Environmental Health in Emergencies and Disasters
Chapter 10
A broad range of UNHCR’s key priorities overlap with MHPSS issues – for example, child protection and sexual and gender-based violence [SGBV] prevention and response.
Despite all these existent synergies, UNHCR’s current policies and guidelines do not sufficiently link with MHPSS principles.... For example, the Community Services section, which is closely aligned to the principles of MHPSS and could be well-positioned to guide the implementation of related programs, has not adopted the MHPSS language or approach.
There are opportunities for UNHCR to engage more strongly and clearly in this field. However, this requires a vision for how the organisation as a whole, and particular sectors within the organisation, will engage within the field of MHPSS activities. For a start, UNHCR can work to improve its understanding and framing of mental health and psychosocial issues, and how these issues fit within its broader mandate.
While the majority of MHPSS activities are delivered by implementing partners, UNHCR staff require familiarity with core principles in the field, such as the Intervention Pyramid contained in the IASC Guidelines, in order to support and monitor quality MHPSS activities.
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Saudi Journal of Biological Sciences. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.sjbs.2016.03.006
Open Access
Policy Brief.
WHO recommends that pregnant women receive testing for HIV, syphilis and hepatitis B (HBSAg) at least once during pregnancy, preferably in the first trimester.
Dual HIV/syphilis rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) can be used as the first test for pregnant women as part of antenatal care (...ANC).
These simple tests can be used at the point-of-care and are cost-saving compared to standard testing in ANC. They enable more women to be diagnosed with HIV and syphilis so that they can access treatment and prevent transmission to their children.
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Version 1.0, 2014-11-21
Introduction:
This document lists TB indicators that can be derived from the recording and reporting tools defined
in Definitions and reporting framework for tuberculosis – 2013 revision (WHO/HTM/TB/2013.2).
Geneva, World Health Organization; 2013. (http://www.who.int/t...b/publications/definitions/en/).
More details on the rationale, calculation and use of these indicators are available in the following
publications:
• Understanding and using tuberculosis data (WHO/HTM/TB/2014.09). Geneva, World Health
Organization. 2014.
(http://www.who.int/tb/publications/understanding_and_using_tb_data/en/)
• Companion handbook to the WHO guidelines for the programmatic management of drugresistant
tuberculosis (WHO/HTM/TB/2014.11). Geneva, World Health Organization. 2014.
(http://www.who.int/tb/publications/pmdt_companionhandbook/en/)
• A guide to monitoring and evaluation for collaborative TB/HIV activities: 2014 revision. Geneva,
World Health Organization. 2014.
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ON LIFE SUPPORT3The Democratic Republic of Congo’s Ebola outbreak has been contained, but confl ict and under-development leave over three million children at risk from measles and other killer diseases. The country’s medical services – ill-equipped and under-resourced – are on life support ...and in no condition to protect children unless urgent measures are taken.
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The conditionality of this recommendation is largely driven by the current higher unit cost of pyrethroid-PBO ITNs compared
to pyrethroid-only LLINs and therefore the uncertainty of their cost-effectiveness. Furthermore, as PBO is less wash-resistant
than pyrethroids, its bioavailability declines ...faster over the three-year estimated life of an ITN; therefore, the added impact of
pyrethroid-PBO ITNs over that of pyrethroid-only LLINs may decline over time. The evidence comes from two sites in
eastern Africa with pyrethroid resistance and not from other geographies where transmission levels and vector characteristics
may vary. PBO acts by inhibiting certain metabolic enzymes, primarily oxidases, and so are likely to provide greater protection
than pyrethroid-only LLINs where mosquitoes display mono-oxygenase-based insecticide resistance mechanisms.
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