The results of a WHO survey conducted to assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on up to 25 essential health services in countries show disruptions of essential health services in nearly all countries, and more so in lower-income than higher-income countries. The great majority of service disrup...tions were partial, which was defined as a change of 5–50% in service provision or use.
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The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela has been facing a sociopolitical and economic situation that has negatively impacted social and health indicators. There have been intensified population movements both within the country and to other countries, particularly to Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia,... Costa Rica, Curaçao, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guyana, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Trinidad and Tobago, and Uruguay. Since 2017, an estimated 5.2 million Venezuelans have migrated to other countries, including an estimated 4.3 million who have gone to countries in Latin America and the Caribbean.
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The COVID-19 pandemic’s immediate costs, measured in lives lost and damaged, have been appalling and continue to rise. In addition, its effects on individuals’ livelihoods and economies around the world have been deep and are likely to be long lasting. While saving lives was the near-exclusive f...ocus during the first phase of the crisis, governments are now trying to strike a delicate balance between preventing further economic damage by reopening parts of their economies, while managing the obvious health risks of doing so.
In the international mobility and migration arenas—policy areas enormously affected by the health and economic effects of the pandemic—this reflection considers both how these fields have fared thus far and the challenges that lay ahead
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This document provides guidance on how to implement contact screening and chemoprophylaxis with single-dose rifampicin. The contents are logically ordered: counselling and obtaining consent, identification and listing of index case, listing of contacts, tracing of contacts, screening of contacts, ad...ministration of prophylactic drugs. Managerial aspects to undertake contact screeninig and chemoprophylaxis are also elaborated, including planning , training , supervision and drug management.
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Профилактика и работа в условиях пандемии COVID-19 в учреждениях долговременного ухода в Европейском регионе ВОЗ
В настоящем техническом руководстве определено ...десять задач для лиц, принимающих решения,
разработчиков политики и национальных или региональных органов здравоохранения, стремящихся
обеспечить профилактику и работу в условиях пандемии COVID в учреждениях долговременного ухода.
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Effective antibiotics are essential for childrens’ survival
The WHO Guidelines on physical activity and sedentary behaviour provide evidence-based public health recommendations for children, adolescents, adults and older adults on the amount of physical activity (frequency, intensity and duration) required to offer significant health benefits and mitigate he...alth risks. For the first time, recommendations are provided on the associations between sedentary behaviour and health outcomes, as well as for subpopulations, such as pregnant and postpartum women, and people living with chronic conditions or disability.
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The World Health Organization organized a Consultation of National Leprosy Programme managers, partners and affected persons to discuss the draft Global Leprosy Strategy, 2021--2030. This virtual event took place from 26 to 30 October 2020. It was attended by more than 450 stakeholders. Contribution...s were shared through 70 presentations made by stake holders from all Regions. The presentations covered the key strategic approaches: global context, challenges in countries, contact tracing and post exposure prophylaxis, disability care, interruption of transmission and elimination of disease, stigma and d iscrimination, research. In addition to numerous comments received through the chat box and by email, the conclusions and recommendations of this Consultation will guide finalizing the post 2020 Global Leprosy Strategy.
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MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. ePub: 4 December 2020. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm6949e2
The checklist is aligned with, and builds upon, existing COVID-19-related WHO guidelines and is structured around protective measures related to: 1) hand hygiene and respiratory etiquette; 2) physical distancing; 3) use of masks in schools; 4) environmental cleaning and ventilation; and 5) respectin...g procedures for isolation of all people with symptoms. The checklist is designed to support policy-makers, staff and officials from the education and health sectors, local authorities, school principals/leaders and administrators, teachers’ unions, community leaders, school staff, teachers, parents and caregivers.
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BMJ Global Health, Vol.5 No. 12Spatial subdivision of the camp (‘sectoring’) was able to ‘flatten the curve’, reducing peak infection by up to 70% and delaying peak infection by up to several months. The use of face masks coupled with the efficient isolation of infected individuals reduced t...he overall incidence of infection, and sometimes averted epidemics altogether. These interventions must be implemented quickly in order to be maximally effective. Lockdowns had only small effects on COVID-19 dynamics.
Conclusions
Agent-based models are powerful tools for forecasting the spread of disease in spatially structured and heterogeneous populations. Our findings suggest that feasible interventions can slow the spread of COVID-19 in a refugee camp setting, and provide an evidence base for camp managers planning intervention strategies. Our model can be modified to study other closed populations at risk from COVID-19 or future epidemics.
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The assistive technology capacity assessment (ATA-C) is a system-level tool to evaluate a country’s capacity to finance, regulate, procure and provide assistive technology. It can be used for awareness raising, policy and programme design, and ongoing monitoring and evaluation. This manual provide...s guidance and practical information on the ATA-C implementation process. The ATA-C is intended to be implemented by an experienced team, in collaboration with relevant ministries and users’ organizations.
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A series of data syntheses from the RCCE Collective Service. It focuses on public perceptions of the COVID-19 vaccinations, bringing together 66 data sources from quantitative surveys across 107 countries and six regions, underpinned by a rapid review of additional studies and community feedback dat...a from Africa.
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The early prevention project “Strong together!” supports refugee parents and their young children (0–4 years) in Berlin, Germany. It aims to mitigate the transmission of trauma to the generation born in exile. For refugee families who have only recently arrived in Germany, the COVID‐19 pande...mic poses a particularly great challenge. Not only are they confronted with numerous challenges in respect to rebuilding their lives in Germany after fleeing war and persecution, but are also vulnerable to conscious and unconscious anxieties, fantasies, and conflicts evoked by the pandemic and the threat it poses to their lives. This was observed in the context of the mother–child groups of “Strong together!”
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The Lancet Planetary Health Volume 5, ISSUE 7, e466-e478, July 01, 2021
Transmission of many infectious diseases depends on interactions between humans, animals, and the environment. Incorporating these complex processes in transmission dynamic models can help inform policy and disease control int...erventions. We identified 20 diseases involving environmentally persistent pathogens (ie, pathogens that survive for more than 48 h in the environment and can cause subsequent human infections), of which indirect transmission can occur from animals to humans via the environment.
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The Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) report – Progress on household drinking water, sanitation and hygiene 2000 - 2020 – presents estimates on household access to safely managed drinking water, sanitation and hygiene services over the past five years, and assesses progress toward achieving the s...ixth sustainable development goal (SDG) to ‘Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all by 2030’.
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Mortality due to enteric infections is projected to increase because of global warming; however, the different temperature sensitivities of major enteric pathogens have not yet been considered in projections on a global scale. We aimed to project global temperature-attributable enteric infection mor...tality under various future scenarios of sociodemographic development and climate change.
The Lancet Planetary Health Volume 5, ISSUE 7, e436-e445, July 01, 2021
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