Internally displaced persons (IDPs), refugees, migrants and returnees constitute a sizeable population in the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region. There were 12 million refugees (half are Palestinians) and 13 million IDPs in the Region as of 2018. These populations are often vul...nerable to poor health due to the conditions they live in and limited access to needed quality health care. In addition, those who can access care, are often faced with financial hardship. There are also 46 million professionals and low-income labour migrants in the Region (of which 22 million are from the Region), with differential access to health services and varied health coverage schemes
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The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic presents an exceptional and unprecedented challenge for competent authoritiesa with responsibilities for national food safety control systemsb to continue conducting routine functions and activities in accordance with national regulations... and international recommendations. In many countries, competent authority staff are largely working from home, teleworking being the normal practice, and all face-to-face meetings cancelled or rescheduled as teleconferences. It is challenging to maintain, without interruption, routine activities such as the inspection of food business operations, certifying exports, control of imported foods, monitoring and surveillance of the safety of the food supply chain, sampling and analysis of food, managing food incidents, providing advice on food safety and food regulations for the food industry, and communicating on food safety issues with the public.
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Der Artikel "Händedesinfektion unter den Bedingungen der SARS-CoV-2-Pandemie" war am 4.5.2020 online vorab erschienen und ist nun in der regulären Ausgabe des Epidemiologischen Bulletins 19/2020 zu finden.
Mund-Nasen-Bedeckung im öffentlichen Raum als weitere Komponente zur Reduktion der Übertragungen von COVID-19. Strategieergänzungen zu empfohlenen Schutzmaßnahmen und Zielen (3. Update) Das RKI empfiehlt ein generelles Tragen einer Mund-Nasen-Bedeckung (MNB) in bestimmten Situationen im öffentl...ichen Raum als einen weiteren Baustein, um Risikogruppen zu schützen und den Infektionsdruck und damit die Ausbreitungsgeschwindigkeit von COVID-19 in der Bevölkerung zu reduzieren. Diese Empfehlung beruht auf einer Neubewertung aufgrund der zunehmenden Evidenz, dass ein hoher Anteil von Übertragungen unbemerkt erfolgt, und zwar bereits vor dem Auftreten von Krankheitssymptomen. Ziel des im Epidemiologischen Bulletin 19/2020 veröffentlichten Artikels ist es, eine kurze Übersicht zum fachlichen Hintergrund der Empfehlung zu geben und zu erläutern, welche Dinge hierbei zu berücksichtigen sind.
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This What Matters? edition focuses on Covid-19 rumours circulating in the Rohingya camps of Cox’s Bazar. It explores some of the more common rumours, discusses sources and formats of information, presents community perspectives about rumours and communication, and suggests approaches to communicat...ing with the Rohingya community about Covid-19.
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Accessed on 21.05.2020
Considering a hotline? This set of tools will help you assess, set up and manage different types of channels to communicate with communities during humanitarian crises.
Coronavirus Disease-19 (COVID-19) was declared a global pandemic on 11 March 2020, and Malawi declared its first case on 2 April. As of 30 April, there were 36 confirmed positive cases of COVID-19 and 3 deaths. A State of Disaster was declared by President Arthur Peter Mutharika on 20 March and a 21...-day lockdown was implemented from 18 April to 9 May. The lockdown measures include: bans on public gatherings; closure of schools; and bans on international flights and cross-border passenger buses.
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- Interim guide: May 2020 update.
On the 25th of March, the GPEI circulated the first update of the interim guide to help ensure continuity of the programme’s operations in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as its support to the pandemic response while also ensuring the safety of its ...personnel and the communities it works with.
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In the current absence of vaccine for COVID-19, public health response target breaking the chain of infection by focusing on the mode of transmission. This paper summarizes current evidence-base around the transmission dynamics, pathogenic, and clinical features of COVID-19, to critically identify i...f there are any gaps in the current IPC guidelines.
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This guidance document addresses how physical distancing (referred to in previous guidance documents as ‘social distancing’) can help slow down transmission.
Ce document d'orientation explique comment la distance physique (désignée dans les documents d'orientation précédents sous le nom de «distance sociale») peut aider à ralentir la transmission.
Pandemics and outbreaks have differential impacts on women and men. From risk of exposure and biological susceptibility to infection to the social and economic implications, individuals’ experiences are likely to vary according to their biological and gender characteristics and... their interaction with other social determinants. Because of this, global and national strategic plans for COVID-19 preparedness and response must be grounded in strong gender analysis and must ensure meaningful participation of affected groups, including women and girls, in decision-making and implementation.
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For over a decade, Senegalese and international journalists, human rights advocates, and child protection experts have documented and denounced the ongoing exploitation, abuse and neglect of children living in many of Senegal’s traditional Quranic schools, or daaras. Thousands of these children, k...nown as talibés, continue to live in conditions of extreme squalor, deprived of adequate food and medical care.
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The equation is simple: we cannot effectively respond to a global pandemic when millions of people are still caught in warzones. We cannot treat sick people when hospitals are being bombed, or prevent the spread of coronavirus when tens of millions are forced to flee from violence. We must have a gl...obal ceasefire, and we must put our collective resources behind making that ceasefire a reality.
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Migrants in Central Asia and the Russian Federation, have been among the most severely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
In the short term, IOM aims at providing support to migrants who are stranded in countries of destination. In addition, IOM will focus its efforts on addressing data gaps, enhan...cing national and community preparedness, response and recovery efforts, ensuring that affected people have access to basic services, commodities and protection as well as mitigating the socioeconomic impact of COVID-19.
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The Government of Republic of Zambia reported the first confirmed cases of COVID-19 on 18th March 2020. As of April 27th, 2020, there were 89 confirmed cases, three deaths and 42 recoveries. Confirmed cases are located in three provinces: Lusaka (83 cases), Copperbelt province (5 cases) and Central ...(1 case). Zambia introduced a series of measures including closure of three international airports, closure of all schools, movement restrictions and closure of non-essential services such as restaurant, bar, gym and public gatherings to curb the transmission rate.
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The Venezuelan refugee and migrant crisis is one of the biggest external displacement crises in the world today. The COVID-19 pandemic has compounded an already desperate situation for many refugees and migrants, as well as their hosts, sorely testing health and social welfare systems and the abilit...y of countries to assist the vulnerable population.
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The global COVID-19 pandemic has led to unprecedented levels of disruption to education, impacting over 90% of the world’s student population: 1.54 billion children, including 743 million girls. School closures and the wider socio-economic impacts of COVID-19 on communities and society also disrup...t children’s and young people’s normal support systems, leaving them more vulnerable to illnesses and child protection risks such as physical and humiliating punishment, sexual and gender-based violence, child marriage, child labour, child trafficking and recruitment and use in armed conflict. Girls and other marginalised groups, particularly those in displaced settings, are particularly affected.
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This report provides an overview of the key information gaps and limitations in interpreting existing COVID-19 data