Climate-induced water insecurity poses one of the biggest threats to humanity and will lead to more hunger, disease and displacement
Oxfam water engineers are having to drill deeper, more expensive and harder-to-maintain water boreholes used by some of the poorest communities around the world, mo...re often now only to find dry, depleted or polluted reservoirs.
Today, during World Water Week, Oxfam publishes the first of its series of reports, “Water Dilemmas”, about the growing water crisis, in large part driven by global heating from greenhouse gas emissions. The report describes how climate change will impact water security in different regions, leading to more hunger, disease and displacement.
Carlos Calderon, Humanitarian Advocacy and Partnerships Lead for Oxfam Aotearoa said, “This new Oxfam research is focused on the global Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WaSH) situation, but it paints a picture that illustrates the complexity of elements that, combined, will continue to increasingly affect women, girls, boys and men in the decades to come. Changing weather, poverty, inequality, gender-based violence, political instability and conflicts are impacting the availability and quality of adequate water systems. All governments, particularly those from rich countries, should responsively take action at a global scale. The clock is ticking. Our children will judge us for our actions today, or for the lack of them.”
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The report provides an epidemiological update on cholera outbreaks in Haiti as of January 17, 2023. Since the first confirmed cases in October 2022, Haiti has reported 24,232 suspected cases, including 1,742 confirmed cases and 483 deaths. The most affected areas are in the Ouest Department, particu...larly Port-au-Prince. Children aged 1 to 4 years are the most affected group. The ongoing humanitarian crisis, security issues, and limited access to healthcare have worsened the outbreak, hindering epidemiological surveillance and case reporting. The PAHO/WHO is working with Haitian authorities to respond to the outbreak and mitigate its spread.
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The number of new Ebola infections in Sierra Leone is declining, despite the outbreak continuing to claim lives. New cases have dropped to around 9-12 per week, according to recent WHO figures. There were over 500 cases per week at the height of the crisis around late November 2014.
The impact on t...he lives of the thousands of people directly affected by the disease has been devastating. It has caused substantial suffering to many others, leaving the population very vulnerable.
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This learning report attempts to understand the drivers for, and barriers to, effective implementation as well as review the experiences of Start Fund members in responding to these outbreaks to support evidence-based decision-making within the Start Network at project, crisis, and system level. Spe...cifically, it analyses the effectiveness, efficiency, and relevance of Start Fund disease outbreak responses by reviewing and analysing funding, decision-making and response activities before ultimately exploring implications and recommendations.
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The purpose of this plan is to:
Present the GoP’s strategy and actions;
Propose an aid coordination approach;
Identify the critical support needs, including for: public health response to COVID-19; budget support to maintain government services; and diplomatic engagement with region...al partners; and
Describe our expectations of the longer-term economic impact of COVID-19 and required economic recovery actions.
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This report makes the case for a major new initiative—to rapidly recruit, train and deploy 2 million community health workers in Africa. Drawing on a vast body of evidence and substantial regional experience, the report shows how community health workers save lives and improve quality of life and ...how investments in community health workers effectively harness the demographic dividend, reduce gender inequality and accelerate economic growth and development. Indeed, the benefits of community health workers stretch from one end of the Agenda for Sustainable Development to the other.
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The WHO Guidance on community mental health services: Promoting person-centred and rights-based approaches document is part of the WHO Guidance and technical packages on community mental health services set of publications. It provides a detailed description of person-centred and human rights-based ...approaches in mental health, and summary examples of good practice services around the world. It describes the linkages needed with housing, education, employment and social protection sectors, and presents examples of integrated regional and national networks of community-based mental health services. Specific recommendations and action steps are presented for developing community mental health services that respect human rights and focus on recovery. This comprehensive document is accompanied by a set of seven technical packages focused on specific categories of mental health services and guidance for setting up new services.
The WHO Guidance on community mental health services: Promoting person-centred and rights-based approaches is a set of publications that provides information and support to all stakeholders who wish to develop or transform their mental health system and services to align with international human rights standards including the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
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Lancet Oncol 2022; 23: e251–312Published OnlineMay 9, 2022 https://doi.org/10.1016/S1470-2045(21)00720-8
In sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), urgent action is needed to curb a growing crisis in cancer incidence and mortality.
Without rapid interventions, data estimates show a major increase in cancer mo...rtality from 520 348 in 2020 to about
1 million deaths per year by 2030. Here, we detail the state of cancer in SSA, recommend key actions on the basis of
analysis, and highlight case studies and successful models that can be emulated, adapted, or improved across the
region to reduce the growing cancer crises. Recommended actions begin with the need to develop or update national
cancer control plans in each country. Plans must include childhood cancer plans, managing comorbidities such as
HIV and malnutrition, a reliable and predictable supply of medication, and the provision of psychosocial, supportive,
and palliative care. Plans should also engage traditional, complementary, and alternative medical practices employed
by more than 80% of SSA populations and pathways to reduce missed diagnoses and late referrals. More substantial
investment is needed in developing cancer registries and cancer diagnostics for core cancer tests.
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In an effort to improve the capabilities and accountability of humanitarian and economic practitioners, the SEEP (Small Enterprise Education and Promotion) Network's Minimum Economic Recovery Standards focus on minimum industry standards for facilitating economic recovery in crisis situations.
