As of 12 December 2022, over 645 million people worldwide have been diagnosed with COVID-19, with over 6.6 million deaths (4).
The Omicron variant, which emerged in late November 2021, and its subvariants, are now the dominant circulating viruses, contributing to the ongoing surge in several countr...ies (4). Vaccination has substantially reduced case numbers and hospitalizations in many countries,but limitations in global access to vaccines mean that many populations, including those in low- and middle-income countries, remain vulnerable. Even in vaccinated individuals, uncertainties remain about duration of protection and efficacy, and the degree of crossprotection with new variants.
There remains a need for more effective treatment and management for those affected by COVID-19. The pandemic – and the
explosion of both research and misinformation – has highlighted the need for trustworthy, accessible and regularly updated living
guidelines to place emerging findings into context and provide clear recommendations for clinical practice
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Development finance institutions owned by European governments and the World Bank Group are spending hundreds of millions of dollars on expensive for-profit hospitals in the Global South that block patients from getting care, or bankrupt them, with some even imprisoning patients who cannot afford th...eir bills. At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, some of these same hospitals denied entry to patients suffering from the virus or sold intensive care beds at eyewatering prices to the highest bidder. These development institutions have woefully inadequate safeguards, invest via a complex web of tax-avoiding financial intermediaries, and offer little to zero evidence on the impacts their investments are having. Oxfam is calling on rich-country governments and the World Bank Group to immediately halt their spending on for-profit private healthcare, and for an urgent independent investigation to be conducted into all active and historic investments.
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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...n Region the momentum towards achieving the 2030 SDG disease burden reduction targets (SDG targets 3.3, 3.4 and 3B) has stalled.
The COVID-19 pandemic was also a major threat to gains made, such as the eradication of polio in the region, declared in 2020; reduced numbers of new HIV infections in 2021 compared to 2010; and passing the 2020 milestone of the End TB Strategy, with a 22% reduction in new cases compared with 2015. However, the pandemic also disrupted essential health services in 92% of countries globally, 22.7 million children missed basic immunization, there was an increase in malaria and TB, and global deaths from TB rose for the first time since 2015.
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This module covers common Non-Communicable Diseases such as Hypertension, Diabetes and three common cancers (Cervical,
Breast and Oral cancer). The focus of this module is on building the knowledge and skills of the Multi-Purpose Workers (MPW) in
undertaking Population Based Screening, identifi ca...tion of cases for referral, follow up, recognition of complications, prevention
and health promotion. This module can be used by the female
or male MPW. However, while the content of the overall module
is the same for both some tasks will be different, particularly
those related to screening which the female MPW will have to
undertake. It is expected that the ANM/MPW will work closely
with the ASHA in her area. Together they form a front line worker
team to serve the needs of the community. The content of this
module will be covered in three days.
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Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) such as cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and chronic respiratory diseases and their risk factors are an increasing public health and development challenge in Kazakhstan. This report provides evidence through three analyses that NCDs reduce economic output and ...discusses potential options in response, outlining details of their relative returns on investment. An economic burden analysis shows that economic losses from NCDs (direct and indirect costs) comprise 2.3 trillion tenge, equivalent to 4.5% of gross domestic product in 2017. An intervention costing analysis provides an estimate of the funding required to implement a set of policy interventions for prevention and clinical interventions. A cost–benefit analysis compares these implementation costs with the estimated health gains and identifies which policy packages would give the greatest returns on investment. For example, the salt policy package achieved a benefit-to-cost ratio of 118.4 over 15 years, a return of more than 118 tenge for every 1 tenge invested.
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This Guide contains information, guidelines, diagrams and other materials addressed to medical practitioners who are engaged in the treatment of casualties of chemical weapons. It is made available to the public for information purposes, but is not intended to be used by the public. All decisions re...garding patient care must be made with a healthcare provider and consider the unique characteristics of each patient.
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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...ted health, economic, and societal costs that are borne by countries, regions, and even all nations in the case of pandemics (which are worldwide epidemics). These risks also include the consequences of increasing antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and its spread within regions and globally. A necessary first step is to monitor whether a broad range of stakeholders are acting to prevent outbreaks from becoming epidemics, whether their capacities to respond to epidemics are robust, and whether preparedness to respond to pandemics and limit the resulting economic and health damage is improving. Analyzing the adequacy of these efforts is vitally important for the decisions of policymakers to invest in the public health and disaster-risk management capacities. Early and effective control of disease outbreaks prevents substantial health and economic costs whether or not the disease can spread globally and become a pandemic.
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This document is designed to provide UNICEF staff and UNICEF partner staff with principles and concepts that can assist them to respond to the psychosocial needs of children in natural disasters and social emergencies such as armed conflict and other forms of violence. It aims to introduce humanitar...ian workers to psychosocial principles and UNICEF’s position on these principles. It also provides a number of examples from field work of how these principles have been turned into concrete actions. These psychosocial principles and concepts inform both emergency responses and subsequent programmatic responses post-emergency.
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299 deaths have been recorded and 329 people are still missing, according to the Government.
• Latest assessments indicate that the homes of some tens of thousands of people have been destroyed or damaged beyond habitability. Most of these people are staying with hosts in the extended community.
...
• Revised Flash Appeal requires US$294 million to respond to the drought and Cyclone Idai.
• Food Cluster partners have so far assisted an estimated 30,000 people in the worst-affected areas of Chimanimani and Chipinge.
• Access to a sufficient quantity of water for drinking, cooking and personal hygiene has been restored for 43,000 people.
