Policy brief, 24 July 2020
The COVID-19 pandemic has affected older people disproportionately, especially those living in long-term care facilities. In many countries, evidence shows that more than 40% of COVID-19 related deaths have been linked to long-term care facilities, with figures being as h...igh as 80% in some high-income countries. Concerted action is needed to mitigate the impact across all aspects of long-term care, including home- and community-based care, given that most users and providers of care are those who are vulnerable to severe COVID-19.
This policy brief provides 11 policy objectives and key action points to prevent and manage COVID-19 across long-term care. Its intended audience is policy makers and authorities (national, subnational and local) involved in the COVID-19 pandemic. The brief builds on currently available evidence on the measures taken to prevent, prepare for and respond to the COVID‑19 pandemic across long-term care services including care providers
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The ICOPE guidance for person-centred assessment and pathways in primary care (ICOPE Handbook) helps community health and care workers put the recommendations outlined in the ICOPE Guidelines into practice. The Handbook assists with setting person-centred goals, screening for loss in a range of doma...ins of intrinsic capacity and assessing health and social care needs to develop a personalised care plan. The care plan may include multiple interventions to manage declines in intrinsic capacity, provide social care and support, support self-management and support caregivers. The domains of intrinsic capacity include cognitive decline, limited mobility, malnutrition, visual impairment, hearing loss and depressive symptoms.
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Water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) are critical in the prevention and care for all of the 17 neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) scheduled for intensified control or elimination by 2020.
Provision of safe water, sanitation and hygiene is one of the five key interventions within the global NTD ...roadmap. Yet to date, the WASH component of the strategy has received little attention and the potential to link efforts on WASH and NTDs has been largely untapped.
Focused efforts on WASH are urgently needed if the global NTD roadmap targets are to be met. This is especially needed for NTDs where transmission is most closely linked to poor WASH conditions such as soil-transmitted helminthiasis, schistosomiasis, trachoma and lymphatic filariasis.
This strategy aims to mobilise WASH and NTD actors to work together towards the roadmap targets.
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Background: Cardiovascular disease (CVD), mainly heart attack and stroke, is the
leading cause of premature mortality in low and middle income countries (LMICs).
Identifying and managing individuals at high risk of CVD is an important strategy to prevent and control CVD, in addition to multisector...al population-based interventions to reduce CVD risk factors in the entire population.
Methods: We describe key public health considerations in identifying and managing individuals at high risk of CVD in LMICs.
Results: A main objective of any strategy to identify individuals at high CVD risk is to maximize the number of CVD events averted while minimizing the numbers of
individuals needing treatment. Scores estimating the total risk of CVD (e.g. ten-year risk of fatal and non-fatal CVD) are available for LMICs, and are based on the main CVD risk factors (history of CVD, age, sex, tobacco use, blood pressure, blood cholesterol and diabetes status). Opportunistic screening of CVD risk factors enables identification of persons with high CVD risk, but this strategy can be widely applied in low resource settings only if cost effective interventions are used (e.g. the WHO Package of Essential NCD interventions for primary health care in low resource settings package) and if treatment (generally for years) can be sustained, including continued availability ofaffordable medications and funding mechanisms that allow people to purchase medications without impoverishing them (e.g. universal access to health care). Thisalso emphasises the need to re-orient health systems in LMICs towards chronic diseases management.
Conclusion: The large burden of CVD in LMICs and the fact that persons with high
CVD can be identified and managed along cost-effective interventions mean that
health systems need to be structured in a way that encourages patient registration, opportunistic screening of CVD risk factors, efficient procedures for the management of chronic conditions (e.g. task sharing) and provision of affordable treatment for those with high CVD risk. The focus needs to be in primary care because that is where most of the population can access health care and because CVD programmes can be run effectively at this level.
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Today, the World Health Organization (WHO) is advancing the global fight against acute malnutrition in children under 5 with the launch of its new guideline on the prevention and management of wasting and nutritional oedema (acute malnutrition). This milestone is a crucial response to the persistent... global issue of acute malnutrition, which affects millions of children worldwide.
