The global tripartite self-assessment survey of country progress in addressing antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a component of a broader approach for monitoring and evaluation of the global action plan on AMR. This report analyses the results of the second tripartite self-assessment survey. It has ...been developed and run by the three Tripartite organizations (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) and World Health Organization (WHO)) and reflects progress in the human, animal (terrestrial and aquatic), plant, food safety and environmental sectors. 154 countries out of 194 WHO Member States responded to this round of the self-assessment survey – a response rate of 79.4%.
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Healthcare-associated infections (HAI) are a significant burden globally, with millions of patients affected each year. These infections affect both high- and limited-resource healthcare settings, but in limited-resource settings, rates are approximately twice as high as high-resource settings (15 o...ut of every 100 patients versus 7 out of every 100 patients). Furthermore, rates of infections within certain patient populations are significantly higher in limited-resource settings, including surgical patients, patients in intensive-care units (ICU) and neonatal units. It is well documented that environmental contamination plays a role in the transmission of HAIs in healthcare settings. Therefore, environmental cleaning is a fundamental intervention for infection prevention and control (IPC).It is a multifaceted intervention that involves cleaning and disinfection (when indicated) of the environment alongside other key program elements to support successful implementation (e.g., leadership support, training, monitoring, and feedback mechanisms). To be effective, environmental cleaning activities must be implemented within the framework of the facility IPC program, and not as a standalone intervention. It is also essential that IPC programs advocate for and work with facility administration and government officials to budget, operate and maintain adequate water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) infrastructure to ensure that environmental cleaning can be performed according to best practices.
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This situation analysis has gathered information about the current state of AMR, contributing factors and antimicrobial use in Zimbabwe from the human, animal, agricultural and environmental sectors. Data has been gathered from different sectors such as the general public, academia, the Ministry of ...Health and Child Care, the Ministry of Agriculture Mechanization and Irrigation Development and the Ministry of Environment, Water and Climate. It shows that AMR is a real concern in Zimbabwe and a threat to the health outcomes of humans, to the economic productivity of the livestock industry and a risk to the environment.
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Updated on 6 APRIL 2020
There are serious concerns that the situation might escalate in the next weeks modelling the epi curve of other regions. The interlinkages between human mobility and the current pandemic of COVID-19 are well established, and while international flights have been suspended i...n the region, the porous borders on land and water crossings remain difficult to control.
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1 June 2020
Countries around the world are facing the challenge of increased demand for care of people with COVID-19, compounded by fear, misinformation and limitations on movement that disrupt the delivery of health care for all conditions. Maintaining essential health services: operational guidan...ce for the COVID-19 context recommends practical actions that countries can take at national, subregional and local levels to reorganize and safely maintain access to high-quality, essential health services in the pandemic context. It also outlines sample indicators for monitoring essential health services, and describes considerations on when to stop and restart services as COVID-19 transmission recedes and surges. This document expands on the content of pillar 9 of the COVID-19 strategic preparedness and response plan, supersedes the earlier Operational guidance for maintaining essential health services during an outbreak, and complements the recently-released Community-based health care, including outreach and campaigns, in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. It is intended for decision-makers and managers at the national and subnational levels.
This is an update to COVID-19: Operational guidance for maintaining essential health services during an outbreak: Interim guidance, 25 March 2020
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Across Zimbabwe, 7 million people in urban and rural areas are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance, compared to 5.5 million in August 2019. Since the launch of the Revised Humanitarian Appeal in August 2019, circumstances for millions of Zimbabweans have worsened. Drought and crop failure, exa...cerbated by macro-economic challenges and austerity measures, have directly affected vulnerable households in both rural and urban communities. Inflation continues to erode purchasing power and affordability of food and other essential goods is a daily challenge. The delivery of health care, clean water and sanitation, and education has been constrained and millions of people are facing challenges to access vital services.
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Psychological first aid (PFA) is a method of helping people in distress so they feel calm and supported to cope better with their challenges. It is a way of assisting someone to manage their situation and make informed decisions. The basis of psychological first aid is caring about the person in dis...tress and showing empathy. It involves paying attention to reactions, active listening and, if needed, practical assistance, such as problem solving, help to access basic needs or referring to further options for assistance. PFA helps normalize worry and other emotions, PFA also promotes healthy coping and provides feelings of safety, calming, and hope. These guidelines can be used by Red Cross Red Crescent National Societies to set up and run different kind of remote services for the public during the time of a COVID-19 response. It should be noted that the target group for the guidelines are adults.
