Validation of elimination of mother-to-child transmission, or vertical transmission, of HIV, syphilis and hepatitis B virus (HBV), is an attestation that a country has successfully met standard criteria for elimination, or for being at 1 of the 3 levels of achievement on the ‘Path to Elimination... while delivering quality services for women, girls and their children, through the life-course, respecting human rights and ensuring gender equality and community engagement.
This document, the third version, adds on EMTCT of hepatitis B virus (HBV), bringing together a package of interventions and metrics to support integrated management and monitoring of vertical transmission across a wide range of epidemiological and programmatic contexts.
This document, the third version, adds on EMTCT of hepatitis B virus (HBV), bringing together a package of interventions and metrics to support integrated management and monitoring of vertical transmission across a wide range of epidemiological and programmatic contexts.
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13 May 2021
To avoid a reversal of progress from the adverse impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, new knowledge and lessons from successful programmatic innovations are urgently needed to improve TB prevention and care. Experience can provide evidence for innovative approaches and strategies to mainta...in and scale up high-quality TB services. WHO therefore called for case studies on programmatic innovations that address emerging challenges in TB prevention and care during the pandemic in order to collect and disseminate the findings to the TB community. Between November 2020 and February 2021, a total of 23 case studies relevant to the call were accepted from 19 countries in the six regions of WHO. The lessons learnt from these country activities to ensure the continuity of essential services like TB care in the face of the crippling crisis may also inform strategies for minimizing the impact of future emerging pathogens on health services.
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The 2021 COVID-19 Strategic Preparedness and Response Plan (SPRP) for AFR serves as a regional guide for a holistic public health response to COVID‑19 at regional, national and sub-national levels. The 2021
SPRP:
1. Builds upon the lessons learnt from the implementation of the 2020 SPRP and outl...ines a regional preparedness, response and recovery strategy for COVID‑19.
2. Has been adapted to reflect the Regional context including COVID-19 vaccination. It also considers epidemiological changes and recommen-dations emerging from the evaluation report of the 2020 SPRP4.
3. Highlights to Member States strategic preparedness and response actions to be sustained at national and sub-national levels, as well as the critical inter-agency and partner support required.
4. provides the indicative resource requirements to reinforce WHO planned interventions in the African Region to enhance countries’ capacities to suppress transmission, save lives and mitigate the impact of the pandemic on people and health systems.
5. Provides a road map for mitigating potential resurgence in the Region as economies reopen and ensure country level continuity of other essential health services.
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Physical distancing measures are important to reduce COVID-19 transmission. However, when stringently applied, they can result in negative health and socio-economic impacts. This report draws on a rapid review of available literature, case studies from across Africa and expert knowledge to make reco...mmendations on adapting classic physical distancing measures to the contextual realities in Africa and on mitigating potential negative impacts.
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Physical distancing measures are important to reduce COVID-19 transmission. However, when stringently applied, they can result in negative health and socio-economic impacts. This report draws on a rapid review of available literature, case studies from across Africa and expert knowledge to make reco...mmendations on adapting classic physical distancing measures to the contextual realities in Africa and on mitigating potential negative impacts.
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This is a case-ascertained prospective investigation of all identified health care contacts working in a health care facility in which a laboratory confirmed 2019-nCoV infected patient (see 2.2 Study population) receives care. Note that this study can be done in health care facilities at all 3 level...s of a health system – not just in hospitals. It is intended to provide epidemiological and serologic information which will inform the identification of risk factors 2019-nCoV infection among health care workers.
There are three primary objectives of this investigation among health care workers in a health care setting where a 2019-nCoV infected patient is being cared for:
To better understand the extent of human-to-human transmission among health care workers, by estimating the secondary infection rate1 for health care worker contacts at an individual level.
To characterize the range of clinical presentation of infection and the risk factors for infection among health care workers.
To evaluate effectiveness of infection prevention and control measures among health care workers
To evaluate effectiveness of infection prevention and control programmes at health facility and national level
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16 Dec. 2020
This document provides guidance to Ministries of Health (MOHs), laboratory personnel and implementing partners in African Union Member States on the application of rapid antigen tests to COVID-19 testing. The guidance serves as reference for policymakers, laboratory leads, implementing... partners, and experts on use case scenarios and associated testing algorithms for COVID-19 antigen tests. It recommends the use of antigen tests to increase access to testing and enable timely results for persons with or without symptoms in specific settings. The document will be reviewed and updated as more evidence becomes available regarding the use of rapid antigen tests for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) from global studies and evaluation efforts.
