The Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) Assessment Framework (IPCAF) is a tool to support the implementation of the World Health Organization (WHO) Guidelines on core components of IPC programmes at the acute health care facility level. The user should be familiar with the contents of these guide...lines, including the Interim practical manual supporting the implementation of the IPC core components at the facility level before using this tool. The IPCAF is a systematic tool that can provide a baseline assessment of the IPC programme and activities within a health care facility, as well as ongoing evaluations through repeated administration to document progress over time and facilitate improvement.
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The 2014-2015 outbreak of Ebola virus disease (EVD) in Liberia resulted in over 10,000 cases and 5,000 deaths. Recognizing the importance of addressing children’s trauma, the Ebola recovery and restoration trust fund (EERTF) funded the implementation of a Comfort for kids (C4K) program which encou...rages psychological healing, and promotes resilience in children who have experienced a crisis or disaster. The C4K program in Liberia was implemented between January 2015 and December 2016 in fifteen townships in Montserrado County through a collaboration between Mercy Corps Liberia, the World Bank’s Liberian health task team, and the government of Liberia. C4K primarily centers on the My Story workbook and associated classroom activities, which provide children with the opportunity to express their emotions about their experiences through drawing, writing, and facilitated discussion. C4K also provides capacity building for parents, teachers, and other caretakers on how to identify and more effectively respond to children’s trauma responses and to support their recovery
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Health care-associated infection (HCAI) places a serious disease burden and has a significant economic impact on patients and health-care systems throughout the world. Yet good hand hygiene, the simple task of cleaning hands at the right times and in the right way, can save lives. World Health O...rganization (WHO) has developed evidence-based WHO Guidelines on Hand Hygiene in Health Care to support health-care facilities to improve hand hygiene and thus reduce HCAI.
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Antibiotic Stewardship (AS) is a coordinated program that promotes the appropriate use of antimicrobials to improve patient outcomes, reduce microbial resistance, and decrease the spread of multi-drug resistant organisms. In clinical settings, stewardship activities focus on measuring and improving ...how antibiotics are prescribed by clinicians and used by patients. Improving antibiotic prescribing involves implementing effective strategies to modify prescribing practices to align them with evidence-based recommendations for diagnosis and management.
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A guide for practical implementation in adult and pediatric emergency department and urgent care settings
The focus of the current quarterly edition of Eurohealth (from the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies) is Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) and contains the following articles:
• Strengthening implementation of AMR national action plans
• Fostering clinical developmen...t and commercialisation of novel antibiotics
• Tackling AMR in the community
• Quantifying the benefits of vaccines in combating AMR
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This publication represents a key step forward in translating Control of the leishmaniases (WHO Technical Report Series, No. 949) into a more practical tool for health personnel directly involved in the case management of cutaneous leishmaniasis. With this manual, countries will have, for the first ...time, standardized diagnosis and treatment protocols, case definitions and indicators to enable them to easily track progress on cutaneous leishmaniasis case management across the Region. It will provide support to professionals in charge of cutaneous leishmaniasis, in order to alleviate the suffering of affected populations from this appalling disfiguring and stigmatizing neglected tropical disease.
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Trypanosoma cruzi is the etiological agent of Chagas disease (CD), considered one of the most important parasitic infections in Latin America. Between 25 and 90 million humans are at infection risk via at least one of multiple infection mechanisms. Under natural conditions, the principal transmissio...n modes are transplacental or via one of more than 140 hematophagous triatomine bugs (Reduviidae: Triatominae). Triatomines acquire the parasite from mammal reservoirs due to their obligate blood-feeding (albeit triatomines can also feed on non-reservoir vertebrates such as birds and reptiles). The disease burden for CD in the Latin America and Caribbean region, based on disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs), is at least five times greater than that of malaria, and is approximately one-fifth that of HIV/AIDS. In recent decades, CD has extended to other continents outside natural reservoir or vector distributions due to human migration, with a minimum estimated 10 million individuals infected worldwide.
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An interregional meeting on leishmaniasis among neighbouring endemic
countries in the Eastern Mediterranean, African and European regions was organized by the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for the Eastern
Mediterranean in Amman, Jordan, from 23 to 25 September 2018. The meeting w...as attended by representatives from the health ministries of Albania, Georgia, Greece, Iran (Islamic Republic of), Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syrian Arab Republic and Tunisia. Representatives from Afghanistan, Algeria and Libya were unable to attend. The Secretariat comprised staff from WHO headquarters, WHO regional offices in the Eastern Mediterranean, Africa and Europe, WHO country offices in Iraq, Pakistan, Syrian Arab Republic and Yemen, and WHO temporary advisors from Spain and Tunisia.
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Sexual exploitation, sexual abuse and sexual harassment (SEAH) violate the rights and wellbeing of the people we serve and the people with whom we serve. Such behaviours are directly in opposition to WHO’s values and our abiding responsibility to do no harm. WHO uses the umbrella term “sexual mi...sconduct” to encompass the full spectrum of prohibited and unwanted behaviour of a sexual nature (including rape and sexual assault) as described in WHO’s 2023 Policy for preventing and addressing sexual misconduct (1). This is because all such acts are prohibited – whether perpetrated by WHO’s own personnel or by implementing partners – and therefore constitute misconduct. The term sexual misconduct is also easier to communicate and translate, as
victims and survivors do not always understand the complicated acronyms and definitions used by the United Nations (UN) and the humanitarian sector. However, we use the terms sexual misconduct and SEAH interchangeably as required when we interact with UN and other stakeholders.
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The WHO Pharmaceuticals Newsletter provides you with the latest information on the safety of medicinal products and regulatory actions taken by authorities around the world.
