Noma (cancrum oris) is a severe gangrenous disease of the mouth and face. It mostly affects children between the ages of 2 and 6 years living in extreme poverty. In addition to the known factors such as malnutrition, lack of vaccination in children and poor oral hygiene, several social and environme...ntal factors such as maternal malnutrition and close spacing of pregnancies that result in offspring with increasingly weakened immune systems are potentially related to the onset of the disease.
The aim of this guide is to assist the ministries of health (MoHs) to identify a general goal to be attained by the end of five years, with a view to sustainably reducing the incidence of noma as a public health problem through programmes that are fully integrated with national health planning, strengthening of primary health care (PHC) and attainment of UHC.
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Policy brief, 24 July 2020
The COVID-19 pandemic has affected older people disproportionately, especially those living in long-term care facilities. In many countries, evidence shows that more than 40% of COVID-19 related deaths have been linked to long-term care facilities, with figures being as h...igh as 80% in some high-income countries. Concerted action is needed to mitigate the impact across all aspects of long-term care, including home- and community-based care, given that most users and providers of care are those who are vulnerable to severe COVID-19.
This policy brief provides 11 policy objectives and key action points to prevent and manage COVID-19 across long-term care. Its intended audience is policy makers and authorities (national, subnational and local) involved in the COVID-19 pandemic. The brief builds on currently available evidence on the measures taken to prevent, prepare for and respond to the COVID‑19 pandemic across long-term care services including care providers
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Childhood cancer is curable for the vast majority of children when essential diagnostic, therapeutic and supportive care services are accessible. However, profound inequalities in outcomes exist within and between countries with as few as 20% or 30% of children living in low- and middle-income count...ries surviving.
The Global Initiative for Childhood Cancer Overview document presents the CureAll approach to support governments, partners and communities achieve the best possible cancer care for all children. This approach, summarized as four pillars of action supported by three enablers, will improve the care for children with cancer around the world.
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Based on Human Rights Watch (HRW)'s reporting on the human rights dimensions of the COVID-19 pandemic (see Related Summary, and the video, below), this document presents 40 questions to provoke thinking about a rights-respecting response to the crisis. The questions address the needs - including aro...und issues of information and communication - of groups most at risk, such as people living in poverty, ethnic and religious minorities, women, people with disabilities, older people, migrants, refugees, children, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people. The resource also identifies a variety of responses to the crisis, some of which are positive and others problematic - with many links to related stories and resources online.
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NAMI HelpLine
Contents
I’m having a lot of anxiety because of the coronavirus. Please help.
I’m quarantined or working from home – lonely and isolated even further – what can I do?
I don’t have health insurance or a regular doctor – how can I get care?
What if I’m quarantin...ed and can’t get my medication? Will there be a shortage?
My business is suffering as a result of the Coronavirus. What assistance programs are available to help?
Are people who have a mental illness at a greater risk of contracting COVID-19?
Is there a vaccine or cure for COVID-19?
I lost a loved one to Coronavirus. Where can I find support?
I’m a smoker. Am I more likely to catch COVID-19? What should I do?
How does homelessness increase risk of contracting COVID-19?
My loved one is incarcerated, are they at increased risk for exposure to COVID-19?
I’m the aging parent of an adult child living with a serious mental illness. I want to be sure they are taken care of.
Are there any online support resources for people with substance use disorders?
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Social distancing is an action taken to minimise contact with other individuals; social distancing measures comprise one category of non-pharmaceutical countermeasures (NPCs)1 aimed at reducing disease transmission and thereby also reducing pressure on health services.
This document builds upon exi...sting ECDC documents, including guidelines for the use of non-pharmaceutical measures to delay and mitigate the impact of 2019-nCoV, a rapid risk assessment: outbreak of novel coronavirus disease – 5th update, a technical report on the use of evidence in decision-making during public health emergencies, and a guidance document on community engagement for public health events caused by communicable disease threats in the EU/EEA.