• Eight clusters have been activated to bolster the humanitarian response effort in support to the Government of Zimbabwe,
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This publication is intended for professionals training or practicing in mental health and not for the general public. The opinions
expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the Editor or IACAPAP. This publication seeks to
describe the best treatments and pra...ctices based on the scientific evidence available at the time of writing as evaluated by the authors and may change as a result of new research
Introduction - Chapter A.11
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Onchocerciasis used to be an important public health problem in Africa, with over 37 million people infected and millions suffering from debilitating skin disease, terrible itching, impaired vision and
blindness. But the epidemiological situation has improved dramatically over the last two decades.... Community directed treatment with ivermectin has effectively brought the disease under control in most endemic areas where onchocerciasis is no longer a public health risk.
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Access to safe blood and blood products is recognized as one of the key requirements for delivery of modern health care in the journey towards health for all. The foundation of safe and sustainable blood supplies depends on the collection of blood from voluntary non-remunerated and low-risk donors. ...Data from the WHO Global Database for Blood Safety (GDBS) brings out several inadequacies related to the supply and safety of blood and blood products. These inadequacies include a number of variations in safe blood practices across the world, including the quantity of blood donated (voluntary and replacement types), quality and adequate testing of the donated blood (immunohaematology [IH] and transfusion-transmitted infections [TTIs]), rational use of blood and blood components such as appropriate patient blood management protocols. These variations are very high in countries of the South-East Asian Region and most of them are either low- or middle-income countries (LMICs).
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While the ratification of the Convention and its Optional Protocol has proceeded rapidly, knowledge on how to implement and monitor them has not kept pace. Conscious of this challenge, my Office has developed this Training Guide on the Convention and its Optional Protocol. It is complemented by eigh...t training modules, designed to inform and empower those who are involved in ratifying, implementing and monitoring the two instruments. While the Training Guide is mainly targeted at facilitators of training courses on the Convention and its Optional Protocol, it acknowledges that each and every one of us has a role to play. I recommend wide dissemination of the training package, and its use by all those who want to embark upon the essential journey towards greater awareness and effective implementation of the rights of persons with disabilities and, ultimately, the building of an inclusive society for all.
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South Africa has faced many challenges over the past two decades, accomplishing profound positive changes in the social structure and government of the nation. This has not yet fully translated into better health for the population, however, particularly the poorest segment. In fact, the p...opulation has lost ground since the 1990s in virtually all important health indicators, leaving South Africa with a high burden of infectious disease.
August 2011, Vol. 101, No. 8 SAMJ
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This field study to measure access to and use of medicines was undertaken in GHANA in May-June 2008. The study assessed information on the socio-economic level of households, and access to and use of medicines for acute and chronic conditions as well as opinions and perceptio...ns about medicines. The survey was conducted in six regions. In each region, six reference public heath care facilities were selected among those participating in the Level II Facility Survey that was carried out in parallel. Within defined distances from each reference public health care facility, households were selected by purposive cluster sampling. A total of 1065 household respondents were interviewed by means of a structured paper questionnaire
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WHO published and launched the third part of the Wheelchair Service Training Package (WSTP) series consisting of two sub-packages: the Wheelchair Service Training Package for Managers (WSTPm) and the Wheelchair Service Training Package for Stakeholders (WSTPs). WHO recognises that in order to develo...p an effective and sustainable wheelchair service provision; managers and stakeholders need to be informed about the importance and benefit of a proper wheelchair service provision. The training manuals and introductory folder comes with 8 GB PenDrive, which contains A to Z of the wheelchair provision.
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The domestic regulation of public health emergencies (PHEs) is inextricably linked to the regulation of other types of disaster. PHEs are usually governed at least partly by general disaster and emergency laws. Moreover, there is significant overlap in the legal mechanisms used to respond to PHEs an...d other types of disaster, including the declaration of a state of disaster or emergency and the use of emergency powers. Even where PHEs are regulated by separate instruments, those instruments must surmount many of the same policy and practical challenges as general disaster laws, such as finely balancing competing considerations (e.g. speedy response versus due process), facilitating the coordination of a multitude of actors, and protecting the most vulnerable within society. Finally, many contemporary developments in disaster risk management (DRM), such as a greater emphasis on risk reduction and preparedness, are just as pertinent to PHEs as to other types of disaster.
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The new WHO recommendations for rabies immunization supersede the 2010 WHO position
on pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) and post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) for rabies. These updated
recommendations are based on new evidence and directed by public health needs that are cost-,
dose- and time-sparing..., while assuring safety and clinical effectiveness. In addition, new guidance on
prudent use of rabies immunoglobulins (RIG) is provided.
The following sections summarize the main points of the updated WHO position as endorsed by the
Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on immunization (SAGE) at its meeting in October 20171. The full
version of the WHO position on rabies vaccines and immunoglobulins will be published in the Weekly
Epidemiological Record2 in April 2018.
Rabies prevention involves two main strategies: (i) dog vaccination to interrupt virus transmission to
humans; and (ii) human vaccination as a series of vaccine administrations before or after an exposure.
Currently, rabies vaccines made from inactivated cell cultures are extremely well tolerated and have no
contraindications.
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The United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) 2018-2022 sets out the UN partnership aiming to support Nepal as it carves out its development agenda over the next five years. At the core of this new UNDAF are the SDGs, the Government of Nepal’s Fourteenth Plan, and international commi...tments and norms to which Nepal is a party. Leaping off from the lessons learned from the previous UNDAF (2013-2017), this new framework builds upon successes, incorporates emerging issues and agreements, and serves to address Nepal’s larger economic, social, and environmental objectives.
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