In India, in response to the above and guided by our counterparts in the government of India, the UN agencies have developed the Novel Coronavirus Disease Joint Health Response Plan by UN Agencies and Partners, led by WHO-India, in close collaboration with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, ...and with the support of other development partners. The UN in India is also preparing a COVID-19 Socio-economic Response and Recovery Plan, in partnership with the government.
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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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Noma (cancrum oris) is a severe gangrenous disease of the mouth and face. It mostly affects children between the ages of 2 and 6 years living in extreme poverty. In addition to the known factors such as malnutrition, lack of vaccination in children and poor oral hygiene, several social and environme...ntal factors such as maternal malnutrition and close spacing of pregnancies that result in offspring with increasingly weakened immune systems are potentially related to the onset of the disease.
The aim of this guide is to assist the ministries of health (MoHs) to identify a general goal to be attained by the end of five years, with a view to sustainably reducing the incidence of noma as a public health problem through programmes that are fully integrated with national health planning, strengthening of primary health care (PHC) and attainment of UHC.
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These guidelines provide evidence-based guidance on the use of peripartum antiviral prophylaxis in HBsAg-positive pregnant women for the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HBV.
Contact tracing is a key component of the COVID-19 response, particularly as societies begin to lift non-pharmaceutical interventions. However, it is a time-consuming and resource-intensive effort that depends on a trained and motivated workforce. Emergent digital contact tracing and quarantine (...DCTQ) tools offer the potential to complement and strengthen conventional contact tracing initiatives on an unprecedented scale. Despite their visibility throughout the pandemic
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The COVID-19 pandemic presents a rare and immediate opportunity for a norm shift towards localisation in the humanitarian architecture. Whils tinternational humanitarian actors are facing constraints in funding and restrictions on movement and travel, national and local level ...humanitarian actors are on the ground to respond. A timely investment in localcapacities and capabilities creates a strong platform for effective, efficientand sustained response and recovery from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in the days, months and years ahead.
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The Russian Federation continues to be a major destination country for Central Asianlabour migrants. There were nearly million Central Asians living in the Russian Federation in 2019, mainly coming from Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan in order to seek employment opportunities. Men continue to... make up the majority of Central Asian migrants in Russia, but the number of women is increasing
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In Israel, as in other countries, the COVID-19 outbreak highlights existing structural inequities,which compromise the health of some migrant groups. The Israeli case also demonstrate show strong NGOs successfully advocate for the protection of migrants‘health amidst the crisis, madepossible bya c...ertain level ofcooperation withthe Israeli Ministry of Health.Hence,measures for COVID-19preparedness in Israel‘s marginalized migrant communities mostly result from pressure from civil society, against thebackdrop of a generally exclusionary approach toward migrants.4Over time, the Israeli Ministry of Health thus shifted from acknowledging the need to include migrants in preparedness measures toward the realization that particular needs and circumstances amongmigrant communities in some instances require special responses. Givena legacy of neglect and exclusion, this creates challenges for both the authorities and the migrant communities.
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Ghana's attempt to regulate health care waste management started in 2002 with the development of guidelines on health care waste manage-ment by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). In 2006, the Ministry of Health developed the health care waste policy and guidelines. This guidance document im...proved health care waste management in the country.
With support from the UNDP-GEF medical waste management project, the Ministry of He lth has revised the existing National Health Care Waste Management (HCWM), policy and guideline, 2006 and has produced two separate documents- A National Health Care Waste Management Policy and a National Guideline for Health Care Waste Management
countrywide. This policy is replacing the 2006 policy and introduces new technical and administrative policy issues to enhance waste management in health care facilities.
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This document outlines why and how nurses and midwives are important, not only for individual health optimization but also to achieve the thematic priorities of For the Future. More specifically, it provides case studies to showcase the amazing work that nurses and midwives across the Region are doi...ng to improve health. The document also provides future policy directions to strengthen the scope and leadership of the nursing and midwifery workforce, alongside actions to accelerate investment in their education, skills and employment.
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Primary health care, as outlined in the 1978 Declaration of Alma-Ata and again 40 years later in the 2018 WHO/UNICEF document A vision for primary health care in the 21st century: towards universal health coverage and the Sustainable Development Goals, is a whole-of-government and whole-of-society a...pproach to health that combines the following three components: multisectoral policy and action; empowered people and communities; and primary care and essential public health functions as the core of integrated health services.(1) Primary health care-oriented health systems are health systems organized and operated so as to make the right to the highest attainable level of health the main goal, while maximizing equity and solidarity. They are composed of a core set of structural and functional elements that support achieving universal coverage and access to services that are acceptable to the population and that are equity enhancing. The term “primary care” refers to a key process in the health system that supports first-contact, accessible, continued, comprehensive and coordinated patient-focused care.
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13 July 2021
The module provides an overview of factors to consider when monitoring the safety of COVID-19 vaccines administered to pregnant and breastfeeding women. It describes how national routine AEFI surveillance should be adapted to cater for this specific group of population using both pass...ive and active surveillance methods. Specific considerations and limitations of each method are provided as well as tools for implementation.
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This guidance document has been produced by WHO to assist blood services in the development of national plans to respond to any emerging infectious threats to the sufficiency or safety of the blood supply, whether from an existing infectious agent that is changing in incidence and spread, or from a ...newly identified infectious agent. It is intended that this document be followed to guide the national blood service through the process of planning how to respond in a timely, controlled and appropriate way to any specific infectious threat that may subsequently emerge. It is acknowledged that it is not only the blood supply that may be affected by such emerging infectious threats; in those countries undertaking transplantation, the supply of cell, tissues and organs may also be threatened. Increasingly, blood services are taking overall national responsibility for transplantation in their capacity as the organization responsible for the collection, processing, storage and supply of cells, tissues and organs. This approach is both sensible and appropriate, as the overall donor selection and screening processes are the same or very similar. This guidance document can therefore also be used to assist those bodies responsible for the provision of cells, tissues and organs to prepare for an emerging infectious threat.
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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... carried out under the IHR show
continuing gaps in capacity for managing chemicals (2). In particular, many countries still lack access to poison
centre services (3). There is therefore demand for updated guidance.
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Enabling young children to achieve their full developmental potential is a human right and an essential requisite for sustainable development. Given the critical importance of enabling children to make the best start in life, the health sector, among other sectors, has an important role and responsi...bility to support nurturing care for early childhood development. This guideline provides direction for strengthening policies and programmes to better address early childhood development.
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Countries can use this tool to collect in-depth facility inventories of biomedical equipment re-allocation, procurement and planning for COVID-19 case management. The survey assesses quantified availability and the causes for non-functioning of different sources of oxygen delivery and supply systems... to the patient in order to determine priorities and re-allocation requirements in accordance with needs.
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The first case of COVID-19 was reported in Mozambique on 22 March 2020. As of 26 May, Mozambique had 194 confirmed cases of COVID-19, of which 168 were locally transmitted. The country’s capital, Maputo, and the province of Cabo Delgado are currently the epicentres of the outbreak in Mozambique, w...ith Pemba and Afungi registering more than 50 percent of the overall cases. Other provinces affected are Manica, Inhambane, Gaza, Tete and Sofala.
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The interim Emergency Response Preparedness (ERP) guidance is designed to be a short technical step-by-step guide aimed at non-Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) countries to support the development, or strengthening, of preparedness measures to ensure that country teams are operationally ready to imp...lement activities to address the potential non-health impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and its compound effect on existing risks. The interim guidance is based on the IASC 2015 ERP Guidance.
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