The COVID-19 pandemic led to school closures around the world, affecting almost 1.6 billion students. The effects of even short disruptions in a child’s schooling on their learning and well-being have been shown to be acute and long lasting. The capacities of education systems to respond to the cr...isis by delivering remote learning and support to children and families have been diverse yet uneven.
This report reviews the emerging evidence on remote learning throughout the global school closures during the COVID-19 pandemic to help guide decision-makers to build more effective, sustainable, and resilient education systems for current and future crises.
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AJOL, Vol.92 No.2; There is a low bed capacity in ICUs compounded by a universal deficit in human resource capacity and support infrastructure for the critical care services. Regionalisation, increased funding and more training opportunities for critical are
services by the regional and central go...vernments will go a long way in alleviating these challenges
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This report presents country, regional and global estimates of low birth weight for 2000, together with a detailed description of the methods used in calculating the estimates. Some limited data on trends are also included. The limitations of low-birth-weight data are described and recommendations a...re made for further improvements in the data for this important indicator of health.
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Le plan stratégique de sécurité et santé au travail pour le personnel de santé (PS-SST/PS) au Togo décrit les défis de la protection du personnel de santé au niveau mondial, régional et national. Il examine la situation actuelle du Togo en matière de sécurité et santé au travail. Il pro...pose également des stratégies pour atteindre les objectifs fixés pour l’amélioration de la sécurité et santé au travail dans les services de santé au Togo sur la base des recommandations de l’OMS et de l’OIT.
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Arabic Analysis on World about Food and Nutrition; published on 22 Sep 2021 by UNICEF.
Available in different languages
English Analysis on World and 9 other countries about Food and Nutrition, Drought and Other; published on 13 Oct 2021 by ECHO, FAO and 3 other organizations
Le Guide de formation aux actions essentielles de nutrition et aux actions essentielles d'hygiène : Travailleurs communautaires renforce la capacité des travailleurs communautaires à fournir et à promouvoir les actions essentielles en matière de nutrition et d'hygiène. Il présente le contenu ...technique dans le cadre de sessions pratiques de conseil et de négociation, à l'aide de jeux de rôle et de pratiques sur le terrain. Il aide les agents communautaires à comprendre pourquoi et comment intégrer des messages sur la nutrition et l'hygiène dans leurs différentes plates-formes de programme en utilisant une approche de cycle de vie pour délivrer le bon message à la bonne personne au bon moment.
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Ce guide de formation applique une approche participative, reflétant les nombreuses preuves que les adultes apprennent mieux en pratiquant et en réfléchissant à leurs expériences. Il met donc l'accent sur des exercices visant à améliorer les compétences en matière de conseil afin d'aider le...s clients à adopter des pratiques nutritionnelles optimales. La nutrition des femmes et l'alimentation des nourrissons dans le contexte du VIH sont également abordées. Des directives permettant de lier la prévention de la malnutrition au traitement via la prise en charge intégrée de la malnutrition aiguë sont également incluses. Cette formation peut également être dispensée aux responsables de la nutrition afin de leur donner les moyens de fournir une supervision de soutien aux agents de santé et aux agents communautaires.
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INTRODUCTION: The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted health systems around the world. The objectives of this study are to estimate the overall effect of the pandemic on essential health service use and outcomes in Mexico, describe observed and predicted trends in services over 24 months, and to estimat...e the number of visits lost through December 2020.
METHODS: We used health information system data for January 2019 to December 2020 from the Mexican Institute of Social Security (IMSS), which provides health services for more than half of Mexico's population-65 million people. Our analysis includes nine indicators of service use and three outcome indicators for reproductive, maternal and child health and non-communicable disease services. We used an interrupted time series design and linear generalised estimating equation models to estimate the change in service use and outcomes from April to December 2020. Estimates were expressed using average marginal effects on the risk ratio scale.
RESULTS: The study found that across nine health services, an estimated 8.74 million patient visits were lost in Mexico. This included a decline of over two thirds for breast and cervical cancer screenings (79% and 68%, respectively), over half for sick child visits and female contraceptive services, approximately one-third for childhood vaccinations, diabetes, hypertension and antenatal care consultations, and a decline of 10% for deliveries performed at IMSS. In terms of patient outcomes, the proportion of patients with diabetes and hypertension with controlled conditions declined by 22% and 17%, respectively. Caesarean section rate did not change.
CONCLUSION: Significant disruptions in health services show that the pandemic has strained the resilience of the Mexican health system and calls for urgent efforts to resume essential services and plan for catching up on missed preventive care even as the COVID-19 crisis continues in Mexico.
