Antimicrobials are precious agents for combating infectious diseases and had saved millions of lives throughout the world. However, the current trend of increasing antimicrobial resistance (AMR) has become a global health problem with increased morbidity and mortality in infectious diseases. Sri La...nka is not an exemption and face many health related issues with multidrug resistant (MDR) organisms. Currently there is a global effort in combating antimicrobial resistance. WHO extends its fullest support and plays a major role in motivating the countries to combat antimicrobial resistance with national action plans in place. Sri Lanka has initiated combating AMR with multisectoral collaboration, under one health concept. The development of the National Strategic Plan (NSP) 2017-2022 provides the roadmap to combat AMR.
more
This document updates the 2014 Core Elements for Hospital Antibiotic Stewardship Programs and incorporates new evidence and lessons learned from experience with the Core Elements. The Core Elements are applicable in all hospitals, regardless of size. There are suggestions specific to small and criti...cal access hospitals in Implementation of Antibiotic Stewardship Core Elements at Small and Critical Access Hospitals (12).There is no single template for a program to optimize antibiotic prescribing in hospitals. Implementation of antibiotic stewardship programs requires flexibility due to the complexity of medical decision-making surrounding antibiotic use and the variability in the size and types of care among U.S. hospitals. In some sections, CDC has identified priorities for implementation, based on the experiences of successful stewardship programs and published data. The Core Elements are intended to be an adaptable framework that hospitals can use to guide efforts to improve antibiotic prescribing. The assessment tool that accompanies this document can help hospitals identify gaps to address.
more
South Africa has faced many challenges over the past two decades, accomplishing profound positive changes in the social structure and government of the nation. This has not yet fully translated into better health for the population, however, particularly the poorest segment. In fact, the p...opulation has lost ground since the 1990s in virtually all important health indicators, leaving South Africa with a high burden of infectious disease.
August 2011, Vol. 101, No. 8 SAMJ
more
Event-based surveillance (EBS) is defined as the organized collection, monitoring, assessment and interpretation of mainly unstructured ad hoc information regarding health events or risks, which may represent an acute risk to health. Both indicator-based and event-based surveillance components serve... the early warning and response (EWAR) function of the public health surveillance system. The Framework for Event-based Surveillance offers guidance to public health practitioners seeking to implement EBS at each administrative level in their countries.
more
Human rights must be at the centre of all prevention, preparedness, containment and treatment efforts from the start, in order to best protect public health and support the groups and people who are most at risk. States have an obligation to protect and guarantee everyone the right to the highest at...tainable standard of health.
All European states have committed to fulfilling the right to health and have signed international and regional human rights treaties to that purpose. In the context of the current pandemic, authorities should engage all available resources to counter the pandemic while fulfilling the right to health.
more
Novel coronavirus will disproportionately impact world’s 70 million displaced people
Report recommends stopping asylum seeker deportations, prioritising hygiene and refugee camp decongestion, better communication
Displaced people must be included in prevention, mitigation efforts - for s...ake of everyone’s health
more
Emerg Infect Dis. 2020 Jul [date cited]. https://doi.org/10.3201/eid2607.200915
Infection control instructions call for use of alcohol-based hand rub solutions to inactivate severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. We determined the virucidal activity of World Health Organization–recommen...ded hand rub formulations, at full strength and multiple dilutions, and of the active ingredients. All disinfectants demonstrated efficient virus inactivation.
more
Only 8,730 asylum applications were registered in the EU+ in April, the lowest since at least 2008, and a massive 87% decrease from pre-COVID-19 levels in January and February.
The European Asylum Support Office (EASO) has released a special report which shows that the COVID-19 related travel restr...ictions and national health measures which were imposed during the past few months led to a dramatic cut in asylum applications in Europe.
more
While the full effects of COVID-19 remain unknown, the pandemic continues to profoundly impact regional migration and mobility dynamics, with deep health, social and economic consequences for the most vulnerable, including migrants, displaced populations and their host communities, and returnees.
Since March, the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted operations and required a different approach to communication with communities.
UNHCR communication channels have been rapidly enhanced and enlarged to ensure the continued provision of vital health and protection information.
Three billion people – 40 per cent of the world’s population – do not have a place in their homes to wash their hands with water and soap. Three quarters of those who lack access to water and soap live in the world’s poorest countries and are amongst the most vulnerable: children and familie...s living in informal settlements, migrant and refugee camps, or in areas of active conflict. This puts an estimated 1 billion people at immediate risk of COVID-19 simply because they lack basic handwashing facilities.
