Rumors emerge when people feel left out of the discussion, when their questions cannot be answered by authorities or their doubts are dismissed by official sources. But also, rumors present an opportunity – to understand the questions, concerns and anxieties communities may have about this pandemi...c.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Internews has followed its rumour-tracking methodology, including social media listening, to identify those rumors that are posing additional risks to the communities, ensuring content is collected from diverse demographic groups.
Internews produces and distributes rumor bulletins through its Rooted in Trust and its H2H (humanitarian-to-humanitarian network) projects. Rooted in Trust has collected close to 6,000 rumors from seven countries in 12 languages, and collects data across seven major social media platforms and a wide range of feedback collection channels. H2H is a collaboration to support responders at every level by analyzing information gaps and addressing them with evidence-based content in relevant languages, formats, and channels.
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Neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) is an umbrella term for a diverse group of debilitating infections that represent the most common afflictions for 2.7 billion people living on less than US$2 per day. Major efforts have recently re-focused attention on NTDs, including structured advocacy by the Bil...l and Melinda Gates Foundation, technical and political support by WHO and large-scale drug donation programs by pharmaceutical companies. An analysis of the Official Development Assistance (ODA) for NTDs in 2009 showed that Development Assistance Committee members and multilateral donors had largely ignored funding NTD control projects. This study reviews the changes since 2009 and finds an increased engagement by pharmaceutical manufacturers through drug donation programs substantially increased by the ‘London Declaration’ in 2012, a focused effort of 77 public and private partners on control or elimination of the 10 most common NTDs, but no increase in ODA for NTDs between 2008 and 2012. The allocation of ODA still does not reflect the respective importance of these diseases.
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Background: Investing in the health workforce is key to achieving the health-related Sustainable Development Goals. However, achieving these Goals requires addressing a projected global shortage of 18 million health workers (mostly in low- and middle-income countries). Within that context, in 2016, ...the World Health Assembly adopted the WHO Global Strategy on Human Resources for Health: Workforce 2030. In the Strategy, the role of official development assistance to support the health workforce is an area of interest. The objective of this study is to examine progress on implementing the Global Strategy by updating previous analyses that estimated and examined official development assistance targeted towards human resources for health. Methods: We leveraged data from IHME’s Development Assistance for Health database, COVID development assistance database and the OECD’s Creditor Reporting System online database. We utilized an updated keyword list to identify the relevant human resources for health-related activities from the project databases. When possible, we also estimated the fraction of human resources for health projects that considered and/or focused on gender as a key factor. We described trends, examined changes in the availability of human resources for health-related development assistance since the adoption of the Global Strategy and compared disease burden and availability of donor resources.
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This report aims to support countries in the necessary transition toward healthier, more sustainable diets by integrating biodiversity in food-based interventions to support nutrition and health. It is intended to help guide decision-makers in the health, nutrition and other sectors, to:
Consider... the important role of biodiversity in food systems for the development of integrated interventions to support healthy, diverse and sustainable diets;
To focus investments and country support for more comprehensive, coordinated and cross-cutting public health and nutrition projects and policies; and
To strengthen the resilience of food systems, health systems, and societies, each of which are each increasingly compromised by widespread ecological degradation, biodiversity loss and climate change.
Biodiversity at every level (genetic, species and ecosystem level) is a foundational pillar for food security, nutrition, and dietary quality. It is the basic source of variety in essential foods, nutrients, vitamins and minerals, and medicines, and underpins life-sustaining ecosystem services. It is a core environmental determinant of health, often a vital ingredient of healthy nutritional outcomes and livelihoods, gender equality, social equity, and other health determinants.
Biodiversity can play a more prominent role in planning for nutritional outcomes in various ways, e.g. by facilitating the production of nutritious fruits and plant products, sustaining livelihoods through more efficient production and increasing the diversity of products available in markets. This Guidance presents and expands on six core building blocks for mainstreaming biodiversity for nutrition and health:
Cross-sectoral knowledge development and knowledge co-production;
Enabling environments;
Integration;
Conservation and the wider use of biodiversity;
Education and awareness-raising;
Monitoring and evaluation;
This WHO report builds on an unprecedented opportunity to mainstream biodiversity in order to support healthy and sustainable diets, and offers the necessary technical guidance to catalyze and support a transformation of the global food system and transition to healthier, more sustainable diets.
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Climate change presents the single biggest threat to human development, and its widespread impacts disproportionately burden the poorest and most vulnerable households in fragile and rural developing contexts – particularly women and children.
According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate C...hange’s (IPCC) latest report, ‘between 2010 and 2020, droughts, floods and storms killed 15 times as many people in highly vulnerable countries, particularly in Africa — which is responsible for less than 3 percent of global emissions – than in the wealthiest countries’.
Recognising environmental degradation and climate change are key accelerators of extreme child vulnerability, World Vision (WV) approved the Environmental Stewardship Management Policy (‘the Policy’) and Guidelines (‘the Guidelines’) in 2021.
To support the implementation of the Policy and Guidelines, WV has developed this Environmental Stewardship and Climate Action Handbook (‘the Handbook’) to help offices across the WV Partnership implement best practice environmental management strategies both in the field and in our operations and facilities.