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Indicators for monitoring the 2016 United Nations Political Declaration on Ending AIDS
UNAIDS supports countries to collect information on their national HIV responses through the Global AIDS Monitoring (GAM) framework—an annual collection of 72 indicators on the response to HIV in a country.... These data form part of the data set used to report back to the General Assembly.
Different from the HIV epidemiological estimates that countries produce for data on the state of the epidemic in a country—that is, data for making estimates on the number of people living with HIV, AIDS-related deaths, etc.—GAM collects information on HIV programmes, including the number of people living with HIV who know their HIV status and people on HIV treatment, and on stigma and discrimination. A full list of the indicators is given in the GAM guidelines.
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The present National action plan on antimicrobial resistance (AMR) with component of antimicrobial consumption (AMC) covering both human and agriculture sectors was developed based on the World Health Organization's (WHO) Global plan on AMR dated 2015. With the purpose to develop this plan, in May 2...016 an intersectoral and interagency working group was established under coordination of the State Sanitary and Epidemiological Surveillance Service (SSESS), the Ministry of Health and Social Protection of Population (MoHSPP) of the Republic of Tajikistan. With technical as- sistance from the WHO a number of seminars, consultation meetings and workshops were conducted to identify country's priority areas and required actions for AMR con- tainment and AMC and control.
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Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2018, 15(12), 2626; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15122626
Climate change is increasing risks to human health and to the health systems that seek to protect the safety and well-being of populations. Health authorities require information about current associatio...ns between health outcomes and weather or climate, vulnerable populations, projections of future risks and adaptation opportunities in order to reduce exposures, empower individuals to take needed protective actions and build climate-resilient health systems. An increasing number of health authorities from local to national levels seek this information by conducting climate change and health vulnerability and adaptation assessments. While assessments can provide valuable information to plan for climate change impacts, the results of many studies are not helping to build the global evidence-base of knowledge in this area. They are also often not integrated into adaptation decision making, sometimes because the health sector is not involved in climate change policy making processes at the national level. Significant barriers related to data accessibility, a limited number of climate and health models, uncertainty in climate projections, and a lack of funding and expertise, particularly in developing countries, challenge health authority efforts to conduct rigorous assessments and apply the findings. This paper examines the evolution of climate change and health vulnerability and adaptation assessments, including guidance developed for such projects, the number of assessments that have been conducted globally and implementation of the findings to support health adaptation action. Greater capacity building that facilitates assessments from local to national scales will support collaborative efforts to protect health from current climate hazards and future climate change. Health sector officials will benefit from additional resources and partnership opportunities to ensure that evidence about climate change impacts on health is effectively translated into needed actions to build health resilience.
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This report aims to raise awareness about the role that the reform of public health laws can play in advancing the right to health and in creating the conditions for people to live healthy lives. By encouraging a better understanding of how public health law can be used to improve the health of the ...population, the report aims to encourage and assist governments to reform their public health laws in order to advance the right to health.
The report highlights important issues that may arise during the process of public health law reform. It provides guidance about issues and requirements to be addressed during the process of developing public health laws. It also includes case studies and examples of legislation from a variety of countries to illustrate effective law reform practices and some features of effective public health legislation.
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The purpose of this guidance is to assist WHO Member States, and other stakeholders, in the establishment and development of programmes of integrated surveillance of antimicrobial resistance in foodborne bacteria (i.e., bacteria commonly transmitted by food). In this guidance, “integrated surveill...ance of antimicrobial resistance in foodborne bacteria” is defined as the collection, validation, analyses and reporting of relevant microbiological and epidemiological data on antimicrobial resistance in foodborne bacteria from humans, animals, and food, and on relevant antimicrobial use in humans and animals. Integrated surveillance of antimicrobial resistance in foodborne bacteria therefore includes data from relevant food chain sectors (animals, food and humans) and includes data on both antimicrobial resistance and antimicrobial use. Integrated surveillance of antimicrobial resistance for foodborne bacteria expands on traditional public health surveillance to include multiple elements of the food chain, and to include antimicrobial use data, to better understand the sources of infection and transmission routes.
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Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) are a worldwide epidemic. Particularly, the most common diseases - Cardiovascular diseases, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Diseases (COPD), Chronic Kidney Diseases, Cancer, Diabetes, injuries and disabilities, EMT, oral, eye g...reatly contribute to the morbidity and mortality accounting for around 60% of all deaths worldwide. The disease pattern is also changing from infectious to chronic in Rwanda like other developing countries due to the epidemiological transition.