In 2015, the world committed to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including the ambitious target of eliminating malnutrition in all of its forms by 2030. However, despite these commitments, the proportion of children with acute malnutrition has persisted at a worrying level, affecting an estimated 45 million children under five worldwide in 2022.
In 2022, approximately 7.3 million children received treatment for severe acute malnutrition (SAM). Although treatment coverage has increased, children with SAM in many of the worst affected countries are still unable to access the full necessary care for them to recover.
The Global Action Plan (GAP) on child wasting recognized the need for updated normative guidance to support governments in the prevention and management of acute malnutrition. WHO answered this call to action and developed a comprehensive guideline that provides evidence-based recommendations and good practice statements and will be followed by guidance and tools for implementation.
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23 March 2021
The meeting addressed the last key area, that is, determining the best method or combination of diagnostic methods for a control programme for S. stercoralis infections in humans.
Dr Montresor’s presentation highlighted that while there is currently no “gold standard” for the... diagnosis of S. stercoralis, there is a felt urgency to optimize diagnostic regimens that are currently available, and in the context of population-based testing (as opposed to individual focused diagnostics in clinical settings).
In other words, the diagnostic test(s) should have good accuracy, but we should remember that in public health we do not aim at individual diagnosis: rather, we need a tool that should help to estimate the prevalence in a population.
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Suicides take a high toll. Over 800 000 people die by suicide every year and it is the second leading cause of
death in 15-29-year-olds. Most suicides occur in low- and middle-income countries where resources
and services, if they do exist, are often scarce and limited for early identification, tr...eatment and support of
people in need. These striking facts and the lack of implemented timely interventions make suicide a serious
global public health problem that needs to be tackled urgently.
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Infectious disease outbreaks are periods of
great uncertainty. Events unfold, resources
and capacities that are often limited
are stretched yet further, and decisions
for a public health response must be
made quickly, even though the evidence
for decision-making may be scant. In
such a... situation, public health officials,
policy-makers, funders, researchers, field
epidemiologists, first responders, national
ethics boards, health-care workers, and public
health practitioners need a moral compass
to guide them in their decision-making.
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August 2020.
In December 2018, the President launched the UHC pilot covering four strategically selected counties-Isiolo, Kisumu, Machakos and Nyeri. It isplanned that by the year 2022, all persons in Kenya will be able to use the essential services they need for their health... and wellbeing through a single unified benefit package, without the risk of financial catastrophe. Essential health products are considered an integral part of UHC andare an indispensable element for delivery ofservices andare also a requirement for qualitycare. Despite this realization, a review of the UHC pilot in September 2019 established that whereas the Kenya Medical Supplies Authority (KEMSA) was able to fill up to 80% of pharmaceutical items, the order fill rate for medical supplies was less than 50%for level 2 and 3 facilities and as low as 30%for level 4 and 5 facilities.
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This report reviews and analyses the Affordable Medicines Programme, which was introduced in Ukraine in April 2017 to provide patients with improved access to 23 outpatient medicines for the treatment of chronic noncommunicable diseases. The evaluation combines both quantitative and qualitative anal...ysis. The findings confirm that the Programme has contributed to a significant increase in access to needed outpatient medicines in Ukraine. Further, while implementation was successful overall, uptake across regions was uneven. The report concludes by listing a number of policy options to support the sustainability and expansion of the Affordable Medicines Programme.
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New data from the WHO reveal that an estimated 2.2 billion cases of malaria and 12.7 million deaths have been averted since 2000, but the disease remains a serious global health threat, particularly in the WHO African Region. According to WHO’s latest World malaria report, there were an estimated ...263 million cases and 597 000 malaria deaths worldwide in 2023. This represents about 11 million more cases in 2023 compared to 2022, and nearly the same number of deaths. Approximately 95% of the deaths occurred in the WHO African Region, where many at risk still lack access to the services they need to prevent, detect and treat the disease.
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After years of relative calm, Zimbabwe has been grappling with a cholera outbreak since 12 February 2023. This resurgence is not an isolated incident, as 10 more countries (Malawi, Mozambique, Somalia, Kenya, Ethiopia, Zambia, South Sudan, Burundi, Tanzania and South Africa) in Eastern and Southern ...Africa are facing similar challenges with cholera an acute watery diarrhea.
