Supplement October 2010
HIV/AIDS, security and conflict: making the connections
In 2022, humanitarian action will need to adapt to new and challenging realities. The COVID-19 pandemic is taking a heavy toll in developing countries, civilians continue to be the most affected by conflict and extreme poverty is rising. Climate change effects are devastating, forced displacement is... at record levels and 161 million people face acute food insecurity.
more
Contact tracing may help limit COVID-19 transmission when the first cases are identified within a country but can be very resource intensive.
It is likely not to be feasible when community transmission is occurring and cases outside known transmission chains increase greatly.
CDC Afrique est préoccupé par les informations inexactes distribués par les médias traditionnels et sociaux en ce qui concerne la prévention et le traitement des maladies nouvelles coronavirus (Covid-19).
Sur la base d’un examen des preuves et de l’évaluation d’experts, le CDC Afrique r...ecommande
more
Les retours d’information de la communauté présentés dans le présent rapport ont été recueillis par le biais des personnes chargées de l’engagement communautaire et de la redevabilité (CEA) dans 10pays africains, et grâce à la collecte de données primaires.Il a été demandé aux pers...onnes chargées du CEA de la Société nationale de la Croix-Rouge et du Croissant-Rouge de partager les principales rumeurs, observations, croyances, questions ou suggestions qu’ils entendent dans leur pays et de les classer par ordre de fréquence. Les chargés de mission du CEA ont fourni des informations de cette manière aux pays suivants: Afrique du Sud, Botswana, Burundi, Cameroun, Niger.
more
COVID-19 has triggered the deepest global recession since the 1930s. Extreme poverty has risen for the first time in 22 years, and unemployment has increased dramatically. Women and young people aged 15 – 29 working in the informal sector are being hit the hardest. School closures have affected 91... per cent of students worldwide.
Political conflicts are more intense and taking a heavy toll on civilians, disproportionately affecting children. Women and girls are at increased risk of conflict-related sexual violence. Attacks against aid and health workers persist. For the ninth consecutive year, more than 90 per cent of casualties from explosive weapons in populated areas were civilians.
The last decade saw the highest-ever number of people internally displaced by conflict and violence, with many locked in a state of protracted displacement. There are an estimated 51 million new and existing IDPs, and the number of refugees has doubled to 20 million.
more
COVID-19 has triggered the deepest global recession since the 1930s. Extreme poverty has risen for the first time in 22 years, and unemployment has increased dramatically. Women and young people aged 15 – 29 working in the informal sector are being hit the hardest. School closures have affected 91... per cent of students worldwide.
Political conflicts are more intense and taking a heavy toll on civilians, disproportionately affecting children. Women and girls are at increased risk of conflict-related sexual violence. Attacks against aid and health workers persist. For the ninth consecutive year, more than 90 per cent of casualties from explosive weapons in populated areas were civilians.
The last decade saw the highest-ever number of people internally displaced by conflict and violence, with many locked in a state of protracted displacement. There are an estimated 51 million new and existing IDPs, and the number of refugees has doubled to 20 million.
more
MedPPE emphasizes the role and timing of health workers jobs and offers specific information to prevent the spread of COVID-19. The guidelines are aimed at all personnel working in health facilities, including security guards, administrative and cleaning personnel, transfer assistants, nurses, biome...dical and imaging technicians, surgeons, and physicians, among others.
MedPPE provides guidance for the use of PPE according to workers’ function, the level of care they provide, and the multiple environments of primary health care and hospitals. The tool also clarifies the type of PPE needed when performing aerosol-generating procedures and other activities related to the care of patients infected or suspected of being infected with COVID-19.
However, use of PPE alone is not enough to protect against COVID-19. Hand hygiene and proper PPE dressing and undressing procedures must also be followed, along with the proper disposal and management of waste.
MedPPE is available in Spanish, English, Portuguese and French for iOS and Android devices.
more
N Engl J Med 2019;380:2429-39.DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa1901113
This document provides interim guidance on the prevention, identification and management of health worker infection in the context of COVID-19. It is intended for occupational health departments, infection prevention and control departments or focal points, health facility administrators and public ...health authorities at both the national and facility level.
more
The Programme identifies the essential services to be provided by the health, social services, police and justice sectors as well as guidelines for the coordination of essential services and the governance of coordination processes and mechanisms. Service delivery guidelines for the core elements of... each essential service have been identified to ensure the delivery of high-quality services, particularly for low- and middle-income countries, for women and girls experiencing violence. Taken together, these elements comprise the “Essential services package”.
