The Influenza Transmission Zones are geographical groups of countries, areas or territories with similar influenza transmission patterns. Below is a map showing the borders of the Influenza Transmission Zones as well as the list of countries, areas or territories by zone.
In this entry we are looking at smoking, alcohol consumption and the use of illicit drugs. We are studying who is using these substances, how their use has changed over time, and we are presenting the estimates of their impact on health. Collectively, smoking, alcohol and illicit drug use kills 11.8... million people each year. This is more than the number of deaths from all cancers
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All health-care workers require clear and comprehensive training and education on the importance of hand hygiene, the "My 5 Moments for Hand Hygiene" approach and the correct procedures for handrubbing and handwashing. The following tools and resources are meant to support bridging the knowledge gap... and for you to adopt and adapt to support local improvement.
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The global burden of disease (GBD) study provides information about fatal and non-fatal health outcomes around the world.
The objective of this work is to describe the burden of mental disorders among children aged 5–14 years in each of the six regions of the World Health Organisation. Data come ...from the GBD 2015 study. Outcomes: disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) are the main indicator of GBD studies and are built from years of life lost (YLLs) and years of life lived with disability (YLDs).
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This report covers research conducted on HIV stigma and discrimination using the Stigma Index in the Papua New Guinea provinces of Western Highlands and Chimbu*. When Igat Hope began the project the aim was to conduct interviews in all regions of PNG. However, due to funding constraints and organis...ational capacities, the Stigma Index has only been applied in one region, that is, the Highlands Region. In future, the hope is to gather comparable data from other regions in PNG. Despite the fact that the overall project aims have not yet been achieved, the data contained in this report provides useful information that can be considered as work continues in PNG on HIV-related stigma and discrimination and human rights.
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A discussion paper on the scope of the problem, its drivers, and strategies for moving forward for policy, practice, and research
In many protracted emergencies, the prevalence rates of global acute malnutrition (GAM) regularly exceed the emergency threshold of > 15% of children with acute malnutri...tion (< -2 weight-for-height z-scores (WHZ) or with nutritional edema), despite ongoing humanitarian interventions. The widespread scale and long-lasting nature of “persistent GAM” means that it is a policy and programming priority.
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Vitamin A deficiency is a risk factor for blindness and for mortality from measles and diarrhoea in children aged 6–59 months. We aimed to estimate trends in the prevalence of vitamin A defi ciency between 1991 and 2013 and its mortality burden in low-income and middle-income countries.
The International Forum of Indigenous Women (IIWF) has prepared this report in order to have a
document for analysis and systematization of the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the lives
of Indigenous Women, and to identify the strategies promoted by them. This document is expected
to serve as... a political tool for advocacy. The methodology used in this analysis is a gender and
Indigenous Women’s collective and individual human rights approach. The results are mainly based
on a global, participatory survey, conducted in English, French and Spanish languages, aimed at
indigenous women’s organizations and leaders.
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Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a global epidemic with significant morbidity. Diabetic
retinopathy (DR) is the specific microvascular complication of DM and affects 1 in 3 persons with DM. DR remains a leading cause of vision loss in working adult populations. Patients with severe levels of DR are report...ed to have poorer quality of life and reduced levels of physical, emotional, and social well-being, and they utilize more health care resources.
Epidemiological studies and clinical trials have shown that optimal control of blood glucose, blood pressure, and blood lipids can reduce the risk of developing retinopathy and slow its progression. Timely treatment with laser photocoagulation, and increasingly, the appropriate use of intraocular administration of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) inhibitors can prevent visual loss in vision- threatening retinopathy, particularly diabetic macular edema (DME). Since visual loss may not be present in the earlier stages of retinopathy, regular screening of persons with diabetes is essential to enable early intervention.
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Report of a global meeting on yaws eradication surveillance, monitoring and evaluation: Geneva, 29–30 January 2018. World Health Organization.
Training in monitoring and epidemiological assessment of mass drug administration for eliminating lymphatic filariasis: learners’ guide. World Health Organization.
Driving progress towards rabies elimination: Results of Gavi’s Learning Agenda on rabies and new WHO position on rabies immunization
The Pharmaceutical Forum of the Americas (PFA) has previously published guidelines and organised campaigns for community pharmacists on the prevention, detection and control of arbovirus infections in 2018 with a grant from the FIP Foundation for Pharmacy Education and Research. Building on that exp...ertise, FIP joined efforts with the PFA and is now publishing its first-ever handbook to support pharmacists in the
area of vector-borne diseases. As the integration of the regional forums in FIP advances, such collaborative projects are tangible results of an increasingly regionally informed and regionally targeted work by FIP.
