War Child put forward a specific request for comparative study, addressing the following questions: •What are the key types of intervention for psychosocial assistance that are being applied to children in war-affected areas? •What are the results of (scientific) research into the effects of th...e most relevant programmes? •Which NGOs operate in this sector and what is their practical experience with specific methods? •How does the War Child methodology relate to developments in the sector; what is known about the effects of War Child’s programme and how can these be measured? How will War Child work towards the development of additional evidence?
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WHO Guideline. Since 2010, countries in the meningitis belt have started to introduce a new serogroup A meningococcal conjugate vaccine conferring individual protection and herd immunity. Following the successful roll-out of this vaccine, epidemics due to Neisseria meningitidis serogroup A (NmA) are... disappearing, but other serogroups (e.g. NmW, NmX and NmC) still cause epidemics, albeit at a lower frequency and of a smaller size. Due to these changes, WHO organized the review of the evidence to provide recommendations for epidemic control, related to operational thresholds for investigation and response to outbreaks, the use of rapid diagnostic tests, antibiotic regimens in epidemics, and prophylaxis for household contacts of cases
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Communities can play a critical role in suicide prevention. Facilitating community engagement in suicide prevention is an important task. The toolkit is a step-by-step guide for communities to engage in suicide prevention activities and have ownership of the process and keep efforts sustained. It is... hoped that the pilot version will be used, after necessary adaptation, in many countries and contexts, so that the final product can be strengthened and become more effective and user-friendly.
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The HEARTS technical package provides a strategic approach to improving cardiovascular health in countries. It comprises six modules and an implementation guide. This package supports Ministries of Health to strengthen CVD management in primary health care settings. The practical, step-by step modul...es are supported by an overarching technical document that provides a rationale and framework for this integrated approach to the management of NCDs.
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This study aimed to estimate the cost-effectiveness of a community-based rehabilitation (CBR) programme known as Inspire2Care (I2C), implemented in Nepal by Karuna Foundation Nepal. In the absence of any gold standard methodology to measure cost-effectiveness, the authors developed a new methodology... to estimate the programme’s achievements and cost-effectiveness.
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Universal health coverage ensures everyone has access to the health services they need without suffering financial hardship as a result. In December 2012, a UN resolution was passed encouraging governments to move towards providing universal access to affordable and quality health care services. As ...countries move towards it, common challenges are emerging -- challenges to which research can help provide answers.
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The World Health Organization (WHO) endorses the use of population-based prevalence surveys for estimating the prevalence of trachoma. In general, the prevalence of TF in children aged 1–9 years and the prevalence of TT in adults aged ≥ 15 years are measured at the same time in any district bein...g surveyed. This was the approach of the Global Trachoma Mapping Project, which undertook baseline surveys in > 1500 districts worldwide in order to provide the data required to start interventions where needed.
The survey design recommended by WHO is a two-stage cluster random sample survey, which uses probability proportional to size sampling to select 20–30 villages, and random, systematic or quasi-random sampling to select 25–30 households in each of those villages. In most surveys, everyone aged ≥ 1 year living in selected households is examined.
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Journal of the International AIDS Society 2017, 20(Suppl 4):21644
National AIDS Programme in Myanmar has made significant progress in scaling up antiretroviral treatment (ART) services and recognizes the importance of differentiated care for people living with HIV. Indeed, long centred around t...he hospital and reliant on physicians, the country's HIV response is undergoing a process of successful decentralization with HIV care increasingly being integrated into other health services as part of a systematic effort to expand access to HIV treatment. This study describes implementation of differentiated care in Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)‐supported programmes and reports its outcomes.
https://doi.org/10.7448/IAS.20.5.21644
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The evidence base for differentiated care for stable patients has grown in recent years. There has been less attention, however, to developing differentiated models of care for patients with advanced or unstable HIV disease. Current clinical guidelines and policies regarding optimal packages of care... for high-risk patients give few or no recommendations about how, by whom, or where they should be delivered for optimal impact.
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WHO TRS N°1012.
Key updates include: (i) surveillance strategies, including cross-sectoral linking of systems and suitable diagnostics; (ii) the latest recommendations on human and animal immunization; (iii) palliative care in lowresource settings; (iv) risk assessment to guide management of bite... victims; and (v) a proposed process for validation and verification of countries reaching zero human deaths from rabies.
