from donors to recipients is a critical part of the process of ensuring that transfusion is as safe as possible. Effective screening for evidence of the presence of the most common and dangerous TTIs can reduce the risk of transmission to very low levels.
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Nationally, Senegal met the MDG target for water supply access. It did this by engaging the public and private sectors to effectively invest and report on investments. It focused on larger population centers, less on remote regions of the country. Its achievements set the stage for more equitable an...d widespread service provision as the country now works to achieve the SDGs, requiring sustainable management of universal access. This case study documents the progression of the sector between 1990 and 2015, and analyzes the impact of local systems created in Senegal to respond to the water and sanitation challenge.
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Basic Expectations for Safe Care
Ethiopia met the MDG target for drinking water access with a unique and high degree of success. The magnitude of the country’s success in providing improved drinking water to nearly half of its population in 25 years despite its diversity, size, and challenges cannot be overstated. This case study... documents the progress of the Ethiopian WASH sector from 1990 to 2015, and analyzes the impact of local systems created in Ethiopia to respond to water and sanitation challenges.
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Democratic dispensation in 1994 created a political and social platform that reshaped life in South Africa. There was a surge in common belief that the inequity and wrong of Apartheid should and could be rectified. Equity of access to water and sanitation were obvious targets for improvement. In 199...4, an estimated 14–15 million South Africans were without access to an improved water supply, while close to 21 million - more than half of the population at that time - did not have access to improved sanitation facilities. These problems were most severe in poorer rural areas. The water and sanitation sector became unified by the vision of universal access for all South Africans. This case study documents the progression of the sector between 1994 and 2016, and analyzes the impact of local systems created in South Africa to respond to the water and sanitation challenge.
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The guidance provides critical considerations and practical checklists to keep schools safe. It also advises national and local authorities on how to adapt and implement emergency plans for educational facilities.
In the event of school closures, the guidance includes recommendations to mitigate... against the possible negative impacts on children’s learning and wellbeing. This means having solid plans in place to ensure the continuity of learning, including remote learning options such as online education strategies and radio broadcasts of academic content, and access to essential services for all children. These plans should also include necessary steps for the eventual safe reopening of schools.
Where schools remain open, and to make sure that children and their families remain protected and informed.
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This interim guidance has been updated with advice on safe and appropriate home care for patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and on the public health measures related to the management of their contacts.
Child friendly spaces (CFS) are safe spaces where
communities create nurturing environments in which
children can access free and structured play and
learning activities. CFS, also commonly referred to
as Child Centred Spaces or Safe Spaces for Children,
may provide educational and psychosocial... support
and other activities that restore a sense of normality
and continuity for children whose lives have been
disrupted by war, natural disaster or other emergency
situations.
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Practical guide for doctors, nurses,laboratory technicians, medical auxiliaries,water and sanitation specialists and logisticians
Best practice for hand hygiene requires the availability of clean water, soap, and single use disposable towels or alcohol based hand sanitiser with a concentration of 70%. Availability of these resources is not always assured. When resources for hand hygiene are not available other materials need t...o be considered to prevent transmission of infection. This document provides community guidance on evidence-based alternative hand hygiene strategies in the absence of clean running water, soap or alcohol-based hand rub.
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This handbook presents some basic information on safe construction practices. Its purpose is to provide guidance on choices regarding settlement planning in risky environments, as well as on the building techniques to improve individual shelters. The contents may be used to develop trainings on part...icipatory shelter risk reduction methods, such as PASSA.
This guide is not aimed at construction professionals, although it may serve them to communicate with beneficiaries and volunteers on safety measures. The intended readers are Red Cross Red Crescent volunteers, who are not expected to be experts in shelter construction and safety but should be able to understand the most important technical aspects of shelter safety in the communities in which they work.
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Dracunculiasis (Guinea worm disease), caused by the parasite Dracunculus medinensis, is traditionally acquired by drinking water containing copepods (water fleas) infected with D. medinensis larvae, but in recent years also appears increasingly to be transmitted by eating fish or other aquatic anima...ls. The worm typically emerges through the skin on a lower limb of the host 1 year after infection, causing pain and disability.
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Global efforts to eradicate dracunculiasis have continued to progress, with only 542 cases reported in 2012, as compared with 1058 in 2011. It is a long thread-like worm. It is transmitted exclusively when people drink water contaminated with parasite-infected water fl eas. It is now found in some o...f the most deprived regions of Africa.
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Hand hygiene is vital for safe health care delivery, yet practices at the point of care remain suboptimal worldwide. A comprehensive research agenda is therefore necessary to improve our understanding of factors influencing hand hygiene behaviour and to strengthen appropriate interventions. This age...nda will provide insightful ideas for researchers to focus their projects and funding proposals and will direct donors towards the areas of hand hygiene evidence that require urgent support and innovation. It will also guide decision-makers and stakeholders at the national and international level and support country efforts in updating and strengthening hand hygiene promotion programmes. Global collaboration and investment in hand hygiene research remain essential to promote safe and effective care worldwide.
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The document is part of the briefing package for Ethiopia's Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) Cluster, which consists of resources that provide greater clarity and guidance to the cluster partners and other humanitarian actors.
The document is divided into four sections. Each section represen...ts the cluster’s coordination system (i) WASH Cluster coordination management, (ii) HPC process, (iii) Response monitoring, (iv) WASH response, and (v) Cluster meeting coordination.
Cluster Overview
The WASH Cluster in Ethiopia is part of and supports the Ministry of Water and Energy (MoWE). MoWE leads the WASH cluster emergency task force (ETF), which is co-led by the WASH Cluster secretariat hosted by UNICEF. In Ethiopia, the WASH Cluster was established with the activation of the cluster approach in 2006, and UNICEF, as the global Cluster Lead Agency, was assigned to appoint the WASH Cluster Coordinator.
The WASH Cluster aims to provide guidance and support to its partners to ensure well-coordinated, quality assistance reaches those in need in accordance with humanitarian standards and principles. Conflict, severe drought conditions, seasonal flooding, and Cholera remain the key drivers of WASH needs in Ethiopia.
In 2024, the WASH Cluster aims to work with 79 partners to preserve life, well-being, and dignity and reduce the risk of WASH-related disease through timely interventions to vulnerable populations and preparedness to respond to shocks. Significant humanitarian WASH needs in 2024 are projected with a rigorous HPC process in Ethiopia.
The Humanitarian Program Cycle
The humanitarian program cycle (HPC) is a coordinated series of actions to help prepare for, manage, and deliver humanitarian response. It consists of five coordinated elements, each step logically building on the previous and leading to the next. Successful implementation of the HPC depends on effective emergency preparedness, effective coordination with national/local authorities and humanitarian actors, and information management. Affected people are central to the response; preparedness, coordination, and information management processes continually occur.
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