Highlights
The third corridor for delivery of humanitarian assistance from Sudan to South Sudan is open.
In response to the drastic increase in humanitarian needs, WFP continues to scale up its assistance in Eastern Equatoria, Northern Bahr El Ghazal and Lakes states.
Construction w...orks of four cross-drainage structures along Juba-Kajo Keji road under WFP’s Feeder Road project have been completed as planned.
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The social impacts of Covid-19 in Brazil: vulnerable populations and responses to the pandemic
Passados os primeiros meses da pandemia do novo coronavírus no Brasil, o Observatório Covid-19 Fiocruz, em parceria com a Editora Fiocruz e com o apoio da Rede SciELO Livros, traz para o público leitor... um conjunto de livros instantâneos sobre as análises nele realizadas desde que foi criado para subsidiar o seu combate. Nesta série Informação para Ação na Covid-19 será apresentado um balanço do conjunto de documentos (notas e relatórios técnicos, boletins, ensaios, informes, recomendações, ensaios, artigos, entre outros) produzidos em resposta à pandemia. Cada volume da série se estrutura em torno de um tema: aspectos globais da pandemia e da diplomacia em saúde; cenários epidemiológicos e vigilância em saúde; as políticas e a gestão dos serviços e sistemas de saúde; orientações para os cuidados e a saúde dos trabalhadores da saúde; impactos sociais e desigualdades sociais na pandemia. Com a publicação destes estudos em livros instantâneos e de acesso aberto colocamos à disposição do público o conjunto de informações e conhecimentos gerados no âmbito do Observatório Covid-19 Fiocruz, realizamos um balanço e uma reflexão sobre como chegamos ao cenário atual e apontamos caminhos para um futuro próximo. E, ao mesmo tempo, mantemos o registro histórico desse conhecimento produzido a quente, no calor da hora.
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March 2020
The number of African Union Member States reporting COVID-
19 cases is increasing and there is a likelihood of community transmission. The WHO recently modified the COVID-19 suspect case definition to include severe acute respiratory infection and advises testing of all severe acute res...piratory illness (SARI) cases.1 However, many Member States have not yet started implementing these changes, they are still focussing surveillance efforts on individuals with travel history to an area with local COVID-19 transmission. This means patients with similar symptoms, but no apparent contact, may not
be investigated.
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The postpartum period is a critical time for mothers and newborns, who require essential hygiene and personal items, such as menstrual pads, clothes, and diapers, to ensure their well- being and health. Although these items are simple, they can significantly enhance well- being. Conversely, lacking ...these essentials can increase the risk of infections for mothers and newborns.
In Gaza, the current emergency situation has meant women face significant limitations in accessing these essential items due to market unavailability, financial constraints, high security risks, and border closures.
In response, organizations working in sexual and reproductive health in Gaza have united to provide postpartum kits (PPKs) to mothers and newborns effectively.
With approximately 4,000 live births occurring in Gaza each month, it is crucial for partners to collaborate in advocating for resources and ensuring timely procurement and distribution of these kits.
Moreover, to ensure equitable access and consistent quality of the kits for all women, partners have agreed on a unified set of criteria for their composition and distribution.
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The Pharmaceutical Forum of the Americas (PFA) has previously published guidelines and organised campaigns for community pharmacists on the prevention, detection and control of arbovirus infections in 2018 with a grant from the FIP Foundation for Pharmacy Education and Research. Building on that exp...ertise, FIP joined efforts with the PFA and is now publishing its first-ever handbook to support pharmacists in the
area of vector-borne diseases. As the integration of the regional forums in FIP advances, such collaborative projects are tangible results of an increasingly regionally informed and regionally targeted work by FIP.
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In the kingdom of Bahrain, the national antibiotic committee will set the framework for the national response to AMR, especially bacterial resistance to antibiotics. It will be aligned with the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Global Action Plan on Antimicrobial Resistance, and with standards and... guidelines from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE).
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This guidance document is meant to support practitioners working in disaster prone contexts to develop and implement more effective integrated resilience programming. It promotes programming that cuts across different fields of work like rights awareness, food security, emergency preparedness, livel...ihoods, education, health etc. whilst at the same time encouraging us to work simultaneously at the individual, household, community and national level. It includes specific recommendations for developing resilience programming for communities prone to floods, cyclone, drought and earthquakes. It also includes recommendations to develop safe school programming to help reduce the impact of disasters on school infrastructure, ensure education continuity and build the resilience of students, teachers and their families.
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interim Guidance 1 December 2020. Updated version
This document provides updated guidance on mask use in health care and community settings, and during home care for COVID-19 cases. It is intended for policy makers, public health and infection prevention and control professionals, health care manag...ers and health workers.
The Annex provides advice on how to manufacture non-medical masks. It is intended for those making non-medical masks at home and for mask manufacturers
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The WHO Cholera Rapid Diagnostic Test (RDT) Target Product Profile outlines the key requirements for developing improved cholera RDTs. It highlights the need for fast, accurate, and easy-to-use tests for early outbreak detection in resource-limited settings. The document sets desired and acceptable ...performance criteria, including high sensitivity and specificity, rapid results (under 15 minutes), and usability by non-laboratory personnel. The tests should be affordable, stable in extreme conditions, and require minimal training. The goal is to enhance cholera surveillance and outbreak response, ensuring quick containment and improved public health outcomes.