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The WHO operational handbook on tuberculosis: tuberculosis preventive treatment is the companion, implementation guide to the 2020 WHO guidelines on TB preventive treatment.[1] Just as these guidelines are the first to be released under the rubric of the WHO consolidated TB guidelines, this handbook... will be the first in a modular series of practical guides meant for the implementers of various aspects of the programmatic management TB.
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Cognizant of the need for standardization of the response for COVID-19, the Federal Ministry of Health prepared this national guideline in an effort to contain the epidemic before it overwhelms the health care facilities. This national guideline is expected to guide policy makers and h...ealth professionals at all level. A standardized approaches to will assist effective and efficient utilization of the limited resource of the country, minimizes dilemma and confusion on case management. To this effect, the FMOH has established National COVID-19 advisory committee. The committee members are from different specialties with very good experiences in disaster management and prevention and treatment of infectious disease epidemics. The input from the committee is used to make decisions at the national level about theepidemics in the weeks and months to come. The FMOH would like to acknowledge the members of the national advisory committee for their commitment and unreserved effort in finalizing the task in a very short period of time and advising the Ministry on various issues related to the epidemics at this critical time.
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For the first time WHO and UNICEF bring together the data on sanitation coverage and investment, and how it impacts health, economies, and the environment. Citing evidence on what works from successful countries and global guidelines, WHO and UNICEF call for strong government leadership and investme...nt in resilient sanitation services. The report charts an ambitious way forward following the SDG6 global acceleration framework themes of governance, financing, capacity development, data and information, and innovation to achieve universal access to safe sanitation.
Read the full publication report here: https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240014473.
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Women and girls have specific needs that are often ignored during crisis. While on the run or while living in shelters, women and girls continue to become pregnant, but they often lack access to basic sexual and reproduc-tive health care. Without assistance by midwifes or access to contraceptives, w...omen and girls are at increased risk of unsafe sex, unwanted pregnancy and unsafe delivery, and are at a higher risk of infection by HIV and other sexually transmitted infections. In addition, displaced women have virtually no access to protection, security, justice, and other services related to gender-based violence (GBV). For these reasons, the delivery of sexual and reproduc-tive health and rights (SRHR) as well as GBV services to conflict-affected communities – most of whom are living in protracted displacement – is a key part of UNFPA’s Women and Girls First Programme (WGF). The initia-tive is a commitment to prevent and respond to violence perpetrated against women and girls in Myanmar, and to realize their sexual and reproductive health and rights.
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In Paraguay, 1.8% of the population are indigenous people. The Maká community
29 mainly live in urbanized areas in the Central Region. This study focuses on the epidemiology
30 of tuberculosis (TB) among indigenous Maká and the non-indigenous people living in the
31 Central Region, the biggest ...metropolitan area of the Paraguay.
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The Need for a Regional Response to an Unprecedented Migration Crisis.
This report provides an overview of where the more than 2 million Venezuelans who have left the country since 2014, at least half of them in the past year and a half alone, are now living, the conditions they face, their prospe...cts of obtaining legal status in the host countries, and applicable international standards that should guide host governments’ responses.
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March - June 2018
Myanmar introduced Child Death Surveillance and Response (CDSR) in 2015 as an initiative to reduce child (under-5) mortality, an initiative that will contribute to the country’s efforts to meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). Technical Guidelines for CDSR were devel...oped in 2015 followed by the development of Training Package in 2016. An Implementation Plan was made in 2016; and this led to all townships implementing CDSR in early 2017. After one year of implementation an assessment was carried out in early 2018.
The assessment was conducted in 3 region/states – Ayeyarwaddy, Magway, Shan South, with information gathered from the state/region, district, township and basic health unit levels. In addition a caretaker interview was conducted to see health-seeking behavior. In addition to these three regions/states, information was also gathered from three other regions/states but only at the region/state level – Mandalay, Yangon, Kachin.