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Malgré les progrès récents vers la mise au point d’un traitement hautement efficace et abordable contre le virus de l’hépatite C, beaucoup de personnes infectées par ce virus ne connaissent pas leur statut. L’Organisation mondiale de la Santé (OMS) estime qu’en 2019, 58 millions ...de personnes à travers le monde étaient atteintes d’une infection chronique par le virus de l’hépatite C, et qu’à peine 21 % d’entre elles avaient été diagnostiquées. Le défaut de sensibilisation, l’accès limité aux services de dépistage et de traitement, la stigmatisation, la discrimination et d’autres obstacles structurels contribuent au faible taux d’utilisation des services de dépistage du virus de l’hépatite C.
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As a high-burden neglected tropical disease, soil-transmitted helminth (STH) infections remain a major problem in the world, especially among children under five years of age. Since young children are at high risk of being infected, STH infection can have a long-term negative impact on their life, i...ncluding impaired growth and development. Stunting, a form of malnutrition in young children, has been long assumed as one of the risk factors in acquiring the STH infections. However, the studies on STH infection in children under five with stunting have been lacking, resulting in poor identification of the risk. Accordingly, we collected and reviewed existing related research articles to provide an overview of STH infection in a susceptible population of stunted children under five years of age in terms of prevalence and risk factors. There were 17 studies included in this review related to infection with Ascaris lumbricoides, Trichuris trichiura, hookworm, and Strongyloides stercoralis from various countries. The prevalence of STH infection in stunted children ranged from 12.5% to 56.5%. Increased inflammatory markers and intestinal microbiota dysbiosis might have increased the intensity of STH infection in stunted children that caused impairment in the immune system. While the age from 2 to 5 years along with poor hygiene and sanitation has shown to be the most common risk factors of STH infections in stunted children; currently there are no studies that show direct results of stunting as a risk factor for STH infection. While stunting itself may affect the pathogenesis of STH infection, further research on stunting as a risk factor for STH infection is encouraged.
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Accessed on 22.04.2023
To target helminth elimination, a new consortium of research institutes, universities, not-for-profit organizations, and pharmaceutical companies have joined forces and expertise to establish a research and development pipeline for the development of anthelminthics targeti...ng nematodes. The focus is on STH as well as onchocerciasis.
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This report presents a framework to link science, policy and practice for a comprehensive assessment of climate mitigation and adaptation investments and their impact on human health.The framework proposes to use weather and climate data to forecast health impacts over time, as well as biophysical a...nd economic models to quantify the outcomes of investments in climate change adaptation and mitigation for relevant sectoral indicators and health co-benefits. It provides guidance on the economic valuation of health co-benefits of climate action, for inclusion in sector-specific cost–benefit analysis (CBA), including the spatial allocation of such costs and benefits.
The framework developed and presented in this study is comprehensive, and provides various entry points for different audiences, including decision-makers in the public and private sectors, researchers and scientists, working in the health sector as well as in other thematic areas and related sectors affected by climate action.
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The WHO standard: Universal access to rapid tuberculosis diagnostics sets benchmarks to achieve universal access to WHO-recommended rapid diagnostics (WRDs), increase bacteriologically confirmed tuberculosis and drug resistance detection, and reduce the time to diagnosis. WHO-recommended rapid diagn...ostics are highly accurate, cost-effective, reduce the time to treatment initiation, and impact patient-important outcomes.
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Obesity in all age groups, including children and adolescents, is a public health challenge across all settings. Obesity is now classified as a complex multifactorial chronic disease and not just a risk factor for other noncommunicable diseases and comorbidities. Recognizing the significance of prim...ary health care for an effective and efficient response to the obesity epidemic, the World Health Organization (WHO) has developed guidance on how to build capacity in the health system to deliver health services for prevention and management of obesity across the life course. This policy brief discusses the challenges and opportunities for preventing obesity in children and adolescents, and providing health services to treat and manage those already living with obesity. It outlines possible interventions through the primary health care approach.
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Since the last situation report on the multi-country outbreak of cholera was published on 1 June 2023 (covering data reported until 15 of May), no new country reported a cholera outbreak. In total, 24 countries have reported cases since the beginning of 2023. The WHO African Region remains the most ...affected region with 14 countries reporting cholera cases since the beginning of the year. The overall capacity to respond to the multiple and simultaneous outbreaks continues to be strained due to the global lack of resources, including shortages of the Oral Cholera Vaccine (OCV) and cholera supplies, as well as overstretched public health and medical personnel, who are dealing with multiple parallel disease outbreaks and other health emergencies. Based on the large number of outbreaks and their geographic expansion, as well as a lack of vaccines and other resources, WHO continues to assess the risk at global level as very high.
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