The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) is the lead UN agency working to further gender equality and women’s empowerment in Sri Lanka. We are pleased to be a part of the joint effort with the Ministry of Health to develop the first ‘Standard Operating Procedures on sexual and gender-based vio...lence for first-contact-point healthcare providers’.
These operating procedures were developed alongside the ‘National guidelines on sexual and gender-based violence’, which aims to strengthen Sri Lanka’s health systems response to survivors of violence. We are grateful to the British High Commission in Colombo for their support in developing these guidelines and procedures as they mark an important milestone in creating a safer Sri Lanka for all women and girls. UNFPA is proud to be a part of this journey, and we stand ready to provide continued assistance to the Government of Sri Lanka and all key stakeholders to ensure women and girls receive essential services that support their safety, well-being and access to justice and to create a violence-free Sri Lanka.
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A Manual for Field Staff and Practitioners
The Guidelines for the Prevention, Surveillance and Management of COVID-19 Infection amongst Health Care Workers (HCW) in Zimbabwe were developed to prevent, detect and manage HCW COVID-19 infection, an emerging pandemic affecting the whole world. The HCW is at the fore front of this pandemic, thus ...the need for standardised operating procedures is of utmost importance. These guidelines therefore seek to reduce the significant morbidity and mortality among the HCW, ultimately ensuring the reduction of the cost to the health care worker and the Ministry of Health and Child Care (MoHCC) as a whole. The Ministry of Health and Child Care requires that all health care workers in various health care settings follow infection prevention and control procedures.
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Accessed: 02.05.2020
These interim IPC recommendations for health settings have been developed through the contributions of many individuals and institutions, such as the Centers for Disease Control-Kenya; ITECH; US Agency for International Development (USAID) Medicines, Technologies, and Pharmaceu...tical Services (MTaPS) Program; and WHO that are committed to ensuring that the transmission of COVID-19 to HCWs and the public within the health care setting is limited. The Ministry of Health (MOH) through the Directorate of Health Standards Quality Assurance and Regulations wishes to thank all the contributing authors led by the sub-committee on case management and IPC for the COVID-19 response for their expertise and time given to writing these guidelines.
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Updated 10 August 2020
This document presents an essential medicines list (EML) to manage patients in intensive care units (ICUs) with suspected or confirmed COVID-19 diagnosis, which includes active ingredients with dosage form and concentration, and are preferably in the WHO Model Lists of Essent...ial Medicines 2019; based on clinical presentations and symptoms identified and prioritized in World Health Organization (WHO) and Surviving Sepsis Campaign (SSC) guidelines and the evidence presented in these guidelines.
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Republic of The Gambia; Accessed on 31.01.2019
This is a case-ascertained prospective investigation of all identified health care contacts working in a health care facility in which a laboratory confirmed 2019-nCoV infected patient (see 2.2 Study population) receives care. Note that this study can be done in health care facilities at all 3 level...s of a health system – not just in hospitals. It is intended to provide epidemiological and serologic information which will inform the identification of risk factors 2019-nCoV infection among health care workers.
There are three primary objectives of this investigation among health care workers in a health care setting where a 2019-nCoV infected patient is being cared for:
To better understand the extent of human-to-human transmission among health care workers, by estimating the secondary infection rate1 for health care worker contacts at an individual level.
To characterize the range of clinical presentation of infection and the risk factors for infection among health care workers.
To evaluate effectiveness of infection prevention and control measures among health care workers
To evaluate effectiveness of infection prevention and control programmes at health facility and national level
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2nd edition.
T The Compendium has been developed as a clear and concise instrument to facilitate the understanding and planning of delivery of high-quality care for everybody affected by TB. It incorporates all recent policy guidance from WHO; follows the care pathway of persons with signs or sympt...oms of TB in seeking diagnosis, treatment and care; and includes key algorithms and cross-cutting elements that are essential to a patient-centered approach in the cascade of TB care.
The Compendium is structured into 33 WHO standards and consolidates all current WHO TB policy recommendations into a single resource, with electronic links to the individual, comprehensive WHO policy guidelines
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This manual presents a compelling case for action on carbapenem-resistant organisms (CROs) and describes the linkages between the prevention and control of CROs and the Global Action Plan on Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR). It describes how the eight recommendations contained within the World Health ...Organization (WHO) guidelines for the prevention and control of carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae, Acinetobacter baumannii and Pseudomonas aeruginosa in health care facilities relate to general measures (that is, the core components of infection prevention and control [IPC] programmes) that need to be in place in all countries and health care facilities to prevent and control health care-associated infections (HAIs). The use of a stepwise approach is proposed to support implementation and improvement, based on the evidence and experience of what has worked in several health care settings worldwide. The focus is on adoptable and adaptable information.
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These guidelines provide recommendations for the non-pharmacological aspects of infection prevention and control for acute respiratory diseases (ARD) in health care. Administrative and infection controls, including early detection, isolation and reporting, and establishment of infection control infr...astructure, are key components for containment and mitigation of the impact of pathogens that may constitute a major public health threat. In these guidelines, the options of using natural ventilation and/or exhaust fan assisted ventilation in health-care facilities (HCF) are considered.
