Haiti, one of the poorest countries in the world, was devastated by an earthquake in 2010. The disaster uncovered the realities of a non-existent mental health care system with only ten psychiatrists nationwide. Attempts were made to assess the increased prevalence of mental illness, likely due to t...he trauma to which many were exposed. Several interventions were carried out with aims to integrate mental health into primary health care services. The interplay between socio-cultural beliefs and health (both mental and physical) in Haiti has been widely commented upon by both foreign aid and local caregivers. Observations frequently highlight barriers to the willingness of patients to seek care and to their acceptance of biomedicine over traditional Vodou beliefs. The perception of Haitian beliefs as barriers to the availability and acceptance of mental health care has intensified the difficulty in providing effective recommendations and interventions both before and after the earthquake. Argued in this review is the importance of considering the interactions between socio-cultural beliefs and mental health when developing models for the prevention, screening, classification and management of mental illness in Haiti. These interactions, especially relevant in mental health care and post-disaster contexts, need to be acknowledged in any healthcare setting. The successes and failures of Haiti’s situation provide an example for global consideration.
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Overview
Learning objectives
• Promote respect and dignity for children and adolescents with mental and behavioural
disorders.
• Know common presentations of children and adolescents with mental and behavioural
disorders.
• Know assessment principles of child and adolescents with mental ...and behavioural
disorders.
• Know management principles of child and adolescents with mental and behavioural
disorders.
• Use effective communication skills in interactions with children and adolescents with
mental and behavioural disorders.
• Perform an assessment for children and adolescents with mental and behavioural
disorders.
• Assess and manage physical conditions of children with mental and behavioural
disorders.
• Provide psychosocial interventions to children and adolescents with mental and
behavioural disorders and their carers.
• Deliver pharmacological interventions as needed and appropriate to children and
adolescents with mental and behavioural disorders.
• Plan and perform follow-up for children and adolescents with mental and behavioural
disorders.
• Refer to specialists and link children and adolescents with mental and behavioural
disorders with outside agencies where available.
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The mental health of women not only adversely affects them, but its impact on their
developing infant is also severe. If the ability of women to take care of their baby is
compromised, the survival and development of the infant is jeopardized. Maternal
depression in resource-constrained settings ...is linked directly to lower infant birth
weight, higher rates of malnutrition and stunting, higher rates of diarrhoeal disease,
infectious illness and hospital admission and reduced completion of recommended
schedules of immunization in children. It also adversely affects physical, cognitive,
social, behavioural and emotional development of children (1).
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Every day, millions of women and girls worldwide experience violence. This abuse takes many forms, including intimate physical and sexual partner violence, female genital mutilation, child and forced marriage, sex trafficking, and rape. The Lancet Series on Violence against women and girls shows tha...t such abuse is preventable. Five papers cover the evidence base for interventions, discuss the vital role of the health sector in care and prevention, show the need for men and women to be involved in effective programmes, provide practical lessons from experience in countries, and present a call for action with five key recommendations and indicators to track progress. You can download articles and comments published in The Lancet
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Overview
Learning objectives
• Promote respect and dignity for people with psychoses.
• Name common presentations of psychoses.
• Name assessment principles of psychoses.
• Name management principles of psychoses.
• Perform an assessment for psychoses.
• Use effective communicatio...n skills when interacting with a person psychoses.
• Assess and manage physical health concerns in psychoses.
• Assess and manage emergency presentations of psychoses.
• Provide psychosocial interventions to persons with psychoses and their carers.
• Deliver pharmacological interventions as needed and appropriate in psychoses
considering special populations.
• Plan and performs follow-up sessions for people with psychoses.
• Refer to specialist and links with outside agencies for psychoses as appropriate and
available.
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A Manual for mid-level rehabilitation workers.
This manual is to support the work of mid-level rehabilitation workers on their work with children or adults with spinal cord injury and their families. It refers to the physical effects of this type of injury, the different levels of injury and the ba...sic care of a person following a spinal cord injury. Available in Chinese and Mongolian, too
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Severe cases of COVID-19 are associated with rehabilitation needs related to the consequences of ventilatory support, and prolonged immobilization and bed rest. These may include: − Impaired lung function; − Physical deconditioning and muscle weakness; − Delirium and other cognitive impairment...s; − Impaired swallow and communication; and − Mental health disorders and psychosocial support needs. − Rehabilitation needs may be amplified by underlying health conditions and decrements in health associated with ageing, − Rehabilitation professionals play an important role in facilitating early discharge, which is especially critical in the context of hospital bed shortages. − Rehabilitation needs of people with severe COVID-19 exist during the acute, sub-acute and long-term phases of care; rehabilitation professionals should be positioned in ICUs, hospital wards, stepdown facilities and in the community. − Particularly in the acute phase, rehabilitation interventions for patients with severe COVID-19 requiring ventilatory support generally require a particular skill-set acquired through specialist training.