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This toolkit for integrated vector management (IVM) is designed to help national and regional programme managers coordinate across sectors to design and run large IVM programmes.
The toolkit provides the technical detail required to plan, implement, monitor and evaluate an IVM approach. IVM can... be used when the aim is to control or eliminate vector-borne diseases and can also contribute to insecticide resistance management. This toolkit provides information on where vector-borne diseases are endemic and what interventions should be used, presenting case studies on IVM as well as relevant guidance documents for reference.
The diseases that are the focus of this toolkit are malaria, lymphatic filariasis, dengue, leishmaniasis, onchocerciasis, human African trypanosomiasis and schistosomiasis. It also includes information on other viral diseases (Rift Valley fever, West Nile fever, Chikungunya, yellow fever) and trachoma. If other vector-borne diseases appear in a country or area, vector control with an IVM approach should be adopted, as per national priorities.
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Zika virus is primarily transmitted by the Aedes species of mosquito which is also responsible for the spread of dengue, Chikungunya and yellow fever viruses. In most areas, the primary vector of these viruses is Aedes aegypti, with Aedes albopictus a proven or potential vector in some settings. Wel...l-implemented vector control against Aedes using existing tools effectively reduces the transmission of viruses spread by these vectors. Pilot studies are being undertaken on new tools which have potential for future reductions in Aedes populations
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The intended purpose of this compendium is to provide program managers, organizations, and policy makers with a menu of indicators to better “know their HIV epidemic/know their response” from a gender perspective. The indicators in the compendium are all either part of existing indicators used i...n studies or by countries or have been adapted from existing indicators to address the intersection of gender and HIV. The indicators can be measured through existing data collection and information systems (e.g. routine program monitoring, surveys) in most country contexts, though some may require special studies or research.
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DIAGNOSING PTSD IN CHILDHOOD | The following literature review addresses the developmental and domain-specific consequences of previous and current diagnostic criteria for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in pre-adolescent children. PTSD was introduced in 1980 to capture extreme responses follow...ing a traumatic event. I analyze the evolution of the disorder’s diagnostic criteria toward a more developmentally conscious structure. I also examine instances in which these criteria lack developmental consistency: (1) preschool PTSD is the only diagnostic subtype despite the fact that childhood development also differentiates traumatic expressions in older children from adolescents and adults; and (2) many of the PTSD epidemiological data that have been reanalyzed under the most recent (DSM-5) typology only refer to adolescent and adult samples although many researchers have
demonstrated that developmental alterations to DSM-IV and DSM-IV-TR criteria produce significantly higher prevalence rates in children.
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The guidelines are to be used to guide the management of adults with lower respiratory tract infection (LRTI). As will be seen in the following text, this diagnosis, and the other clinical syndromes within this grouping, can be difficult to make accurately. In the absence of agreed definitions of th...ese syndromes these guidelines are to be used when, in the opinion of a clinician, an LRTI syndrome is present. The following are put forward as def-initions to guide the clinician, but it will be seen in the ensuingtext that some of these labels will always be inaccurate. These definitions are pragmatic and based on a synthesis of available studies. They are primarily meant to be simple to apply in clinical practice, and this might be at the expense of scientific accuracy. These definitions are not mutually exclusive, with lower respiratory tract infection being an umbrella term that includes all others, which can also be used for cases that cannot be classified into one of the other groups. No new evidence has been identified that would lead to a change in the clinical definitions,which are therefore unchanged from the 2005 publication.
Clin Microbiol Infect 2011;17(Suppl. 6): 1–24 The full version of these guidelines can be found on Wiley Online Library.
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Emergence of antimicrobial resistance is a result of the use, overuse and misuse of antibiotics both in humans and animals. In Ethiopia, there are indications on the misuse of antibiotics by health care providers’, unskilled practitioners, and drug consumers. These coupled with rapid spread of res...istant bacteria and inadequate surveillance contributed to the problem. Bacterial infections are the major causes of death in Ethiopia. Studies on antibacterial resistance and on bacterial infections have shown that emerging antibacterial resistance threatens the management of bacterial infections; however, the prevention and containment has received far too little attention.
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Pneumonia kills more children than any other illness – more than AIDS, malaria and measles combined. Over 2 million children die from pneumonia each year, accounting for almost 1 in 5 under five deaths worldwide. Yet, little attention is paid to this disease. This joint UNICEF/WHO report examines ...the epidemiological evidence on the burden and distribution of pneumonia and assesses current levels of treatment and prevention. It is a call to action to reduce pneumonia mortality, a key step towards the achievement of the millennium development goal on child mortality.
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