the aid library

The path that ends AIDS: UNAIDS Global AIDS Update 2023
recommended

UN Children's Fund UNICEF (2023) CC

This report makes clear that there is a path to end AIDS. Taking that path will help ensure preparedness to address other pandemic challenges, and advance progress across the Sustainable Development Goals. The data and real-world examples in the report make it very clear what that path is. It is not ... more

Therapeutics and COVID-19 (Living Guideline, 10 November 2023)

World Health Organization WHO (2023) C_WHO

WHO has updated its guidelines for COVID-19 therapeutics, with revised recommendations for patients with non-severe COVID-19. This is the 13th update to these guidelines. Updated risk rates for hospital admission in patients with non-severe COVID-19 The guidance includes updated risk rates for ... hospital admission in patients with non-severe COVID-19. The current COVID-19 virus variants tend to cause less severe disease while immunity levels are higher due to vaccination, leading to lower risks of severe illness and death for most patients. This update includes new baseline risk estimates for hospital admission in patients with non-severe COVID-19. The new ‘moderate risk’ category now includes people previously considered to be high risk including older people and/or those with chronic conditions, disabilities, and comorbidities of chronic disease. The updated risk estimates will assist healthcare professionals to identify individuals at high, moderate or low risk of hospital admission, and to tailor treatment according to WHO guidelines: **High: **People who are immunosuppressed remain at higher risk if they contract COVID-19, with an estimated hospitalization rate of 6%. **Moderate: **People over 65 years old, those with conditions like obesity, diabetes and/or chronic conditions including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, kidney or liver disease, cancer, people with disabilities and those with comorbidities of chronic disease are at moderate risk, with an estimated hospitalization rate of 3%. Low: Those who are not in the high or moderate risk categories are at low risk of hospitalization (0.5%). Most people are low risk. Review of COVID-19 treatments for people with non-severe COVID-19 WHO continues to strongly recommend nirmatrelvir-ritonavir (also known by its brand name ‘Paxlovid’) for people at high-risk and moderate risk of hospitalization. The recommendations state that nirmatrelvir-ritonavir is considered the best choice for most eligible patients, given its therapeutic benefits, ease of administration and fewer concerns about potential harms. Nirmatrelvir-ritonavir was first recommended by WHO in April 2022. If nirmatrelvir-ritonavir is not available to patients at high-risk of hospitalization, WHO suggests the use of molnupiravir or remdesivir instead. WHO suggests against the use of molnupiravir and remdesivir for patients at moderate risk, judging the potential harms to outweigh the limited benefits in patients at moderate risk of hospital admission. For people at low risk of hospitalization, WHO does not recommend any antiviral therapy. Symptoms like fever and pain can continue to be managed with analgesics like paracetamol. WHO also recommends against use of a new antiviral (VV116) for patients, except in clinical trials. The update also includes a strong recommendation against the use of ivermectin for patients with non-severe COVID-19. WHO continues to advise that in patients with severe or critical COVID-19, ivermectin should only be used in clinical trials. more

Key political commitment documents for tuberculosis prevention and care and their intended influence in the WHO European Region

World Health Organization WHO, Regional Office for Europe (2019) C_WHO

This analytical report reviews and discusses the potential role and influence of political commitment in implementing endorsements and conducting policy in the field of tuberculosis (TB) prevention and care. It promotes discussion by comparing and analysing the extent to which selected international ... more

Assessing national capacity for the prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases: report of the 2021 global survey

World Health Organisation (WHO) (2023) C_WHO

To assess national-level responses to NCDs, WHO has implemented NCD country capacity surveys periodically since 2001. This report is the latest in that series. Since the first survey round, the NCD Country Capacity Survey (NCD CCS) has been conducted a further seven times, most recently in 2021. In ... more

Report of the 4TH Global Scientific Meeting on Trachoma

World Health Organization World Health Organization WHO (2018) C_WHO

Trachoma is the leading infectious cause of blindness (2). It is characterized by repeated conjunctival infection with particular strains of Chlamydia trachomatis. This scars the conjunctivae and, in some cases, leads to trichiasis with or without entropion. The abrasive action of eyelashes can d ... more

