At the threshold of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) era, this document captures the remarkable achievements by Member States towards achieving MDGs 4 and 5. It acknowledges new opportunities in the post-2015 phase shaped by the SDGs and the Global Strategy for women’s, children’s and adoles...cents’ health and presents an advanced state of preparedness in the Region. This also highlights the region’s renewed commitment for a more inclusive and more dynamic flagship action for ending preventable maternal, newborn and child mortality as well as to improve women’s, children’s and adolescents’ health and wellbeing in the South-East Asia Region.
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This course describes the health effects of war, weapons and strategies of violent conflict. Beginning with weapons of mass destruction it then moves on to other weapons and strategies of war such as the use of landmines and mass rape. The course concludes with a number of lessons which give an hist...orical and practical analysis of the response of health professional groups to war and militarisation.
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This Mpox SPRP Global Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E) Framework, also referred to as the Framework, aims to monitor and report on global progress towards these objectives, including information about country-level response efforts and WHO support to Member States. Regular collection and analysis of da...ta on these objectives, alongside the ongoing tracking of the epidemiological situation, are key to informing decision-making, operational adjustments, as well as ensuring transparency and accountability for achieving the goal to stop the Mpox outbreak. This document suggests reporting indicators for monitoring of the global response to the Mpox PHEIC as articulated in the Mpox SPRP and Operational Planning Guidelines for countries.
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Poor sanitary conditions in disaster-stricken areas result in higher risk for diarrheal illness in vulnerable populations, especially children. This disease negatively impacts the nutritional status of affected children and causes significant morbidity and mortality. Early di...agnosis and treatment are thus essential to reduce the impact of diarrheal diseases on people affected by disasters. Early identification of cases allows the implementation of measures needed to prevent or lessen outbreaks that can occur in displaced populations in this context. The use of primary care management tools, such as the Integrated Management of Childhood Illness (IMCI) strategy is highly important.This module will first discuss diarrheal diseases and their management, and dehydration and its treatments.
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Gender-based violence is a life-threatening, global health and human rights issue that violates international human rights law and principles of gender equality. It is also a threat to lasting peace and an affront to our common humanity. United Nations Member States have called for urgent action to ...end GBV in emergencies, recognizing that in crises, the risk of GBV is heightened, particularly for women and adolescent girls.
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BAB training in prevention and management of postpartum hemorrhage increased knowledge and confidence among skilled and semiskilled birth attendants. Further studies are needed to determine the impact of this training on skills retention and clinical outcomes following postpartum hemorrhage, after b...roader implementation of the training program
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Cognizant of the need for standardization of the response for COVID-19, the Federal Ministry of Health prepared this national guideline in an effort to contain the epidemic before it overwhelms the health care facilities. This national guideline is expected to guide policy makers and h...ealth professionals at all level. A standardized approaches to will assist effective and efficient utilization of the limited resource of the country, minimizes dilemma and confusion on case management. To this effect, the FMOH has established National COVID-19 advisory committee. The committee members are from different specialties with very good experiences in disaster management and prevention and treatment of infectious disease epidemics. The input from the committee is used to make decisions at the national level about theepidemics in the weeks and months to come. The FMOH would like to acknowledge the members of the national advisory committee for their commitment and unreserved effort in finalizing the task in a very short period of time and advising the Ministry on various issues related to the epidemics at this critical time.
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Trachoma causes more vision loss and blindness than any other infection in the world. This disease is caused by Chlamydia trachomatis bacteria. Other variants or strains of these bacteria can cause a sexually transmitted infection (chlamydia) and disease in lymph nodes.
This is photomicrograph ...of a conjunctival smear that revealed the presence of what are known as, intracytoplasmic inclusions Trachoma is easily spread through direct personal contact such as from fingers, through shared towels and clothes, and through flies that have been in contact with the eyes or nose of an infected person. When left untreated, repeated Chlamydia trachomatis infections in the eye can cause severe scarring on the inside of the eyelid. This can cause the eyelashes to scratch the cornea (trichiasis). In addition to causing pain, trichiasis permanently damages the cornea and can lead to irreversible blindness.
