Annual report on global preparednessfor health emergencies
The next pandemic is not a question of if, but when—and the world is woefully unprepared, according to the first annual report from the Global Preparedness Monitoring Board. The WHO and the World Bank convened the independent group after ...the 2014-2015 Ebola outbreak in West Africa, Global News reports. Within 36 hours, a contagion like the 1918 flu could sweep the globe and take 50 to 80 million lives while wreaking havoc on the global economy, the report warns. And that’s just one possibility.
What would it take to get prepared? An investment of $1-$2 per person per year could create “acceptable” level of preparedness.
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In this report a nutrition governance framework was applied to research and analyse the provincial experience with nutrition policy in Pakistan, looking both at chronic and acute malnutrition. Twenty-one in-depth interviews with key stakeholders were also conducted along with a review of published a...nd grey literature. Findings were validated and supplemented by consultative provincial roundtable meetings. Punjab’s nutritional puzzle is that it has high levels of chronic malnutrition and micro-nutrient deficiencies despite a surplus production of food and a low poverty level. Under-nutrition is mainly linked to insufficient attention to preventive health strategies and to a lack of connection between relevant sectors such as Education, Health, Poverty, Safe Water and Sanitation, and Food. Strategic opportunities are recommended which include cross-party political support and ownership for nutrition, with steering by executive leadership; multi-sectoral action and functional integration of various departments and programmes with the creation of a central convening structure for effective cross-sectoral coordination; broadening of nutritional activities beyond salt iodization and vitamin A coverage; central co-ordination of monitoring and evaluation and effective partnerships between the state and non-state sector around data production, awareness, advocacy, and monitoring.
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Interim Assessement Report
The EMA review was started by the Agency’s Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) to support decision-making by health authorities. This first interim report includes information on seven experimental medicines intended for the treatment of people infecte...d with the Ebola virus:
BCX4430 (Biocryst);
Brincidofovir (Chimerix);
Favipiravir (Fujifilm Corporation/Toyama);
TKM-100802 (Tekmira);
AVI-7537 (Sarepta);
ZMapp (Leafbio Inc.);
Anti-Ebola F(ab’)2 (Fab’entech).
The amount of information available for the seven treatments is highly variable. For some compounds there is no data from use in human subjects available. A small number of treatments have been administered to patients in the current Ebola outbreak as compassionate use. Finally, there are also medicines included in this review that have already been studied in humans, albeit for the treatment of other viral diseases.
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Lesotho’s predominantly rural population faces significant health challenges within a setting of inadequate human resources for health. It is essential that nurses and nurse-midwives, who together make up the largest health workforce in the country, be adequately prepared to address Lesotho’s He...alth Priorities according to the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) in the settings where they work. Under the HRAA project, Jhpiego conducted a task analysis study to obtain data on job duties or tasks performed by these cadres, as well as information about how often the tasks are performed, if and where tasks were learned, and the self-perceived level of competence in performing the tasks.
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This revised trainer's guide contains a prototype training schedule for four days. Teaching and learning strategies are highly interactive, using participatory and experiential approach. Training outcomes include developing skills in assessment of clients for risk factors; conduct basic screening pr...ocedures and interpreting the results; holding health education sessions on risk factor modification; promoting healthy lifestyle; and mobilizing communities. The manual is divided into six modules.
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The systematic surveillance of antibiotic use and antibiotic re-sistance prevalence in humans and animals is imperative for managingbacterial infectious disease (JPIAMR, 2019;WHO, 2015). Many low-income countries currently face substantial challenges in building national surveillance systems due to ...a lack of infrastructure and resources,resulting in a shortage of systematic data (FAO/OIE/WHO, 2018)
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Internationally, there is a growing concern over antimicro-bial resistance (AMR) which is currently estimated to ac-count for more than 700,000 deaths per year worldwide. If no appropriate measures are taken to halt its pro-gress, AMR will cost approximately 10 million lives andabout US$100 trillion... per year by 2050. In contrast tosome other health issues, AMR is a problem that con-cerns every country irrespective of its level of incomeand development as resistant pathogens do not respect borders.Despite the threat presented by AMR, the 2014 WorldHealth Organization (WHO) and the recent O’Neill re-port describe significant gaps in surveillance, standardmethodologies and data sharing. The 2014 WHOreport identified Africa and South East Asia as the regions without established AMR surveillance systems.
Tadesseet al. BMC Infectious Diseases (2017) 17:616 DOI 10.1186/s12879-017-2713-1
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his revision to the Disaster Management Team’s (DMT) multi-sector response plan for COVID-19 is meant to align the multi-sector plan with the Department of Health’s COVID-19 Emergency Response Plan issued on 24 April 2020. Additionally, at the time of this version, the Department of Education an...d Department for Community Development and Religion have also issued their own national COVID-19 response and recovery plans.
The Government’s plan maintains a health sector focus and plans for a ‘worst case’ scenario, articulating the process of progressing into containment and subsequently mitigation of community transmission and on to recovery. It presents an opportunity to improve the core capacities of the whole of government, to see where both health and non-health sectors fit in and respond in the immediate and medium terms, and to adapt to the ‘new normal’ that this coronavirus has inevitably presented
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This revision to the Disaster Management Team’s (DMT) multi-sector response plan for COVID-19 is meant to align the multi-sector plan with the Department of Health’s COVID-19 Emergency Response Plan issued on 24 April 2020.
BUKO Pharma-Kampagne has investigated the causes and consequences of antibiotic resistance in India, South Africa, Tanzania and Germany. Together with our partners we collected data and did interviews with numerous stakeholders. The outcome is presented in a brochure that is now available in English...