Integrating environmental stewardship and climate action into all our work – whether that be in our Area Programmes, grant projects, responses to disasters or advocacy – is critical to achieving WV’s strategy.
As a Christian organisation we are compelled to follow the ways of Jesus Christ, calling us to care for the ‘least of these’ (Matthew 25:40) – the vulnerable children who are disproportionately impacted by climate change. Our response to the degradation of the environment is not motivated by political expediency or funding – but because we are called to steward God’s creation (Genesis 1:28).
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This monograph presents 12 reports of successful programs serving children with special needs in various nations. The program locations and the program report titles and authors are as follows: (1) Austria: "Integration Models for Elementary and Secondary Schools in Austria" (Volker Rutte)...; (2) China: "Integrated Education Project, Anhui Province" (Janet C. Holdsworth); (3) Ghana: "The Community-Based Rehabilitation Programme in Ghana" (Lawrence Ofori-Addo); (4) Guyana: "Involvement of Volunteers, Parents and Community Members with Children with Special Needs" (Brian O'Toole); (5) India: "Teacher Development Initiative To Meet Special Needs in the Classroom" (N. K. Jangira and Anupam Ahuja); (6) Jamaica: "Early Intervention and Education Initiatives in Rural Areas" (M. J. Thorburn); (7) Jordan: "The Role of Institutions in Community-based Rehabilitation and in Community-based Special Education" (Andrew L. de Carpentier); (8) Jordan: "The Resource Room at the Amman National School" (Hala T. Ibrahim); (9) Netherlands: "Individual Integration of Children with Down's Syndrome in Ordinary Schools" (Trijntje de Wit-Gosker); (10) Norway: "In Harmony We Learn" (Marna Moe); (11) International: "INITIATIVES for Deaf Education in the Third World" (Andrew L. de Carpentier); and (12) Sri Lanka: "The Integrated Education of Visually Impaired Children in Sri Lanka" (B. L. Rajapakse).
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As climate change increasingly contributes to migration and displacement in many parts of the world, there is a pressing need for measures that build resilience and prevent displacement as well as those that help climate-affected people move to safety and support receiving communities. Multilateral ...development banks (MDBs) are critical, if sometimes overlooked, players because of their ability to invest in large-scale projects that contribute to sustainable development, primarily in low- and middle-income countries.
This report explores the unique role of MDBs in the climate finance landscape and highlights opportunities for migration, humanitarian, and other key actors to partner with them on projects that effectively target climate-related migration and displacement. After reviewing the evidence on the complex linkages between climate and mobility, the report examines MDBs’ climate-related work to date, challenges they face to scaling up these efforts, and strategies to begin to address hurdles. These recommendations include learning from past MDB investments that have touched on climate migration, funding data collection or sharing to strengthen understanding of climate migration trends, and developing partnerships to support policy and project development, financing, and implementation.
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In this quality improvement study, data from the Creditor Reporting System were used to estimate flows of total DAAH and per-adolescent DAAH and to assess its distribution by donors, regions, and countries and the leading causes of burden of disease (ie,
disability-adjusted life-years) in 132 devel...oping countries between January 1, 2003, and December 31, 2015. Through use of a key word search and various funding allocation methods, 2 sets of estimates were produced: adolescent-targeted DAAH that included disbursements to projects with a primary adolescent health target and adolescent-inclusive DAAH that included disbursements to
projects with either a primary or partial adolescent health target, as well as projects that could benefit adolescent health but did not include age-related key words.
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The present Community Empowerment Manual draws upon the lessons learned of the Community Protection Approach implementation in Lebanon, the occupied Palestinian territory and Central America during the period 2015-2020 by WeWorld – GVC and its partners.
The Manual means to accompany Field Staff i...n devising the most appropriate strategy to engage with communities, given the conditions of access, security and time of the specific context in which a project is implemented. Even though the steps described proceed alongside the implementation of the Community Protection Approach, the manual has different sections providing guidance for the definition of engagement strategies in any context or project in question.
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The United Nations (UN) adopted a new international legal instrument in November 2000, the UN Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children, supplementing the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime. This contained a new definition of traf...ficking in persons and more particularly defined what was to be understood by child trafficking. The issue of human trafficking in general, and trafficking in children in particular, was highly relevant during the subsequent decade and anti-trafficking projects and initiatives attracted a great deal of funding. However, by the end of the decade, when funding declined, it was still not clear how much had been achieved.
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Sangath is a non-governmental, not-for-profit organisation committed to improving health across the life span by empowering existing community resources to provide appropriate physical, psychological and social therapies. Its primary focus areas include child development, adolescent and youth health..., and adult health and chronic disease.
Started in 1996 by seven professionals in Goa, Sangath developed a vision to provide professional healthcare services for developmental disabilities and mental health problems. Today, it is one of the largest NGOs in the state, with more than 100 service providers, two centres in Goa, projects across India, collaborations with leading institutions in the world, and international recognition for its path-breaking research and intervention programmes in the community.
