Development finance institutions owned by European governments and the World Bank Group are spending hundreds of millions of dollars on expensive for-profit hospitals in the Global South that block patients from getting care, or bankrupt them, with some even imprisoning patients who cannot afford th...eir bills. At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, some of these same hospitals denied entry to patients suffering from the virus or sold intensive care beds at eyewatering prices to the highest bidder. These development institutions have woefully inadequate safeguards, invest via a complex web of tax-avoiding financial intermediaries, and offer little to zero evidence on the impacts their investments are having. Oxfam is calling on rich-country governments and the World Bank Group to immediately halt their spending on for-profit private healthcare, and for an urgent independent investigation to be conducted into all active and historic investments.
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This regional action plan provides a broad framework for the regional level to assist governments in accelerating the implementation of existing international, regional and national commitments on ending FGM. Formulating the plan has provided an opportunity for the region to identify broad prioritie...s, initiate strategic actions and determine responsibilities among different actors. It also ensures that anti-FGM campaign activities are seen not as standalone efforts but rather as an integral part of the African Union’s discussions, in line with the African Union initiative on eliminating FGM (Saleema Initiative)
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This report reviews the latest evidence on what works to reduce HIV-related stigma and discrimination through key programmes to reduce stigma and discrimination and increase access to justice in the six settings of focus for the Global Partnership. It includes guidance for national governments and k...ey stakeholders on how stigma and discrimination harm; how the stigmatization process operates and how we can stop it; key principles of stigma- and discrimination-reduction efforts; an overview of common intervention approaches; recommendations based on the latest evidence for reducing HIV-related stigma and discrimination in the six settings; and an overview of considerations for monitoring the success of the programmatic interventions recommended for each setting.
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27 March 2020
Countrys: World and Kenya, Zambia, Ethiopia
The restrictions on movement imposed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic constitute one of the largest single global challenges that the humanitarian community has ever encountered. Maintaining continuity and quality in the delivery of e...ssential assistance and services, including protection services, in the face of these restrictions requires operations to quickly innovate, leveraging fully the rich capacities and established networks within both communities of persons of concern, as well as host communities.
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In response to a call by the United Nations Secretary-General and the Governments of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, an international team conducted an Ebola Recovery Assessment.The aim was to contribute towards laying the foundation for short-, medium- and long-term recovery while the medical eme...rgency response continues to tackle the epidemic.
This summary report is based on a full report as well as three detailed reports submitted to each of the three governments as contributions to their national recovery planning processes.
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A group-based stress managment course for adults.
Self-Help Plus (SH+) is WHO’s 5-session stress management course for large groups of up to 30 people. It is delivered by supervised, non-specialist facilitators who complete a short training course and use pre-recorded audio and an illustrated gui...de (Doing What Matters in Times of Stress) to teach stress management skills. The course is suitable for adults who experiences stress, wherever they live and whatever their circumstances. It has been shown to reduce psychological distress and prevent the onset of mental disorders. The format of SH+ makes it well-suited for use alongside other mental health interventions, as a first step in a stepped care programme, or as a community intervention delivered alongside broader community programming.
Download the audio files in English directly from the WHO Website https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240035119
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According to the United Nations, Yemen has been the "Worst humanitarian crisis in the world," for the past two years. Despite the Hudaydah Agreement signed in December 2018, the fighting continued in many areas of the country, such as Hajjah in the north, Al Dhale' e in the south and Hudaydah along ...the west coast. Within a year, another 400,000 Yemenis were forced to flee their homes, eventually adding up to one-eighth of the entire Yemeni population who had become displaced at least once, over the last five years.
In 2019, unprecedented heavy rain and flooding from May onwards caused catastrophic damage to homes and the families’ livelihoods, adding to their misery. Thousands of families who had already lost their home due to the fighting had yet again, their temporary shelters, beddings and essential kitchen supplies, destroyed.
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These include taking proactive measures to ensure that people, particularly people in vulnerable groups, can access HIV treatment and prevention services, designating and supporting essential workers, including community-led organizations, and implementing measures to prevent and address gender-base...d violence.
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UNHCR and its partners implement interventions focusing on adolescent girls and boys, including:
▪ Formation and capacity building of adolescent girls and boys’ clubs as peer groups for awareness raising, and SGBV prevention and response mechanisms.
▪ Community based protection activ...ities and training on child protection
▪ Provision of secondary education for secondary school-aged youth and recruitment of female teachers to encourage adolescent girls to continue education
▪ Introduction of community sharing/ parenting sessions and increasing the number of women support networks
▪ Establishing girls’ friendly spaces, which includes information sharing and psycho-social support
▪ Awareness raising campaigns with all members of the community, including community leaders
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DIAGNOSING PTSD IN CHILDHOOD | The following literature review addresses the developmental and domain-specific consequences of previous and current diagnostic criteria for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in pre-adolescent children. PTSD was introduced in 1980 to capture extreme responses follow...ing a traumatic event. I analyze the evolution of the disorder’s diagnostic criteria toward a more developmentally conscious structure. I also examine instances in which these criteria lack developmental consistency: (1) preschool PTSD is the only diagnostic subtype despite the fact that childhood development also differentiates traumatic expressions in older children from adolescents and adults; and (2) many of the PTSD epidemiological data that have been reanalyzed under the most recent (DSM-5) typology only refer to adolescent and adult samples although many researchers have
demonstrated that developmental alterations to DSM-IV and DSM-IV-TR criteria produce significantly higher prevalence rates in children.
