Globally, 311,000 women die of cervical cancer every year, 85 percent of them
in resource limited regions of the world. To address this grave threat to women,
the WHO made a call to action in 2018, resulting in accelerated plans to improve
cervical cancer control under the elimination threshold w...ith respect to cervical
cancer incidence. As part of WHO’s approach to cervical cancer control, availability of high quality,
affordable medical devices for HPV screening, and treatment of precancerous
lesions in low resource settings is indispensable.
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Despite the development of point-of-care diagnostic tests for syphilis, chlamydia, gonorrhoea, and trichomoniasis, none comply with all WHO criteria. This analysis overviews landscape analyses of point-of-care diagnostic technologies for Chlamydia trachomatis, Neisseria gonorrhoeae, Trichomonas vagi...nalis and syphilis, available and in the pipeline. The target audience for the target product profiles is broad and includes clinicians, researchers working on diagnostics, laboratory experts, including, microbiologists and virologists, public health experts, epidemiologists, developers, and representatives for manufactures, including biotech engineers, policy-and decision-makers as well as representatives from regulatory bodies and agencies, donor agencies and international organizations.
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The 2022 Financing for Sustainable Development Report identifies a “great finance divide” as a main driver of the divergent recovery. Developed countries were able to borrow record sums at ultra-low interest rates to support their people and economies, but the pandemic response and investment in... recovery of poor countries was limited by fiscal constraints. This joint report, by over 60 agencies of the United Nations system and partner international organizations, provides analysis and puts forward policy recommendations to overcome this “finance divide” and enhance developing countries’ access to financing for recovery and productive and sustainable investment.
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WHO’s total revenue in 2020 was US$ 4299 million and total expenses were US$ 3561 million, resulting in a surplus of US$ 824 million, which includes finance revenue (e.g. interest and investment income) of US$ 86 million, representing increases of 38% and 15% in revenue and expenses respectively. ...10. The financial statements report all the Organization’s revenue and expenses. The Organization’s operations are managed under three fund groups: (1) the General Fund, which supports the programme budget, (2) Member States – other, and (3) the Fiduciary Fund (Note 2.18 gives particulars of each of the funds). This segregation of resources facilitates clearer reporting of WHO’s revenues and expenses.
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The definition of Official Development Assistance (ODA) has for 40 years been the global standard for measuring donor efforts in supporting development co-operation objectives. It has provided the yardstick for documenting the volume and the terms of the concessional resources provided, assessing do...nor performance against their aid pledges and enabling partner countries, civil society and others to hold donors to account. Yet for all its value, the ODA definition has always reflected a compromise between political expediency and statistical reality. It is based on interpretation and consensus and therefore allows for flexibility. It has evolved over the decades, while preserving the original concepts of a definition based on principal developmental motivation, official character and a degree of concessionality. While agreement on the ODA concept was a major achievement, discussion of the appropriateness of this measure has never ended. The paper documents the evolution of the ODA concept and proposes a possible new approach to measuring aid effort.
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In line with the Climate and Environment Charter for Humanitarian Organisations which IFRC, ICRC and various Red Cross Red Crescent National Societies have endorsed, this short Guide aims to help practitioners integrate environmental and climate change considerations into their work. It has been dev...eloped primarily for logistics staff, administrative staff, and management. It is not necessary to be an environmental expert to use this Guide.
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The Infection prevention and control in the context of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19): a living guideline consolidates technical guidance developed and published during the COVID-19 pandemic into evidence-informed recommendations for infection prevention and control (IPC). This living guideline... is available both online and PDF.
This version of the living guideline (version 6.0) includes fifteen statements on IPC measures in health-care settings (screening and patient placement, ventilation, physical barriers, environmental cleaning, waste management, amongst others) as well as one statement on mask fit in the community context.
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Infection prevention and control (IPC) in a CTC/ CTU IPC are all practical measures taken in the healthcare facility to prevent harm caused by infections to patients, health workers and communities.
The main goal of IPC in the cholera response is to
• To reduce transmission of health care-as...sociated infections of cholera and any other infectious disease
• To enhance the safety of staff, patients and visitors
• To enhance the ability of the organization/health care facility to respond to an outbreak
• To reduce the risk of the hospital (health care facility) itself amplifying the outbreak
Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH)
WASH are all measures taken to guarantee environmental hygiene, safe water of all used within the health facility. It encompasses water, sanitation, waste management, cleaning within the health facility which in this case is CTU/C. A complete WASH package in the CTU/CTC reduces the risk of spread of Vibrio cholerae inside and outside the CTC/CTU.
