Arsenic contaminated tube well water was first detected in Bangladesh in early 1990s. The arsenic comes from naturally arsenic-rich material delivered by the region's river systems, deposited over many years to make up the land of Bangladesh. Arsenic contamination is not caused by tube wells, or by ...irrigation or application of fertilizers.
Today, although 98 per cent of the population uses an improved drinking water source the safe water coverage of Bangladesh is 86 per cent because of arsenic contamination.
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Drinking-water quality regulations and standards developed or revised in accordance with this guidance will reflect the best practices identified in the WHO Guidelines for Drinking-water Quality to most effectively protect public health. Moreover, the regulations and standards will consider local ne...eds, priorities and capacities to ensure that they are realistic and appropriate. Topics covered include:
- Guiding principles
- Getting started
- Selecting parameters and parameter limits
- Setting out compliance monitoring requirements
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UNICEF analysis indicates that:
- Investments that increase access to high-impact health and nutrition interventions by poor groups have saved almost twice as many lives as equivalent investments in non-poor groups.
- Access to high-impact health and nutrition interventions has improved ra...pidly among poor groups in recent years, leading to substantial improvements in equity.
- During the period studied, absolute reductions in under-five mortality rates associated with improvements in intervention coverage were three times faster among poor groups than non-poor groups.
- Because birth rates were higher among the poor, the reduction in the under-five mortality rate translated into 4.2 times more lives saved for every 1 million people. Indeed, of the 1.1 million lives saved across the 51 countries during the final year studied for each country, nearly 85 per cent were among the poor.
- Intensified focus on equity-enhancing policies and investments can help countries achieve the Sustainable Development Goal newborn and child mortality targets (SDG3.2).
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Giving Myanmar's displaced their land back
The Norwegian Refugee Council and Displacement Solutions have produced the report "Addressing Myanmar's Unsettled Restitution Gap" to advocate and help find ways for displaced people in Myanmar to be able to return home and recover their property and pos...sessions.
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For Strengthening Mental Health In Cultural-Linguistic Communities Projects
The Perinatal Mental Health Project (PMHP) provides training to health
workers and community-based workers involved in caring for mothers. This
handbook is intended as a supplement to this training programme and as a
resource to anyone involved with mothers and mothers-to-be.
The handbook should... be used in an active way: use it and add to it as best
suits your local setting. The intended outcome of this handbook is to improve
the quality of service offered to women in emotional distress and to
meet the needs of maternal health workers, like you, who want to be better
equipped in this task.
The handbook covers a range of topics. Each chapter has a clear set of
learning objectives and a summary. Some chapters include practical activities
which should help with linking the theory with your practice.
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Report of the 23rd WHO Expert Committee on the selection and use of essential medicines
This executive summary reports the recommendations made by the Expert Committee for the 2021 update of the WHO Model List of Essential Medicines (EML) and the Model List of Essential Medicine for Children (EMLc)....
The 23rd meeting of the WHO Expert Committee on Selection and Use of Essential Medicines was coordinated from Geneva, Switzerland, and held virtually from 21 June to 2 July 2021. The Committee considered 88 applications proposing additions, changes and deletions of medicines, medicine classes and formulation on the Model Lists of Essential Medicines. The Committee evaluated the scientific evidence for comparative effectiveness, safety and cost-effectiveness of the medicines in question. The Committee also considered a review of the therapeutic alternatives for medicines on the Model Lists, and update to the AWaRe classification of antibiotics, and reviews and reports relevant to the selection and use of essential medicines.
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(Advance unedited version)
Continuing a worrying decade-long rising trend, the number of people forced to flee due to persecution, conflict, violence, human rights violations and events seriously disturbing public order climbed to 89.3 million by the end of 2021. This is more than double the 42.7 million people who remained f...orcibly displaced at the end of 2012 and represents a sharp 8 per cent increase of almost 7 million people in the span of just 12 months. As a result, above one per cent of the world’s population – or 1 in 88 people – were forcibly displaced at the end of 2021. This compares with 1 in 167 at the end of 2012. During 2021, some 1.7 million people crossed international borders seeking protection and 14.4 million new displacements within their countries were reported. This is a dramatic increase from the combined 11.2 million a year earlier.
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The third edition, released in 2018, has grown to include a total of 18 chapters, contributed by 20 experts and authors from many countries. The goal remains the same: to educate primary care providers on the best practices in TB diagnosis, treatment and follow-up. All articles are richly illustrate...d, and most include quizzes and CME questions for self learning. The 3rd edition includes new chapters on MDR-TB, adverse effects of TB drugs, adherence monitoring strategies, and nutritional support. There is also content on how to manage children with TB, care for patients co-infected with TB and HIV, how to read and interpret chest x-rays, and how to avoid common pitfalls in TB management.
To download book chapters or the whole book go to the website: http://www.letstalktb.org/download/
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The new WHO guidelines recommend that people living with HIV be started on antiretrovirals (ARVs) as soon as possible after being diagnosed. Currently, many people living with the virus globally must wait until their CD4 counts fall to 500 to start treatment. According to the WHO, the move to early ...treatment –or what some have dubbed the “test and treat” model –is backed by the latest research.
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Good primary care may lead to fewer avoidable hospitalizations, but unsafe primary care can cause avoidable illness and injury, leading to unnecessary hospitalizations, and in some cases, disability and even death.Implementing system changes and practices are crucial to improve safety at all levels ...of health care. Recognizing the paucity of accessible information on primary care, World Health Organization (WHO) set up a Safer Primary Care Expert Working Group. The Working Group reviewed the literature, prioritized areas in need of further research and compiled a set of nine monographs which cover selected priority technical topics. WHO is publishing this technical series to make the work of these distinguished experts available to everyone with an interest in Safer Primary Care.The aim of this technical series is to provide a compendium of information on key issues that can impact safety in the provision of primary health care.
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