10 May 2021
This scientific brief replaces the WHO Scientific Brief entitled “’Immunity passports’ in the context of COVID-19”, published 24 April 2020.
This update is focused on what is currently understood about SARS-CoV-2 immunity from natural infection. More information about considera...tions on vaccine certificates or “passports” will be covered in an update of WHO interim guidance, as requested by the COVID-19 emergency committee.
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In humanitarian settings, tailoring community engagement interventions for gender, language, and local culture improves communities’ uptake with interventions. Measures taken to prevent and respond to COVID-19 pandemic such as confinement may increase GBV, especially domestic violence and Intimate... Partner Violence (IPV). This document is meant as a starting point for the field colleagues to support them in ensuring communication to communities around COVID-19 includes gender-based violence (GBV).
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Issue Brief no.8. January 18,2021
Vaccination against the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus represents a milestone in the fight against the pandemic. Good communication and education of the population is essential for the success of the vaccination. Below is some information on vaccination strategies,... implementation of the vaccination, ethical considerations, as well as educational materials in English and other languages.
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IOM Ethiopia plans to provide timely and tailored humanitarian assistance and resilience programming for crisis-affected populations in Ethiopia and vulnerable migrant returnees, aiming towards durable and sustainable solutions.
“Guide to facilitate the implementation of the WHO/UNICEF “Guidance on developing a national deployment and vaccination plan for COVID-19 vaccines” for Africa
t contains action-oriented lists of critical topics to address and checklists tailored to the context of African Union Member States.
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The contents of this guide aim to guide the development of one comprehensive national deployment and vaccination plan, as proposed and outlined by the guidance – and underlines the need for countries to develop their vaccination plans.
This guide is not meant as a tool to assess deployment readiness. The recommendation to Member States is to use the VIRAT/VRAF 2.0 tool for that, which builds on the COVAX Vaccine Introduction Readiness Assessment Tool (VIRAT) and the World Bank’s Vaccine Readiness Assessment Framework (VRAF).
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Available in Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish; WHO and UNICEF policy brief, 19 April 2021
Persons with disabilities are disproportionately impacted by COVID-19, both directly because of infection, and indirectly because of restrictions to reduce the spread of the virus. Persons with di...sabilities are a diverse group, and the risks, barriers and impacts faced by them will vary in different contexts according to, among other factors, their age, gender identity, type of disability, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and migration status.
This document presents considerations and actions for the following stakeholders to ensure equity in access to vaccination against COVID‑19 for persons with disabilities
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This guide is intended to support national governments developing their national deployment and vaccination plans (NDVPs) for COVID-19 vaccines by outlining the roles, needs and opportunities for community health workers (CHWs) to contribute. This note builds on and is structured to align with the G...uidance on developing a national deployment and vaccination plan for COVID-19 vaccines. By providing CHW-relevant considerations for the VIRAT Tool, this document aims to support national governments in developing robust NDVPs for introducing COVID-19 vaccine(s) that leverage all the community-based deployment, implementation and monitoring tools at their disposal.
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Assessment of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) service disruptions during the COVID-19 pandemic. Preliminary results.
Guidance on how to provide continuity for NCD programmes:• How to include NCDs in public health emergencies protocols?• How to develop national NCDs tool kits for use in emergen...cies?• How to provide ambulatory essential NCD services during lockdown?• How to provide medical care for NCDs through telemedicine and digital solutions?
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A key component of achieving control and elimination of neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) is effective supply chain management of preventive chemotherapy drugs for Mass Drug Administration (MDA) for trachoma, river blindness, lymphatic filariasis, soil-transmitted helminthiasis and schistosomiasis.... This course explains the end-to-end process from planning and submitting donated drug requests through to waste management of expired and unserviceable stock and reverse logistics of unused tablets. It is essential knowledge for all levels of the health system that must work together to implement MDA.
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scientific brief, 2 March 2022
7 April 2022. Aimed at national policymakers, public health and healthcare planners, staff working in reception centres, and healthcare staff caring for displaced persons, the information note concludes that universal testing of incoming refugees from Ukraine for tuberculosis (TB) infection is not r...ecommended. Specific groups, such as household contacts of bacteriologically confirmed pulmonary cases, or those who are immunocompromised should however be considered for TB infection testing.
Available in Czech, Hungarian, Polish, Romanian, Slovakian, Ukranian
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Schools are generally the most popular setting for drug-use-
prevention programmes, and are used both by governmental and
non-governmental agencies. This may be for many reasons: ease of
obtaining funding for school drug-use-prevention programmes, the
captive audience, and the popular perception... that drug prevention
should start from schools, or the need to show that action is being
taken to control a serious social problem.
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Yaws, a neglected tropical disease (NTD) of the skin caused by the bacterium Treponema pallidum subspecies pertenue, is targeted in the latest WHO NTD Roadmap for eradication by 2030. In January, 2022, WHO published a manual that outlines the key activities that Ministries of Health in endemic count...ries should undertake to achieve this goal. The aim of the manual is to provide guidance on surveillance and evaluation of yaws as programmes progress towards eradication. However, yaws eradication in Africa faces several challenges.
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Rabies is a devastating and societally important zoonotic disease, which is transmitted principally to humans through the bite of infected dogs. This acute, progressive viral encephalitis has the highest case fatality of any infectious disease and kills tens of thousands of people annually, with chi...ldren and impoverished communities being affected disproportionately.
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