The Hand Hygiene for All initiative aims to move the world towards this goal: supporting the most vulnerable communities with the means to protect their health and environment. It brings together international partners, national governments, public and private sectors, and civil society to ensure affordable products and services are available, especially in disadvantaged areas, and to enable a culture of hygiene.
more
Sudan recorded the first COVID-19 case on 13 March 2020 and, at the beginning of July, the Federal Ministry of Health had confirmed that nearly 10,000 people had contracted the virus, including over 600 who died from the disease across the country. Although more than 70 per cent of the confirmed cas...es are in the Khartoum area, COVID-19 has spread throughout the country, with the highest numbers recorded in the central and eastern states. With extremely low testing capacity — around 800 samples per day, the lowest in the region — the official figures of confirmed cases likely underestimate the extent of the pandemic and the actual situation is unknown.
more
In Israel, as in other countries, the COVID-19 outbreak highlights existing structural inequities,which compromise the health of some migrant groups. The Israeli case also demonstrate show strong NGOs successfully advocate for the protection of migrants‘health amidst the crisis, madepossible bya c...ertain level ofcooperation withthe Israeli Ministry of Health.Hence,measures for COVID-19preparedness in Israel‘s marginalized migrant communities mostly result from pressure from civil society, against thebackdrop of a generally exclusionary approach toward migrants.4Over time, the Israeli Ministry of Health thus shifted from acknowledging the need to include migrants in preparedness measures toward the realization that particular needs and circumstances amongmigrant communities in some instances require special responses. Givena legacy of neglect and exclusion, this creates challenges for both the authorities and the migrant communities.
more
Rwanda first confirmed cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in March 2020. Although the number of cases has been low, health system resources are being redirected to respond and an increasing number of children are affected by the socio-economic impacts of the pandemic, including disruptions... to schooling and heightened protection risks.
While Rwanda remained Ebola-free during the outbreak, it remains a priority country and continues to maintain its Ebola preparedness. Rwanda is also home to 147,000 refugees, half of whom are children, who require assistance in and outside of camps.1 In 2021, UNICEF will continue to deliver life-saving services to refugees and children and families affected by COVID-19 and its socio-economic impacts, and maintain its Ebola preparedness and contingency planning.
more
In: Bonk M., Ulrichs T (eds). Global Health: Das Konzept der Globalen Gesundheit. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2021, pp. 523–556
Wohlstand, Gesundheit und Gesundheitsausgaben sind eng miteinander verknüpft. Im weltweiten Durchschnitt haben alle drei seit vielen Jahren stetig zugenommen. Im Vergleich hab...en Menschen in Ländern mit höheren Einkommen eine höhere Lebenserwartung. Die höchste Krankheitslast pro Mensch tritt in Ländern mit niedrigem Einkommen auf. Den größten Anteil an der gesamten globalen Krankheitslast haben Länder mit mittlerem Einkommen, in denen rund drei Viertel der Weltbevölkerung lebt. Im Mittel sind die Gesundheitsausgaben in Ländern mit höheren Einkommen insgesamt sowie pro Kopf höher als die Gesundheitsausgaben in Ländern mit niedrigeren Einkommen.
more
Orientations provisoires 2 novembre 2020
Ces orientations provisoires sont une mise à jour de la version précédente publiée le 31 mai 2020, en anglais, sous le titre « Harmonized modules for health facility assessment modules in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic: interi...m guidance ». Cette mise à jour a permis d’affiner et de développer davantage le contenu des modules.
more
It estimates that there have been 228,000 additional deaths of children under five in these six countries [Afghanistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka] due to crucial services, ranging from nutrition benefits to immunisation, being halted.
It says the number of children being tr...eated for severe malnutrition fell by more than 80% in Bangladesh and Nepal, and immunisation among children dropped by 35% and 65% in India and Pakistan respectively...
It also estimates that there have been some 3.5 million additional unwanted pregnancies, including 400,000 among teenagers, due to poor or no access to contraception...
The interruption to health services also affected those suffering from other diseases - the report predicts an additional 5,943 deaths across the region among adolescents who couldn't get treated for tuberculosis, malaria, typhoid and HIV/Aids.
more
this Service Delivery brief provides evidence-based strategies that can help support drug shops and pharmacies in providing a wider variety of family planning methods and information. Evidence shows that with training and support, pharmacy and drug shop staff can facilitate the use of a broad range ...of modern contraception, especially in areas where the unmet need is high, access to family planning services is poor, and health worker shortages and other barriers prevent women, men, and youth from accessing family planning services
Availabe in English, French, Spanish and Portuguese
more
European Journal of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences, vol.3 (2016) 1, 192-206
This review shows that if all sub areas of pharmaceutical waste management can efficiently work back to back environmental pollution and dangers to human health can reduce significantly.
23 February 2022
A summary of the commitments and targets within the United Nations General Assembly’s 2021 Political Declaration on HIV and AIDS.The United Nations General Assembly’s 2021 Political Declaration on AIDS features bold global commitments and targets for 2025 that are ambitious but... achievable if countries and communities follow the evidence-informed guidance within the Global AIDS Strategy 2021–2026. This UNAIDS publication provides a summary of those commitments and targets to get every country and every community on-track to end AIDS as a public health threat by 2030
more