It is too early to know the full impact of COVID-19 on Africa. To date the experience has been varied. There are causes for concern, but also reasons for hope. Early estimates were pessimistic regarding the pandemic’s impact on the continent. But the relatively low numbers of COVID-19 cases report...ed thus far have raised hopes that African countries may be spared the worst of the pandemic. While the virus is present in all African countries, most countries have recorded fewer than 1,000 cases. The African Union acted swiftly, endorsing a joint continental strategy in February, and complementing efforts by Member States and Regional Economic Communities by providing a public health platform.
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Orientação provisória, 6 de abril de 2020
Este documento resume as recomendações da OMS para o uso racional de equipamentos de proteção individual (EPIs) em unidades de saúde e na assistência domiciliar, bem como no manuseio de cargas; avalia também a situação atual da cadeia de abastec...imento global e as considerações para tomada de decisão durante desabastecimentos graves de EPIs.Este documento não inclui recomendações para membros da comunidade em geral. Clique aqui para mais informações sobre recomendações da OMS para uso de máscara na comunidade em geral.Nesse contexto, EPIs incluem luvas, máscaras faciais cirúrgicas/de uso médico - aqui denominadas “máscaras cirúrgicas”, óculos de proteção, protetor facial do tipo face shield, e aventais, bem como itens para procedimentos específicos - respiradores com máscara facial de filtração (padrão N95 ou PFF2 ou PFF3 ou equivalente) - aqui denominados “respiradores” - e capotes
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Supply of essential medicines and health technologies (6 April 2020)
This paper is one of a set of technical guidance papers developed by the WHO Regional Office for Europe to provide practical information and resources for decision-makers on measures to strengthen the health system response to C...OVID-19.
The purpose of this paper is to provide WHO Regional Office for Europe Country Offices and Member States with guidance on how to maintain supplies of medicines and health technologies, including devices, diagnostics and blood products, during the COVID-19 outbreak.
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This document brings to attention key health and human rights considerations with regards to COVID-19 pandemic. It highlights the importance of integrating a human rights based approach in response to COVID-19. It provides key considerations in relation to addressing stigma and discrimination, preve...ntion of violence against women, support for vulnerable populations; quarantine and restrictive measures and shortages of supplies and equipment. It also highlights human rights obligations with regards to global cooperation to address COVID-19.
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Given an increase in outbreaks caused by resistant microorganisms associated with medical tourism, the Pan American Health Organization / World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO) encourages Member States to strengthen their capacity to detect and manage infections caused by resis...tant microorganismsin patients who traveled outside of their country of residence to receive healthcare. Furthermore, PAHO/WHO stresses the importance to implement preventive measures to reduce healthcare-associated infections at all levels of the health system.
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This report summarizes the latest scientific knowledge on the links between exposure to air pollution and adverse health effects in children. It is intended to inform and motivate individual and collective action by health care professionals to prevent damage to children’s health from exposure to ...air pollution. Air pollution is a major environmental health threat. Exposure to fine particles in both the ambient environment and in the household causes about seven million premature deaths each year. Ambient air pollution (AAP) alone imposes enormous costs on the global economy, amounting to more than US$ 5 trillion in total welfare losses in 2013.
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In northern Myanmar, nearly 100,000 people continue to live in displacement camps in Kachin and northern Shan States. Most were first displaced by fighting between the Myanmar military and the Kachin Independence Army in 2011, and many have been displaced multiple times, including in recent months. ...Approaching seven years of displacement, and despite ongoing and often increasing needs, displaced persons in northern Myanmar face decreasing aid and protection services. Over the past two years, the Government of Myanmar has dramatically increased restrictions on delivery of aid to this displaced population at the same time that the overall amount of aid provided by international donors has decreased.
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Spread of resistance to antimicrobial agents (AMR) does not know national borders and has reached dimensions, which require immediate actions at the national, regional and global levels.
Antibiotic resistance is a natural biological response to improper use of antimicrobial agents (AMA); increasing... number of essential drugs, which become ineffective, contributing to selection, survival and replication of resistant strains of microorganisms. When chosen antimicrobials prove to be ineffective, the second- or third-line drugs need to be used although
in the majority of cases these drugs are more expensive, less safe and not always available.
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Climate change, increasing population densities, and intensified globalisation in trade, travel and migration are among the most important factors shaping the 21st century. Each impacts upon population health and the risk of infectious disease, particularly those originating at the human-animal-envi...ronmental interface. The recognition that many risk drivers of infectious disease fall outside of the typical domain of the health sector creates the challenge of identifying and pursuing priorities for cross-sectoral action aimed at strengthening global health security. In response, the One Health concept has emerged, as have related initiatives addressing Planetary Health and Biodiversity and Human Health. From a public health perspective and operationally speaking, the One Health approach offers great potential, emphasising as it does cooperation and coordination between multiple sectors. Yet despite having been a focal point for discussion for over a decade, numerous challenges facing the implementation of One Health preparedness strategies remain. While some are technical, related to the requirement for innovative early warning systems or new vaccines, for example, others are institutional and cultural in nature, given the transdisciplinary nature of the topic. There have thus been calls to address One Health from multiple perspectives, from ecology to the social sciences. In order to further explore this issue and to identify priority areas for action for strengthening One Health preparedness in Europe, ECDC convened an expert consultation on 11–12 December 2017.