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RESULTS: Between 76 and 97% of the PHCS offered RMCAH services before the lockdown. Except in antenatal, delivery and adolescent care, there was a decline of between 2 and 6% in all the services during the lockdown and up to 10% decline after the lockdown with variation across and within States. Dur...ing the lockdown. Full-service delivery was reported by 75.2% whereas 24.8% delivered partial services. There was a significant reduction in clients' utilization of the services during the lockdown, and the difference between States before the pandemic, during, and after the lockdown. Reported difficulties during the lockdown included stock-out of drugs (25.7%), stock-out of contraceptives (25.1%), harassment by the law enforcement agents (76.9%), and transportation difficulties (55.8%). Only 2% of the PHCs reported the availability of gowns, 18% had gloves, 90.1% had hand sanitizers, and a temperature checker was available in 94.1%. Slightly above 10% identified clients with symptoms of COVID-19.
CONCLUSIONS: The large proportion of PHCs who provided RMCAH services despite the lockdown demonstrates resilience. Considering the several difficulties reported, and the limited provision of primary protective equipment more effort by the government and non-governmental agencies is recommended to strengthen delivery of sexual and reproductive health in primary health centres in Nigeria during the pandemic.
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A study conducted by the World Health Organisation Regional Office for Africa. The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on older persons both globally and in the African region. Although overall the region’s population is younger relative to many other world regions, the WHO AFRO region ...has a population just over 62 million older people and is ageing rapidly, with the number of older people expected to triple in the next three decades (Aboderin et al., 2020).
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This companion document to Ending the neglect to attain the Sustainable Development Goals: a road map for neglected tropical diseases 2021-2030 ("the road map") aims to support a range of stakeholders - including countries in which neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) are endemic, international organi...zations and non-State actors - to achieve the road map targets through a transdisciplinary, cross-cutting One Health approach. Specifically, it provides guidance on the One Health actions needed by major stakeholders and how to support a paradigm shift towards One Health in national NTD programmes. Examples of common One Health challenges and how they can be overcome as well as illustrative cases studies are provided throughout. The companion document was developed through a global consultative process involving stakeholder interviews, interactive workshops, and online public consultation.
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En estas directrices se actualiza la sección de recomendaciones sobre la prevención de la transmisión maternoinfantil de las Directrices para la prevención, la atención y el tratamiento de la infección crónica por el virus de la hepatitis B, publicadas por la OMS en el 2015, y se centra la at...ención en el uso de la profilaxis con antivirales en el embarazo. Su finalidad es proporcionar orientación respaldada por la evidencia acerca del uso de la profilaxis con antivirales durante el periparto en embarazadas que han dado positivo al HBsAg a efectos de prevenir la transmisión maternoinfantil del VHB. Los principales destinatarios son los funcionarios de los ministerios de salud que formulan las políticas nacionales y las directrices sobre la prevención de la transmisión maternoinfantil del VHB en todos los países, pero sobre todo en los de ingresos bajos y medianos. Asimismo, podrías ser útiles para los miembros del personal de salud que tratan a las personas con la infección por el VHB, así como a los que prestan atención a las embarazadas y los lactantes.
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Global Health Science and Practice February 2022, https://doi.org/10.9745/GHSP-D-21-00237
Key Findings: Exposure to vaccination information from faith leaders and health facilities was associated with increased likelihood of vaccination uptake. The significant association between exposure to a... greater number of immunization information sources and increased likelihood of vaccination uptake reinforces the need for multiple sources to provide consistent and accurate immunization information to facilitate positive vaccination behavior.
Key Implications: Social and behavior change communication interventions may optimize the promotion of immunization services through multiple information sources such as health facilities and community-based assets including faith leaders and lay community health workers. Religion and faith play an important role in how people understand health and make health decisions. In Sierra Leone and other similar settings, interventions to improve uptake of immunization services may be enhanced by proactively engaging faith leaders.
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Weekly Epidemiological Record No 9, 2022, 97, 61–80
This position paper supersedes the 2016 publication, “Malaria vaccine: WHO position paper-2016.”1 It includes the updated WHO recommendations on the wider use of the RTS,S/AS01 vaccine for the reduction of malaria morbidity and mortality in ...children living in areas of moderate to high malaria transmission. It also incorporates findings from the evaluation of the WHO-coordinated Malaria Vaccine Implementation Programme (MVIP), recommended by SAGE and MPAG in 2015, and from additional studies since 2015.
This paper does not include findings on vaccine efficacy in infants first vaccinated at 6–12 weeks of age. Because of the lower vaccine efficacy observed in this age category, WHO did not recommend pilot implementation or RTS,S/AS01 vaccine introduction for these young infants. Recommendations2 on the use of RTS,S/AS01 vaccine were discussed by SAGE and MPAG during a joint session in October 2021; evidence presented at the meeting can be accessed at https://terrance.who.int/mediacentre/data/ sage/SAGE_eYB_Oct2021.pdf
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Lancet Planet Health 2021; 5: e654–58
The threats posed by climate change to agriculture are now well known. Climate change has already resulted in a negative trend in mean crop yield per decade, and this is likely to continue as the century unfolds. In Africa, 650 million people are currently dependent on rain- fed agriculture and, des...pite progress in the Millennium Development Goals, food and nutrition insecurity remainunacceptably high.
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