Based on scientific evidence, expert consensus and country experiences, the WHO core components for infection prevention and control (IPC) are the foundation for establishing or strengthening effective programmes at the national and facility level.
These new guidelines on core components of infecti...on prevention and control (IPC) at the national and acute health care facility level will enhance the capacity of Member States to develop and implement effective technical and behaviour modifying interventions. They form a key part of WHO strategies to prevent current and future threats from infectious diseases such as Ebola, strengthen health service resilience, help combat antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and improve the overall quality of health care delivery. They are also intended to support countries in the development of their own national protocols for IPC and AMR action plans and to support health care facilities as they develop or strengthen their own approaches to IPC.
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The International Organization for Migration (IOM) is appealing for USD 158.9 million to respond to the urgent humanitarian needs of millions of Afghans and to support recovery and resilience within the country and the region.
IOM’s Comprehensive Action Plan for Afghanistan and Neighbouring Cou...ntries aims to help the most vulnerable populations by combining humanitarian, development and peace interventions, known as the HDP nexus.
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Infection 2023 Oct;51(5):1399-1406. doi: 10.1007/s15010-023-01999-9. Epub 2023 Feb 20.
The results indicate a significantly higher rate of infections with S. mansoni in street children compared with orphans. This might be explained by the lack of access to adequate sanitation for street children ...as well as regular contact with the water of Lake Victoria. However, we did not find similar results concerning infection rates with protozoa. The study results show overall inadequate living conditions in this study population, which could be addressed by public health interventions.
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In 2019, following a request from the Codex Committee on Food Hygiene (CCFH), the Codex Alimentarius Committee (CAC) approved new work at its 42nd Session on the development of guidelines for the control of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) in leafy vegetables and in sprouts.
The obje...ctive of the report was to evaluate commodity-specific interventions used at all stages of fresh fruit and vegetable production from primary production to post-harvest activities, transportation, point of sale and consumer use. Emphasis was placed on the identification and evaluation of interventions used throughout the world to reduce microbiological hazards of fresh fruits and vegetables that contribute to the risk of foodborne illnesses, taking into consideration their effectiveness, practicality and suitability.
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In this era, grand challenges lies in biodiversity loss, climate change, and global noncommunicable diseases signify that planet and humanity are in crisis. Scholarly evidence from human and animal kingdom suggest that there is an optimism in planetary health which can provide a unique and novel con...cept where efforts toward survival and remediation can be made. With accurate navigation, the current challenges can be mitigated leading to a new reality, one in which the core value is the well‐being of all. This paper discusses the drivers of planetary health and the role of community health workers (CHWs) in making health‐care system more resilient that can produce multiple benefits to community and overall planetary health. A web‐based international database such as Google, Google Scholar, SCOPUS/MEDLINE/PubMed, and JSTOR was searched relevant to a planetary health framework. The study findings suggest that CHWs can offer health care interventions through environmental health cobenefits across the spectrum of health effects of climate change cause and effects. These actions have been divided into four major categories (i. health care promotion and prevention, ii. health care strengthening, iii. advocacy, and iv. education and research) that CHWs perform through a variety of roles and functions they are engaged in protecting planetary health. CHWs contribute toward achieving sustainable development goals such as planetary health and focus on environment sustainability and well‐being of entire mankind.
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A discussion paper on the scope of the problem, its drivers, and strategies for moving forward for policy, practice, and research
In many protracted emergencies, the prevalence rates of global acute malnutrition (GAM) regularly exceed the emergency threshold of > 15% of children with acute malnutri...tion (< -2 weight-for-height z-scores (WHZ) or with nutritional edema), despite ongoing humanitarian interventions. The widespread scale and long-lasting nature of “persistent GAM” means that it is a policy and programming priority.
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L’hémorragie du post-partum (HPP) est communément définie comme une perte
sanguine d’au moins 500 ml survenant dans les 24 heures qui suivent l’accouchement.
Elle est la première cause de mortalité maternelle dans les pays à revenu faible
et la cause principale de près d’un décès... maternel sur quatre dans le monde. La plupart
des décès imputables à l’HPP surviennent pendant les premières 24 heures après
l’accouchement. La majorité d’entre eux pourraient être évités par l’administration
prophylactique d’utérotoniques au cours de la délivrance et une prise en charge
appropriée en temps opportun.
L’amélioration des soins aux femmes pendant l’accouchement en vue de prévenir
et traiter l’HPP est une étape essentielle vers la réalisation des objectifs du Millénaire
pour le développement. Ces recommandations ont donc pour objectif principal
de jeter les bases de l’élaboration de politiques et de programmes stratégiques
nécessaires pour garantir la mise en oeuvre pérenne d’interventions efficaces
en vue de réduire la charge mondiale de l’HPP.
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Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) such as cancer, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and chronic respiratory diseases and their risk factors are an increasing public health and development challenge in Turkey. This report provides evidence through three analyses that NCDs reduce economic output, and di...scusses potential options in response, outlining details of their relative returns on investment. An economic burden analysis shows that economic losses from NCDs are equivalent to 3.6% of gross domestic product. An intervention costing analysis provides an estimate of the funding required to implement a set of policy interventions for prevention and clinical interventions. A cost–benefit analysis compares these implementation costs with the estimated health gains and identifies which policy packages would give the greatest returns on investment.
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Volume 3, Cancer, presents the complex patterns of cancer incidence and death around the world and evidence on effective and cost-effective ways to control cancers. The DCP3 evaluation of cancer will indicate where cancer treatment is ineffective and wasteful, and offer alternative cancer care packa...ges that are cost-effective and suited to low-resource settings. Main messages from the volume include:
-Quality matters in all aspects of cancer treatment and palliation.
