The Countdown country profile presents in one place the best and latest evidence to enable an assessment of a country’s progress in improving reproductive, maternal, newborn, and child health (RMNCH)
DHS Analytical Studies No. 41
Worldometers is run by an international team of developers, researchers, and volunteers with the goal of making world statistics available in a thought-provoking and time relevant format to a wide audience around the world. Worldometers is owned by Dadax, an independent company. We have no political..., governmental, or corporate affiliation
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HIV Country Intelligence - HIV Country Profiles
Environmental Research Volume 151, November 2016, Pages 115-123
Dengue is the world’s most important arboviral disease in terms of number of people affected. Over the past 50 years, incidence increased 30-fold: there were approximately 390 million infections in 2010. Globalization, trade, travel,... demographic trends, and warming temperatures are associated with the recent spread of the primary vectors Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus and of dengue. Overall, models project that new geographic areas along the fringe of current geographic ranges for Aedes will become environmentally suitable for the mosquito’s lifecycle, and for dengue transmission. Many endemic countries where dengue is likely to spread further have underdeveloped health systems, increasing the substantial challenges of disease prevention and control. Control focuses on management of Aedes, although these efforts have typically had limited effectiveness in preventing outbreaks. New prevention and control efforts are needed to counter the potential consequences of climate change on the geographic range and incidence of dengue, including novel methods of vector control and dengue vaccines.
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The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the International Organization for Migration (IOM), Georgetown University, and the United Nations University have today launched new guidelines to provide the first-ever global policy framework that will help protect, include, and empower children on the ...move in the context of climate change.
The Guiding Principles for Children on the Move in the Context of Climate Change provides a set of 9 principles that address the unique and layered vulnerabilities of children on the move both internally and across borders as a result of the adverse impacts of climate change. Currently, most child-related migration policies do not consider climate and environmental factors, while most climate change policies overlook the unique needs of children.
The guidelines note that climate change is intersecting with existing environmental, social, political, economic, and demographic conditions contributing to people’s decisions to move. In 2020 alone, nearly 10 million children were displaced in the aftermath of weather-related shocks. With around one billion children – nearly half of the world’s 2.2 billion children – living in 33 countries at high risk of the impacts of climate change, millions more children could be on the move in the coming years.
Developed in collaboration with young climate and migration activists, academics, experts, policymakers, practitioners, and UN agencies, the guiding principles are based on the globally ratified Convention on the Rights of the Child and are further informed by existing operational guidelines and frameworks.
Recommendations for safeguarding the rights and well-being of children regardless of their location or migration status.
The guiding principles provide national and local governments, international organizations and civil society groups with a foundation to build policies that protect children’s rights. The organizations and institutions are calling on governments, local and regional actors, international organizations, and civil society groups to embrace the guiding principles to help protect, include, and empower children on the move in the context of climate change.
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Contains data from World Health Organization's data portal covering the following categories:
Mortality and global health estimates, Sustainable development goals, Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), Health systems, Malaria, Tuberculosis, Child health, Infectious diseases, Neglected Tropical Disea...ses, World Health Statistics, Health financing, Tobacco, Substance use and mental health, Injuries and violence, HIV/AIDS and other STIs, Public health and environment, Nutrition, Urban health, Noncommunicable diseases, Noncommunicable diseases CCS, Negelected tropical diseases, Infrastructure, Essential health technologies, Medical equipment, Demographic and socioeconomic statistics, Health inequality monitor, Health Equity Monitor, Child malnutrition, TOBACCO, Neglected tropical diseases, International Health Regulations (2005) monitoring framework, 0, Insecticide resistance, Oral health, Universal Health Coverage, Global Observatory for eHealth (GOe)
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The escalation of the war in Ukraine began on 24 February 2022, causing thousands of civilian
casualties; destroying civilian infrastructure, including hospitals, and triggering the fastest-
growing displacement crisis in Europe since World War II. The demographic profile of Ukraine,
combined wit...h the implementation of martial law and conscription policies, led to an awareness
of gender- and age-related factors within the regional humanitarian response that recognised
the pre-crisis situation of persons of all genders and diversities and how the war and subsequent
regional crisis were compounding the risks that they face.