The probability of spreading or acquiring cholera through a CTC/CTU can be highly reduced when proper IPC and WASH measures are respected, followed and monitored. These measures are, in principle, valid in CTC/CTUs and ORPs, although they need to be adapted to the specific characteristics of the facility concerned.
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In April 2020, Gavi and COVAX joined the Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator (ACT-A) to provide equitable global access to COVID-19 vaccines to tackle the pandemic. In June 2020, the Gavi COVAX Advance Market Commitment (AMC) was launched to finance equitable access in 92 lower-income countries. Si...nce then, US$ 10 billion has been raised for the AMC to procure vaccines and support delivery. Despite a challenging supply situation, COVAX has now shipped one billion doses to 144 countries, including over 870 million to AMC economies.
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Vaccines are powerful weapons in the fight against pandemic viruses as shown by responses to both the 2009 H1N1 influenza and the COVID-19 pandemics. However, planning for accessing, allocating and deploying vaccines in a pandemic situation is a complex endeavour, beset with multiple challenges at a...ll levels – local, regional and global. The World Health Organization (WHO) and its partners have prepared this revised guidance document to assist countries update their national deployment and vaccination plans (NDVPs) by leveraging global learnings from past pandemic responses, including the recent COVID-19 vaccination effort. The development and testing of a NDVP would not only advance pandemic preparedness efforts but would also have benefits in terms of increasing national capabilities to manage other health emergencies which require emergency vaccination campaigns.
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Anaemia is a serious global public health problem that particularly affects young children, menstruating adolescent girls and women, and pregnant and postpartum women. It is a condition in which the number of red blood cells or the haemoglobin concentration within them is lower than normal, affectin...g the blood’s ability to carry oxygen to the body’s tissues.
To reliably monitor the prevalence of anaemia at a population level, it is vital to measure the haemoglobin concentration in an accurate and precise way. In large-scale surveys, however, haemoglobin is most commonly measured using single-drop capillary blood specimens in point-of-care devices. Emerging evidence suggests that the use of single-drop capillary blood can introduce random and/or systematic errors, which may lead to inaccurate estimates, complicating effective anaemia programming.
This technical brief describes the current best practices for haemoglobin measurement, providing guidance to help plan or implement field surveys to assess anaemia at a population level. Continuing work to review emerging evidence is led by members of the WHO-UNICEF Technical Expert Advisory group on nutrition Monitoring (TEAM).
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Terminology used to describe the transmission of pathogens through the air varies across scientific disciplines, organizations and the general public. While this has been the case for decades, during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, the terms ‘airborne’, ‘airborne transmission’ a...nd ‘aerosol transmission’ were used in different ways by stakeholders in different scientific disciplines, which may have contributed to misleading information and confusion about how pathogens are transmitted in human populations.
This global technical consultation report brings together viewpoints from experts spanning a range of disciplines with the key objective of seeking consensus regarding the terminology used to describe the transmission of pathogens through the air that can potentially cause infection in humans.
This consultation aimed to identify terminology that could be understood and accepted by different technical disciplines. The agreed process was to develop a consensus document that could be endorsed by global agencies and entities. Despite the complex discussions and challenges, significant progress was made during the consultation process, particularly the consensus on a set of descriptors to describe how pathogens are transmitted through the air and the related modes of transmission. WHO recognizes the important areas where consensus was not achieved and will continue to address these areas in follow-up consultations.
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Smallpox eradication was certified in 1980. Mpox has been endemic in Central and West African countries since it was first detected in 1958 . It is a zoonosis; cases are often found close to tropical rainforests where various animals carry the orthopoxvirus that causes the disease. In endemic countr...ies, most mpox infections in humans result from a primary animal-to-human transmission. Human-to-human transmission can result from close contact with respiratory secretions, skin lesions of an infected person, or recently contaminated objects. Transmission can also occur via the placenta from mother to fetus or through close contact during and after birth.
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Under-diagnosis of asthma in ‘under-fives’ may be alleviated by improved inquiry into disease history. We assessed a questionnaire-based screening tool for asthma among 614 ‘under-fives’ with severe respiratory illness in Uganda. The questionnaire responses were compared to post hoc consensu...s diagnoses by three pediatricians who were guided by study definitions that were based on medical history, physical examination findings, laboratory and radiological tests, and response to bronchodilators. Children with asthma or bronchiolitis were categorized as “asthma syndrome”. Using this approach, 253 (41.2%) had asthma syndrome. History of and present breathing difficulties and present cough and wheezing was the best performing combination of four questionnaire items [sensitivity 80.8% (95% CI 77.6–84.0); specificity 84.7% (95% CI 81.8–87.6)]. The screening tool for asthma syndrome in ‘under-fives’ may provide a simple, cheap and quick method of identifying children with possible asthma. The validity and reliability of this tool in primary care settings should be tested.
