Snakebite is a neglected public health problem. Rural populations are frequent victims as they go about their daily food production and animal rearing activities and as they reside in the comfort of their homes. Unfortunatly, many of these snakebite cases go unreported and thus do not appear in offi...cial epidemiological statistics. Health workers often have little or no formal training in the management of snakebite, and appropriate antivenom is rarelay available.
The guidelines for the prevention and clinical management of snakebite in Africa have been developped by the World Health organization Regional Office of Africa with contributions from technical experts. They are meant to assist health workers to improve medical care for snakebite victims; they also serve as a source of information for the general public on issues related to snakes and snakebite.
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The recommendations in this guideline are intended to inform development of national and subnational health policies, clinical protocols and programmatic guides. The target audience includes national and subnational public health policy-makers, implementers and managers of maternal, newborn and chil...d health programmes, health-care facility managers, supervisors/instructors for in-service training, health workers (including midwives, auxiliary nurse-midwives, nurses, paediatricians, neonatologists, general medical practitioners and community health workers), nongovernmental organizations, professional societies involved in the planning and management of maternal, newborn and child health services, academic staff involved in research and in the pre-service education and training of health workers, and those involved in the education of parents.
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The Zambia Population Based HIV impact assessment of 2016, reported the prevalence of viral hepatitis in Zambia as ranging between 5.6% among adults aged 15 to 59% in the general population, and 7.1% among HIV infected individuals. It is estimated that the majority of persons with chronic hepatitis ...B and/ or hepatitis C are unware of their infection and do not benefit from promotive, preventive and curative services designed to reduce onward transmission. Zambia introduced hepatitis B virus vaccine to the routine Under 5 vaccination schedule in 2005. Preliminary results from the ZAMPHIA indicate that hundreds of infections have been abated in children since then. However, its also clear that we continue to miss key opportunities to prevent transmission, diagnose and treat infections, prevent serious disease, and in many cases cure people. In addition, high risk groups inter alia health care workers still have limited access to the vaccine.
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The primary audience for this guideline includes health-care professionals who are responsible for developing national and local health-care protocols and policies, as well as managers of maternal and child health programmes and policy-makers in all settings. The guideline will also be useful to tho...se directly providing care to pregnant women and preterm infants, such as obstetricians, paediatricians, midwives, nurses and general practitioners. The information in this guideline will be useful for developing job aids and tools for pre- and in-service training of health workers to enhance their delivery of maternal and neonatal care relating to preterm birth.
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WHO today released its first roadmap to tackle postpartum haemorrhage (PPH) – defined as excessive bleeding after childbirth - which affects millions of women annually and is the world’s leading cause of maternal deaths.
Despite being preventable and treatable, PPH results in around 70 000 de...aths every year. For those who survive, it can cause disabilities and psychological trauma that last for years.
“Severe bleeding in childbirth is one of the most common causes of maternal mortality, yet it is highly preventable and treatable,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General. “This new roadmap charts a path forward to a world in which more women have a safe birth and a healthy future with their families.”
The Roadmap aims to help countries address stark differences in survival outcomes from PPH, which reflect major inequities in access to essential health services. Over 85% of deaths from PPH happen in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Risk factors include anaemia, placental abnormalities, and other complications in pregnancy such as infections and pre-eclampsia.
Many risk factors can be managed if there is quality antenatal care, including access to ultrasound, alongside effective monitoring in the hours after birth. If bleeding starts, it also needs to be detected and treated extremely quickly. Too often, however, health facilities lack necessary healthcare workers or resources, including lifesaving commodities such as oxytocin, tranexamic acid or blood for transfusions.
“Addressing postpartum haemorrhage needs a multipronged approach focusing on both prevention and response - preventing risk factors and providing immediate access to treatments when needed - alongside broader efforts to strengthen women’s rights,” said Dr Pascale Allotey, WHO Director for Sexual and Reproductive Health and HRP, the UN’s special programme on research development and training in human reproduction. “Every woman, no matter where she lives, should have access to timely, high quality maternity care, with trained health workers, essential equipment and shelves stocked with appropriate and effective commodities – this is crucial for treating postpartum bleeding and reducing maternal deaths.”
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Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are a growing public health problem in Ghana and other African countries. Strokes and other CVDs have become a leading cause of death due to increasing risk factors such as hypertension. According to the Global Burden of Disease study (GBD), ischaemic heart disease was... the fourth leading cause of death in Ghana in 2016. The prevalence of hyper-
tension, a major risk factor for CVDs, is increasing rapidly and ranges from 19% to 48%, according to the Ghana Health Service Annual Report, 2017, due to rising life expectancy and the increasing prevalence of contributing factors such as overweight/obesity. Early diagnosis and adequate management of the risk factors can reduce the fatal consequences of CVDs.
At the heart of improving risk assessment and management of CVDs are nationally approved guidelines, which facilitate standardisation of care approaches.
These guidelines developed by experts from all levels of health care and stakeholders capture all recommended approaches and necessary information for clinicians and other healthcare workers on CVDs. They also serve as a practical guide for assessing and managing the most important CVDs prevalent in Ghana and can be used at all levels of care namely health facilities without a doctor; with a general practitioner and with a physician specialist.
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2nd edition.
The book is aimed at general health workers in low- and middle-income country settings and has some chapters on perinatal mental health. That said, it has definite applicability in high-income country settings too! In the new edition, there has been a big expansion of the psychosocial ...interventions. Thanks to your advocacy for such a resource being open-access (as the first edition was not), the book is freely available for download: https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/where-there-is-no-psychiatrist/47578A845CAFC7E23A181749A4190B54
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This flipchart is a visual support for community workers, health workers, emergency workers, and in general all staff conducting face-to-face communication in response to a cholera outbreak.