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Infectious diseases, such as COVID-19, can have a significant impact on children’s and their caregivers’
wellbeing beyond the disease itself. In terms of child protection, there are three main potential
secondary impacts:
- Neglect and lack of parental care.
- Mental health and Psychosocia...l distress.
- Increased exposure to violence, including sexual violence, physical and emotional abuse.
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Expert tips to help you deal with COVID-19 parenting challenges.
The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has upended family life around the world. School closures, working remote, physical distancing — it's a lot to navigate for anyone, but especially for parents. We teamed up with the Paren...ting for Lifelong Health initiative to bring parents and caregivers a set of handy tips to help manage this new (temporary) normal.
You can download different posters in
English, French, Spanisch and Arabic
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The checklist is aligned with, and builds upon, existing COVID-19-related WHO guidelines and is structured around protective measures related to: 1) hand hygiene and respiratory etiquette; 2) physical distancing; 3) use of masks in schools; 4) environmental cleaning and ventilation; and 5) respectin...g procedures for isolation of all people with symptoms. The checklist is designed to support policy-makers, staff and officials from the education and health sectors, local authorities, school principals/leaders and administrators, teachers’ unions, community leaders, school staff, teachers, parents and caregivers.
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The Infection prevention and control in the context of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19): a living guideline consolidates technical guidance developed and published during the COVID-19 pandemic into evidence-informed recommendations for infection prevention and control (IPC). This living guideline... is available both online and PDF.
This version of the living guideline (version 6.0) includes fifteen statements on IPC measures in health-care settings (screening and patient placement, ventilation, physical barriers, environmental cleaning, waste management, amongst others) as well as one statement on mask fit in the community context.
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Mental health problems are common and cause great suffering to individuals and communities around the world. They have a significant impact not only on the physical and mental health of those affected but also on their families and the communities they live in. At the same time, all communities have... their own traditional mechanisms for support and contain a range wide of resources that can be helpful in preventing mental health conditions from developing, promoting positive mental health and supporting the recovery of people that are struggling with a mental health condition.
In the wider context, people living with a mental health condition are often excluded from their communities and experience various violations to their basic human rights (discrimination, violence, exclusion from employment opportunities). The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that the mean prevalence of global mental health disorders is 10.8% while the prevalence in emergency settings is 22.1% in any conflict-affected population.
During emergencies and crisis, the stigma, exclusion and discrimination towards people living with mental health conditions is often higher, which can cause isolation and protection issues. Communities can play a crucial role in promoting mental health as well as enhancing primary care and access. Their role is to help reduce mental health inequalities by providing community resources that connect people to community-based resources and by providing mental health education. This also helps to reduce the massive mental health treatment gap.
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The American Heart Association, in conjunction with the National Institutes of Health, annually reports the most up-to-date statistics related to heart disease, stroke, and cardiovascular risk factors, including core health behaviors (smoking, physical activity, diet, and weight) and health factors ...(cholesterol, blood pressure, and glucose control) that contribute to cardiovascular health. The Statistical Update presents the latest data on a range of major clinical heart and circulatory disease conditions (including stroke, congenital heart disease, rhythm disorders, subclinical atherosclerosis, coronary heart disease, heart failure, valvular disease, venous disease, and peripheral artery disease) and the associated outcomes (including quality of care, procedures, and economic costs).