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Journal of the International AIDS Society 2017, vol. 20:e25026
In Myanmar, men who have sex with men (MSM) experience high risk of HIV infection. However, access to HIV testing and prevention services remains a challenge among this marginalized population. The objective of this study was to est...imate population prevalence and correlates of prior HIV testing among young MSM (YMSM) and informs the development of HIV testing and intervention programmes that respond to the specific needs of this population.
https://doi.org/10.1002/jia2.25026
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- The Role of Plant Nutrition in Supporting Food Security
- Micronutrient Malnutrition: Causes, Prevalence, Consequences and Interventions
- Fertilizer Application and Nutraceutical Content in
Health-Functional Foods
- Plant Nutrition and Health Risks Associated with Plant Diseases
- Human Heal...th Issues Associated with Nutrient Use in Organic
and Conventional Crop Production
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This report provides an update on the key facets of HIV treatment access, including the latest HIV treatment guidelines from World Health Organization (WHO), an overview on pricing for first-line, second-line, and salvage regimens, and a summary of the opportunities for – and threats to – expand...ing access to affordable antiretroviral therapy (ART).
The report is supplemented by 11 drug profiles that contain more detailed information on pricing trends and patent barriers for key antiretroviral drugs and fixed-dose combinations. Also included is an annex of conditions that define eligibility for reduced prices from 15 pharmaceutical companies.
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In many of Myanmar’s contested regions, healthcare services are provided through two parallel governance systems – by the government’s Ministry of Health, and by providers linked to ethnic armed organizations. Building upon efforts to build trust between these two actors following ceasefires s...igned in 2011 and 2012, the new National League for Democracy-led government offers an unprecedented opportunity to increase cooperation between these systems and to ensure health services reach Myanmar’s most vulnerable populations.
The report provides an overview of existing health service arrangements in these areas, from both the Ministry of Health and from ethnic and community-based health organizations. It then unpacks the concept of “convergence”, highlighting key opportunities and policy recommendations for both government and non-government actors.
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Module 10
Testing providers
July 2017
Module 10: Testing providers. This module is for people who provide testing services at PrEP sites and laboratories. It offers guidance in selecting testing services, including screening of individuals before PrEP is initiated and monitoring while they ar...e taking PrEP. Information is provided on HIV testing, creatinine, HBV and HCV, pregnancy and STIs.
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The spread of antimicrobial-resistant microorganisms poses anincreasing threat to affordable modern health care. In the Netherlands, efforts to control the dispersal of known and novel antimicrobial-resistant organisms have been mostly implemented at the hospital level. However, recent studies have ...recommended shifting the focus of control strategies fromsingle hospitals toward larger healthcare networks. These networks consist of clusters of hospitals that are connected viashared patients. Several studies have shown that patients transferred from one hospital to another can spread antimicrobial-resistant pathogens across the healthcare network
infection control & hospital epidemiology july 2016, vol. 37, no. 7
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The WHO Regional Office for Europe has established the Childhood Obesity Surveillance Initiative in more than half the countries in the Region for routine monitoring of the policy response to the emerging obesity epidemic. The aim of the Initiative is to measure trends in overweight and obesity in c...hildren aged 6.0–9.9 years to get a clear understanding of the epidemic and to allow inter-country comparisons. This document outlines the common protocol agreed for use in the Initiative.
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Ghana's attempt to regulate health care waste management started in 2002 with the development of guidelines on health care waste manage-ment by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). In 2006, the Ministry of Health developed the health care waste policy and guidelines. This guidance document im...proved health care waste management in the country.
With support from the UNDP-GEF medical waste management project, the Ministry of He lth has revised the existing National Health Care Waste Management (HCWM), policy and guideline, 2006 and has produced two separate documents- A National Health Care Waste Management Policy and a National Guideline for Health Care Waste Management
countrywide. This policy is replacing the 2006 policy and introduces new technical and administrative policy issues to enhance waste management in health care facilities.
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The Impacts of Climate Change on Human Health
in the United States: A Scientific Assessment
Climate change is a significant threat to the health of the American people. This scientific assessment examines how climate change is already affecting human health and the changes that may occur in the fu...ture.
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In 2015, 5.9 million children under age five died (1). The major causes of child deaths globally are pneumonia, prematurity, intrapartum-related complications, neonatal sepsis, congenital anomalies, diarrhoea, injuries and malaria (2). Most of these diseases and conditions are at least partially cau...sed by the environment. It was estimated in 2012 that 26% of childhood deaths and 25% of the total disease burden in children under five could be prevented through the reduction of environmental risks such as air pollution, unsafe water, sanitation and inadequate hygiene or chemicals.
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