This guideline provides health policy-makers and decision-makers in health professional training institutions with advice on the rationale for health-care providers’ use of counselling skills to address sexual health concerns in a primary health care setting
It highlights the numerous challenges to quality service provision, along with the organisation’s response to mental health needs, and recommendations for international and regional decision-makers including:
- Advocating and working towards mental health policies that support adequate funding f...or mental health care and government suppor
- Legislation to protect the rights of people with mental disorders and vulnerable communities
- Advocating for multi-year funding to support the sustainability of MHPSS programs
- Creating capacity building opportunities consistent with the IASC guidelines and supported with continuous supervision
more
WHO Recommendations 2018 Update
The primary audience for these recommendations includes health professionals who are responsible for developing national and local health care guidelines and protocols (particularly those related to PPH prevention and treatment) and those involved in the provision of... care to women and their newborns during labour and childbirth, including midwives, nurses, general medical practitioners and obstetricians, as well as managers of maternal and child health programmes, and relevant staff in ministries of health and training institutions, in all settings.
more
1. Provide treatment for mental disorders in primary care
2. Ensure wider accessibility to essential psychotropic drugs
3. Provide care in the community
4. Educate the public
5. Involve communities, families and consumers
6. Establish national policies, programmes and legislation on mental heal...th
7. Develop human resources
8. Link with other sectors
9. Monitor community mental health
10. Support relevant research.
more
Timor-Leste’s vulnerability to natural hazards means if particular care is not taken in the development of the country’s infrastructure, it will remain at risk to disruption.
Timor-Leste developed the 2008 National Disaster Risk Management Policy, which lays out the government’s vison of ...its disaster management process from the national to the village level. Additionally, through the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), they have conducted national hazards, vulnerability and risk assessments. Through Plan International they have initiated the integration of disaster management education into public schools. Although the Government of Timor-Leste considers DRM as a priority and supports the dissemination of DRM policy to the district levels, the current Strategic Development Plan 2011-2030 of Timor-Leste has not explicitly reflected nor integrated DRM as one of its development priorities. Disaster Management is included in the Strategic Plan Document of MSS 2009-2012.
more
The new guidelines provide public health guidance on pharmacological agents for managing hyperglycaemia in type 1 and type 2 diabetes for use in primary health-care in low-resource settings. These guidelines update the recommendations for managing hyperglycaemia in the WHO Package of Essential NCD I...nterventions (WHO PEN) for primary care in low-resources settings, reviewing several newer oral agents as second- and third-line treatment: dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitors, sodium-glucose co-transporter 2 inhibitors and thiazolidinediones. The guidelines also present recommendations on the selection of type of insulin (analogue versus human insulin) for adults with type 1 and type 2 diabetes.
more
The health of the people and health services are in crisis, and together as partners this plan commits us to strategies aimed at achieving our goal of:
Strengthened primary health care for all, and improved service delivery for the rural majority and the urban disadvantaged.
Original fi...le: 67 MB
more
Regulation of the Minister of Health of the Republic of Indonesia Number 5 Year 2014 about the Clinical Practice Guide for Physicians at Primary Health Care Facilities
Journal of the International AIDS Society 2016, 19:20926
There is a growing interest in the potential contribution the private sector can make towards increasing access to antiretroviral therapy (ART) in low‐ and middle‐income settings. This article describes a public–private partnership ...that was developed to expand HIV care capacity in Yangon, Myanmar. The partnership was between private sector general practitioners (GPs) and a community‐based non‐governmental organization (International HIV/AIDS Alliance).
https://doi.org/10.7448/IAS.19.1.20926
more
Review of International, Regional and National Policies and Legal Frameworks that Promote Migrants and Mobile Populations' Access to Health and Malaria Services in the Greater Mekong Subregion (Cambodia, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Myanmar, Thailand and Viet Nam)
Migrants and mobile popul...ations face many obstacles in accessing equitable essential health care services due to factors such as living and working conditions, education level, gender, irregular migration status, language and cultural barriers, anti-migrant sentiments, and lack of migrant-inclusive health policies among others. Despite significant progress having been made in the context of malaria control in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS), human movements can impact malaria transmission patterns and potentially introduce drug-resistant parasites. This legal framework review therefore serves as a guidance document on approaches to address malaria and malaria elimination for migrant and mobile populations (MMPs) in five countries of the GMS.
more
Humanitarian emergencies result in a breakdown of critical health-care services and often make vulnerable communities dependent on external agencies for care. In resource-constrained settings, this may occur against a backdrop of extreme poverty, malnutrition, insecurity, low literacy and poor infra...structure. Under these circumstances, providing food, water and shelter and limiting communicable disease outbreaks become primary concerns. Where effective and safe vaccines are available to mitigate the risk of disease outbreaks, their potential deployment is a key consideration in meeting emergency health needs. Ethical considerations are crucial when deciding on vaccine deployment. Allocation of vaccines in short supply, target groups, delivery strategies, surveillance and research during acute humanitarian emergencies all involve ethical considerations that often arise from the tension between individual and common good. The authors lay out the ethical issues that policy-makers need to bear in mind when considering the deployment of mass vaccination during humanitarian emergencies, including beneficence (duty of care and the rule of rescue), non-maleficence, autonomy and consent, and distributive and procedural justice
more
Policy Note #3: Myanmar Health Systems in Transition Policy Notes Series
A network of basic health facilities has been established in each of the 330 townships, covering both rural and urban areas. For the vast majority of Myanmar’s people, particularly the 70% who reside in rural areas, the ...township health system (THS) is the only government-funded source of preventive, promotive and curative services.