-Cancer registries that track incidence, mortality, and survival paired with systems to capture causes of death are important to understanding the national cancer burden and the effect of interventions over time.
-Effective interventions exist at a range of prices. Adopting ‘resource appropriate’ measures which allow the most effective treatment for the greatest number of people will be advantageous to countries.
-Prioritizing resources toward early stage and curable cancers is likely to have the greatest health impact in low income settings.
-Research prioritization is no longer just a global responsibility.
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The document outlines the 2019 update to the South African guideline for managing chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). It emphasizes the importance of early diagnosis, prevention through smoking cessation, use of bronchodilators as primary pharmacotherapy, and a comprehensive approach to pa...tient care including pulmonary rehabilitation and the management of comorbidities. The guideline also covers recommendations for handling acute exacerbations, surgical interventions, and long-term treatment options.
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BMC Infectious Diseases (2019) 19:832
Intestinal schistosomiasis is highly endemic in Tanzania and mass drug administration (MDA) using
praziquantel is the mainstay of the control program. However, the MDA program covers only school aged children
and does not include neither adult individuals nor... other public health measures. The Ijinga schistosomiasis project
examines the impact of an intensified treatment protocol with praziquantel MDA in combination with additional
public health interventions. It aims to investigate the feasibility of eliminating intestinal schistosomiasis in a highly
endemic African setting using an integrated community-based approach.
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This document is intended to guide the care of COVID-19 patients as the response capacity of health systems is challenged; to ensure that COVID-19 patients can access life-saving treatment, without compromising public health objectives and safety of health workers.
It promotes two key messages:
...
1. Key public health interventions regardless of transmission scenario; and
2. Key action steps to be taken by transmission scenario to enable timely surge of clinical operations.
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The toolkit provides guidance on where to get started, including the structures and resources that should be put in place at the national and health-care facility level, through a stepwise approach in low-resource settings. As the ultimate goal of an AMS programme is sustainable behaviour change in ...physicians’ antibiotic prescribing practices, the toolkit also provides detailed guidance on how to plan, perform and assess AMS interventions – including feedback on antibiotic use over time. Finally, the toolkit provides an overview of the competencies an AMS team needs to guide health-care professionals in changing their antibiotic prescribing behaviours.
Please note that this course is part of a training package, so please register for the complementary course WHO Policy Guidance on Integrated Antimicrobial Stewardship Activities so that you can complete your learning journey.
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In Vietnam, most of the examination and treatment facilities are facing with of spread of bacteria resistant to many antibiotics. The level and speed of drug resistance are increasing, at alarming level. The burden of drug resistance is increasing due to the increasing cost of treatment, prolonged t...reatment,. That will affect patients’ health, community and social development. In the future, many
nations will be able to face the possibility of having no effective drugs to treat infectious diseases if they do not make appropriate interventions.
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Although Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) have been isolated from a variety of food production animals, they are most commonly associated with ruminants from which we derive meat and milk. Because of the widespread and diverse nature of ruminant-derived food production, coupled with the... near ubiquity of STEC worldwide, there is no single definitive solution for controlling STEC that will work alone or in all situations. Instead, the introduction of multiple interventions applied in sequence, as a “multiple-hurdle scheme” at several points throughout the food chain (including processing, transport and handling) will be most effective.
This report summarizes the review and evaluation of interventions applied for the control of STEC in cattle, raw beef and raw milk and raw milk cheese manufactured from cows’ milk, and also evaluates available evidence for other small ruminants, swine and other animals. The information is presented from primary production, to the end of processing, providing the reader with information on the currently available interventions based on the latest scientific evidence.
This work was undertaken to support the development of guidelines for the control of STEC in beef, raw milk and cheese produced from raw milk by the Codex Committee on Food Hygiene (CCFH).
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In order to target resources and drugs to reach trachoma elimination targets by the year 2020, data on the burden of disease are required. Using prevalence data in African countries derived from the Global Atlas of Trachoma (GAT), the distribution of trachoma continues to be focused in East and West... Sub-Saharan Africa, North Africa and a few endemic countries in Central Sub-Saharan Africa. Currently, 129.4 million people are estimated to live in areas that are confirmed to be trachoma endemic and 98 million are known to require access to the SAFE strategy. The maps and information presented in this work highlight the GAT as important open-access planning and advocacy tool for efforts to finalize trachoma mapping and assist national programmes in planning interventions.
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Lancet Public health 2022 January 6, 2022 https://doi.org/10.1016/ S2468-2667(21)00249-8
Growth in the number of individuals living with dementia underscores the need for public health planning efforts and policy to address the needs of this group. Country-level estimates can be used to inform nati...onal planning efforts and decisions. Multifaceted approaches, including scaling up interventions to address modifiable risk factors and investing in research on biological mechanisms, will be key in addressing the expected increases in the number of individuals affected by dementia.
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This guideline provides updated, evidence-informed guidance on the percentage of total fat in the diet to reduce the risk of unhealthy weight gain.
This guideline is intended for a wide audience involved in the development, design and implementation of policies and programmes in nutrition and pub...lic health. This guideline includes a recommended level of total fat intake which can be used by policy-makers and programme managers to address various aspects of dietary fat in their populations through a range of policy actions and public health interventions.
The guidance in this guideline replaces previous WHO guidance on total fat intake, including that from the 1989 WHO Study Group on Diet, Nutrition and the Prevention of Chronic Diseases and the 2002 Joint WHO/FAO Expert Consultation on Diet, Nutrition and the Prevention of Chronic Diseases. The guidance in this guideline should be considered in the context of that from other WHO guidelines on healthy diets.
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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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