INTRODUCTION: Health service use among the public can decline during outbreaks and had been predicted among low and middle-income countries during the COVID-19 pandemic. In March 2020, the government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) started implementing public health measures across Kin...shasa, including strict lock-down measures in the Gombe health zone.
METHODS: Using monthly time series data from the DRC Health Management Information System (January 2018 to December 2020) and interrupted time series with mixed effects segmented Poisson regression models, we evaluated the impact of the pandemic on the use of essential health services (outpatient visits, maternal health, vaccinations, visits for common infectious diseases and non-communicable diseases) during the first wave of the pandemic in Kinshasa. Analyses were stratified by age, sex, health facility and lockdown policy (i.e, Gombe vs other health zones).
RESULTS: Health service use dropped rapidly following the start of the pandemic and ranged from 16% for visits for hypertension to 39% for visits for diabetes. However, reductions were highly concentrated in Gombe (81% decline in outpatient visits) relative to other health zones. When the lock-down was lifted, total visits and visits for infectious diseases and non-communicable diseases increased approximately twofold. Hospitals were more affected than health centres. Overall, the use of maternal health services and vaccinations was not significantly affected.
CONCLUSION: The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in important reductions in health service utilizsation in Kinshasa, particularly Gombe. Lifting of lock-down led to a rebound in the level of health service use but it remained lower than pre-pandemic levels.
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El Salvador Humanitarian Response Plan - August 2021 to December 2022
The new review paper, The Impacts of Climate Change on Health, identifies the extent to which increasing emissions, extreme weather and temperatures elevate health risks, from infectious disease to malnutrition, and assesses the associated health burden. It concludes that the health burden will exce...ed the level of demand that health systems are prepared for.
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Climate change has important implications for the health and futures of children and young people, yet they have little power to limit its harm, making them vulnerable to climate anxiety. This is the first large-scale investigation of climate anxiety in children and young people globally and its rel...ationship with perceived government response.
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RÉSUMÉ D’ORIENTATION
L’objectif des présentes orientations est de renforcer la capacité des établissements de santé à protéger et à améliorer la santé des communautés desservies face à un climat instable et changeant ; et de donner aux établissements de santé les moyens d’assur...er leur durabilité environnementale, grâce à une meilleure utilisation des ressources et à une diminution du rejet de déchets dans l’environnement. En étant résilients au changement climatique et écologiquement viables, les établissements de santé peuvent offrir des soins de qualité et des services plus accessibles, et en contribuant à réduire les coûts des établissements, ils garantissent également la prestation de soins plus abordables. Ils représentent par conséquent un élément important de la couverture sanitaire universelle (CSU).
Le présent document a pour objectif de :
guider les professionnels travaillant dans des structures de soins de santé de manière à ce qu’ils comprennent les risques sanitaires supplémentaires liés au changement climatique et qu’ils s’y préparent efficacement ;
renforcer la capacité à exercer une surveillance efficace des maladies liées au climat ; et à suivre, anticiper, gérer les risques sanitaires associés au changement climatique et à s’y adapter ;
inciter les responsables des établissements de santé à collaborer avec les secteurs déterminants pour la santé (notamment l’eau et l’assainissement, l’énergie, les transports, l’alimentation, l’urbanisme, l’environnement) afin de se préparer aux risques sanitaires supplémentaires posés par le changement climatique grâce à l’adoption d’une approche de résilience, et à promouvoir des pratiques écologiquement durables dans la prestation des services ;
fournir des outils pour aider les responsables des établissements de santé à évaluer leur résilience face aux menaces liées au changement climatique et leur durabilité environnementale, sur la base de l’utilisation appropriée des ressources (en particulier l’eau et l’énergie et les achats durables), et du rejet de matières dangereuses (biologiques, chimiques, radiologiques) dans leur environnement ;
promouvoir des mesures visant à garantir que les établissements de santé soient constamment et de plus en plus solides et continuent d’être efficaces et réactifs pour améliorer la santé et contribuer à réduire les inégalités et la vulnérabilité dans leur contexte local.