To achieve the national policy objective of progressing towards universal health coverage (UHC) through a primary health-care approach by 2030, the THS is critical to success. It is responsible for the bulk of health care delivery – particularly in rural areas – and is at the heart of national health development in Myanmar. However, if the THS is to be the backbone of health care provision, it currently suffers from a severe case of osteoporosis.
more
The primary focus of the plan continues to be prevention, preparedness and treatment of the the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. Central to the plan are the following overall objectives:
To prevent further transmission of COVID-19 in the oPt;
To provide adequate care for patients aff...ected by COVID-19 and to support their families and close contacts; and
To mitigate the worst effects of the pandemic.
more
This technical note describes medical certification of cause of death and classification (International Classification of Diseases [ICD] mortality coding) of deaths related to COVID-19. The primary goal is to identify all deaths due to COVID-19 in all countries, including those not yet following WHO... international norms and standards for medical certificates of cause of death and ICD mortality coding.
more
For over a decade, Senegalese and international journalists, human rights advocates, and child protection experts have documented and denounced the ongoing exploitation, abuse and neglect of children living in many of Senegal’s traditional Quranic schools, or daaras. Thousands of these children, k...nown as talibés, continue to live in conditions of extreme squalor, deprived of adequate food and medical care.
more
National emergency medical teams are the best option for providing immediate and appropriate surge response for emergencies directly affecting populations, while international teams may help relieve overwhelmed health systems. The efficiency and effectiveness of countries and local authorities in mo...bilizing existing resources is only as good as the quality of care they are able to provide. This publication serves as a practical guide for teams and aims to compliment emergency response systems, fostering seamless collaboration with all emergency response actors and networks
more
In sum, the goal is to understand the need to increase fiscal space for health as a prerequisite, but within the framework of efforts to transform the health system. These changes should foster equitable and efficient expenditures and create or strengthen comprehensive integrated health systems with... a first level of care capable of solving health problems and coordinating networks, based on a primary health care approach that offers not only curative care but also health promotion and disease prevention services.
more
Background: Community health worker (CHW) programmes are a valuable component of primary care in resource-poor settings. The evidence supporting their effectiveness generally shows improvements in disease-specific outcomes relative to the absence of a CHW programme. In this study, we evaluated expan...ding an existing HIV and tuberculosis (TB) disease-specific CHW programme into a polyvalent, household-based model that subsequently included non-communicable diseases (NCDs), malnutrition and TB screening, as well as family planning and antenatal care (ANC).
Methods: We conducted a stepped-wedge cluster randomised controlled trial in Neno District, Malawi. Six clusters of approximately 20 000 residents were formed from the catchment areas of 11 healthcare facilities. The intervention roll-out was staggered every 3 months over 18 months, with CHWs receiving a 5-day foundational training for their new tasks and assigned 20–40 households for monthly (or more frequent) visits.
Findings: The intervention resulted in a decrease of approximately 20% in the rate of patients defaulting from chronic NCD care each month (−0.8 percentage points (pp) (95% credible interval: −2.5 to 0.5)) while maintaining the already low default rates for HIV patients (0.0 pp, 95% CI: −0.6 to 0.5). First trimester ANC attendance increased by approximately 30% (6.5pp (−0.3, 15.8)) and paediatric malnutrition case finding declined by 10% (−0.6 per 1000 (95% CI −2.5 to 0.8)). There were no changes in TB programme outcomes, potentially due to data challenges.
more
The Asthma Control Questionnaire (ACQ)1 was developed and validated to measure the primary clinical goal of asthma management as identified by international guidelines. They indicate that to achieve good control, treatment should minimise day and night time symptoms, activity limitation, airway narr...owing and rescue bronchodilator use and thus reduce the risk of life-threatening exacerbations and long-term morbidity. The importance of including all aspects of control in the assessment of individual patients was emphasised by a recent factor analysis which showed that clinical asthma is composed of distinct components which are not closely correlated with each other.6 However, in some studies it may not be possible to collect airway calibre or short-acting β2-agonists data. Previous analysis of non-clinical trial data suggested that when ACQ scores are analysed as group data, the heterogeneity of the way in which individual patients present with inadequate control is lost in the estimation of the mean and the need to measure each individual component of asthma control may become unnecessary. In this analysis, ACQ data from a clinical trial was used to evaluate the measurement properties (reliability, responsiveness, validity and interpretability), of three shortened versions of the ACQ. In addition, we have examined whether the precision and accuracy of estimating the effect of the intervention on asthma control was maintained when the two questions concerning airway calibre and short-acting β2-agonists use were omitted from the trial analysis.
more
This purpose of this guide is to inform robust evaluations of the WHO training package – a package aimed at personnel whose primary role in health-care facilities is environmental cleaning, hereafter referred to as cleaners.
The WHO training package – Environmental cleaning and infection prev...ention and control in health-care facilities in low- and middle-income countries – was designed to improve the competencies of cleaners through a practical, educational approach for adult learners in low- and middle-income countries and comprises two volumes: trainer’s guide and modules and resources (1,2). An associated OpenWHO online course describes the essential preparations for trainers to deliver the WHO training package.
more