2nd edition
WASH FIT is a risk-based, continuous improvement framework with a set of tools for undertaking water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) improvements as part of wider quality improvements in health care facilities. It is aimed at small primary, and in some instances secondary, health care fa...cilities in low and middle income countries.
An app, for front line data collection is also available in the Android Google Play store or as a web app
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Guidance has been updated on a number of chemicals: asbestos, bentazone, chromium, iodine, manganese, microcystins, nickel, silver, tetrachloroethene and trichloroethene. Guidance has also been added for chemicals not previously assessed in the Guidelines: anatoxin-a and analogues, cylindrospermopsi...ns and saxitoxins. The new guidance on organotins has replaced the prior guidance focused on dialkyltins. With these updates, the guideline values for tetrachloroethene and trichloroethene have been revised while new guideline values for cylindrospermopsins, manganese, microcystins, and saxitoxins have been established .
Updated information on cyanobacteria has been included, introducing an alert level framework for early-warning and to guide short-term management responses. Guidance has also been updated in the sections on adequacy of water supply, climate change, emergencies, food production and processing, and radiological aspects, particularly on managing radionuclides when exceeding WHO screening values and guidance levels.
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In 2021, the humanitarian community continued to support those in need, placing protection at the centre of its response. Learning from and building on past efforts, humanitarian actors will continue to respond and adapt their response to the various shocks impacting populations in Cameroon, such as... violence against civilians, natural disasters, and epidemics, including the COVID-19 pandemic.
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The second edition of the “A Region on the Move” report provides an overview of population movement trends in West and Central Africa in 2021. It aims to provide a comprehensive overview of mobility in the region and showcase the versatility, multidimensionality and nuances of regional mobility ...in West and Central Africa.
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The Planetary Health Report Card is a student-driven, metric-based initiative to inspire planetary health and sustainable healthcare education engagement in medical schools. In addition to inspiring expansion of medical school curricula, we hope to inspire medical schools to expand research efforts,... engage with communities most affected by climate change and environmental injustice, support passionate medical students who are trying to organize around planetary health at the institutional level, and implement sustainable practices. A set of metrics in these five category areas allows students and faculty to conduct a needs assessment at their medical school.
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A framework to implement the Agenda for the Americas on Health, Environment, and Climate Change 2021–2030
Learnings from the COVID-19 evidence response and recommendations for the future.
Reflections and recommendations from the evidence synthesis community.
This policy paper outlines key health financing policy actions for countries to ensure universal access to health services and financial protection for people fleeing conflict. It focuses on three policy areas – granting entitlement and ensure access to the full range of needed health services for... people fleeing conflict, making additional funding available and strengthening purchasing arrangements. Policy guidance is illustrated using country examples from Europe. The paper’s recommendations are relevant to all countries in Europe.
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The Faster We Go, the Health We'll Be.
The report outlines five climate solutions that research shows will deliver immediate, often localized, health and equity benefits. Our focus is on the solutions that proactively advance both health and health equity, recognizing that some of us face greater h...ealth risks than others.
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This guideline aims to improve the quality of essential, routine postnatal care for women and newborns with the ultimate goal of improving maternal and newborn health and well-being. It recognizes a “positive postnatal experience” as a significant end point for all women giving birth and their n...ewborns, laying the platform for improved short- and long-term health and well-being. A positive postnatal experience is defined as one in which women, newborns, partners, parents, caregivers and families receive information, reassurance and support in a consistent manner from motivated health workers; where a resourced and flexible health system recognizes the needs of women and babies, and respects their cultural context.
This is a consolidated guideline of new and existing recommendations on routine postnatal care for women and newborns receiving facility- or community-based postnatal care in any resource setting.
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Health is routinely considered in strategic environmental assessment (SEA) and environmental impact assessment (EIA), following requirements of European Union directives and the Protocol on Strategic Environmental Assessment to the Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Trans...boundary Context (Espoo Convention). Policy-makers and other sources report that these assessments mostly adopt a biophysical perspective and that few cases consider or define health in a manner which is consistent with the WHO Constitution, by considering the wider social, economic, behavioural and institutional aspects of health. This systematically conducted review of over 333 SEA and EIA cases in the WHO European Region shows that while about 80% of assessments pursue a narrow, biophysical interpretation of health, around 10% consider wider determinants when defining health, and another 10% consider wider determinants of health in the actual assessment. Twelve case studies are presented, literature is reviewed and implications for practice are considered.
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We need to be concerned about mental health in the context of climate change
Cases of monkeypox (MPX) acquired in the EU have recently been reported in nine EU Member States (Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and the Netherlands).
Monkeypox (MPX) does not spread easily between people. Human-to-human transmission occurs through close contact ...with infectious material from skin lesions of an infected person, through respiratory droplets in prolonged face-to-face contact, and through fomites. The predominance, in the current outbreak, of diagnosed human MPX cases among men having sex with men (MSM), and the nature of the presenting lesions in some cases, suggest transmission occurred during sexual intercourse
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Human rights-based approaches to the creation of knowledge involve application of human rights principles to both the content and process of knowledge creation. Human rights-based approaches have special significance for the sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) of all people, in particul...ar for women and girls, people living with disability, lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer or Intersex (LGBTQI) populations, refugees, migrants and other marginalised populations.
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The COVID-19 HEalth caRe wOrkErs Study (HEROES): Regional Report from the Americas is a multicenter prospective cohort study to assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the mental health of health care workers in 26 countries on four continents and how it is affected by several factors at diffe...rent interrelated levels: individual, family, occupational, and social. This brief report presents the evidence generated from the baseline survey of 11 participating countries in the Region of the Americas. Using validated scales, the findings show high rates of depressive symptoms, suicidal ideation, and psychological distress in several countries of the Region. The spirit of the project is not only to generate quality scientific evidence on the mental health of health care workers, but also to help develop interventions (both individual and institutional) and policies to address the negative impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health.
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Rev Saude Publica. 2022; 56: 22.
Published online 2022 Apr 11. doi: 10.11606/s1518-8787.2022056004040