About one fourth of the world’s population is estimated to have been infected with the tuberculosis (TB) bacilli, and about 5–10% of those infected develop TB disease in their lifetime. The risk for TB disease after infection depends on several factors, the most important being the person’s im...munological status. TB preventive treatment (TPT) given to people at highest risk of progressing from TB infection to disease remains a critical element to achieve the global targets of the End TB Strategy, as reiterated by the second UN High Level Meeting on TB in 2023. Delivering TPT effectively and safely necessitates a programmatic approach to implement a comprehensive package of interventions along a cascade of care: identifying individuals at highest risk, screening for TB and ruling out TB disease, testing for TB infection, and choosing the preventive treatment option that is best suited to an individual, managing adverse events, supporting medication adherence and monitoring programmatic performance.
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UNAIDS/WHO Working group
HIV/AIDS and STI surveillance 2015 / Reference
The WHO Pharmaceuticals Newsletter provides you with the latest information on the safety of medicinal products and regulatory actions taken by authorities around the world.
In addition, this edition includes summary and recommendations from the virtual meeting of the members of the WHO Programme f...or International Drug Monitoring (PIDM) and other partners, which was held on 20 October 2022.
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The conditionality of this recommendation is largely driven by the current higher unit cost of pyrethroid-PBO ITNs compared
to pyrethroid-only LLINs and therefore the uncertainty of their cost-effectiveness. Furthermore, as PBO is less wash-resistant
than pyrethroids, its bioavailability declines ...faster over the three-year estimated life of an ITN; therefore, the added impact of
pyrethroid-PBO ITNs over that of pyrethroid-only LLINs may decline over time. The evidence comes from two sites in
eastern Africa with pyrethroid resistance and not from other geographies where transmission levels and vector characteristics
may vary. PBO acts by inhibiting certain metabolic enzymes, primarily oxidases, and so are likely to provide greater protection
than pyrethroid-only LLINs where mosquitoes display mono-oxygenase-based insecticide resistance mechanisms.
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This report - the largest of its kind to date - draws on the experiences of over 8,500 women and 300 health professionals across eight countries. It exposes the aggressive marketing practices used by the formula milk industry, and highlights impacts on families’ decisions about how to feed their b...abies and young children.
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Since 24 February 2022, the war in Ukraine has caused widespread suffering to its people and serious damage
to the country’s infrastructure. Attacks on the country’s health system and its power network threaten people, compromise the provision of health care, and complicate the distribution of ...essential medicines and equipment.
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This report presents key findings from a study carried out on the ‘Mainstreaming quality of care in empanelled hospitals under PMJAY’. It provides a detailed analysis of current coverage and perceptions of quality accreditation and certification across PMJAY empanelled hospitals from three diffe...rent states
(Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat).
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This fourth annual report monitors global progress towards the 2023 target for global elimination of industrially produced trans-fatty acids (TFA), highlighting achievements during the past year (October 2021 – September 2022). Countries are responding to the World Health Organization (WHO) call t...o action by putting into place best-practice TFA policies. Mandatory TFA policies are currently in effect for 3.4 billion people in 60 countries (43% of the world population); of these, 43 countries have best-practice policies in effect, covering 2.8 billion people (36% of the world population).
Over the past year, several additional countries took action to eliminate industrially produced TFA: best-practice policies came into effect in India in January 2022, Uruguay in May 2022 and Oman in July 2022. Best-practice policies were passed in Bangladesh in November 2021 (to come into effect in December 2022) and in Ukraine in September 2020 (to come into effect in October 2023), best-practice TFA policies are projected to pass soon in Mexico, Nigeria and Sri Lanka.
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The 2020 recommendations for the programmatic management of TB preventive treatment are the first to be released under the rubric of WHO consolidated TB guidelines (Module 1 – Prevention). The WHO consolidated TB guidelines will gradually group all TB recommendations and will be complemented by ma...tching modules of a consolidated operational handbook. [1] The handbook will provide practical advice on how to put in place the recommendations at the scale needed to achieve national and global impact. The first handbook module in the series will be on the programmatic management of TB preventive treatment and will accompany the 2020 guidelines.
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On September 10, 2022, the Ministry of Health (MOH) announced a cholera outbreak in Aleppo governorate with 15 laboratory confirmed cases reported between August 25 and September 9, 2022. Activities under this plan seek to address the immediate needs stemming from this outbreak and highlight respons...e priorities across all areas of the response and key sectors involved. This plan initially focuses on the Health, Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH), and Risk Communication and Community Engagement (RCCE) responses for an initial period of 90 days. The activities detailed in this plan are also within the programmatic scope of the 2022-2023 Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP).