Resistant bacteria are spreading worldwide. In collaboration with partners in India, Tanzania, South Africa and Germany, we have investigated the causes and consequences of this spread.2 This Pharma-Brief Special presents the results. It examines the risks for humans, animals and the environment. It focuses on local problems and approaches, international interactions and the re-sponsibility of doctors, farmers and consumers.
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At a time when the world is reeling from the deepest global disruption and health crisis of a lifetime, this year’s Living Planet
report provides unequivocal and alarming evidence that nature is unraveling and that our planet is flashing red warning signs of
vital natural systems failure. The ...Living Planet Report 2020 clearly outlines how humanity’s increasing destruction of nature is having
catastrophic impacts not only on wildlife populations but also on human health and all aspects of our lives.
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Using Epidemiology to Support Primary Health Care. Updated version of the WHO handbook published in the early 1990's entitled: Manual of Epidemiology for District Health Management or those with an interest in applied epidemiology in primary health care and district health systems
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) has emerged as a major public health concern, around which the international leadership has come together to form strategic partnerships and action plans. The main driving force behind the emergence of AMR is selection pressure created due to consumption of antibiotics.... Consumption of antibiotics in human as well as animal sectors are driven by a complex interplay of determinants, many of which are typical to the local settings.
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As the nation’s public health leader, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is actively engaged in a national effort to protect the public’s health from the harmful effects of climate change. Scientists from CDC’s National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases (NC...EZID) are at the forefront of many of these efforts. This report highlights some of that work and also looks ahead to the important work yet to come.
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Cases of human monkeypox are rarely seen outside of west and central Africa. There are few data regarding viral kinetics or the duration of viral shedding and no licensed treatments. Two oral drugs, brincidofovir and tecovirimat, have been approved for treatment of smallpox and have demonstrated eff...icacy against monkeypox in animals. Our aim was to describe the longitudinal clinical course of monkeypox in a high-income setting, coupled with viral dynamics, and any adverse events related to novel antiviral therapies.
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At the forefront of DNDi’s efforts to develop new treatments is the need to understand the realities and treatment needs of patients and health care staff in the field. The ultimate goal for human African trypanosomiasis (HAT) is a truly simplified
treatment which can be orally administered, impl...emented at the primary health care level, and effective against both stages of the disease.
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Rabies is a zoonotic, vaccine-preventable viral disease that causes damage to the brain and spinal
cord in infected animals and humans. A zoonotic disease is a disease that can be transmitted
between animals and humans. Rabies is nearly 100% fatal once symptoms appear.
Rabies is a disease of animals but too often the outcome is gauged in terms of human suffering and
death. Despite this, in areas of the world where rabies is endemic there is often a lack of communication between veterinary and medical professionals, to the extent that the disease continues to thri...ve and potential victims are not treated. The problem is partly
exacerbated by a lack of awareness and experience of the disease and of what to do when confronted by suspect cases. In these technologically advanced days, although it is possible to learn “all there is to know” about almost any subject, it is sometimes difficult to distil the essence.
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It is widely understood that the food insecurity crisis in the Sahel and the Horn of Africa is one of the world’s fastest growing and most neglected crises. It lacks sufficient global focus, resources and urgency. As in so many crises, women and girls are disproportionately affected and shoulder t...he consequences of protracted neglect, with unconscionable impacts on their safety, life chances and agency.
Gaining a holistic view of the gendered drivers, risks and impacts of food insecurity in the Sahel and the Horn of Africa is difficult. This is due to a lack of data and prioritization, and the large geographical and socioeconomic terrain covered by both regions. However, what we do know about this crisis is more than enough to urgently address the needs of women and girls.
An OCHA discussion paper on this topic (which will be published imminently, and from which this policy brief is drawn) found that there is:
A strong risk of profound regression in gender equality gains made to date in the countries of concern, including on education, sexual and reproductive health, and the economic independence of women and girls (with knock-on effects on broader humanitarian and development outcomes).
An increasing challenge to reverse what must be recognized as a protracted and growing gender-based violence (GBV) emergency in the Sahel and the Horn of Africa.
The food insecurity crisis in the Sahel and the Horn of Africa is protracted, multidimensional and highly gendered, with spiralling impacts on gender equality and food security outcomes. It is driven by interwoven and overlapping factors, including climate change, political instability, conflict, socioeconomic conditions, migration and displacement and, more recently, COVID-19 and the war in Ukraine. Interlinked with these factors are gendered structural drivers of food insecurity, including deeply entrenched gender inequalities and harmful social norms. Gendered risks and impacts of food insecurity include alarming limitations on access to education, sexual and reproductive health rights, women’s agency and participation, and dramatic increases in different existing forms of GBV and the emergence of new ones. Recognition of such gendered dimensions of food insecurity and of the need for a multisectoral approach in the response is key to addressing the crisis, along-side sustained commitment and adequate allocation of resources. This policy brief draws out key findings from the OCHA discussion paper on this topic, which includes a desk review of studies, assessments and reports, and interviews with local women’s organizations on the front lines of the food insecurity crisis in communities across both regions.
Below are the most pressing gendered drivers, risks and impacts of food insecurity (not in order of priority), as well as key gaps in the current humanitarian response to food insecurity, and recommendations to take forward.
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The Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) Guidelines aim to support healthcare workers improve quality and safety health care. The Guidelines further aim to promote and facilitate the overall goal of IPC by providing evidence-based recommendations on the critical aspects of IPC, focusing on the fun...damental principles and priority action areas. All health service organizations should consider the risk of healthcare-associated infection(s) (HAI) and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) transmission to implement these recommendations. The IPC Guidelines also set national standards for the prevention and control of HAIs and to ensure compliance to the National Quality Standards.
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