Namibia has a two-tier health system: public health under the Ministry of Health and Social Services (MoHSS) and the private health service. MoHSS‘ vision is to be the leading provider of quality health care and social services according to international set standards. Since Namibia’s independe...nce, the government adopted Primary Health Care (PHC) as the approach to providing health service and as a key strategy in attaining the goal of health. Good health is also strengthened by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The SDGs provide a road map for human development and, among others, systematically address the social determinants of health. Notable is Goal 3, which focuses on good health and well-being.
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Diabetes is a significant public health issue that affects approximately one in 10 adults globally, with type 2 diabetes accounting for 90–95% of cases. This chronic condition causes considerable morbidity and mortality and is growing in impact, with cases projected to rise from 537 million in 202...1 to 784 million by 2045.1 As cases rise, it is imperative to ensure the healthcare workforce is prepared to care for affected individuals. However, there is a growing global shortage of healthcare workers, which was estimated, pre pandemic, to reach 15 million by 2030.2 Therefore, all of the healthcare workforce will need to be utilised to their fullest potential in order to address the growing global burden of diabetes. Pharmacists will continue to be essential in this endeavour.
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Learn how to safely and effectively participate in global health rotations, projects, and volunteer work.
Accessed 6 March 2019.
The Story of Cholera was produced in collaboration with award-winning animator Yoni Goodman.
This animation covers cholera transmission, prevention, signs, and care in a simple and accessible way. The film follows evidence-based guidelines, has been field-tested, and reviewed for accuracy and conte...nt. Download flashcards and mobil phone versions from the website.
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This COVID-19 Facilitator Guide is a set of cue cards that are used by community facilitators to conduct community meetings or one on one sessions with community members.
The guide contains simple and important information about COVID-19 and helps the community facilitator in providing accurate i...nformation to the community.
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Antibiotic resistance is a natural occurrence caused by mutations in bacteria’s genes. However, inappropriate use of antibiotics accelerates the emergence and spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. When exposed to antibiotics, susceptible bacteria are killed; while excessive antibiotic use or th...eir use for the wrong reasons can cause bacteria to become resistant and continue to grow and multiply. These resistant bacteria may spread and cause infections in other people.
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Biosafety involves the implementation of containment principles, technologies and practices to prevent unintentional exposure to biological agents. Biosecurity involves the protection, control and accountability of biological materials and information related to these materials and dualuse research,... to prevent their unauthorized access, loss, theft, misuse, diversion or intentional release.
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This policy brief aims to provide a review of the current progress on implementing the Burkina Faso national action plan on AMR, identifies critical gaps, and highlights findings to accelerate further progress in the human health sector. The target audience includes all those concerned with implemen...ting actions to combat antimicrobial resistance in Burkina Faso.
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This technical note provides tailored advice on further adjustments in health financing policy in the context of war based on principles of universal health coverage, solidarity and equity.
It summarizes international evidence and accounts for specific features of health financing reform in Ukraine....
The primary focus will be on short-term adjustments and to a lesser extent on medium-term measures.
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The guide seeks to address questions about how we can face local communication challenges presented by the pandemic, and how communicators respond effectively to the situation through supporting our communities to cope and to protect themselves. This guide aims to provide insights for a wide range o...f local communicators on the community level. It covers the need for knowing and communicating the facts coronavirus, understanding the pandemics’ timeline and accompanying communication phases, and accessing resources and materials; it also contains information about what needs communicating and key messages, and consideration about communication design options for appropriate communication routes and methods and essential communication planning
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On March 1, 2021, the countries of the Americas began receiving vaccines through the COVAX Mechanism, an unprecedented global effort between CEPI, Gavi, Unicef, PAHO, and WHO to ensure equitable access to immunization throughout the world. The PAHO Revolving Fund is the mechanism designated by COVA...X to procure the vaccines on behalf of the countries in the region.
