Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) – chief among them, cardiovascular diseases (heart disease and stroke), cancer, diabetes and chronic respiratory diseases – along with mental health, cause nearly three quarters of deaths in the world. Their drivers are social, environmental, commercial and geneti...c, and their presence is global. Every year 17 million people under the age of 70 die of NCDs, and 86% of them live in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).
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Addressing comorbidities and risk factors for tuberculosis (TB) is a crucial component of the World Health Organization (WHO)’s End TB Strategy. This WHO operational handbook on tuberculosis. Module 6: tuberculosis and comorbidities aims to support countries in scaling up people-centred care, base...d on the latest WHO recommendations on TB and key comorbidities, and drawing upon additional evidence, best practices and inputs from various experts and stakeholders obtained during WHO processes. It is intended for use by people working in ministries of health, particularly TB programmes and the relevant departments or programmes responsible for comorbidities and health-related risk factors for TB such as HIV, diabetes, undernutrition, substance use, and tobacco use, as well as programmes addressing mental health and lung health. This operational handbook is a living document and will include a separate section for each of the key TB comorbidities or health-related risk factors. The third edition includes guidance for HIV-associated TB, mental health conditions and diabetes, which are three conditions strongly associated with TB and which result in higher mortality, poorer TB treatment outcomes and negatively impact health-related quality of life. The operational handbook aims to facilitate early detection, proper assessment and adequate management of people affected by TB and comorbidities. Full implementation of this guidance is expected to have a significant impact on TB treatment outcomes and health-related quality of life for people affected by TB.
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English and French.
WEEKLY EPIDEMIOLOGICAL RECORD, NO 37, 13 SEPTEMBER 2024, 505-524
La carga de la diabetes es enorme, posicionándola como uno de los principales desafíos que enfrenta la salud pública en la actualidad. Actualmente, se estima que 62 millones de personas viven con diabetes en la Región de las Américas y las proyecciones muestran que su prevalencia seguirá aumen...tando en los próximos años. La Región muestra el mayor número de años de vida saludable perdidos (ya sea por discapacidad o muerte prematura) debido a la diabetes en todo el mundo. Los altos costes asociados a su tratamiento producen una pesada carga económica. Sus complicaciones pueden afectar seriamente la calidad de vida de las personas que viven con diabetes, sus familias y la sociedad y sobrecargar los sistemas de salud. Este informe muestra los últimos datos comparables internacionalmente sobre la diabetes y sus principales factores de riesgo por año, país y sexo. También incluye un resumen de la respuesta de los sistemas de salud de los países a la diabetes, incluidos planes nacionales, objetivos, vigilancia, directrices y acceso a medicamentos y tecnologías esenciales, y sintetiza información sobre las complicaciones relacionadas con la diabetes y la estrecha relación entre la diabetes y otras patologías, como enfermedades cardiovasculares, tuberculosis y COVID-19.
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The 2014–2015 Ebola epidemic in western Africa was the longest and most deadly Ebola epidemic in history, resulting in 28,616 cases and 11,310 deaths in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone. The Ebola virus has been known since 1976, when two separate outbreaks were identified in the Democratic Repub...lic of Congo (then Zaire) and South Sudan (then Sudan). However, because all Ebola outbreaks prior to that in West Africa in 2014–2015 were relatively isolated and of short duration, little was known about how to best manage patients to improve survival, and there were no approved therapeutics or vaccines. When the World Heath Organization declared the 2014-2015 epidemic a public health emergency of international concern in August 2014, several teams began conducting formal clinical trials in the Ebola affected countries during the outbreak.
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One billion people around the world live with disabilities. This report makes the case that they are being “left behind” in the global community’s work on health. This lack of access not only violates the rights of people with disabilities under international law, but UHC and SDG 3 cannot be a...ttained without better health services for the one billion people with disabilities.
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An estimated 59 000 people die from rabies each year. That’s one person every nine minutes of every day, 40% of whom are children living in Asia and Africa. As dog bites cause almost all human cases, we can prevent rabies deaths by increasing awareness, vaccinating dogs to prevent the disease at i...ts source and administering life-saving treatment after people have been bitten. We have the vaccines, medicines, tools and technologies to prevent people from dying from dog-mediated rabies. For a relatively low cost it is possible to break the disease cycle and save lives
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This report’s central premise is that diagnostics and therapeutics, and associated test to treat strategies, are fundamental components of the pandemic response, both for COVID-19 and for future health threats. Two years into the COVID-19 pandemic, this report reflects on the main challenges and k...ey solutions on the road to equitable access to diagnostics and therapeutics.
This report draws from experience gained through the Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator Diagnostics and Therapeutics pillars, and includes the perspectives of collaborating stakeholders (countries, civil society representatives and the private sector). Building on these findings, this report proposes sixteen recommended actions to address what have been identified as key structural challenges and specifies a potential owner for each action.
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October 2018
This publication was produced at the request of the United States Agency for International Development. It was prepared independently by David Lowe, David Hales, Britt Herstad, Billy Pick, Aisuluu Bolotbaeva, and Gulgun Jonboboeva.
The duration of breastfeeding and support from health services to improve feeding practices among mothers living with HIV
This operational guidance, developed by WHO, UNICEF and ENN, outlines the duration of breastfeeding and support from health services to improve infant feeding practices amon...g mothers living with HIV. It is intended to be used to complement emergency and sectoral guidelines on health, nutrition and HIV, including specifically infant feeding, prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV and paediatric antiretroviral treatment.
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A guidance document in simple language for health personnel, setting out their rights and responsibilities in conflict and other situations of violence. It explains how responsibilities and rights for health personnel can be derived from international humanitarian law, human rights law and medical e...thics.The document gives practical guidance on:
- The protection of health personnel, the sick and the wounded; - Standards of practice; - The health needs of particularly vulnerable people; - Health records and transmission of medical records; - "Imported" health care (including military health care);
- Data gathering and health personnel as witnesses to violations of international law; - Working with the media
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The mhGAP Humanitarian Intervention Guide (mhGAP-HIG) Training of Health-Care Providers manual is designed to guide facilitators in training non-specialist health care providers to manage mental, neurological and substance use conditions in humanitarian emergency settings.
The manual covers sugge...sted training schedules, learning objectives, and tips for planning and facilitating the training. It also includes step-by-step training modules for different conditions covered in the mhGAP Humanitarian Intervention Guide (mhGAP-HIG).
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N Engl J Med 2022; 386:911-922, DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa2104535
Four months of antituberculosis treatment was noninferior to 6 months of treatment in children with drug-susceptible, nonsevere, smear-negative tuberculosis (SHINE Study)
Rev. Panam Salud Publica. 2017;41:e153. doi: 10.26633/RPSP.2017.153
Worldwide, over 6 million people are infected with Trypanosoma cruzi, the pathogen that causes Chagas disease (CD). In the Americas, CD creates the greatest burden in disability-adjusted life years of any parasitic infection. In Co...lombia, 437 000 people are infected with T. cruzi, of whom 131 000 suffer from cardiomyopathy. Colombia’s annual costs for treating patients with advanced CD reach US$ 175 016 000. Although timely etiological treatment can significantly delay or prevent development of cardiomyopathy—and costs just US$ 30 per patient—fewer than 1% of people with CD in Colombia and elsewhere receive it.
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