This bi-weekly brief details the latest developments in scientific knowledge and public health policy from around the world as well as updates to the COVID-19-related guidance from Africa CDC, WHO and other public health agencies.
It is essential that all people, including people living with HIV, are able to access health services and ongoing treatment. If people living with HIV who are on ART stop abruptly because they cannot access new supplies they could rapidly become unwell, drug resistance may build and the chances of o...nward transmission of the virus would increase.
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A ‘checklist’, intended for Christian church leaders in West Africa, with relevant bible passages and advice regarding church practices and the education and support of communities.
The target audience of this document (and the associated online companion tool) includes WHO country offices
in Member States of the African Region; Member States’ ministries of health and their public health emergency
operation centres; relevant external assessment teams; and partners looking... to identify preparedness gaps and
support interventions that help address them. In the event of a suspected or confirmed VHF case, the document also serves to provide any intervening partner with a sense of what structures should be in place, in order to guide
scale-up activities in line with regional and national plans.
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Hey Facts about the disease
The report presents current information (updated to September 2015) on candidate vaccines, therapies and medical devices for Ebola and gives an overview of completed and on-going trials.
Risk communication encompasses all the basics of health communication but differs in the need for speed and reliance on trust. At times of crisis, leaders are called on to provide a quick, sensitive and trustworthy response.
Any individual that meets the suspected case definition of monkeypox should be offered testing in appropriately equipped laboratories by staff trained in the relevant technical and safety procedures. Confirmation of monkeypox virus infection is based on nucleic acid amplification testing (NAAT), usi...ng real-time or conventional polymerase chain reaction (PCR), for detection of unique sequences of viral DNA. PCR can be used alone, or in combination with sequencing. The recommended specimen type for laboratory confirmation of monkeypox is skin lesion material, including swabs of lesion surface and/or exudate, roofs from more than one lesion, or lesion crusts.
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This article summarises the process involved in developing the updated guideline and includes an infographic to highlight key IPC recommendations from the guideline, following the patient care pathway from the community to a healthcare facility to discharge.