Chlamydia trachomatis infections spread in areas that lack access to safely managed drinking water and sanitation systems. Trachoma affects the most resource-limited communities in the world. Globally, almost 1.9 million people have vision loss because of trachoma, and it causes 1.4% of all blindness worldwide.1 In 2021, 136 million people lived in trachoma-endemic areas and were at risk of trachoma blindness.
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Some observers have described the coronavirus pandemic as an 'Anthropocene disease,' thereby highlighting its connection with this new ecological era that is characterised by the considerable pressure human activities are exerting on ecosystems and the consequences on public health, society and the ...environment. This article focuses on the recent emergence of the 'Planetary Health' paradigm. Launched by the Rockefeller Foundation and the medical journal The Lancet, Planetary Health is one of the most ambitious attempts in recent years to systematize global health in the Anthropocene. While recognising the interest and necessity of reflecting on human health and the health of the planet, this article aims to show, however, that the Planetary Health paradigm is problematic and aporetic for two reasons. First, because it is based on a scientistic and depoliticised conception of the Anthropocene, which obscures capitalism's responsibility for the contemporary global and, especially, ecological crisis. Second, because this conception leads to a promotion of solutions that are essentially based on the financialization and technoscientific management of the living world - precisely the underlying cause of the degradation of ecosystems and living conditions that created the Anthropocene in the first place. A different kind of 'planetary health' remains possible and desirable.
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Bioethics - Medical, Ethical and Legal Perspectives
There’s evidence that implementing the four medical ethics principles may be challenging especially in low income country contexts with extreme resource scarcity and limited capacity to facilitate deliberations on the different ethical dilemmas.... These challenges can partly be explained by the social, economic, and political contexts in which the decisions are made, as well as the limited time, training and guidance to facilitate ethical decision making. Based on current literature, and using the example of bedside rationing; this chapter synthesizes the challenges clinicians face when operationalizing the four principle; identifying the opportunities to address them. We suggest that clinicians’ ability to implement the four principles are constrained by meso‐ and macro‐level decision making as well as their lack of training, explicit guidelines, and peer support. To ameliorate this situation, current efforts to strengthen the clinicians’ capacity to make ethical decisions should be complimented with developing of context relevant guidelines for ethical clinical decision making. The renewed global commitment to the sustainable development goals and universal healthcare coverage should be recognized as an opportunity to leverage resources and champion the integration of equity and justice as a core value in resource allocation at the bedside, meso-, macro- and global levels.
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This report provides an overview of the operations and activities of the WHO Country Office in Ukraine in 2023. Despite the acute health impacts of the war in Ukraine, the Country Office continued its work according to its core mandate. WHO supported the Government of Ukraine in managing the health ...emergency and pursued existing priorities set out in WHO’s Thirteenth General Programme of Work 2019–2023, the European Programme of Work 2020–2025, and the Biennial Collaborative Agreement 2022–2023 signed with the Government of Ukraine. The report presents the achievements of the WHO Country Office in Ukraine in 2023 in the context of the war’s impact on the lives, health, and well-being of Ukrainians.
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As the Americas undergo profound demographic change and there are more persons aged 65 years or older than children younger than 5 years, it is crucial to recognize that national immunization programs must be redesigned to ensure comprehensive protection for individuals across the lifespan. By adopt...ing a life course approach (LCA) to immunization, vaccination programs can be tailored to close immunity gaps at different stages of life. The life course approach foresees the establishment of multiple strategies to reduce missed opportunities for vaccination according to age group. This technical document explains the key concepts of the LCA with a focus on immunization by vaccination, as well as the underlying biological mechanisms that require the application different vaccines at different life stages according to changes to the immune system and in the epidemiological situation of a community.