How to use it?
The flipchart is intended as a support for animating individual or group discussions on ...life-saving practices.
To facilitate involvement of communities for an effective response to the outbreak, this flipchart should be used to provide information and stimulate discussion, rather than to “pass messages”.
An integrated communication approach
The flipchart should not be used alone; effective communication strategy involves the use of a variety of channels and actors. It will be critical to integrate face-to-face discussion with other channels such as local radios, schools, mosques, churches, etc., and to associate different actors such as technical experts, community representatives and opinion leaders to animate them.
In emergency context it is critical not only to stimulate discussion but also to create mechanisms for interaction between communities and service providers such as regular meetings, participation to radio broadcasts or visits by community representatives to health posts; these mechanisms need to be carefully catered for with appropriate planning and resources.
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We reviewed the evidence on community-based interventions for the prevention and control of cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL). Community initiatives tailored towards awareness and mobilisation are regarded as a priority area in the Neglected Tropical Disease Roadmap 2021–2030 by the World Health Organi...zation. We searched nine electronic databases for intervention-based
studies. Two independent reviewers screened and assessed the articles for methodological quality using predefined criteria. We conducted a meta-analysis using a random effects model, along with narrative synthesis. Thirteen articles were eligible for inclusion, of which 12 were quantitative studies (quasi-experimental with control group and pre-post interventions) and one qualitative
study. All articles reported on health education interventions aimed at changing people’s knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) in relation to CL. Participant groups included students, mothers, housewives, volunteer health workers, and residents in general. An increased score was recorded for all outcomes across all interventions: knowledge (SMD: 1.85, 95% CI: 1.23, 2.47), attitudes (SMD:
1.36, 95% CI: 0.56, 2.15), and practices (SMD: 1.73, 95% CI: 0.99, 2.47). Whilst our findings show that educational interventions improved people’s knowledge, attitudes, and practices about CL, we argue that this approach is not sufficient for the prevention and control of this disease. Knowledge does not always translate into action, particularly where other structural barriers exist. Therefore,
we recommend the design of more innovative community-based interventions with a broader focus (e.g., stigma, financial barriers, and healthcare access).
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This core package of materials provides a comprehensive introduction to the FAST strategy: a focused approach to stopping TB spread in congregate settings. In English, FAST stands for:
Finding TB cases
Actively,
Separating safely, and
Treating effectively.
FAST focuses health care w...orkers on the most important TB transmission control intervention: effective treatment.
FAST can also be extrapolated to national policy where it serves as a framework for allocating resources to interventions that will have the greatest impact on reducing TB transmission.
This core package is composed of a booklet, job aids, posters, and a button which serves as a visual reminder to staff and patients of the importance of this strategy in TB control. FAST can be implemented in both general and TB specific medical settings.
For full package visit: https://drtbnetwork.org/fast-tb-infection-control-strategy-core-package
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This 15-minute quick guide is developed with content available from the World Health Organization, CDC, and other organizations. The general public and aid workers without specialized health training will benefit from increased awareness of this outbreak.To access the latest training, log into Disa...sterReady.org or enroll directly in the Ebola Awareness Quick Guide training course.
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It is estimated that as many as 300 million people of all ages, and all ethnic backgrounds, suffer from asthma and the burden of this disease to governments, health care systems, families, and patients is increasing worldwide. In 1989 the Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA) program was initiated in ...an effort to raise awareness among public health and government officials, health care workers, and the general public that asthma was on the increase. The GINA program recommends a management program based on the best available scientific evidence to provide effective medical care for asthma tailored to local health care systems and resources.
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This core package of materials provides a comprehensive introduction to the FAST strategy: a focused approach to stopping TB spread in congregate settings. In English, FAST stands for:
Finding TB cases
Actively,
Separating safely, and
Treating effectively.
FAST focuses health care workers on ...the most important TB transmission control intervention: effective treatment.
FAST can also be extrapolated to national policy where it serves as a framework for allocating resources to interventions that will have the greatest impact on reducing TB transmission.
This core package is composed of a booklet, job aids, posters, and a button which serves as a visual reminder to staff and patients of the importance of this strategy in TB control. FAST can be implemented in both general and TB specific medical settings.
For full package visit: https://drtbnetwork.org/fast-tb-infection-control-strategy-core-package
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This editorial will consider the often heralded and sometimes belittled Surgical Safety Checklist (SSCL) for its general benefits, potential utility, and range of evidence attesting to its value in quality and safety improvement.
This is a checklist for the general population to use to determine if their symptoms are consistent with COVID-19.
Village Hope Core International works in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and along with the Kenya Red Cross and Plan International are training their community health workers with these materials. Village HopeCore has reassigned their handwashing stations from schools to health facilities ...and are working on other solutions such as telemedicine, digital communication and other community-based interventions.
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Village Hope Core International works in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and along with the Kenya Red Cross and Plan International are training their community health workers with these materials. Village HopeCore has reassigned their handwashing stations from schools to health facilities ...and are working on other solutions such as telemedicine, digital communication and other community-based interventions.
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Hands-on information and practical advice for everyday life and work in the field as well as background information on crisis management structures in international organizations lie at the heart of the new handbook. It has been developed in the realm of Europe’s New Training Initiative for Civili...an Crisis Management (ENTRi) by the project coordination team at ZIF.
The handbook is designed to accompany civilian experts on their way to crisis management missions. In addition to providing a general overview of the institutional landscape of crisis management as well as relevant concepts, the handbook also provides practical information on a variety of issues that are common to working in a mission. From dealing with health and security challenges to technical information on radio operation, map reading, four-wheel driving – the ENTRi handbook is a valuable companion for work in a mission.
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