Th...e handbook sets out strategies and interventions designed to improve income, cash flow, asset management, and growth among crisis-affected households and enterprises. These include financial services, productive assets, employment, and enterprise development. It emphasizes encouraging the re-start of enterprises and livelihoods strategies, and improving market productivity and governance
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While the world was gripped by the unfolding COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, children continued to face the same crisis they have for decades: intolerably high mortality rates and vastly inequitable chances at life. In total, more than 5.0 million children under age 5, including 2.4 million newborns, alo...ng with 2.2 million children and youth aged 5 to 24 years – 43 per cent of whom are adolescents – died in 2020. This tragic and massive loss of life, most of which was due to preventable or treatable causes, is a stark reminder of the urgent need to end preventable deaths of children and young people.
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Conflicts and disasters, including pandemics, affect women and men in all their diversity differently, and women and girls often suffer the most. Crisis-related hardships combine and compound pre-existing disadvantages, for example, they often cause women’s working conditions to worsen while incre...asing their overall workload and care responsibilities. At the same time, crises can give rise to changes that enable women to take up roles that were previously available only to men, and crises can open opportunities to address existing gender-based discrimination and violations of rights.
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The purpose of this field guide is to provide comprehensive information on planning and implementing high-quality3 SIAs for injectable vaccines and highlight the opportunities to strengthen RI and surveillance. The guide uses measles–rubella SIAs as the main example throughout, but the informatio...n provided aims to be applicable to SIAs delivering any injectable vaccine. It can serve as a reference for the preparation of regional/national SIA field guides and materials.
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Global growth is projected to slow significantly amid high inflation, tight monetary policy, and more restrictive credit conditions. The possibility of more widespread bank turmoil and tighter monetary policy could result in even weaker global growth and lead to financial dislocations in the most vu...lnerable emerging market and developing economies (EMDEs). Comprehensive policy action is needed to foster macroeconomic and financial stability. Among many EMDEs, and especially in low-income countries, bolstering fiscal sustainability will require generating higher revenues, making spending more efficient, and improving debt management practices. Continued international cooperation is also necessary to tackle climate change, support populations affected by crises and hunger, and provide debt relief where needed.
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Myanmar, as a country going through rapid socio-political transition and institutional development also suffers with a high burden of infectious disease. An ongoing challenge has been to effectively reach its 51 million population, most of whom battle tuberculosis, acute respiratory infections, diar...rhoea and malaria including amongst under-five children.
Limited research data on the occurrence of resistant organisms in the nation have, makes it hard to estimate the exact antimicrobial resistance (AMR) scenario. Limited peer reviewed evidence indicates significant divergence from the average resistance trends in APAC region. Nevertheless, several key steps by Government of Myanmar have been instrumental in paving the way for the country to join other nations in the South East Asia Region to speed up its plan on addressing the AMR crisis. Combating antimicrobial resistance would, however, require highest political commitment, multi-sectoral coordination, sustained investment and technical assistance.
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Policy Brief November 2021 Available in English, Spanish and Portuguese
The COVID-19 pandemic has fueled the ongoing antimicrobial resistance (AMR) global crisis due to the increase in the use of antibiotics to treat COVID-19 patients, disruptions to infection prevention and control practices in o...verwhelmed health systems, and diversion of human and financial resources away from monitoring and responding to AMR threats. Moreover, AMR is likely to have caused more COVID-19 deaths, as secondary bacterial infections can worsen the outcome of severe and critical COVID-19 illness. Therefore, it is more urgent than ever to prioritize efforts towards AMR containment and support countries to improve the detection, characterization and rapid response to emerging AMR.
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Las presentes Directrices para el Abordaje del VIH en Contextos de Asistencia Humanitaria tienen el propósito de ayudar a las organizaciones de asistencia humanitaria y VIH a planificar la administración de un conjunto mínimo de servicios de prevención, tratamiento, atención y apoyo para el VIH... a las personas afectadas por crisis humanitarias.
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Myanmar is prone to various natural hazards that include earthquakes, floods, cyclones, droughts, fires, tsunamis, some of whichhave the potential to impact large numbers of people. In the event that large numbers of people are affected(such as was the case in 2008 following cyclone Nargis), the gov...ernment may decide to request international assistance to respond to the disaster.
The overall goal of the ERPP is to mitigate the impact of disasters and save as many lives as possible from preventable causes. It aims to ensure that effective and timely assistance is provided to people in need through effective coordination and communication on emergency preparedness and humanitarian response between members of the HCTin Myanmar. The approach has been developed in collaboration with the Government, to facilitate a coordinated and effective support to people affected by humanitarian crises.
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The Council was established in late 2020 by Dr Tedros Adhanom
Ghebreyesus (Director-General, WHO) to provide new economic thinking – reassessing how health and wellbeing are valued, produced and distributed across the economy. An all-female group of 10 distinguished economists and area experts, t...he Council has focused on reimagining how to put Health for All at the heart of government decision-making and private sector collaboration at regional, national and international levels.
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Key Messages and Recommendations.
The Report, Todos y todas sin excepción, produced by the Global Education Monitoring (GEM) Report and the Regional Bureau for Education in Latin America and the Caribbean (OREALC /UNESCO Santiago), along with the Laboratory of Education, Research and Innovation in... Latin America and the Caribbean (SUMMA) shows that, prior to the pandemic, in 21 countries, children from the richest households were five times as likely as the poorest to complete upper secondary school.
Learning outcomes were low before COVID-19. Only half of 15-year-olds achieved minimum proficiency in reading. In Guatemala and Panama, barely 10 disadvantaged 15-year-old students master basic mathematics skills for every 100 of their better-off peers. Indigenous people and Afro-descendants also have lower attainment and literacy rates.
The report includes a set of key recommendations for the next decade, which will help countries achieve the objectives of the 2030 Agenda and calls for schools to be more inclusive, which many still are not.
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