Interim Guidance, 12 July 2021; This tool was developed to assess present and surge capacities for the treatment of COVID-19 in health facilities. It allows health facilities to assess the availability and status of stockout of critical COVID-19 medicines, equipment and supplies on site and to ident...ify areas that need further attention to enable the facility to respond effectively to the pandemic. The tool encompasses key components that are essential to managing COVID-19 in a hospital setting, including:
health workforce (numbers, absences, COVID-19 infections, staff vaccinated for COVID-19 health workforce management, training and support);
medicines and medical supplies for management of COVID-19;
IPC capacities (protocols, safety measures, guidelines) and the availability of personal protective equipment (PPE) for staff;
diagnostic testing, imaging and patient monitoring devices and supplies
medical equipment for management of COVID-19, including O2 administration;
COVID-19 vaccine readiness ;
beds and space capacity.
more
This guide is available in English, French, Spanish, Russian, Arabic and Chinese
This guide consolidates COVID-19 guidance for human resources for health managers and policy-makers at national, subnational and facility levels to design, manage and preserve the workforce necessary to manage the COVI...D-19 pandemic and maintain essential health services.
The guide identifies recommendations to protect, support and empower health workers at individual, management, organizational and system levels.
more
Countries around the world are facing the challenge of increased demand for care of people with COVID-19, compounded by fear, misinformation and limitations on movement that disrupt the delivery of health care for all conditions. Maintaining essential health services: operational guidance for the CO...VID-19 context recommends practical actions that countries can take at national, subregional and local levels to reorganize and safely maintain access to high-quality, essential health services in the pandemic context. It also outlines sample indicators for monitoring essential health services, and describes considerations on when to stop and restart services as COVID-19 transmission recedes and surges.
more
A new brief published by the IFRC and Climate Centre today details the adverse impacts of climate change on human health and provides more detail on the second of four pillars of action in the Red Cross Red Crescent Movement ambitions on climate.
Accessed 21 July 2021:The Caregiver Booklet is designed to help patients,family members, and community caregivers in the home-based care of serious long term illness. Home care is best for many people with long term illnesses,including those who are close to the end of life. All patients bein...g cared for at home should be first assessed and treated by a health worker, who will help caregivers provide high quality home care and ensure that medicines are taken correctly.
This booklet explains how to:
1. Deal with specific symptoms.
2. Provide care for terminal and bedridden patients at home.
3. Decide when to seek help from a health facility.
more
This guidance document provides basic principles for a spokesperson of any health authority on how to respond to vocal vaccine deniers. The suggestions are based on psychological research on persuasion, on research in public health, communication studies and on WHO risk communication guidelines.
Med Princ Pract 2021;30:17–28
An overview of ethics and clinical ethics is presented in this review. The 4 main ethical principles, that is beneficence, nonmaleficence, autonomy, and justice, are defined and explained. Informed consent, truth-telling, and confidentiality spring from the ...principle of autonomy, and each of them is discussed. In patient care situations, not infrequently, there are conflicts between ethical principles (especially between beneficence and autonomy). A four-pronged systematic approach to ethical problem-solving and several illustrative cases of conflicts are presented. Comments following the cases highlight the ethical principles involved and clarify the resolution of these conflicts. A model for patient care, with caring as its central element, that integrates ethical aspects
(intertwined with professionalism) with clinical and technical expertise desired of a physician is illustrated
more
A 7.2-magnitude earthquake struck southwestern Haiti at 8:30am local time at a depth of around 10km. The epicentre was recorded around 12km northeast of SaintLouis-du-Sud, about 125km west of the capital Port-au-Prince.
● In the aftermath of the devastating 7.2-magnitude earthquake that hit Hai...ti on 14 August, authorities report more than 2,200 people dead, at least 344 missing, over 12,000 injured and upwards of 130,000 homes damaged or destroyed.
more
This manual summarizes key issues related to the safety of NTD medicines and their administration, with a focus on essential medicines used in mass drug administration (MDA), also called preventive chemotherapy. It can be used as a standalone reference manual, but is intended to be used in conjuncti...on with the accompanying training modules, which provide practical instruction, and the aide-mémoires. Versions of the aide-mémoires and training modules are available respectively for both (i) programme managers and district-level health officials and (ii) community drug distributors and community health workers
more
The Committee discussed the implications for preparedness for smallpox-like events reflected by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The Committee noted how quickly diagnostics and vaccines could be developed and deployed when resources and political will were abundant. This rapidity was also due to the f...act that the genetic sequence of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) had been shared worldwide. It was noted that in one country SARS-CoV-2 had been reconstructed in a laboratory from the viral genome sequence before the first case of COVID-19 had been reported, highlighting the benefits of synthetic biology technologies for accelerated development of diagnostics as well as the oft-described potential risks. Lessons learned about clinical care during the COVID-19 pandemic were also discussed.
more
Emergencias 2021: 33: 42-58