Technical guidance.
This technical guidance aims to inform policy and practice development specifically related to improving the health of older refugees and migrants within the European Union and the larger WHO European Region. Both ageing and migration are in themselves complex multidimensional p...rocesses shaped by a range of factors at the micro, meso and macro levels over the life-course of the individual, but also with intertwined trajectories. Relevant areas for policy-making include healthy ageing over the life-course, supportive environments, people-centred health and long-term care services, and strengthening the evidence base and research
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Journal of the International AIDS Society, vol. 21 Issue no. 6 e 25142
Weaknesses in care programmes providing anti‐retroviral therapy (ART) persist and are often instigated by late HIV diagnosis and poor linkage to care. We investigated the potential for a home‐based counselling and testin...g (HBCT) campaign to be improved through the optimal timing and enhancement of testing rounds to generate greater health outcomes at minimum cost.
Countries implementing HBCT can reduce costs by optimally timing rounds and generate greater health outcomes through improving linkage, coverage, and retention. Tailoring HBCT campaigns to individual settings can enhance patient outcomes for minimal cost.
https://doi.org/10.1002/jia2.25142
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Guide for community-based management and care of people with dementia
Version 1.0
Mental Health and Substance Abuse
Division of NCD and Health through the Life-Course
World Health Organization Regional Office for the Western Pacific
This new guideline on non-clinical interventions to reduce unnecessary caesarean sections incorporates the views, fears and beliefs of both women and health professionals about caesarean sections. It also considers the complex dynamics and limitations of health systems and organizations and relation...ships between women, health professionals and organization of health care services.
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The framework is to be used as a reference guide, applied according to local priorities and needs, and targeted at academic institutions, educators, accreditation bodies, regulatory agencies and other users. The ultimate aim is to ensure that all health workers are equipped with the requisite compet...encies at pre-service education and in-service training levels to address AMR in policy and practice settings.
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Journal of the International AIDS Society Vol. 21 (2018) e25133
Many prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission programmes across Africa initiate HIV-infected (HIV positive) pregnant women on lifelong antiretroviral therapy (ART) on the first day of antenatal care (“same-day” initiation...). However, there are concerns that same-day initiation may limit patient preparation before starting ART and contribute to subsequent non-adherence, disengagement from care and raised viral load. We examined if same-day initiation was associated with viral suppression and engagement in care during pregnancy.
The data suggest that same-day ART initiation during pregnancy is not associated with lower levels of engagement in care or viral suppression through 12 months post-delivery in this setting, providing reassurance to ART programmes implementing Option B+.
https://doi.org/10.1002/jia2.25133
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Background document to the 2018 joint statement by WHO, UNFPA, UNICEF, ICM, ICN, FIGO and IPA: definition of skilled health personnel providing care during childbirth
2018 monitoring report: current status and strategic priorities
The report sets out the status of women’s, children’s and adolescents’ health, and on health systems and social and environmental determinants. Regional dashboards on 16 key indicators highlight where progress is being made o...r lagging. There is progress overall, but not at the level required to achieve the 2030 goals. There are some areas where progress has stalled or is reversing, namely neonatal mortality, gender inequalities and health in humanitarian settings.
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[Preface]. For more than forty years Primary Health Care (PHC) has been recognized as the cornerstone of an effective and responsive health system. The Alma-Ata Declaration of 1978 reaffirmed the right to the highest attainable level of health, with equity, solidarity and the right to health as its ...core values. It stressed the need for comprehensive health services, not only curative but services that addressed needs in terms of health promotion, prevention, rehabilitation and treatment of common conditions. A strong resolutive first level of care is the basis for health system development [...] The Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO) has supported the countries in the establishment of interprofessional PHC teams, in the transformation of health education and in building capacity in the strategic planning, and management of human resources for health. Nursing can play a critical role in advancing PHC. New profiles such as the advanced practice nurses, as discussed in this document, can be fundamental in this effort, and in particular, in health promotion, disease prevention and care, especially in rural and underserved areas.
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Robust clinical research capacity in low- and middle-income countries is key to stemming the spread of epidemics, according to a new report from the International Vaccines Task Force (IVTF). The report lays out how to develop the political support, financing and coordination required to build this c...apacity as a crucial component of global epidemic preparedness. The IVTF was convened by the World Bank Group (WBG) and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) in October 2017.
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This document describes the key areas that national governments should consider for the introduction and scale-up of point-of-care (POC) diagnostics within national programmes, as new innovative POC technologies are being introduced into the market. The next steps taken to include these new innovati...ons within the broader context of national diagnostic networks of conventional laboratories could influence the achievement of the 2030 Fast Track targets for ending the AIDS epidemic.
POC diagnostics, when strategically introduced and integrated into national diagnostic networks, may help catalyse changes that improve the way diagnostics and clinical services are delivered. This document distils this understanding based on programmatic and market experiences of introducing POC diagnostics through catalytic investments in POC HIV technologies across numerous countries in sub-Saharan Africa.
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The current SEARVAP (South-East Asia regional vaccine action plan) describes a set of regional goals and objectives for immunization and control of vaccine-preventable diseases for 2016 – 2020 and highlights priority actions, targets and indicators that address the specific needs and challenges of... countries in the Region.
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October 2018
HIV testing services
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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Using antimicrobials responsibly is an essential component ofefforts to contain antimicrobial resistance (AMR), and to ensurethat patients receive appropriate treatment. The WHO global action plan on AMR emphasizes the importance of training healthcare professionals in antimicrobial prescribing and ...stew-ardship (AMPS). There are several challenges, however, such asthe wide range of healthcare professionals involved in the pre-scribing process, and the heterogeneity of prescribing rights and practices of different professional groups within and between countries. One way to address these challenges is through developing competencies, which define the minimum standards that all antimicrobial prescribers should reach.
Clinical Microbiology and Infection 25 (2019) 13e19
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Antimicrobials have been a critical public health tool since the discovery of penicillin in 1928, saving the lives of millions of people around the world. Today, however, the emergence of drug resistance is reversing the miracles of the past eighty years, with drug choices for the treatment of many ...infections becoming increasingly limited, expensive, and, in some cases, non-existent.
Conscious of the public health threats of AMR to both humans, animals and the environment, the ministries of health and sanitation, agriculture forestry and food security and the environmental protection agency put together a national multi-sectoral coordinating group tasked with the responsibility of establishing mechanisms to integrate all initiatives into a single concerted action and development of the national AMR strategic plan (2018-2022). The National Strategic Plan on Antimicrobial Resistance is the first approach which addresses AMR specifically.
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Wound care is a regular component of the package of care we offer in the majority of our health care facilities and represents a high volume of activities. The current practices in MSF projects are often based on the habits of each individual supervisor, the wound care material we off...er is partly outdated and does not allow optimal wound care. There is a need for standardization of wound care and it needs to be evidence based as much as possible, taking into account the realities of the field.
The scope of this document is to guide the caregiver in the wound care process. It does not intend to provide in depth information on wound healing or physiology. There is a wide range of literature and background information available for this purpose in the references and in the list of extra reading
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The extensive use of natural resources threatens to exceed the carrying capacity of the Earth. The concept of a
circular economy offers an avenue to sustainable growth, good health and decent jobs, while saving the environment
and its natural resources. Further, the change from a linear economy (t...ake, make, dispose) to a circular economy (renew, remake, share) is expected to support significantly the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals
(SDGs), particularly SDG 12 on responsible consumption and production.
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