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The figures and findings reflected in the 2019 Humanitarian Needs Overview (HNO) represent the independent analysis
of the United Nations (UN) and its humanitarian partners based on information available to them. While the HNO aims
to provide consolidated humanitarian analysis and data to help inf...orm joint strategic humanitarian planning, many of
the figures provided throughout the document are estimates based on sometimes incomplete and partial data sets using
the methodologies for collection that were available at the time. The Government of Syria has expressed its reservations
over the data sources and methodology of assessments used to inform the HNO, as well as on a number of HNO findings.
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This document aims to provide concrete, pragmatic guidance for how TB modelling and related technical assistance is undertaken to support country decision-making. The target audience for this document are the participants and stakeholders in country-level TB modelling efforts, including the individu...als who build and apply models; policy-makers, technical experts and other members of the TB community; international funding and technical partners; and individuals and organizations engaged in supporting TB policy-making.
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Due to the heterogeneous distribution of malaria transmission and its determinants, subnational tailoring (SNT) provides an analytical framework to facilitate the targeting of each population with appropriate intervention packages for maximum impact to inform national strategic planning and prioriti...zation based on resources available. The WHO Global Malaria Programme recommends the use of subnational data on disease epidemiology and other relevant local contextual factors to facilitate the process of SNT. Once the strategies and intervention mixes have been defined, programmes can proceed to the prioritization of
interventions for effective programming, based on available resources
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In the context of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic response, WHO identifies young people as a priority target audience with specific concerns, experiences and behaviours. This policy brief provides relevant insights from behavioural evidence and a set of behavioural considerations for tho...se promoting COVID-19 preventive behaviours among young people. Designers of programmes and initiatives targeting youth may find it helpful to refer to the youth-specific barriers and drivers identified in this policy brief and to prioritize these for testing when planning initiatives targeted at young people.
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In the framework of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals Issue-based Coalition on Health and Well-being for All at All Ages in Europe and Central Asia
Ensuring mental health and well-being has become a worldwide imperative and an important target of the Sustainable Development Goals. But in all countries around the world, our response has been woefully insufficient, and we have made
little progress to advance mental health as a fundamental human ...right.
One in ten people are affected by a mental health condition, up to 200 million people have an intellectual disability and an estimated 50 million people have dementia. Many persons with mental health conditions, or psychosocial, intellectual, or cognitive disabilities lack access to quality mental health services that respond to their needs and respect their rights and dignity.
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HIV, viral hepatitis and STI epidemics, particularly among people who inject drugs and other key populations, continue to be fuelled by laws and policies criminalizing sex work; drug use or possession; diverse forms of gender expression and sexuality; stigma and discrimination; gender discrimination...; violence; lack of community empowerment and other violations of human rights. These sociostructural factors limit access to health services, constrain how these services are
delivered and diminish their effectiveness.
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How should humanitarian organisations prepare and respond to COVID-19 in humanitarian settings in low- and middle-income countries?
This Rapid Learning Review outlines 14 actions, insights and ideas for humanitarian actors to consider in their COVID-19 responses. It summarises and synthesises the... best available knowledge and guidance for developing a health response to COVID-19 in low- and middle-income settings as at April 2020
The paper, supported by the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Mark Lowcock, will be updated throughout 2020 to reflect emerging knowledge and evidence on the most effective approaches to respond to the COVID-19 Pandemic.
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From Participation to Partnerships (September 2020)
Despite the COVID-19 challenges, children around the world have found meaningful ways to support and protect their peers, families, and communities. Children are on the frontlines of innovative responses and are working closely with their adult al...lies. The leadership demonstrated through these child-adult partnerships is the underlying inspiration for this guide.
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Every year, nearly 250 million people move across borders temporarily or permanently for a job opportunity, studying, to flee a crisis back home, or for other reasons. Another 750 million move for similar reasons within the borders of their countries. With the understanding that human mobility affec...ts public health, and health affects human mobility and migrants, for decades, IOM has been providing critical health services to women, children and men on the move, while standing by governments for technical and operational support as needed. In 2019, in lower-income settings and in complex emergencies, along the world’s most perilous migration routes, in the aftermath of natural disasters or in response to disease outbreaks, IOM’s health teams have provided hundreds of thousands with primary health-care consultations, mental health and psychosocial support, sexual and reproductive health care, pre-migration health services, and much more.
This year, more than ever before, as the world reels from the socioeconomic impact of COVID-19, we have experienced that health is a cross-cutting component of overall human development and well-being.
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The Minimum Standards for Protection Mainstreaming are a set of international standards designed to provide practical assistance to humanitarian actors to mainstream protection in the assessment, design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of humanitarian programmes, projects and activities. ...All humanitarian actors are expected to mainstream protection in their humanitarian assistance activities as a component of a broader commitment to quality and accountability in humanitarian response.
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