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Every year, nearly 250 million people move across borders temporarily or permanently for a job opportunity, studying, to flee a crisis back home, or for other reasons. Another 750 million move for similar reasons within the borders of their countries. With the understanding that human mobility affec...ts public health, and health affects human mobility and migrants, for decades, IOM has been providing critical health services to women, children and men on the move, while standing by governments for technical and operational support as needed. In 2019, in lower-income settings and in complex emergencies, along the world’s most perilous migration routes, in the aftermath of natural disasters or in response to disease outbreaks, IOM’s health teams have provided hundreds of thousands with primary health-care consultations, mental health and psychosocial support, sexual and reproductive health care, pre-migration health services, and much more.
This year, more than ever before, as the world reels from the socioeconomic impact of COVID-19, we have experienced that health is a cross-cutting component of overall human development and well-being.
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Tuberculosis (TB) prevention is essential for reaching the End TB targets in the South-East Asia Region (SEAR) of World Health Organization (WHO)1. The targets of 80% reduction in TB incidence rate and 90% reduction in TB mortality by 2030 (compared to 2015 levels) can be achieved only with addition...al interventions aimed at preventing TB, according to epidemiological modelling studies commissioned by the WHO South-East Asia Regional Office (WHO SEARO). Optimal implementation of TB preventive treatment (TPT) is a critical intervention to accelerate reduction in TB burden in the SEA Region, which bears nearly 43% of the global TB burden. TPT by itself has the potential to reduce the overall annual TB incidence rates by 8.3% (95% CrI 6.5–10.8) relative to 2015.
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The well-being of children in sub-Saharan Africa is under siege from all directions since the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic. The region is now suffering its first-ever economic recession, pushing about 50 million people into extreme poverty, a majority of whom are children.
The World Health Organization organized a Consultation of National Leprosy Programme managers, partners and affected persons to discuss the draft Global Leprosy Strategy, 2021--2030. This virtual event took place from 26 to 30 October 2020. It was attended by more than 450 stakeholders. Contribution...s were shared through 70 presentations made by stake holders from all Regions. The presentations covered the key strategic approaches: global context, challenges in countries, contact tracing and post exposure prophylaxis, disability care, interruption of transmission and elimination of disease, stigma and d iscrimination, research. In addition to numerous comments received through the chat box and by email, the conclusions and recommendations of this Consultation will guide finalizing the post 2020 Global Leprosy Strategy.
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The health impact of radiological and nuclear emergencies can last for decades. Lessons learned from past radiological and nuclear accidents have demonstrated that the mental health and psychosocial consequences can outweigh the direct physical health impacts of radiation exposure. International rad...iation emergency preparedness and response standards outline provisions for mitigating these effects. Yet, practical guidance for addressing the mental health and psychosocial aspects of radiation emergencies remains scarce.
This framework aims to promote integration between the MHPSS and radiation protection fields. It is intended for officials and specialists involved in radiation emergency planning and risk management as well as MHPSS experts working in health emergencies.
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These consolidated guidelines on HIV testing services (HTS) bring together existing and new guidance on HTS across different settings and populations.
The World Health Organization (WHO) first released consolidated guidelines on HTS in 2015, in response to requests from Member States, national pr...ogramme managers and health workers for support to achieve the United Nations (UN) 90–90–90 global HIV targets – and specifically the first target of diagnosing 90% of all people with HIV. In 2016, based on new evidence, WHO released a supplement to address important new HIV testing approaches – HIV self-testing (HIVST) and provider-assisted referral.
Since the release of 2015 and 2016 HTS guidelines, new issues and more evidence have emerged. To address this, WHO has updated guidance on HIV testing services. In this guideline, WHO updates recommendation on HIVST and provides new recommendations on social network-based HIV testing approaches and western blotting (see box, next page). This guideline seeks to provide support to Member States, programme managers, health workers and other stakeholders seeking to achieve national and international goals to end the HIV epidemic as a public health threat by 2030.
These guidelines also provide operational guidance on HTS demand creation and messaging; implementation considerations for priority populations; HIV testing strategies for diagnosis HIV; optimizing the use of dual HIV/syphilis rapid diagnostic tests; and considerations for strategic planning and rationalizing resources such as optimal time points for maternal retesting
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The document "Priority medical devices list for the COVID-19 response and associated technical specifications" complements this guideline.