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This manual is a guide to psychosocial interventions to help people cope with the emotional effects of disasters. Some are direct responses to the trauma of disasters, while others are longer-term responses. Even more than the physical effects of disasters, the emotional effects cause long-lasting s...uffering, disability and loss of income
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First published in 2020, this toolkit is intended for clinicians working in acute care, managing adult and paediatric patients with acute respiratory infection, including severe pneumonia, acute respiratory distress syndrome, sepsis and septic shock. The main objective is to provide key tools for us...e in the care of critically ill patients – from hospital entry to hospital discharge.
The 2022 updated version includes new tools and adapted algorithms, checklists, memory aids for COVID-19 and influenza, and the latest clinical evidence regarding clinical management of SARI. It is intended to help clinicians care for SARI patients: from epidemiology of severe acute respiratory infections, screening and triage, infection prevention and control, monitoring of patients, laboratory diagnosis, principles of oxygen therapy and different types of ventilation (invasive and non-invasive), as well as antimicrobial and immunomodulator therapies, to ethical and quality of care assessments.
The first edition is availbel in Ukrainian and Russian
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This manual will aid in building the capacity of nurses with clinical knowledge of the unique needs, complex health problems, common geriatric syndromes, and principles of care of older people. It will also enable them to acquire the skills necessary to perform an in-depth multidimensional geriatric... assessment. This manual will go a long way in establishing effective geriatric care services and improving the awareness of nurses regarding the various aspects of geriatric care in the WHO South-East Asia Region.
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Using the WHO model list of essential medicines to update a national essential medicines list
Since 1977, WHO has been working with countries to design the package of essential medicines as an integral component of treatment within the continuum of care, developing and disseminating the Model List ...of Essential Medicines (Model List). WHO is committed to supporting Member States in sharing best practices in selecting
essential medicines, and in developing processes for the selection of medicines for national essential medicines lists (national EMLs, or NEMLs) consistent with the evidence-based methods used for updating the WHO Model List.
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This question bank is a menu of qualitative questions related to healthcare workers’ knowledge, perceptions and practices during infectious disease outbreaks. The question bank will generate qualitative data on healthcare workers’ subjective understandings of risks, case management, protection a...nd wider outbreak operations. These data can be used to inform risk communication and community engagement activities as well as other response pillars. Some of the issues covered in these questions are complex, for example stigma or views on vaccine safety
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Meeting Report 27-29 October 2020
The overall goal of the meeting was to discuss recent changes in treatment regimens and diagnostics for drug-resistant TB and to determine how these impact on the definition of XDR-TB, with a view to revising this definition. The pre-existing definition of XDR-TB w...as formulated in 2006 at a meeting of the Global Taskforce on XDR-TB, convened by WHO, and has been in use for clinical and surveillance purposes, since this time.
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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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As of 31 October 2020 This is the tenth edition of this summary of rapid systematic reviews, which includes the results of a rapid systematic review of currently available literature. More than 200 therapeutic options or their combinations are being investigated in more than 1,700 clinical trials. I...n this review, 46 therapeutic options are examined. The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) is continually monitoring ongoing research on any possible therapeutic options. As evidence emerges, then PAHO will immediately assess and update its position, and particularly as it applies to any special sub-group populations such as children, expectant mothers, those with immune conditions, etc.
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This document includes the results of a rapid systematic review of current available literature. The information included in this review reflects the evidence as of the date posted in the document. In recognition of the fact that there are numerous ongoing clinical studies, PAHO will periodically up...date this review and corresponding recommendations as new evidence becomes available.
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The purpose of the PAS III is to guide Pakistan’s overall national response for HIV and AIDS through 2020, through focused interventions with set targets, costs, roles and responsibilities. The successful implementation of PAS III involves multiple stakeholders to achieve priority outcomes outline...d in the Strategy. The Strategy focuses on allocating limited resources to scale up high-impact, high-value interventions such as HTC and treatment to reduce AIDS related deaths and new HIV infections. Priorities in the PAS III have been identified to ensure maximum impact in reducing new infections, especially among key populations, improving treatment uptake and retention, and improving the quality of life of people living with HIV and AIDS in the context of limited financial and human resources.
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