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Antimicrobials are precious agents for combating infectious diseases and had saved millions of lives throughout the world. However, the current trend of increasing antimicrobial resistance (AMR) has become a global health problem with increased morbidity and mortality in infectious diseases. Sri La...nka is not an exemption and face many health related issues with multidrug resistant (MDR) organisms. Currently there is a global effort in combating antimicrobial resistance. WHO extends its fullest support and plays a major role in motivating the countries to combat antimicrobial resistance with national action plans in place. Sri Lanka has initiated combating AMR with multisectoral collaboration, under one health concept. The development of the National Strategic Plan (NSP) 2017-2022 provides the roadmap to combat AMR.
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In this edition, the Antimicrobial Resistance chapter discusses the growing, dangerous trend of antimicrobial resistance and the potential catastrophic consequences on global health.
Chapter 1 of Frontier 2017: Emerging Issues of Environmental Concern
The devastating impacts of the 2015–16 El Niño will be felt well into 2017. This crisis was predicted, yet overall, the response has been too little too late. The looming La Niña event may further hit communities that are already deeply vulnerable. To end this cycle of failure, there is an urgen...t need for humanitarian action where the situation is already dire, to prepare for La Niña later this year, to commit to comprehensive new measures to build communities’ resilience, and to mobilize global action to address climate change which is creating a ‘new normal’ of higher temperatures, drought and unpredictable growing seasons.
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Torrential rains and the onset of Cyclone Komen triggered severe and widespread floods and landslides in July and August 2015 across 12 out of 14 states and regions in Myanmar. An estimated 1.6 million individuals were recorded as having been temporarily displaced from their homes by the disaster, a...nd 132 lost their lives. Up to 5.2 million people were exposed to the floods and landslides in the 40 most heavily affected townships. Within the 40 most-affected townships, 775,810 individuals have been displaced, accounting for approximately half of the total displaced population.
The Project recognizes that although the major target disaster is cyclones, the methodology of the Project activities to enhance the capacity of EWS, HRD and CBDRM is also applicable to mitigate the damage of floods. By analyzing the results of a survey based on the experience of the Project activities, the Project can contribute to describe tangible lessons learned and future recommendations for the counterpart agencies and disaster management related agencies of the Government of Myanmar.
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This document updates the 2009 ECDC guidance on chlamydia control in Europe. It was developed by a technical expert group which conducted a critical review of the scientific evidence on the epidemiology of chlamydia and the effectiveness of screening programmes.
The aim of this guidance is to suppo...rt Member States to develop, implement or improve strategies for chlamydia control. This guidance describes the current evidence base behind the proposed options, highlights key gaps in knowledge, and suggests effective options for national chlamydia control strategies. It is directed primarily at policy advisors but should also be useful for programme managers and experts in sexual health.
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The agenda focuses on six critical changes necessary for more children suffering from SAM to access effective treatment. Building on lessons from the last decade, and the experiences of other successful health initiatives, the agenda addresses issues ranging from the creation of a more enabling envi...ronment to stronger mechanisms for tracking progress. It provides a diagnosis of the key challenges in each of these areas to-date and the specific solutions needed to turn things around over the next five years. These solutions require a collective effort at global, regional and national levels. The Agenda lays out Action Against Hunger’s commitments and contributions to these joint efforts
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retard mental, est définie comme un arrêt du développement mental ou un développement mental
incomplet, caractérisé essentiellement par une insuffisance des facultés qui déterminent
le niveau global d’intelligence, c’est-à-dire les fonctions cognitives, le langage, la motricité
et l...es performances sociales (Organisation Mondiale de la Santé, OMS, 1992).
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The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were launched in September 2015, made up of 17 Goals and 169 Targets that set out a plan of action that will shape the mainstream development agenda for the next 15 years1. There has already been much debate about how these Goals will be achieved, but the sig...nificant issue of drug policy reform has so far been ignored. This briefing aims to address this gap, to support discussions and demonstrate how global drug control policies are a cross-cutting development issue that impact upon a number of the SDGs.
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The scale of West Africa’s Ebola epidemic has been attributed to the weak health systems of affected countries,
their lack of resources, the mobility of communities and their inexperience in dealing with Ebola. This briefing for African Affairs argues that these explanations lack important contex...t. The briefing examines responses to the outbreak and offers a different set of explanations, rooted in the history of the region and the political economy of global health and development. To move past technical discussions of “weak” health systems, it highlights how structural violence has contributed to the epidemic. As part of this, local people – their beliefs, concerns and priorities – have been marginalised. Both the crisis response and post-Ebola ‘reconstruction’ will be strengthened by acknowledgment of its long term structural underpinnings and from a more collaborative inclusion of local people.
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Disabled people in developing countries are the poorest of the poor: if we are serious about tackling extreme poverty, our development work has to target them. The post-2015 development framework offers hope that disabled people will finally get the prominence they deserve on the global development ...agenda. But this will only be possible with sustained political pressure, and the UK’s position will only be credible if it leads by example in its own development work. Disabled people experience some of the most extreme poverty in the world, but there are also realistic opportunities for donors to turn the situation around.
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In March 2013, a delegation of Benin health officials along with eight other country
delegations attended the Francophone West Africa CBFP Partners’ Meeting held in
Senegal. This landmark partners’ meeting was held to advocate and build capacity
for the introduction of CBFP, including communi...ty-based access to injectable
contraception (CBA2I), as a global standard of practice in the Ouagadougou Partner
countries.
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