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Hypertension is the main risk factor for developing cardiovascular disease. Each year 1.6 million deaths befall from cardiovascular disease in the region of the Americas, of which about half a million occur in people under age 70, which is considered premature and preventable death. Hypertension aff...ects between 20-40% of the adult population of the region, meaning that in the Americas around 250 million people suffer from high blood pressure. Hypertension is preventable or can be postponed by a set of preventive interventions, among which include the reduction of salt intake, a diet rich in fruits and vegetables, exercise and maintaining a healthy body weight. PAHO promotes policies and projects to impact on public health the prevention of hypertension through policies to reduce salt intake, to promote healthy eating, physical activity and to prevent obesity. Promotes and supports projects that facilitate access to essential medicines for the treatment of hypertension and promotes the development of human resources in health.
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Economic conditions in Syria are projected to continue to be mired by prolonged armed conflict, turmoil in Lebanon and Turkey, COVID-19, and the war in Ukraine. Subject to extraordinarily high uncertainty, we project that Syria’s real GDP will contract by 2.6 percent in 2022 (to US$ 15.5 billion i...n constant 2015 prices) after declining by 2.1 percent in 2021. Risks to the growth outlook are significant and tilted to the downside.
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The article discusses the success of the Global Alliance against Chronic Respiratory Diseases (GARD) in Brazil. It details the initiatives launched to address chronic respiratory diseases (CRDs) like asthma and COPD, emphasizing the development of national programs and collaborative efforts with the... World Health Organization (WHO). Key achievements include successful advocacy, education campaigns, and pilot projects for asthma control, which have led to improved access to treatment and better management of CRDs. Despite challenges such as limited government priority, GARD Brazil has made significant progress in awareness and care for respiratory conditions. The article highlights the need for continued support to sustain these efforts and develop a formal national action plan.
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Despite high regional demand for vaccines valued at over US$ 1 billion annually, Africa’s vaccine industry provides only 0.1% of global supply. Vaccine inequity and hoarding at the start of the pandemic, which resulted in delays in obtaining COVID-19 doses, stimulated new resolve to address future... supply security. In 2021, the AU set a target to produce and supply more than 60% of the vaccine doses on the continent by 2040.
In the last 18 months alone, more than 30 new African manufacturing projects have been announced and estimates indicate that the African vaccine market across all existing and projected novel products could range between US$ 2.8 billion and US$ 5.6 billion by 2040*, demonstrating the potential for a thriving regional industry to emerge.
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In recent years Terre des Hommes Netherlands observed the steady rise of a new form of child sexual exploitation. One that is enabled and fuelled by rapid technological advances, increasing global connectivity, persisting poverty rates, and growing disparity in the global distribution of resources. ...Terre des Hommes Netherlands received alarming signals from collaborating project partners from the Philippines that new commercial child exploitation trades are evolving and spreading parallel to rising global Internet access rates and developments in communications technology.
Webcam child sex tourism is evidently growing, closely related to child prostitution, child trafficking and child abuse. What is not clear however, are the psychological and social consequences of this new phenomenon. To date, no research has been done on the psychosocial consequences of webcam sex for children. The aim of this research is therefore to gain more knowledge on the psychosocial consequences of webcam child sex tourism for children and to give insight into the antecedent factors that play a role.
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Background: Mental health has recently gained increasing attention on global health and development agendas, including calls for an increase in international funding. Few studies have previously characterized official development assistance for mental health (DAMH) in a nuanced and differentiated ma...nner in order to support future funding efforts. Methods: Data from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development Creditor Reporting System were obtained through keyword searches. Projects were manually reviewed and categorized into projects dedicated entirely to mental health and projects that mention mental health (as one of many aims). Analysis of donor, recipient, and sector characteristics within and between categories was undertaken cumulatively and yearly.
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The MSF qualification scheme is concerned with the pharmaceutical quality assessment for drugs. This procedure is applicable to products for international supply, i.e. products supplied through the MSF procurement centres. This qualification procedure is not applicable for local purchase, i.e. purch...ase of drugs within the project countries. For quality assurance principles and assessment of drugs for local purchase refer to the guideline for local pharmaceutical market assessment.
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Managing Sexual Violence against Aid Workers aims to support aid agencies in preventing, being prepared for and responding to incidents of sexual violence against their staff. It is intended as a good practice guide to help strengthen existing processes and support organisations as they set up their... own protocols.
This guide is aimed at anyone with a responsibility for staff care, safety and security, as well as anyone involved in processes aimed at preventing or responding to incidents of sexual violence against staff, such as security focal points, HR staff, project and programmes staff, and first responders to incidents of sexual violence within an aid organisation.
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The Pharmaceutical Forum of the Americas (PFA) has previously published guidelines and organised campaigns for community pharmacists on the prevention, detection and control of arbovirus infections in 2018 with a grant from the FIP Foundation for Pharmacy Education and Research. Building on that exp...ertise, FIP joined efforts with the PFA and is now publishing its first-ever handbook to support pharmacists in the
area of vector-borne diseases. As the integration of the regional forums in FIP advances, such collaborative projects are tangible results of an increasingly regionally informed and regionally targeted work by FIP.
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