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The purpose of this document is to present and promote the minimum requirements for IPC programmes at the national and health care facility level, identified by expert consensus according to available evidence and in the context of the WHO core components.
The minimum requirements are defined as: I...PC standards that should be in place at the national and facility level to provide minimum protection and safety to patients, HCWs and visitors, based on the WHO core components for IPC programmes.
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With about 24 million of Yemen’s 30 million people in need of some form of assistance, the United Nations calls Yemen the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. Cholera and other disease outbreaks are common, malnutrition is widespread, water is scarce, and the healthcare system is crumbling, with o...nly half of the country’s 5,000 or so health facilities fully operational and with massive medical supply and staff shortages. In August 2020, the UN warned the country was again on the brink of full-scale famine.
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This document describes the essential interventions in mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) that should be developed on an intersectoral basis in countries and communities. Its frame of reference is the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) intervention pyramid for MHPSS services. The pyr...amid shows different levels of support, ranging from social considerations, safety, and basic needs, to the provision of specialized services for the management of more severe conditions, as well as the probable volume of demand at each established level.
Available in Spanisch, Portuguese and English
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Interim guidance. 12 May 2021. The Continuity of essential health services: Facility Assessment Tool can be used by countries to rapidly assess the capacity of health facilities to maintain the provision of essential health services during the COVID-19 pandemic. It can help to alert the authorities ...and other stakeholders about where service delivery and utilization may require modification and/or investment. This assessment tool covers the following aspects of essential health services:
health workforce (numbers, absences, COVID-19 infections, health workforce management, training and support);
financial management and barriers;
service delivery and utilization (facility closures, changes in service delivery, community communication campaigns, changes in service utilization and catch-up strategies);
IPC capacities (protocols, safety measures, guidelines and the availability of personal protective equipment (PPE) for staff);
availability of therapeutics, diagnostics and supplies, and vaccine readiness; and
provision of COVID-19 primary care services.
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These Blended Learning Modules cover the full range of health promotion, disease prevention, basic management and essential treatment protocols to improve and protect the health of rural communities in Ethiopia. A strong focus is on enabling Ethiopia to meet the Millennium Development Goals to reduc...e maternal mortality by three-quarters and under-5 child mortality by two-thirds by the year 2015. The Modules cover antenatal care, labour and delivery, postnatal care, the integrated management of newborn and childhood illness, communicable diseases (including HIV/AIDS, malaria, TB, leprosy and other common infectious diseases), family planning, adolescent and youth reproductive health, nutrition and food safety, hygiene and environmental health, non-communicable diseases, health education and community mobilisation, and health planning and professional ethics.
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This global guidance provided the framework for over 100 countries to develop their NDVPs. This updated (second) version supersedes the previous version published in 16 November 2020. New information has been added on the following areas:
the COVID-19 Partners Platform;
the use of COVID...-19 simulation exercises to test deployment strategies;
the indemnity agreement and no-fault compensation programme for vaccines secured through the COVAX Facility in the Advance Market Commitment (AMC) eligible economies;
the availability and use of the WHO-UNICEF COVID-19 Vaccine Introduction and deployment Costing (CVIC) tool;
the COVAX Facility’s humanitarian buffer that enables allocation of vaccine to cover high-risk populations in humanitarian settings;
recommendations for vaccination of pregnant and lactating women;
supplementary information on infection prevention and control (IPC) measures to be used to deliver COVID-19 vaccines safely;
the WHO licensed COVID-19 vaccines product-specific information;
use of geospatial data and digital micro plans for equitable access and delivery of COVID-19 vaccines;
lessons learned from the development of NDVPs and early experiences in COVID-19 vaccine deployment in countries; and
updated additional resources at the end of each chapter.
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Countries around the world are facing the challenge of increased demand for care of people with COVID-19, compounded by fear, misinformation and limitations on movement that disrupt the delivery of health care for all conditions. Maintaining essential health services: operational guidance for the CO...VID-19 context recommends practical actions that countries can take at national, subregional and local levels to reorganize and safely maintain access to high-quality, essential health services in the pandemic context. It also outlines sample indicators for monitoring essential health services, and describes considerations on when to stop and restart services as COVID-19 transmission recedes and surges.