This document provides interim guidance on the quality, performance characteristics and related standards of personal protective equipment (PPE) to be used i...n the context of COVID-19. This includes WHO Priority Medical Devices, specifically: surgical masks, non-surgical masks, gloves, googles, face shields, gowns and N95 masks. It is intended for procurement agencies, occupational health departments, infection prevention and control departments or focal points, health facility administrators, biomedical and materials engineering, PPE manufacturers and public health authorities at both national and facility levels.
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In Deutschland leben ca. 200.000 Geflüchtete in Aufnahmeeinrichtungen und Gemeinschaftsunterkünften (Stand:31.12.2018). Massnahmen der physischen Distanzierung sind in der Sammelunterbringung für Geflüchtete meist nicht oder nur bedingt umsetzbar: Beengte Verhältnisse, Mehrbettzimmer und gemein...schaftliche Nutzung von Küchen und Sanitäranlagen stellen Kontexte dar, die eine Ausbreitung von Infektionserkrankungen begünstigen. Zunehmend werden in diesen Settings Infektionen mit dem neuartigen Coronavirus (SARS‐CoV‐2) bekannt. Die Ansätze zu Prävention und Management von SARS‐CoV‐2 sind regional unterschiedlich, Vorgaben fehlen bisher auf nationaler und internationaler Ebene. So werden vielerorts Aufnahmeeinrichtungen und Gemeinschaftsunterkünfte beim Auftreten einer SARS‐CoV‐2‐Infektion unter Geflüchteten kollektiv unter Quarantäne gestellt.
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Intra-African migration remains a dominant trend in contemporary African migration. The Strategy frames the Organization’s new orientation with Africa at policy and strategic levels. It is consistent with the goals and objectives of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM) ...to which almost all African countries adhere, as well as the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development, the IOM strategic vision, and IOM Migration Governance Framework (MIGoF).
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Результаты исследования «Изучение распространенности коронавирусной инфекции COVID-19 среди инфицированных ВИЧ пациентов вРоссии ивлияния эпидемии коронавирусной... инфекции COVID-19 на оказание медицинской помощипри ВИЧ-инфекции»
This study shows the negative impact that the COVID-19 pandemic is having on access to HIV care in the Russian Federation and shows that people living with HIV in the country are more susceptible to COVID-19 but less likely to seek testing or treatment.
More than a third of people living with HIV who were surveyed reported some impact on HIV services, including about 4% who reported that they had missed taking antiretroviral therapy because they could not get the medicine and nearly 9% who reported that they had missed taking medicine for tuberculosis prevention. However, the majority of respondents (about 70% of people living with HIV) did not experience problems obtaining antiretroviral therapy and about 22% reported that antiretroviral medicines were delivered to their home. More than 900 respondents from 68 regions of the Russian Federation, including people living with HIV and those who are not, were reached by the study.
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Addendum: 2020 mid-year COVID-19 revision,summary of the reprioritisation & additional requirements in response to COVID-19
In June and July 2020, a mid-year revision of the 2020 Burundi Regional Refugee Response Plan (RRRP) was undertaken as an inter-agency consultative process to discuss and doc...ument the reprioritization of activities and corresponding budgets for the rest of the year, taking into account the impacts of COVID-19 and other developments.
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he statistics in this report are from the Emergency Events Database (EM-DAT) maintained by the Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED) which records disasters which have killed ten or more people; affected 100 or more people; resulted in a declared state of emergency; or a call f...or international assistance.
In the period 2000 to 2019, there were 7,348 major recorded disaster events claiming 1.23 million lives, affecting 4.2 billion people (many on more than one occasion) resulting in approximately US$2.97 trillion in global economic losses.
This is a sharp increase over the previous twenty years. Between 1980 and 1999, 4,212 disasters were linked to natural hazards worldwide claiming approximately 1.19 million lives and affecting 3.25 billion people resulting in approximately US$1.63 trillion in economic losses.
Much of the difference is explained by a rise in climate-related disasters including extreme weather events: from 3,656 climate-related events (1980-1999) to 6,681 climate-related disasters in the period 2000-2019.
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