Anaemia is a serious global public health problem that particularly affects young children, menstruating adolescent girls and women, and pregnant and postpartum women. It is a condition in which the number of red blood cells or the haemoglobin concentration within them is lower than normal, affectin...g the blood’s ability to carry oxygen to the body’s tissues.
To reliably monitor the prevalence of anaemia at a population level, it is vital to measure the haemoglobin concentration in an accurate and precise way. In large-scale surveys, however, haemoglobin is most commonly measured using single-drop capillary blood specimens in point-of-care devices. Emerging evidence suggests that the use of single-drop capillary blood can introduce random and/or systematic errors, which may lead to inaccurate estimates, complicating effective anaemia programming.
This technical brief describes the current best practices for haemoglobin measurement, providing guidance to help plan or implement field surveys to assess anaemia at a population level. Continuing work to review emerging evidence is led by members of the WHO-UNICEF Technical Expert Advisory group on nutrition Monitoring (TEAM).
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Promoting and protecting health is essential to human welfare and sustained economic and social development. This was recognized more than 30 years ago by the Alma-Ata Declaration signatories, who noted that Health for All would contribute
both to a better quality of life and also to global peace a...nd security
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DHS Further Analysis Reports No. 98
A manual on homemade masks
This guide is designed to provide a simple outline of best practices to make, use and reuse masks to enable NGOs and individuals to self-create such masks and accelerate widespread adoption of masks across India.
The key criteria for proposed designs are:
Ease of Ac...cess to Materials
Easy of Making at Home
Ease of Use and Reuse
Wearing of masks is especially recommended for people living in densely populated areas across India
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PEPFAR Malawi’s Country Operational Plan 2022 (COP22) embodies joint priorities from national and subnational dialogues building on the 2020-2025 National Strategic Plan for HIV/AIDS. The interagency team has developed a person-centered, district-tailored and Malawi Population-Based HIV Impact Ass...essment (MPHIA)-informed strategy through extensive engagement with Government of Malawi (GoM) and Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) to sustain HIV epidemic control. At the end of COP21, PEPFAR Malawi was commended for contributing to reaching epidemic control in strong collaboration with GoM and stakeholders including the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (Global Fund). This includes enrollment of 88% of recipients of care on three or more months of antiretroviral treatment (ART), better outcomes for Malawian children through remarkable efforts in Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC) programming and progress made towards reaching men with more intentional and focused programming.
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The document provides detailed guidelines for the production, formulation, and implementation of oral rehydration salts (ORS) to combat dehydration caused by diarrhoea, particularly in children. It focuses on the composition, quality standards, and packaging requirements of ORS, aiming to support na...tional authorities and healthcare providers in ensuring effective and accessible treatment. It also highlights strategies for manufacturing ORS locally while adhering to international health and safety standards.
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The Zithromax® Supply Chain Assessment Tool is designed to guide assessment team members through a series of interviews
with key informants and to establish inspection procedures when conducting logistics field assessments. The protocol allows
the assessment team to examine the readiness of the N...ational Trachoma Control Program and the District- level health
management structures to receive, manage, distribute and administer donated Zithromax® for mass drug administrati
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The IAPB School Eye Health Workgroup has released these guidelines to help deliver standardised comprehensive eye health services to more than 700 million children attending schools around the world. These guidelines direct the planning and implementation of school eye health initiatives for policym...akers, health authorities, and related professionals. They emphasize effective, efficient, and sustainable programs, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. Monitoring and evaluation should be planned from the outset, and existing local guidelines should be integrated.
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More and more countries are completing their epidemiological mapping of trachoma in suspected
endemic districts and are preparing to distribute Zithromax® in those districts where the prevalence of
“trachomatous inflammation – follicular” (TF) is above 5% among children aged 1-9 years. Mass... drug
administration (MDA) is normally at the district level and targets the whole population with Zithromax®
tablets to those 5 years old and above; Zithromax® suspension for children between 6 months and 5
years of age; and tetracycline eye ointment 1% for infants up to 6 months old.
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