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Leishmaniasis is a major vector-borne disease caused by obligate intramacrophage protozoa of the genus Leishmania, and transmitted by the bite of phlebotomine female sand flies of the genera Phlebotomus and Lutzomyia, in the old and new worlds, respectively. Among 20 well-recognized Leishmania speci...es known to infect humans, 18 have zoonotic nature, which include agents of visceral, cutaneous, and mucocutaneous forms of the disease, in both the old and new worlds. Currently, leishmaniasis show a wider geographic distribution and increased global incidence. Environmental, demographic and human behaviors contribute to the changing landscape for zoonotic cutaneous and visceral leishmaniasis. The primary reservoir hosts of Leishmania are sylvatic mammals such as forest rodents, hyraxes and wild canids, and dogs are the most important species among domesticated animals in the epidemiology of this disease. These parasites have two basic life cycle stages: one extracellular stage within the invertebrate host (phlebotomine sand fly), and one intracellular stage within a vertebrate host. Co-infection with HIV intensifies the burden of visceral and cutaneous leishmaniasis by causing severe forms and more difficult to manage. The disease is endemic to Ethiopia, and the clinical signs are not pathognomic. The visceral form (Kala-azar) may be confused with other similar conditions such as malaria, tropical splenomegaly, schistosomiasis, milliary tuberculosis, and brucellosis. Similarly, cutaneous leishmaniasis should be differentiated from disease like tropical ulcers, impetigo and leprosy. There are several methods of laboratory diagnosis of leishmaniasis, including parasitological, immunological and molecular. Different forms of treatments are available including oral, parenteral, and topical medications such as pentavalent antimonials, liposomal amphotericin B, miltefosine and paromomycin. Methods of control are largely limited to destruction of animal reservoirs, treatment of infected humans, and management of sand fly populations. Development of an effective vaccine against leishmaniasis has been largely unsuccessful and hinders its prevention.
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Since the launch of the Global Programme to Eliminate Lymphatic Filariasis (GPELF) in 2000, more than 910 million people have received preventive chemotherapy for lymphatic filariasis (LF) and many thousands have received care for chronic manifestations of the disease. To achieve this, millions of c...ommunity drug distributors (CDDs), community members and health personnel have worked together each year to ensure that at-risk communities receive preventive chemotherapy through mass drug administration (MDA). The successes of 20 y of partnership with communities is celebrated, including the application of community-directed treatment, the use of CDDs and integration with other platforms to improve community access to healthcare. Important challenges facing the GPELF moving forward towards 2030 relate to global demographic, financing and programmatic changes. New innovations in research and practice present opportunities to encourage further community partnership to achieve the elimination of LF as a public health problem. We stress the critical need for community ownership in the current Covid-19 pandemic, to counter concerns in relaunching MDA programmes for LF.
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Background: The human helminth infections include ascariasis, trichuriasis, hookworm infections, schistosomiasis, lymphatic filariasis (LF) and onchocerciasis. It is estimated that almost 2 billion people worldwide are infected with helminths. Whilst the WHO treatment guidelines for helminth infecti...ons are mostly aimed at controlling morbidity, there has been a recent shift with some countries moving towards goals of disease elimination through mass drug administration, especially for LF and onchocerciasis. However, as prevalence is driven lower, treating entire populations may no longer be the most efficient or cost-effective strategy. Instead, it may be beneficial to identify individuals or demographic groups who are persistently infected, often termed as being “predisposed” to infection, and target treatment at them.
Methods: The authors searched Embase, MEDLINE, Global Health, and Web of Science for all English language, humanbased papers investigating predisposition to helminth infections published up to October 31st, 2017. The varying definitions used to describe predisposition, and the statistical tests used to determine its presence, are summarised. Evidence for predisposition is presented, stratified by helminth species, and risk factors for predisposition to infection are identified and discussed.