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This document provides an overview of sexual and reproductive health and rights issues that may be important for the human rights, health and well-being of adolescents (aged 10–19 years) and the relevant World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines on how to address them in an easilyaccessible, user...-friendly format. The document serves as a gateway to the rich body of WHO guidelines, and as a handy resource to inform advocacy, policy and programme/project design and research. It aims to support the implementation of the Global Strategy for Women’s, Children’s and Adolescents’ Health 2016–2030 (1), and is aligned with the WHO Global Accelerated Action for the Health of Adolescents (AA-HA!) as well as the WHO Operational Framework on Sexual Health and Its Linkages to Reproductive Health (2,3).
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This document provides a generic model that can be used for risk assessment of exposure to insecticide products applied as indoor residual sprays. It aims to harmonize the risk assessment of such insecticides for public health use in order to generate comparable data for their registering and labell...ing by national regulatory authorities. The assessment considers both adults and children (all age groups) as well as people in the following specific categories:
- those preparing the spray;
- those applying the spray;
- residents living in the treated houses;
- residents who participate in preparing and applying insecticides.
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This strategy takes into account the policies formulated by sectors with cross-cutting interests in school meals, such as education, health, social protection and agriculture.The strategy further complements the provisions of the National School Health Policy and the asso...ciated National School Health Guidelines (2009) into a school meals framework with six strategic objectives. Above all, the strategy encourages inter-ministerial coordination, multi-sectoral planning, stable funding and monitoring and evaluation for home-grown school meals to all children in Kenya.
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Objective: The study aimed to describe the current epidemiological, clinical and immunological profile of newly
detected HIV - positive patients in Northern Benin by 2016. Methods: It was a prospective study conducted from May 2 to
October 31, 2016 on three main sites of care of people living with... HIV (PLHIV) in the department of Borgou in Benin. All
new cases of HIV infection have been systematically and comprehensively recruited. Initial epidemiological, clinical and
immunological data were collected using a questionnaire. These data were entered and analyzed using the Epi Info 7 software.
Results: In total, 185 adults (68 male and 117 female) newly screened HIV positive were included in this study. The middle age
was 36.2 ± 10.9 years and the sex ratio was 0.6 One hundred and thirty-five patients (73%) were between 25 and 50 years old.
In terms of the profession, 132 patients (71.3%) were engaged in liberal activities (craftmen, traders and retailers). The
majority was schooled (113 or 61.1%) and resided in urban areas (146 or 79%). One hundred and sixteen patients lived in
couple (62.7%) with an average monthly income estimated at 70 US Dollars. Clinically, 123 patients (66.5%) were in WHO
stage III. The body mass index was over 18.5 kg/m2 in 124 patients (67%). The median number of TCD4 lymphocytes was
254.5 cells/ml and 25 patients (13.5%) had a number of CD4 over 500 cells/ml. HIV1 was really predominant (97.8%). Most
patients (152 or 82.2%) had been screened for clinical suspicion. Conclusion: HIV infection in Benin remains the prerogative
of young, female, educated and poor people. Screening is delayed and hence the need to develop innovative strategies for early
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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 goal of this Global Action Plan is to articulate synergistic actions that will be required to prevent HIVDR from undermining efforts to achieve global targets on health and HIV, and to provide the most effective treatment to all people living with HIV including adults, key populations, pregnant ...and breastfeeding women, children and adolescents. The Global Action Plan has five strategic objectives: 1) prevention and response; 2) monitoring and surveillance; 3) research and innovation; 4) laboratory capacity; and 5) governance and enabling mechanisms.
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The objective of this project was to list the medical devices required to provide the essential reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health interventions defined by existing WHO guidelines and publications, in order to improve access to these devices in low- and middle-income countries, support... quality of care, and strengthen health-care system. The medical devices are allocated across the reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health continuum of care according to the level of health-care delivery.
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