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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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When situations occur in which unwanted events are rightly or wrongly connected with vaccination, they may erode confidence in vaccines and the authorities delivering them. This document presents the scientific evidence behind WHO’s recommendations on building and restoring confidence in vaccines ...and vaccination, both in ongoing work and during crises. The evidence draws on a vast reserve of laboratory research and fieldwork within psychology and communication. It examines how people make decisions about vaccination; why some people are hesitant about vaccination; and the factors that drive a crisis, covering how building trust, listening to and understanding people, building relations, communicating risk and shaping messages to the audiences may mitigate crises. This document provides a knowledge base for stakeholders who develop communication strategies or facilitate workshops on communication and trust-building activities in relation to vaccines and immunization, such as immunization programme units, ministries of health, public relations and health promotion units, vaccine safety communication trainers and immunization advisory bodies.
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Mosby’s Pocket Guide to Nursing Skills and Procedures, eighth edition, is
a practical, portable reference for students and practitioners in the
clinical setting. Grouped alphabetically, 85 commonly performed skills
are presented in a clear, step-by-step format that includes:
■ Purpose for pe...rforming each skill
■ Guidelines to help students in delegating tasks to assistive
personnel
■ List of equipment required
■ Rationales to explain why specific techniques are used
■ Full-color photographs and drawings to provide visual
reinforcement
In addition, Safety Alerts are included in the skills to highlight important
information about patient safety and effective performance.
Current Standard Precautions guidelines from the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention are incorporated throughout. Preprocedure
and postprocedure protocols are conveniently located on the inside
back cover.
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25 August 2021. The earthquake on August 14, 2021 was almost as strong as the severe quake in 2010, which killed about 300,000 people. The current number of victims is more than 2,200 people, and more than 12,000 people have been injured. More than 52,000 houses were destroyed and more than 77,000 ...damaged. Thousands of families were affected! The magnitude 7.2 earthquake struck southwest Haiti at 8:30 a.m. local time at a depth of about 10 km. The epicentre was measured about 12 km northeast of Saint-Louis-du-Sud, about 125 km west of the capital Port-auPrince. The situation on the ground remains chaotic and the extent of the disaster cannot yet be predicted. In addition, heavy rainfall and the unstable security situation are complicating relief efforts. What is needed most now is food and drinking water, tents and primary health care. MEDBOX has already created the Natural Hazard Toolbox after the severe earthquake in 2010 and has collected many essential materials on health care, shelter & reconstruction after an earthquake in English, French and Kreyol there. In this issue brief, we provide a quick
overview of the most important information.
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Infectious diseases cause over one billion human infections per year, with millions of deaths each year globally. Extensive health and financial burden is seen from both established and emerging infectious diseases. Infectious diseases also affect plants and animals, which may pose threats to agricu...lture and water supplies with additional impacts on human health. This Question and Answers, prepared by the World Health Organization (WHO) and Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) Secretariat under their joint work programme on biodiversity and health, and launched of the occasion of the International Day for Biodiversity 2020, summarizes some of the interlinkages between biodiversity and infectious diseases.
WHO is continuously monitoring and responding to the COVID 19 outbreak. This Q&A will be updated as more is known about COVID-19, how it is affecting people worldwide, and the effectiveness of interventions against the disease.
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History has shown that governments tend to deprioritize environmental commitments during times of financial and public crises as they work to mitigate immediate needs—and the age of COVID-19 has been no different. Even though human interaction with wildlife is believed to be the cause of the pande...mic, the focus on COVID’s fallout has deprioritized the importance of reversing the damage humans have done to the planet.
COVID has had a multifaceted and detrimental effect on environmental conservation. Not only has funding been diverted to deal with the pandemic, conservation-oriented organizations are operating with minimal staff or have closed entirely. People whose daily work it is to advance environmental science and protect the land and water have become ill or have been forced to stay home because of travel restrictions. Plastic use is at an all-time high.
The good news is that there is an unprecedented opportunity for philanthropy to recharge the effort to protect the planet. This Giving Smarter Guide examines the state of environmental philanthropy, and provides an overview of potential strategic starting points for philanthropy and impact capital to play a role in saving the planet. In addition to offering recommendations specific to the COVID-19 response, the Center for Strategic Philanthropy also asks the questions that philanthropists should consider at the start of their journey into the field of conservation philanthropy.
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