HIV Treatment - Interim Guidance
Policy Brief
published: 16 March 2018 doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2018.00069
"This is the final report of the six-year collaboration between the WHO Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse and the Gulbenkian Global Mental Health Platform, an initiative of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation aimed at reducing the global burden of mental health through the development a...nd application of evidence and good practices to global mental health."
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Policy Brief, Updated in March 2017
HIV treatment
Policy brief
July 2017
WHO/HIV/2017.18
WHO recommends replacing western blotting and line immunoassays with simpler tests in HIV testing services. These simpler tests include rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) that can be used at the point-of-care, and enzyme immunoassays (EIAs).
These tests get results to the client faster, produce accura...te results more often, cost less, can be performed by various cadres of health providers, and can thus facilitate greater access and uptake of HIV testing services among those who need it most.
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Social network-based HIV testing is an approach for engaging sexual and drug injecting partners and social contacts of key population members with HIV and of those who are HIV-negative and at ongoing risk in voluntary HTS.
By addressing people’s confidentiality concerns and broadening the reach... to social contacts, social network-based HIV testing approaches can improve the acceptability of partner services among key populations and so reach more people who may not otherwise test for HIV. WHO now recommends that social network-based HIV testing approaches can be offered for key populations
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Policy briefs
The COVID-19 pandemic is impacting not only food trade, food supply chains and markets but also people’s lives, livelihoods and nutrition.
This collection of policy briefs presents a qualitative and quantitative assessment of the pandemic’s impacts on these areas.
Briefs are r...eleased on a day-to-day basis
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The COVID-19 pandemic is causing untold fear and suffering for older people across the world. As of 26 April, the virus itself has already taken the lives of some 193,710 people, and fatality rates for those over 80 years of age is five times the global average. As the virus spreads rapidly to devel...oping countries, likely overwhelming health and social protection systems, the mortality rate for older persons could climb even higher.
Less visible but no less worrisome are the broader effects: health care denied for conditions unrelated to COVID-19; neglect and abuse in institutions and care facilities; an increase in poverty and unemployment; the dramatic impact on well-being and mental health; and the trauma of stigma and discrimination.
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It is too early to know the full impact of COVID-19 on Africa. To date the experience has been varied. There are causes for concern, but also reasons for hope. Early estimates were pessimistic regarding the pandemic’s impact on the continent. But the relatively low numbers of COVID-19 cases report...ed thus far have raised hopes that African countries may be spared the worst of the pandemic. While the virus is present in all African countries, most countries have recorded fewer than 1,000 cases. The African Union acted swiftly, endorsing a joint continental strategy in February, and complementing efforts by Member States and Regional Economic Communities by providing a public health platform.
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Das vorliegende Policy Paper zeigt die Erfahrungen der spezialisierten Fachberatungsstellen für Betroffene von Menschenhandel - die im Bundesweiten Koordinierungskreis gegen Menschenhandel vernetzt sind - im Kontext von Flucht auf und schildert die aktuelle Situation in Deutschland aus Sicht der Fa...chberatungsstellen. Gleichzeitig bietet es Informationen zu den Orten der Ausbeutung und den Herkunftsländern von Betroffenen. Es werden erste Erklärungen und Ursachen aufgezeigt, warum eine Mehrzahl der Klient*innen mit Fluchthintergrund aus westafrikanischen Ländern stammen. Abschliessend werden Handlungsempfehlungen an Bund und Länder sowie das deutsche Unterstützungssystem für Betroffene von Menschenhandel aufgestellt, um die Identifizierung und Unterstützung von Schutzsuchenden aus den Ländern Syrien, Afghanistan und Irak zu verbessern.
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COVID-19 is stretching formal and informal aspects of community life. The pandemic is overwhelming health systems. Country economies are reaching a breaking point, with particularly significant impact for the livelihoods of vulnerable families and those dependent on daily wages. COVID-19 is also aff...ecting community relationships and trust. Lack of trust in government leaders or health officials can lead citizens to be unwilling to accept essential health messages and take the necessary steps to combat the spread of the disease. The stress, fear and emotional vulnerabilities of children and their caregivers can be particularly acute, especially in light of prolonged school closures and the uncertainty about their health system’s capacity to withstand the pandemic or how long community and household quarantines will last.
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Countries across the world are facing diverse epidemiological situations with varying response
capacities and access to life saving tools. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that national authorities continue to apply a risk-based approach when implementing measures related to COVID-19... and international travel while respecting the dignity, human rights and fundamental freedoms of travellers. This approach should consider the risk posed by travel for the importation and exportation of cases in the context of the evolving epidemiology, including the emergence and circulation of virus variants of concern; the expansion of the COVID-19 vaccination roll-out; and lessons learned while responding to the pandemic, including on the early detection and management of cases and the application of public health and social measures.
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To assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on health and HIV expenditure, UNAIDS carried out a modelling study on fiscal space for health and HIV. From a sample of 28 countries, three countries—the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Jamaica, and Lesotho—were selected to capture health and HIV ...expenditure impacts across countries with especially marked differences in burdens of disease (including HIV prevalence), HIV donor dependency, level of economic development, and geographic location. While the three-country sample is too small to permit findings to be generalized to other countries, these analyses are useful for informing UNAIDS’ work to identify some policy positions to minimize the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on the HIV response.
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This policy brief explores the challenges faced in disaster risk governance in relation to the climate emergency.