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The burden of diabetes is high and increasing globally, and in developing economies like India, mainly fueled by the increasing prevalence of overweight/obesity and unhealthy lifestyles. The estimates in 2019 showed that 77 million individuals had diabetes in India, which is expected to rise to over... 134 million by 2045. Approximately 57% of these individuals remain undiagnosed. Type 2 diabetes, which accounts for majority of the cases, can lead to multiorgan complications, broadly divided into microvascular and macrovascular complications. These complications are a significant cause for increased premature morbidity and mortality among individuals with diabetes, leading to reduced life expectancy and financial and other costs of diabetes leading to profound economic burden on the Indian health care system. The risk for diabetes is largely influence by ethnicity, age, obesity and physical inactivity, unhealthy diet, and behavioral habits in addition to genetics and family history. Good control of blood sugar blood pressure and blood lipid levels can prevent and/or delay the onset of diabetes complications. The prevention and management of diabetes and associated complications is a huge challenge in India due to several issues and barriers, including lack of multisectoral approach, surveillance data, awareness regarding diabetes, its risk factors and complications, access to health care settings, access to affordable medicines, etc. Thus, effective health promotion and primary prevention, at both, individual and population levels are the need of the hour to curb the diabetes epidemic and reduce diabetes-related complications in India
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One of the main aims of the WHO Global Initiative for Childhood Cancer and the CureAll Americas framework is to strengthen centers of excellence and promote the training of the health workforce, especially pediatric oncology nurses, specialized in nursing care for children and adolescents with cance...r and their families. These health personnel provide compassionate, non traumatic, complex, continuous, ethical, conscious patient- and family-centered care in order to meet the physical, emotional, psychosocial, and cultural needs of the people involved. This publication is aimed at health administration teams, hospital management teams, and professional pediatric oncology nursing groups. Its objective is to identify, systematize, and consolidate available evidence on the scope of pediatric oncology nursing practice in Latin America and the Caribbean based on core competencies, in order to incorporate them into clinical practice, teaching, and research. The preparation process included a systematic review aimed at finding the best evidence on this subject. Patient- and family centered care and the conceptual model of competencies for teenagers and young adults with cancer, developed by the Teenage Cancer Trust with the support of the Royal College of Nursing, were the theoretical foundations supporting the systematization of recommendations.
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Chronic noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) are the number one cause of death and disability in the world. The term NCDs refers to a group of conditions that are not mainly caused by an acute infection, result in long-term health consequences and often create a need for long-term treatment and care. The...se conditions include cancers, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and chronic lung illnesses.
Many NCDs can be prevented by reducing common risk factors such as tobacco use, harmful alcohol use, physical inactivity and eating unhealthy diets. Many other important conditions are also considered NCDs, including injuries and mental health disorders.
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Chronic noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) are the number one cause of death and disability in the world.
The term NCDs refers to a group of conditions that are not mainly caused by an acute infection, result in long-term health consequences and often create a need for long-term treatment and care. ...These conditions include cancers, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and chronic lung illnesses.
Many NCDs can be prevented by reducing common risk factors such as tobacco use, harmful alcohol use, physical inactivity and eating unhealthy diets. Many other important conditions are also considered NCDs, including injuries and mental health disorders.
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Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) or Chronic noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) are the 1st cause of death and disability worldwide.
The term NCDs refers to a group of conditions that are not mainly caused by an acute infection, result in long-term health consequences and often create a need for long-...term treatment and care. These five main NCDs are cancers, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, chronic lung illnesses and Mental health conditions.
Many NCDs can be prevented by reducing common risk factors such as tobacco use, harmful alcohol use, physical inactivity and eating unhealthy diets. Many other important conditions are also considered NCDs, including injuries and mental health disorders.
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Bonchial asthma is the most common chronic respiratory disease in the world. In Kenya, it has been estimated that about 7.5% of the Kenyan population, nearly 4 million people, are currently living with asthma. Many cases tend to be underdiagnosed and undertreated which leads to high levels of morbid...ity and avoidable deaths. The consequences of poorly controlled asthma, including physical, mental, social, and economic impacts, are magnified in the poor on account of poor access to asthma services and sub-optimal quality of those services. With these guidelines, Kenya's Ministry of Health aims to work towards embedding asthma care in Universal Health Care (UHC) to ensure that quality asthma services are available in primary care settings with
referral networks strengthened for those who may require secondary and tertiary care. These national asthma guidelines will also ensure that treatment for asthma is standardized in both the public and the non-state health care sector.
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This integrated operational framework provides an overview of the connections between mental health, neurological and substance use (MNS) conditions, and their links to health, well-being and the broader public health and sustainable development agenda. The need for integrated approaches is increasi...ngly recognized as critical to address the complex interactions between mental health, brain health, substance use, and physical health, particularly in light of global threats such as the COVID-19 pandemic. The framework also provides a series of actions for governments and health service planners and advisors to achieve integration across four domains: leadership and governance; care services; promotion and prevention; and health information systems, evidence generation and research.
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