A global food crisis fuelled by conflict, climate shocks and the COVID-19 pandemic is growing because of the ripple effects of the war in Ukraine driving rising prices of food, fuel and fertilizer. Millions of people across the world are at risk of being driven into starvation unless action is taken... now to respond together and at scale. Due to the unprecedented overlap of crises, WFP’s annual operational requirements are at an all-time high of US$22.2 billion, with confirmed contributions so far at US$4.8 billion (22 percent). WFP is calling for coordinated action to address this crisis.
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The second edition of the “A Region on the Move” report provides an overview of population movement trends in West and Central Africa in 2021. It aims to provide a comprehensive overview of mobility in the region and showcase the versatility, multidimensionality and nuances of regional mobility ...in West and Central Africa.
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The overall goal of the programme, to reduce the malaria morbidity and mortality by 75% (using 2012 as baseline) by the year 2020, continued to be pursued in 2014. The following areas were identified as some of the priorities for the year: Malaria Case Management under which we have Malaria in Pregn...ancy (MIP), Home Based Care and Diagnostics.
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Sudan recorded the first COVID-19 case on 13 March 2020 and, at the beginning of July, the Federal Ministry of Health had confirmed that nearly 10,000 people had contracted the virus, including over 600 who died from the disease across the country. Although more than 70 per cent of the confirmed cas...es are in the Khartoum area, COVID-19 has spread throughout the country, with the highest numbers recorded in the central and eastern states. With extremely low testing capacity — around 800 samples per day, the lowest in the region — the official figures of confirmed cases likely underestimate the extent of the pandemic and the actual situation is unknown.
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After more than three years without cases, Haiti reported on 2 October 2022 a cluster of cholera cases in the metropolitan area of Port-au-Prince, just as the country was on the verge of being declared cholera- free.
This cholera resurgence in Haiti is happening in a complex operational context, am...id a volatile socio- political environment marked by blockades, fuel shortages, criminal gang activity and rampant insecurity. Civil unrest and lack of access to the affected communities are deepening the complex humanitarian crisis and hindering emergency response efforts.
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In health emergencies as in periods of stability, restoring access to primary health-care services is a priority in so far as many health problems can be dealt with by means of preventive care and
conventional therapy. Depending on the context, the ICRC must often take action in this area, taking i...nto account the level of emergency, the involvement of other actors, the possible evolution of the situation and the organization's operational strategies.
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Antimicrobial resistant (AMR) organisms are increasing globally, threatening to render existing treatments ineffective against many infectious diseases. In Africa, AMR has already been documented to be a problem for HIV and the pathogens that cause malaria, tuberculosis, typhoid, cholera, meningitis..., gonorrhea, and dysentery. Recognizing the urgent need for action, the World Health Assembly adopted the Global Action Plan on Antimicrobial Resistance in May 2015. In accordance with the Global Action Plan and to meet needs specific to Africa, Africa CDC will establish the Anti-Microbial Resistance Surveillance Network (AMRSNET). AMRSNET is a network of public health institutions and leaders from human and animal health sectors who will collaborate to measure, prevent, and mitigate harms from AMR organisms.
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This guidance should be followed if an unlicensed medicine is prepared in
a registered pharmacy. The preparation of an unlicensed medicine (for
example unlicensed methadone, or menthol in aqueous cream) in a pharmacy is called ‘extemporaneous preparation’.
The guidance should be read alon...gside the standards for registered pharmacies. These aim to create and maintain the right
environment, both organizational and physical, for the safe and effective practice of pharmacy.
By following this guidance, the pharmacy will:
• demonstrate that it meets our standards, and
• provide assurances that the health, safetyand wellbeing of patients and the public are safeguarded
Responsibility for making sure this guidance is followed lies with the pharmacy owner. If the registered pharmacy is owned by a ‘body
corporate’, the directors have responsibility.
Those responsible for the overall safe running of the pharmacy need to take into account the nature of the pharmacy and the range of services
already provided and, most importantly, the needs of patients and members of the public.
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Healthcare-associated infections (HAI) are a significant burden globally, with millions of patients affected each year. These infections affect both high- and limited-resource healthcare settings, but in limited-resource settings, rates are approximately twice as high as high-resource settings (15 o...ut of every 100 patients versus 7 out of every 100 patients). Furthermore, rates of infections within certain patient populations are significantly higher in limited-resource settings, including surgical patients, patients in intensive-care units (ICU) and neonatal units. It is well documented that environmental contamination plays a role in the transmission of HAIs in healthcare settings. Therefore, environmental cleaning is a fundamental intervention for infection prevention and control (IPC).It is a multifaceted intervention that involves cleaning and disinfection (when indicated) of the environment alongside other key program elements to support successful implementation (e.g., leadership support, training, monitoring, and feedback mechanisms). To be effective, environmental cleaning activities must be implemented within the framework of the facility IPC program, and not as a standalone intervention. It is also essential that IPC programs advocate for and work with facility administration and government officials to budget, operate and maintain adequate water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) infrastructure to ensure that environmental cleaning can be performed according to best practices.
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The Federal Ministry of Health (FMOH) has been coordinating sector wide reforms that aim to improve equity and quality of health services. It is widely known that; the sector is growing in line the overall growth and transformation plan of the country and the sector is bein...g guided by the health sector transformation plan (HSTP). As part of these efforts, to achieve the targets set, the sector identified information revolution as one of the transformational agendas. In the meantime, Appropriate and timely use of health and health-related information is an essential element in the process of transforming the health sector.
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The Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste has the highest TB incidence rate in the South East Asian Region - 498 per 100,000, which is the seventh highest in the world. In Timor-Leste TB is the eighth most common cause of death.
The salient observations are as follows:
In 2018, 487 (12.5%) of the... 3906 notified TB patients were tested for RR-TB and only 12 lab confirmed RR-TB patients were initiated on standard MDR-TB treatment of 20-months duration, (a 3-fold increase in RR-TB detection compared with 2017). This amounts to treatment coverage of only 17% of 72 estimated MDR/RR-TB among notified TB patients (3906) and 5% of 240 estimated incident MDR-TB patients as compared to 62% treatment coverage of 6300 incident drug sensitive TB patients estimated in TLS. The treatment success in the 2016 annual cohort of 6 MDR-TB patients has been reported at 83%. 80% of TB patients know their HIV Status with around 1% TB-HIV co-infection, 37/ 77 (48%) TB-HIV Co-infection Detected. Of the 387 PLHIV currently alive on ART, exact status on TB screening and testing is unknown. % of PLHIV newly enrolled in HIV care who received IPT is not known.
In 2018, the mortality rate for TB was 94 deaths per 100,000 people (1200 per annum) in TL with an increasing mortality trend (Figure 1), despite TB services being available for nearly two decades.
A survey of catastrophic costs due to TB (2016) highlights that 83% of TB patients are reported to be facing catastrophic costs due to the disease. This is the highest rate in the world.
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