To date, a total of 13,176 suspected cases and 1,543 confirmed cases have been reported.This stark reality underscores the need for continued coordinated action to control the spread of this preventable disease.
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The WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) is an evidence-based treaty that reaffirms the right of all people to the highest standard of health and was developed in response to the globalization of the tobacco epidemic. Member States of the WHO South-East Asia Region have made... attempts to implement the demand and supply reduction strategies for tobacco control as recommended by the treaty. While recognizing the need to accelerate implementation of the WHO FCTC in the Region, this document has been developed to support the Member States in implementing the treaty using a ‘PRACTICAL’ Approach which pertains to identified demand and supply reduction strategies under the treaty.
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Yaws is a disfiguring non-venereal disease caused by infection with the spirochaete. Treponema pallidum subspecies pertenue which is closely related to the causative agent of syphilis and those of the other endemic treponematoses, bejel and pinta. The disease is endemic in certain areas of the World... Health Organization (WHO) African, South-East Asia and Western Pacific regions. Of the neglected tropical diseases identified for elimination and eradication, yaws is one of two diseases targeted for eradication. In 1949, the Second World Health Assembly adopted resolution WHA2.36, which addresses yaws, bejel and pinta as major public health problems that need attention.
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Multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) and extensively drug-resistant
tuberculosis (XDR-TB) increasingly occur in resource-constrained settings.
In the context of a national response to MDR- and XDR-TB, health workers in
TB clinics (in district hospitals and some accredited health centres) wil...l need
to diagnose MDR-TB, initiate second-line anti-TB drugs, and monitor MDRTB
treatment.
Management of MDR-TB: a field guide was created to help health workers
carry out these tasks. It is a job aid that medical officers and TB nurses
are meant use frequently during the day for quick reference. This module
is closely related to other clinical guideline modules in the Integrated
Management of Adolescent and Adult Illness (IMAI) series. In particular, the
approach to chronic disease management is taken from General principles
of good chronic care in the IMAI series.
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This guideline aims to improve the quality of essential, routine postnatal care for women and newborns with the ultimate goal of improving maternal and newborn health and well-being. It recognizes a “positive postnatal experience” as a significant end point for all women giving birth and their n...ewborns, laying the platform for improved short- and long-term health and well-being. A positive postnatal experience is defined as one in which women, newborns, partners, parents, caregivers and families receive information, reassurance and support in a consistent manner from motivated health workers; where a resourced and flexible health system recognizes the needs of women and babies, and respects their cultural context.
This is a consolidated guideline of new and existing recommendations on routine postnatal care for women and newborns receiving facility- or community-based postnatal care in any resource setting.
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Overview
Learning objectives
• Name the general principles of essential care and practice.
• Name management principles of priority MNS conditions.
• Use effective communication skills in interactions with people with MNS conditions.
• Perform assessments for priority MNS conditions.
... Assess and manage physical health in MNS conditions.
• Know the impact of violence and gender-based violence on mental health.
• Provide psychosocial interventions to a person with a priority MNS condition and their
carer.
• Deliver pharmacological interventions as needed and appropriate in priority MNS
conditions considering special populations.
• Plan and perform follow-up for MNS conditions.
• Refer to specialists and links with outside agencies for MNS conditions as appropriate and
available.
• Promote respect and dignity for people with priority MNS conditions.
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With the goal of ending viral hepatitis as a public health threat by 2030, the Regional Action Plan will provide an actionable framework for implementing evidence-based interventions at scale. It will be informed through strategic monitoring of the response, that must be equitable and sustainable an...d allow for innovations for acceleration and reaching out to all in need with health services. A major reduction in prices of newer drugs to potentially cure hepatitis C offers an added opportunity to work towards its elimination.
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The World Health Organization is issuing a "roadmap" to guide and coordinate the international response to the outbreak of Ebola virus disease in West Africa.
The aim is to stop ongoing Ebola transmission worldwide within 6–9 months, while rapidly managing the consequences of any further interna...tional spread. It also recognizes the need to address, in parallel, the outbreak’s broader socioeconomic impact.
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