In addition, this edition includes summary and recommendations from the virtual meeting of the members of the WHO Programme f...or International Drug Monitoring (PIDM) and other partners, which was held on 20 October 2022.
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Rabies has an enormous impact on both agriculture and conservation biology, but its greatest burden is undeniably on public health. As such, routine methods for rapid risk assessment after human exposures to rabies as well as applications for laboratory-based surveillance, production of biologicals ...and management of this infectious disease are critical. Given its mandate to improve human health and control disease among its Member States, WHO has led the production of this fifth edition of Laboratory techniques in rabies.
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There is an urgent need to build Research and Development (R&D) capacity for leishmaniasis and other neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) in the Middle East and North Africa. The neglected tropical diseases are a group of 17 viral, bacterial, protozoan, and helminthic infections that often have high m...orbidity but low mortality, causing disabilities through their impact on child development and education, pregnancy outcomes, and worker productivity.
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This regional action plan provides a broad framework for the regional level to assist governments in accelerating the implementation of existing international, regional and national commitments on ending FGM. Formulating the plan has provided an opportunity for the region to identify broad prioritie...s, initiate strategic actions and determine responsibilities among different actors. It also ensures that anti-FGM campaign activities are seen not as standalone efforts but rather as an integral part of the African Union’s discussions, in line with the African Union initiative on eliminating FGM (Saleema Initiative)
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Since the beginning of the Ukraine crisis on 24 February 2022, WHO has supported Government-led efforts and initiatives alongside key partners on the ground. Building on efforts to date, and working alongside Bulgaria’s health authorities to bring added value to existing mechanisms, the WHO Countr...y Office Bulgaria, the WHO Regional Office for Europe and the WHO Health and Migration Programme, in close collaboration with the Ministry of Health of Bulgaria and key partners, undertook a joint review mission to support Bulgaria, with a focus on addressing the health system needs of refugees, migrants, asylum seekers and vulnerable host populations in Bulgaria.
The assessment team developed this report on the key findings and a package of potential interventions based on the opportunities identified and the need for technical support and assistance. The report summarizes concrete areas of work for which collaborations can be further strengthened. The joint review team identified key recommendations for consideration across 8 priority areas. The report and the outcomes of the review mission serve as a basis for future technical collaboration in the area of refugee health, to address the health needs of refugees and third-country nationals fleeing from Ukraine.
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During the 17 years since Surgical approaches to the urogenital manifestations of lymphatic filariasis was first published, there has been heightened awareness of the physical, economic and emotional burden of the genitourinary manifestations of filariasis. With the impetus to provide better guidanc...e for care of those suffering from LF, this update was both warranted and timely.
At the outset, the Committee noted that barriers continue to exist in care of patients affected by LF-associated morbidity. These barriers include lack of information for patients as well as for many healthcare providers, including general surgeons and others within health systems
This update offers a new consensus of the Committee regarding the staging of hydroceles caused by LF, also known as “filariceles”. It recommends integrating LF surgery with other efforts to strengthen surgical care by assessing health facilities for their surgical readiness using the WHO surgical assessment tool or “SAT”. It also recommends integratinghernia surgery with hydrocele surgery and integrating standards for prevention of surgical site infection (SSI).
The update revises recommendations for standard procedures and processes, offers an algorithm for diagnosis (including the use of ultrasound) and discusses postoperative care. It recommends collecting data using the staging and grading system described by Capuano and Capuano along with other metrics for public health management of LF.
A multifaceted approach has therefore been recommended to coordinate public health outreach with national surgical planning and local health systems to include supporting partners such as nongovernmental organizations. Surgical camps with mobile teams, as well as training of personnel at DCP3 “first level” or WHO Level II hospitals (depending on region and resources), have important roles for reducing LF morbidity.
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Accessed on 31.03.2023
COUNTDOWN Nigeria has applied a Participatory Action Research (PAR) approach to improve equity of Mass Administration of Medicines (MAM) and inform Neglected Tropical Disease (NTD) policy through an enhanced community engagement strategy. A situational analysis conducted i...n 2016 identified community engagement as a
bottleneck to achieving equitable coverage of MAM within different and emerging contexts (border, migrant, rural and urban) of Nigeria, related to programmatic, social, political and environmental changes over time See: (Dean et al., 2019), (Oluwole et al., 2019) and (Adekeye et al., 2019)
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The application of digital health technology is growing at a rapid rate in Africa, with the goals of improving the delivery of healthcare services and more effectively reaching out to remote and underserved communities. The lack of enabling guidelines and standards across the continent, on the other... hand, makes it difficult to share data in a meaningful way across the continent.
Considering this, Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) established a task force of 24 members to provide expertise and guidance in the development of AU HIE guidelines and standards. Members of the task force were subject matter experts working in Africa and internationally on the collection, analysis, and exchange of health information. Some of these experts had been involved in previous consultations on defining Africa CDC’s health information systems strategy. A chairperson, co-chairperson, and secretary were elected to engage the task force members in different technical working groups.
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Driving progress towards rabies elimination: Results of Gavi’s Learning Agenda on rabies and new WHO position on rabies immunization
The following technical report outlines the rationale, process and results of a joint research study, coordinated by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO), co-chaired by the Ministry of Health and Social Protection and the Ministry of Environment and Sus...tainable Development in collaboration with the Climate and Climate Air Coalition, the Stockholm Environment Institute, the Clean Air Institute and leading international and national experts. A rationale section describes the links between greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, short-lived climate pollutants, air pollution and adverse health outcomes. A summary of the research study describes how scenarios were modelled to examine the health and economic implications of raising ambition in Colombia’s Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)
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