The aim of the operational framework is to ensure 1) accurate collection, handling, shipment and storage of specimens collected in countries implementing HIV drug resistance surveillance; and 2) the availability of quality-assured HIV genotyping laboratory services producing comparable and reliable ...results at the national, regional and global levels.
This publication updates the WHO HIVResNet HIV drug resistance laboratory operational framework published in 2017 and reflects technical and strategic developments over the past three years.
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The WHO Health Emergencies Programme is currently monitoring 118 events in the region. This week’s main articles cover the following events:
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Togo
Measles in Chad
Ebola virus disease (EVD) in Équateur Province, Democratic Republic of the Congo.
In response to the COVID-19 outbreak, this guidance provides information on infection and prevention control (IPC) for older people, their friends and families, carers, and healthcare providers. Anyone who manages, works, volunteers or provides care at any type of facilities where older people recei...ve care at (long-term care facilities, non-acute care facilities, and home care services), should practice strict IPC to prevent and control COVID-19 outbreaks. It has been observed in different countries that older people have higher case-fatality rate compared to other age groups. Therefore, it is especially important to implement and follow IPC measures at facilities, homes, and other venues that older people frequent.
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The COVID-19 pandemic is challenging health systems across the world. Rapidly increasing demand for care of people with COVID-19 is compounded by fear, misinformation and limitations on the movement of people and supplies that disrupt the delivery of frontline health care for all people...
This g...uidance addresses the specific role of community-based health care in the pandemic context and outlines the adaptations needed to keep people safe, maintain continuity of essential services and ensure an effective response to COVID-19. It is intended for decision-makers and managers at the national and subnational levels and complements a range of other guidance, including that on priority public health interventions, facility-based care, and risk communication and community engagement in the setting of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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There is no secret to our procedure: the daily scanning of the literature helps us to stay afloat in the never-ending waves of new publications about SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19. Many papers discussed in the Top 10 will eventually make it into subsequent editions of COVID Reference.
The purpose of this document is to address specific needs and considerations for essential oral health services in the context of COVID-19 in accordance with WHO operational guidance on maintaining essential health services. This interim guidance is intended for public health authorities, chief dent...al officers at ministries of health and oral health care personnel working in private and public health sectors. The document may be subject to change as new information becomes available.
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This manual presents a compelling case for action on carbapenem-resistant organisms (CROs) and describes the linkages between the prevention and control of CROs and the Global Action Plan on Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR). It describes how the eight recommendations contained within the World Health ...Organization (WHO) guidelines for the prevention and control of carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae, Acinetobacter baumannii and Pseudomonas aeruginosa in health care facilities relate to general measures (that is, the core components of infection prevention and control [IPC] programmes) that need to be in place in all countries and health care facilities to prevent and control health care-associated infections (HAIs). The use of a stepwise approach is proposed to support implementation and improvement, based on the evidence and experience of what has worked in several health care settings worldwide. The focus is on adoptable and adaptable information.
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The results of a WHO survey conducted to assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on up to 25 essential health services in countries show disruptions of essential health services in nearly all countries, and more so in lower-income than higher-income countries. The great majority of service disrup...tions were partial, which was defined as a change of 5–50% in service provision or use.
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COVID-19 is stretching formal and informal aspects of community life. The pandemic is overwhelming health systems. Country economies are reaching a breaking point, with particularly significant impact for the livelihoods of vulnerable families and those dependent on daily wages. COVID-19 is also aff...ecting community relationships and trust. Lack of trust in government leaders or health officials can lead citizens to be unwilling to accept essential health messages and take the necessary steps to combat the spread of the disease. The stress, fear and emotional vulnerabilities of children and their caregivers can be particularly acute, especially in light of prolonged school closures and the uncertainty about their health system’s capacity to withstand the pandemic or how long community and household quarantines will last.
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Mozambique registered its first COVID-19 case on 22 March 2020 and since then numbers have steadily grown over the following three months with cases now reported in all provinces. In response, a level 3 State of emergency was enacted on 1 April 2020 and has been extended until 29 July 2020, with mea...sures targeting the prevention of COVID-19 transmissions.
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Le Plan de réponse humanitaire (PRH) 2020 a été révisé et publié en mai 2020 afin d’intégrer l’impact de l’épidémie de COVID-19 sur les besoins humanitaires existants et sur les activités des partenaires humanitaires.
Conflict, climate crisis and COVID-19 pose great threats to the health of women and children.
CYCLE DE PROGRAMMATION HUMANITAIRE 2020-2022
Ce document est consolidé par OCHA pour le compte de l’Équipe humanitaire pays et des partenaires humanitaires. Il présente les priorités et les paramètres de la réponse stratégique de l’Équipe humanitaire pays, basés sur une compréhension ...partagée de la situation.
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Applying the evidence of what works from HIV-related stigma and discrimination in six settings to the COVID-19 response
This brief provide evidence-informed guidance to countries on the intersection of stigma related to HIV and COVID-19 in national responses.
The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela has been facing a sociopolitical and economic situation that has negatively impacted social and health indicators. There have been intensified population movements both within the country and to other countries, particularly to Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia,... Costa Rica, Curaçao, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guyana, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Trinidad and Tobago, and Uruguay. Since 2017, an estimated 5.2 million Venezuelans have migrated to other countries, including an estimated 4.3 million who have gone to countries in Latin America and the Caribbean.
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Under the theme Equity at the Heart of Health, this Plan seeks to catalyze efforts in Member States to reduce inequities in health within and between countries and territories in order to improve health outcomes. The Plan identifies specific actions to tackle health inequality, including those recom...mended by the Commission on Equity and Health Inequalities in the Americas, with guidance from the High-level Commission for Universal Health. Four cross-cutting themes are central to this Plan’s approach to addressing the determinants of health: equity, gender, ethnicity, and human rights
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In 2016, the risk of premature mortality1 from noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) in Ethiopia was 18.3%. The economic costs of NCDs are significant and are due principally to their impact on the non-health sector (reduced workforce and productivity). In this study, it is estimated that NCDs cost Ethiop...ia at least 31.3 billion birr (US$ 1.1 billion) per year, equivalent to 1.8% of the gross domestic product (GDP). Less than 15% of the costs are for health care.
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The report finds that, as of 3 November, in 87 countries with age-disaggregated data, children and adolescents under 20 years of age accounted for 1 in 9 of COVID-19 infections, or 11 per cent of the 25.7 million infections reported by these countries. More reliable, age-disaggregated data on infect...ion, deaths and testing is needed to better understand how the crisis impacts the most vulnerable children and guide the response
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BMJ 2020; 370 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.m3026 (Published 11 August 2020)
The BMJ "practice pointer" inlcudes a one-page visual summary of assessment and initial management of patients with persistant symptoms following acute SARS-CoV-2 infection