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PLOS ONE | DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0144057 December 14, 2015
Health systems in Latin America face many challenges in controlling the increasing burden of diabetes. Digital health interventions are a promise for the provision of care, especially in developing countries where mobile technology has a high penetration. This study evaluated the effectiveness of th...e implementation of a Diabetes Program (DP) that included digital health interventions to improve the quality of care of persons with type 2 Diabetes (T2DM) in a vulnerable population attending the public primary care network.
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Case Manangement Training Modules
The COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent public health guidance to reduce the spread of the diseasehave wide-reaching implications for children’s health and wellbeing. Furthermore, paediatric emergency departments(EDs) have rapidly adapted provision of care in response to the pandemic. This qualitativ...e study utilized insight frommultidisciplinary frontline staff to understand the changes in paediatric emergency healthcare utilization duringCOVID-19 the experiences of working within the restructured health system.
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Early Childhood Matters is a journal about early childhood. It looks at specific issues regarding the development of young children, in particular from a psychosocial perspective. It is published twice per year by the Bernard van Leer Foundation.
On Page 54 of this issue the article titled: "Par...enting in times of war: supporting caregivers and children in crisis" can be found. In this article: Humanitarian interventions to support and guide parents and caregivers in times of war can mitigate the negative effects of violence and chaos on children and promote their resilience and development. This article highlights recent findings from the International Rescue Committee’s parenting programmes in Syria, underscoring the importance of such programmes not only in strengthening caregiving practices but also in addressing the psychological needs of parents.
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Background: Community Health Workers (CHWs) have a positive impact on the provision of community-based
primary health care through screening, treatment, referral, psychosocial support, and accompaniment. With a
broad scope of work, CHW programs must balance the breadth and depth of tasks to mainta...in CHW motivation for
high-quality care delivery. Few studies have described the CHW perspective on intrinsic and extrinsic motivation to
enhance their programmatic activities.
Methods: We utilized an exploratory qualitative study design with CHWs employed in the household model in Neno
District, Malawi, to explore their perspectives on intrinsic and extrinsic motivators and dissatisfiers in their work. Data
was collected in 8 focus group discussions with 90 CHWs in October 2018 and March–April 2019 in seven purposively
selected catchment areas. All interviews were audiotaped, transcribed verbatim, coded, and analyzed using Dedoose.
Results: Themes of complex intrinsic and extrinsic factors were generated from the perspectives of the CHWs in
the focus group discussions. Study results indicate that enabling factors are primarily intrinsic factors such as positive
patient outcomes, community respect, and recognition by the formal health care system but can lead to the chal-
lenge of increased scope and workload. Extrinsic factors can provide challenges, including an increased scope and
workload from original expectations, lack of resources to utilize in their work, and rugged geography. However, a posi-
tive work environment through supportive relationships between CHWs and supervisors enables the CHWs.
Conclusion: This study demonstrated enabling factors and challenges for CHW performance from their perspec-
tive within the dual-factor theory. We can mitigate challenges through focused efforts to limit geographical distance,
manage workload, and strengthen CHW support to reinforce their recognition and trust. Such programmatic empha-
sis can focus on enhancing motivational factors found in this study to improve the CHWs’ experience in their role. The
engagement of CHWs, the communities, and the formal health care system is critical to improving the care provided
to the patients and communities, along with building supportive systems to recognize the work done by CHWs for
the primary health care systems.
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Injection Safety and Safe Disposal of Medical Waste National Communication Strategy and Health Care Waste Management Standard
Operating Procedures (SOPs).
The overall objective of the consultancy was to review and align the three national technical and communication guiding documents on HCWM to th...e WHO Blue Book and other global standards and recommendations. The specific objectives of the assignment were ; to establish how well aligned the Kenya Healthcare Waste Management Guidelines, 2011, are to the WHO Blue Book on healthcare waste management, global recommendations and other global conventions on environmental protection; to establish the extent to which the Kenya Injection Safety and Safe Disposal of Medical Waste National Communication Strategy is aligned to the National Health Communication Guidelines, 2013; to determine the extent to which the current Standard Operating Procedures are aligned to the best available technologies (BAT) and best environmental practices (BEP) and international practices; and to assess current health care waste management practices at the health facilities supported by the GEF project.
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The study sought to understand the factors that facilitate women to adhere to treatment and return to health facilities for routine care from their own perspective. The researchers focused on Malawi, Uganda and Zambia, early adopters of the global guidance to provide lifelong treatment for pregnant ...women living with HIV (Option B+) and spoke to women living with HIV, healthcare workers and programme managers to discover which factors and practices show promise in supporting women to initiate and remain in care.
This study found that women living with HIV who access these services to prevent vertical transmission have a strong sense and understanding of what factors support their retention and how health facilities, the wider community and their friends and relations can best support them. This report shares their words to describe how it feels to walk in their shoes on the path of life long treatment.
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