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Women, girls and marginalized groups who are largely dependent on natural resources for livelihoods are among the hardest hit by extreme weather patterns. These weather patterns limit their access to food, water, shelter, education and access to essential health services, including those that addres...s sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), gender-based violence (GBV) and preventing harmful practices such as child marriage and female genital mutilation.
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On November 9, the Russian military announced a full retreat of all their forces from the right bank of Dnipro River; by November 11, 41 settlements, including Kherson city, were de-occupied by Ukrainian forces. Civilians who live in these areas have endured months of combat and occupation. Services... have been interrupted or severely disrupted due to damage or destruction of facilities and infrastructure through combat actions, looting of the majority of the valuable assets by the retreating Russian troops, and dispersion of the people rendering said services.
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The QualityRights training and orientation modules have been developed to enhance the knowledge, skills and understanding of key stakeholders on how to promote the rights of people with psychosocial, intellectual or cognitive disabilities, improve the quality of services and support provided in the ...field of mental health and related areas, in line with international human rights standards, in particular the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the recovery approach.
mental health and related fields, in accordance with international human rights standards, in particular the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the recovery approach.
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This Global Competency Standards sets the benchmark for the health workforce in providing equality of care to refugees and migrants. Refugee and migrant populations are highly diverse, with significant variation in life experiences, health needs and access to health care. The standards described out...line expected behaviours of health workers in delivering quality care to refugees and migrants and can be used to inform the outcomes of education programmes aligned with standards for care. The Competency Standards is designed to provide a foundation to support the development of competency-based curricula tailored to the local context and for health workers to achieve a minimum level of competence. The importance of person-centred, culturally responsive care is emphasized in the nine competency standards, which recognize the need for health workers to be trained, supported and empowered within strong health systems
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Recognizing the extent to which the COVID-19 outbreaks affects women and men differently is hugely important. Some preliminary data suggested that more men than women are dying, potentially due to sex-based immunological differences, higher rates of cardiovascular disease for men and lifestyle choic...es, such as smoking. However, the experiences and lessons learned from the Zika and Ebola outbreaks and the HIV pandemic demonstrate that robust gender analysis and informed, gender-integrated response are vital to strengthen the access and acceptability of the humanitarian services needed to meet the distinct needs of women and girls, as well as men and boy and LGBTI people.
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This Interim Guidance outlines how key public health and social measures needed to reduce the risk of COVID-19 spread and the impact of the disease can be adapted for use in low capacity and humanitarian settings. The recommendations outlined here need to be adjusted to the scale of transmission, co...ntext and resources, in order to achieve the objective of managing COVID-19, namely to reduce transmission and facilitate the detection and management of infected and exposed individuals within the population. The Guidance is intended for humanitarian and development actors of all operational levels working with communities ocal authorities involved in COVID-19 preparedness and response operations in these settings, in support of national and local governments and plans. Additional considerations for support to residents of urban informal settlements and slums are available in Annex 1.
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The figures and findings reflected in the 2019 Humanitarian Needs Overview (HNO) represent the independent analysis
of the United Nations (UN) and its humanitarian partners based on information available to them. While the HNO aims
to provide consolidated humanitarian analysis and data to help inf...orm joint strategic humanitarian planning, many of
the figures provided throughout the document are estimates based on sometimes incomplete and partial data sets using
the methodologies for collection that were available at the time. The Government of Syria has expressed its reservations
over the data sources and methodology of assessments used to inform the HNO, as well as on a number of HNO findings.
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2018 monitoring report: current status and strategic priorities
The report sets out the status of women’s, children’s and adolescents’ health, and on health systems and social and environmental determinants. Regional dashboards on 16 key indicators highlight where progress is being made o...r lagging. There is progress overall, but not at the level required to achieve the 2030 goals. There are some areas where progress has stalled or is reversing, namely neonatal mortality, gender inequalities and health in humanitarian settings.
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The report presents successful case studies from around the world, including the implementation of minimum protection standards for refugee children in Germany, cross border child protection systems in West Africa, and finding alternatives to the detention of migrant children in Zambia. Other countr...ies featured in the report include Afghanistan, Italy, Jordan, Lebanon, South Sudan, Vietnam, Uganda and the U.S. Each of the initiatives can be replicated in different contexts and inform child-focused actions and policy change at national, regional and global levels to be agreed in the framework of the Compact.
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Survey report
Four health surveys were performed in Kutupalong Makeshift Settlment (KMS), Balukhali Makeshift Settlement (BMS), Kutupalong Makeshift Settlement Extension (KMS Extension) and Balukhali Makeshift Settlement Extension (BMS Extension). These sites were chosen to ensure that the health... status and conditions were measured in both the new settlements and the pre-existing settlements. The surveys measured current and retrospective mortality, the main morbidities affecting the population, global and severe acute malnutrition rates, vaccination coverage rates for key antigens and health-seeking behaviour. Simple random sampling was used with a recall period from 25th February 2017 until the date of interview (30th October to 12th November): approximately 260 days.
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