— Data on vaccine doses administered in the Americas
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This research report provides results from the study of living conditions
among people with disabilities in Lesotho. Comparisons are made
between disabled and non-disabled in household level and individual
level. Disability was defined as limitation to perform certain activities that
was measure...d according to the Washington City Group questions.
Results obtained in Lesotho are also compared to those obtained in
earlier studies carried out in Mozambique, Zambia, Namibia, Zimbabwe
and Malawi. The Lesotho study was undertaken in 2009-2010.
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Policy Brief, Updated in March 2017
Key messages
• Sex workers have the right to equal protection under the law, regardless of the legal status of sex work.
• Sex workers have the right to access HIV, sexually transmitted infection (STI) and other health services free from the thr...eat of violence, intimidation, incarceration, and stigma and discrimination.
• Justice and law enforcement sectors, together with the health sector and sex worker communities, should work in partnership to reform relevant legislation, policies and practices.
• Capacity development of all partners is critical to the success of the HIV response among sex workers.
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This article is part of a series of explainers on vaccine development and distribution. Learn more about vaccines – from how they work and how they’re made to ensuring safety and equitable access – in WHO’s Vaccines Explained series.
Vaccines are supported by decades of medical research. ...They work by preparing the body's own immune system to recognise and defend against a specific disease. The volume of information available about vaccination can be overwhelming, so it’s important to talk through the topic.
Available in different languages
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Infectious disease epidemics pose a threat to reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health (RMNCH) both directly—by worsening women’s and children’s health outcomes—and indirectly—by reducing their access to services.1–4 Greater investment is therefore needed to mitigate the negative... effects of COVID-19 and avoid a reversal of recent gains in RMNCH coverage and outcomes.1 However, COVID-19 has reduced household and government budgets,5 and there are concerns about the extent to which resources have been diverted away from RMNCH.
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Since the description of the first case of COVID-19 in Wuhan, Hubei province in China, in December 2019, much knowledge has been accumulated about the dynamics of evolution of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, contagion, disease progression, prevention and treatment.
31 March 2021
This article is part of a series of explainers on vaccine development and distribution. Learn more about vaccines – from how they work and how they’re made to ensuring safety and equitable access – in WHO’s Vaccines Explained series.
Vaccines are a critical tool in the battl...e against COVID-19, and getting vaccinated is one of the best ways to protect yourself and others from COVID-19.
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A new virus, called the Coronavirus emerged in December 2019 and has spread to people around the world.
Jesuit Worldwide Learning invites you to learn facts and test your knowledge on the ongoing pandemic caused by Coronavirus (COVID 19) through a fun-interactive crash course!
Access is free! You... have only to sign up!
At the moment Unit 1 to 5 are available
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Learn about the most pressing issues in global health through a series of reviews and interviews with leading experts.
Accessed 6 March 2019.
This report investigates the impact of potential misclassification of samples on HIV prevalence estimates for 23 surveys conducted from 2010-2014. In addition to visual inspection of laboratory results, we examined how accounting for potential misclassification of HIV status through Bayesian latent ...class models affected the prevalence estimates. Two types of Bayesian models were specified: a model that only uses the individual dichotomous test results and a continuous model that uses the quantitative information of the EIA (i.e., the signal-to-cutoff values). Overall, we found that adjusted prevalence estimates matched the surveys’ original results, with overlapping uncertainty intervals. This suggested that misclassification of HIV status should not affect the prevalence estimates in most surveys. However, our analyses suggested that two surveys may be problematic. The prevalence could have been overestimated in the Uganda AIDS Indicator Survey 2011 and the Zambia Demographic and Health Survey 2013-14, although the magnitude of overestimation remains difficult to ascertain. Interpreting results from the Uganda survey is difficult because of the lack of internal quality control and potential violation of the multivariate normality assumption of the continuous Bayesian latent class model. In conclusion, despite the limitations of our latent class models, our analyses suggest that prevalence estimates from most of the surveys reviewed are not affected by sample misclassification.
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