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Data on asthma aetiology in Africa are scarce. We investigated the risk factors for asthma among schoolchildren (5–17 years) in urban Uganda. We conducted a case-control study, among 555 cases and 1115 controls. Asthma was diagnosed by study clinicians. The main risk factors for asthma were tertia...ry education for fathers (adjusted OR (95% CI); 2.32 (1.71–3.16)) and mothers (1.85 (1.38–2.48)); area of residence at birth, with children born in a small town or in the city having an increased asthma risk compared to schoolchildren born in rural areas (2.16 (1.60–2.92)) and (2.79 (1.79–4.35)), respectively; father’s and mother’s history of asthma; children’s own allergic conditions; atopy; and cooking on gas/electricity. In conclusion, asthma was associated with a strong rural-town-city risk gradient, higher parental socio-economic status and urbanicity. This work provides the basis for future studies to identify specific environmental/lifestyle factors responsible for increasing asthma risk among children in urban areas in LMICs.
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The goal of asthma treatment is to obtain clinical control and reduce future risks to the patient. To reach this goal in children with asthma, ongoing monitoring is essential. While all components of asthma, such as symptoms, lung function, bronchial hyperresponsiveness and inflammation, may exist i...n various combinations in different individuals, to date there is limited evidence on how to integrate these for optimal monitoring of children with asthma. The aims of this ERS Task Force were to describe the current practise and give an overview of the best available evidence on how to monitor children with asthma.
22 clinical and research experts reviewed the literature. A modified Delphi method and four Task Force meetings were used to reach a consensus.
This statement summarises the literature on monitoring children with asthma. Available tools for monitoring children with asthma, such as clinical tools, lung function, bronchial responsiveness and inflammatory markers, are described as are the ways in which they may be used in children with asthma. Management-related issues, comorbidities and environmental factors are summarised.
Despite considerable interest in monitoring asthma in children, for many aspects of monitoring asthma in children there is a substantial lack of evidence.
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The reader acknowledges that this report is intended as an evidence-based asthma management strategy, for the use of health professionals and policy-makers. It is based, to the best of our knowledge, on current best evidence and medical knowledge and practice at the date of publication. When assessi...ng and treating patients, health professionals are strongly advised to use their own professional judgment, and to take into account local and national regulations and guidelines. GINA cannot be held liable or responsible for inappropriate healthcare associated with the use of this document, including any use which is not in accordance with applicable local or national regulations or guidelines.
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The reader acknowledges that this report is intended as an evidence-based asthma management strategy, for the use of health professionals and policy-makers. It is based, to the best of our knowledge, on current best evidence and medical knowledge and practice at the date of publication. When assessi...ng and treating patients, health professionals are strongly advised to use their own professional judgment, and to take into account local or national regulations and guidelines. GINA cannot be held liable or responsible for inappropriate healthcare associated with the use of this document, including any use which is not in accordance with applicable local or national regulations or guidelines.
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Asthma is the most common non-communicable disease in children and remains one of the most common throughout the life course. The great majority of the burden of this disease is seen in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs), which have disproportionately high asthma-related mortality relati...ve to asthma prevalence. This is particularly true for many countries in sub-Saharan Africa. Although inhaled asthma treatments (particularly those containing inhaled corticosteroids) markedly reduce asthma morbidity and mortality, a substantial proportion of the children, adolescents, and adults with asthma in LMICs do not get to benefit from these, due to poor availability and affordability. In this review, we consider the reality faced by clinicians managing asthma in the primary and secondary care in sub-Saharan Africa and suggest how we might go about making diagnosis and treatment decisions in a range of resource-constrained scenarios. We also provide recommendations for research and policy, to help bridge the gap between current practice in sub-Saharan Africa and Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA) recommended diagnostic processes and treatment for children, adolescents, and adults with asthma.
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The European Respiratory Society (ERS)/American Thoracic Society (ATS) Task Force on severe asthma includes an updated definition of severe asthma, a discussion of severe asthma phenotypes in relation to genetics, natural history, pathobiology and physiology, as well as sections on evaluation and tr...eatment of severe asthma where specific recommendations for practice are made. See the unabridged online version of the document for detailed discussion of the definition of severe asthma, phenotypes and recommendations for practice.
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