Financing Global Health 2013: Transition in an Age of Austerity

Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (2014) CC

Financing Global Health 2013: Transition in an Age of Austerity, IHME’s fifth annual report on global health expenditure, depicts financing trends that underline the resilience of development assistance for health. This year’s updated estimates show that despite lackluster economic growth and fi ... more

The Inequality Virus: Bringing together a world torn apart by coronavirus through a fair, just and sustainable economy

Oxfam (2021) C1

Oxfam’s report found that Covid-19 has the potential to increase economic inequality in almost every country at once, the first time this has happened since records began over a century ago. It sets out how a rigged economy is enabling a super-rich elite to amass wealth in the middle of the worst ... more

Standards for Prosthetics and Orthotics. Part 1: Standards

World Health Organization (WHO) (2017) C_WHO

WHO, in partnership with the International Society for Prosthetics and Orthotics (ISPO) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), has published global standards for prosthetics and orthotics. Its aim is to ensure that prosthetics and orthotics services are people-centred an ... more

Developing and Strengthening Community Health Worker Programs at Scale

Perry, H.; L. Crigler, et al. Maternal and Child Health Integrated Program (MCHIP) (2014)

A Reference Guide for Program Managers and Policy Makers. Recently, a renewed interest in large-scale community health worker (CHW) programs has been seen globally. This renewal provides an opportune moment to take stock of issues and challenges such programs face and what can be done to make them a ... more

Preventing Child and Maternal Deaths: A Framework for Action in a Changing World 2023-2030

US Agency for International Development USAID (2023) CC

Improving the survival chances and quality of life of women, newborns, and children remains an urgent global challenge. Since 2012, substantial progress has been made in reducing maternal and under-5 deaths, and a only handful of countries are on ta ... more

Following the money: Toward Better Tracking of Global Health Resources

Center for Global Development Center for Global Development (2007) C1

This report started with a simple question—“How can we tell how much funding is devoted to global health programs?”—and ended (more than two years later) with an answer that is far from simple. As those who have tried know well, tracking health-related funding is challenging in any setting, ... more

Ending disease in Africa: vision, strategies and special initiatives, 2023-2030

World Health Organisation (WHO) (2023) C_WHO

While there has been real progress in addressing the burden of disease in the WHO African region, the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the link between health, economics and security, as the region saw decades of progress threatened, including positive trends in decreasing inequality. In the Africa ... more

Global Monitoring of Disease Outbreak Preparedness: Preventing the Next Pandemic

Harvard Global Health Institute (2018) C1

This report is primarily intended for the community of policymakers and researchers concerned about the rising risks of domestic, regional, and global infectious disease epidemics, and the collective failure to take the coordinated actions required to reduce such risks. These risks include the expec ... more

Assessing Health Vulnerabilities and Adaptation to Climate Change

Berry, P.; P. M. Enright, J. Shumake-Guillemot et al. (2018) CC

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 ... more

Global progress report on WASH in health care facilities: Fundamentals first

World Health Organization WHO; UNICEF (2021) C_WHO

The report identifies major global gaps in WASH services: one third of health care facilities do not have what is needed to clean hands where care is provided; one in four facilities have no water services, and 10% have no sanitation services. This means that 1.8 billion people use facilities that l ... more

Using indicators to measure country pharmaceutical situations

WHO World Health Organization (WHO) (2006) C_WHO

Fact Book on WHO Level I and Level II monitoring indicators - To monitor the progress of efforts to improve the global medicines situation, WHO has developed a system of indicators that measure important aspects of a country’s pharmaceutical situation. Level 1 indicators measure the existence and ... more

Guidelines for establishing a poison centre

World Health Organization WHO (2020) C_WHO

This update of the Guidelines for poison control, entitled Guidelines for establishing a poison centre, reflects the development of the role of poison centres in public health and the sound management of chemicals, described in section 1, and the opportunities provided by new technology. Assessments ... more

Tracking urban health policies

World Health Organisation (WHO) (2023) C_WHO

To enhance health co-benefits across urban policies which tackle air pollution and climate change, WHO, in cooperation with various international, national, and local partners, implemented the Urban Health Initiative (UHI) pilot project in Accra, Ghana. The Initiative prompted the health sector to u ... more