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The Guidelines for the Diagnosis, Treatment and Prevention of Leprosy provide state-of-the-art knowledge and evidence on leprosy diagnosis, treatment and prevention based on a public health approach in endemic countries. The target audience of this document includes policy-makers in leprosy or infec...tious diseases in the ministries of health (especially but not limited to endemic countries), nongovernmental organizations, clinicians, pharmaceutical companies, donors and affected persons
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This resource pack was developed for the country offices of the World Health Organization and national Public Health institutions, as an overview of the key information needed for advising their Member States in response to questions raised on human health due to influenza outbreaks or detections in... animals. It assembles the available information from WHO, FAO and WOAH, on recommendations and guidelines on influenza that might be relevant to a country experiencing detections or outbreaks of influenza in animals or facing suspicion of human infections with animal-origin influenza viruses. This resource pack updates the information provided in the Summary of Key Information Practical to Countries Experiencing Outbreaks of A(H5N1) and Other Subtypes of Avian Influenza, published in 2016. Additionally, the scope of this current document was broadened to address the risks to public health from all animal influenza viruses, not only avian influenza. Links to existing resources were updated and new resources were added where available.
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The COVID-19 pandemic is challenging health systems across the world. Rapidly increasing demand for care of people with COVID-19 is compounded by fear, misinformation and limitations on the movement of people and supplies that disrupt the delivery of frontline health care for all people...
This g...uidance addresses the specific role of community-based health care in the pandemic context and outlines the adaptations needed to keep people safe, maintain continuity of essential services and ensure an effective response to COVID-19. It is intended for decision-makers and managers at the national and subnational levels and complements a range of other guidance, including that on priority public health interventions, facility-based care, and risk communication and community engagement in the setting of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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This pocket book is a 317 page summary of the emergency components of obstetrics and resuscitation of the newborn infant from our textbook "International Maternal & Childhealth Care - A practical manual for hospitals worldwide". The reader is referred to the textbook when more details on the medical... problem under consideration are required.
If you work in a hospital in a low income country - providing free care - you are probably intitled to FREE copies of these books. MCAI will send them to you, all you have to do is to read our Flyer and fill in the request form.
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The Operational guide: use of referral laboratories for the analysis of foodborne hazards in the Pacific aims to strengthen the food analysis capacity of Pacific Island countries and areas by identifying national and reference laboratories capable of testing for priority foodborne hazards. The Pacif...ic Island countries and areas are often vulnerable to food safety incidents and emergencies due to their geographical distribution and dependence on food imports. The guide outlines key considerations for selecting referral laboratories and submitting samples to them, enabling continuous improvement of food safety systems and providing safe food for all. The target audiences are health and food safety authorities.
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WHO’s Country Cooperation Strategy (CCS) defines the Organization’s medium-term vision for working in and with a particular country. The CCS, developed in the context of global and national health priorities, examines the overall health situation in a country, including the state of the health s...ector, socioeconomic status and the major health determinants.
This CCS sets out WHO’s strategic framework for collaboration with the Syrian Arab Republic, from June 2022 until June 2025, in light of the 12 years of crisis that have had a devastating impact on the health sector and infrastructure of basic services. It carefully considers the current and projected issues during its transition from continued humanitarian assistance to recovery, resilience and development. The consolidation of health policies and strategies and health system strengthening, based on the strengthening of primary health care (PHC), aims to contribute to the achievement of national and global development and health goals and the targets of the SDGs.
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4th edition
The WHO Laboratory Biosafety Manual (LBM) has been in broad use at all levels of clinical and public health laboratories, and other biomedical sectors globally, serving as a de facto global standard that presents best practices and sets trends in biosafety.
LBM encouraged countries t...o accept and implement basic concepts in biological safety and to develop national codes of practice for the safe handling of biological agents in laboratories within their geographical borders.
This fourth edition of the manual builds on the risk assessment framework introduced in the third edition. A thorough, evidence-based and transparent assessment of the risks allows safety measures to be balanced with the actual risk of working with biological agents on a case-by-case basis.
This novel evidence- and risk-based approach will allow optimised resource use and sustainable laboratory biosafety and biosecurity policies and practices that are relevant to their individual circumstances and priorities, enabling equitable access to clinical and public health laboratory tests and biomedical research opportunities without compromising safety.
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Blended Learning Modulef or the Health Extension Programme
In this study session, you will learn about the general features of faeco-oraldiseases: the main types commonly found in Ethiopia, their general symptomsand signs, how to treat mild cases and when to refer patients with severeconditions for... specialised treatment, or laboratory tests to confirm thediagnosis. You will also learn about the importance of giving effective healtheducation to your community on ways to prevent and control faeco-oraldiseases.
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