Results: In total, 43 papers were identified, summarising results from 34 different studies in 23 countries. Consistent evidence of predisposition to infection with certain species of human helminth was identified. Children were regularly found to experience greater predisposition to Ascaris lumbricoides, Schistosoma mansoni and S. haematobium than adults. Females were found to be more predisposed to A. lumbricoides infection than were males. Household clustering of infection was identified for A. lumbricoides, T. trichiura and S. japonicum. Ascaris lumbricoides and T. trichiura also showed evidence of familial predisposition. Whilst strong evidence for predisposition to hookworm infection was identified, findings with regards to which groups were affected were considerably more varied than for other helminth species.
Conclusion: This review has found consistent evidence of predisposition to heavy (and light) infection for certain human helminth species. However, further research is needed to identify reasons for the reported differences between demographic groups. Molecular epidemiological methods associated with whole genome sequencing to determine ‘who infects whom’ may shed more light on the factors generating predisposition.
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This report aims to outline the current available knowledge on the health and wellbeing of older persons in the Region of the Americas during the United Nations Decade of Healthy Ageing (2021-2030). It also seeks to guide political actions towards ensuring the human rights of older persons, and desc...ribes the negotiation and drafting process behind the Inter-American Convention on Protecting the Human Rights of Older Persons. It reports on the doctrinal and legal developments that led the Region of the Americas to draft the Convention and describes its action areas and guaranteed rights, as well as the obligations assumed by the States Parties. The Convention is an essential tool to advance the strategies of the Decade of Healthy Ageing. This publication reflects on the importance of having a major legal instrument for this purpose at the international level. The demographic transition in Latin America and the Caribbean will continue to shape the ability of countries and health systems to respond to the needs of the population. Given this reality, international instruments will be needed to guarantee the full enjoyment of the human rights of older persons. In order to design inclusive and sustainable systems, accurate, updated, and effective information is required. The Decade of Healthy Ageing––the initiative that constitutes the framework for this document––is a strategic period in which to focus on data generation and monitoring.
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Background: Achieving universal health coverage (UHC) requires health financing systems that provide prepaid pooled resources for key health services without placing undue financial stress on households. Understanding current and future trajectories of health financing is vital for progress towards ...UHC. We used historical health financing data for 188 countries from 1995 to 2015 to estimate future scenarios of health spending and pooled health spending through to 2040. Methods: We extracted historical data on gross domestic product (GDP) and health spending for 188 countries from 1995 to 2015, and projected annual GDP, development assistance for health, and government, out-of-pocket, and prepaid private health spending from 2015 through to 2040 as a reference scenario. These estimates were generated using an ensemble of models that varied key demographic and socioeconomic determinants. We generated better and worse alternative future scenarios based on the global distribution of historic health spending growth rates. Last, we used stochastic frontier analysis to investigate the association between pooled health resources and UHC index, a measure of a country’s UHC service coverage. Finally, we estimated future UHC performance and the number of people covered under the three future scenarios.
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Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are of increasing concern for society and national governments, as well as globally due to their high mortality rate. The main risk factors of NCDs can be classified into the categories of self-management, genetic factors, environmental factors, factors of medical co...nditions, and socio-demographic factors.
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The World Health Organization (WHO) organized the first global meeting on skin-related neglected tropical diseases (skin NTDs) at its headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland on 27–31 March 2023. This 5-day hybrid meeting brought together more than 800 global experts, stakeholders and partners from 86 ...countries to consider a wide range of topics and enable participants to share best practices in implementing integrated skin NTD activities at country level. The theme of the meeting was “integration for greater impact”. The agenda is included as Annex 1. The participants are listed in Annex 2. The demographics of participants are shown in Annex 3. A photo gallery is presented as Annex 4. More than 54 oral presentations were made and over 200 posters on the themes related to the sessions were displayed digitally during the course of the 5-day meeting. The book of abstracts (WHO, 2023a) and the webinar recordings (WHO, 2023b) are available on the WHO NTD website
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