The package comprises seven modules. Available in different languages
more
After 100 years of chemotherapy with impractical and toxic drugs, an oral cure for human African trypanosomiasis (HAT) is available: Fexinidazole. In this case, we review the history of drug discovery for HAT with special emphasis on the discovery, pre-clinical development, and operational challenge...s of the clinical trials of fexinidazole. The screening of the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) HAT-library by the Swiss TPH had singled out fexinidazole, originally developed by Hoechst (now Sanofi), as the most promising of a series of over 800 nitroimidazoles and related molecules. In cell culture, fexinidazole has an IC50 of around 1 µM against Trypanosoma brucei and is more than 100-fold less toxic to mammalian cells. In the mouse model, fexinidazole cures both the first, haemolymphatic, and the second, meningoencephalitic stage of the infection, the latter at 100 mg/kg twice daily for 5 days. In patients, the clinical trials managed by DNDi and supported by Swiss TPH mainly conducted in the Democratic Republic of the Congo demonstrated that oral fexinidazole is safe and effective for use against first- and early second-stage sleeping sickness. Based on the positive opinion issued by the European Medicines Agency in 2018, the WHO has released new interim guidelines for the treatment of HAT including fexinidazole as the new therapy for first-stage and non-severe second-stage sleeping sickness caused by Trypanosoma brucei gambiense (gHAT). This greatly facilitates the diagnosis and treatment algorithm for gHAT, increasing the attainable coverage and paving the way towards the envisaged goal of zero transmission by 2030.
more
Treatment of second-stage gambiense human African trypanosomiasis relied on toxicarsenic-based derivatives for over 50 years. The availability and subsequent use of eflornithine,initially in monotherapy and more recently in combination with nifurtimox (NECT), has drasticallyimproved the pro...gnosis of treated patients. However, NECT logistic and nursing requirementsremain obstacles to its deployment and use in peripheral health structures in rural sub-SaharanAfrica. Two oral compounds, fexinidazole and SCYX-7158, are currently in clinical development.The main scope of this article is to discuss the potential impact of new oral therapies to improvediagnosis-treatment algorithms and patients’access to treatment, and to contribute to reach theobjectives of the recently launched gambiense humanAfrican trypanosomiasis elimination program
more
In support of the London Declaration goals, PATH aims to catalyze engagement of the diagnostics industry and product development efforts. As part of this work, PATH conducted a diagnostic landscape analysis to identify gaps and evaluated current and nascent HAT diagnostics that may provide solutions....
We conducted literature reviews and interviews with key stakeholders to identify use cases for HAT diagnostics, understand current practices, and analyze progress toward more robust diagnostics across
different biomarkers.
more
Human African Trypanosomiasis (HAT, sleeping sickness) and Animal African Trypanosomiasis (AAT) are neglected tropical diseases generally caused by the same etiological agent, Trypanosoma brucei. Despite important advances in the reduction or disappearance of HAT cases, AAT represents a risky reserv...oir of the infections. There is a strong need to control AAT, as is claimed by the European Commission in a recent document on the reservation of antimicrobials for human use. Control of AAT is considered part of the One Health approach established by the FAO program against African Trypanosomiasis. Under the umbrella of the One Health concepts, in this work, by analyzing the pharmacological properties of the therapeutic options against Trypanosoma brucei spp., we underline the need for clearer and more defined guidelines in the employment of drugs designed for HAT and AAT. Essential requirements are addressed to meet the challenge of drug use and drug resistance development. This approach shall avoid inter-species cross-resistance phenomena and retain drugs therapeutic activity.
more
More than one million people each year become infected by parasites that cause the disease cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL). This disease manifests as one or more skin lesions or ulcers that are slow to heal with variable response rates to drug treatments. Thus far, little attention has been paid to how... the cultural effects of gender shape perceptions and experiences of CL. This review aims to bring together and analyse existing studies which use qualitative data to explore these differences. These studies offered insights into our specific research questions.
more
The Country Cooperation Strategy (CCS) is a medium-term strategic framework for cooperation between WHO and countries and outlines a shared agenda with priority areas of work for five years. The aim of this CSS is to define medium term vision for
WHO technical cooperation with the State of Eritrea ...for a 5-year period, 2023-2027, in support of the country’s Health Sector Strategic and Development Plan III (HSSDPIII) 2022-2026 aimed at improving the health status of its people
more
An Urgent Call to Reverse Tigray's Humanitarian Crisis