The COVID-19 pandemic’s immediate costs, measured in lives lost and damaged, have been appalling and continue to rise. In addition, its effects on individuals’ livelihoods and economies around the world have been deep and are likely to be long lasting. While saving lives was the near-exclusive f...ocus during the first phase of the crisis, governments are now trying to strike a delicate balance between preventing further economic damage by reopening parts of their economies, while managing the obvious health risks of doing so.
In the international mobility and migration arenas—policy areas enormously affected by the health and economic effects of the pandemic—this reflection considers both how these fields have fared thus far and the challenges that lay ahead
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The WHO Health Emergencies Programme is currently monitoring 118 events in the region. This week’s main articles cover the following events:
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Togo
Measles in Chad
Ebola virus disease (EVD) in Équateur Province, Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela has been facing a sociopolitical and economic situation that has negatively impacted social and health indicators. There have been intensified population movements both within the country and to other countries, particularly to Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia,... Costa Rica, Curaçao, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guyana, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Trinidad and Tobago, and Uruguay. Since 2017, an estimated 5.2 million Venezuelans have migrated to other countries, including an estimated 4.3 million who have gone to countries in Latin America and the Caribbean.
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With this quick reference guide, providers can easily recognize diseases and side effects related to climate change, implement appropriate management and provide guidance to exposed populations, provide up-to-date information on the relationship between the adverse effects of certain drugs and the w...orsening of climate-sensitive health conditions, and determine the possible consequences of climate change for health services. This book addresses key meteorological risks, as well as the health conditions which they may influence, grouped by specific clinical areas.
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Updated 10 August 2020
This document presents an essential medicines list (EML) to manage patients in intensive care units (ICUs) with suspected or confirmed COVID-19 diagnosis, which includes active ingredients with dosage form and concentration, and are preferably in the WHO Model Lists of Essent...ial Medicines 2019; based on clinical presentations and symptoms identified and prioritized in World Health Organization (WHO) and Surviving Sepsis Campaign (SSC) guidelines and the evidence presented in these guidelines.
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This handbook is an adaptation from the WHO Clinical Handbook Health care for women subjected to intimate partner violence or sexual violence developed by the World Health Organization (WHO), UN Women and United Nations Population Fund. The handbook draws on the work from professionals who are dedic...ated to preventing and responding to Gender Based Violence.
The Handbook guides health care service providers to provide comprehensive services to survivors of intimate partner violence and/or sexual violence. It also guides health professionals with respect to relevant stakeholders for referral purposes. The purpose is to ensure that relevant authorities are informed timeously in order act and ensure that those affected by violence receive speedy service as required.
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This third regional report discusses gaps and challenges in reducing the harmful use of alcohol and how countries can reverse current trends in a cost-effective and expedited way.
The report examines how people with mental health conditions are often shackled by families in their own homes or in overcrowded and unsanitary institutions, against their will, due to widespread stigma and a lack of mental health services.
Many are forced to eat, sleep, urinate, and defecate in t...he same tiny area. In state-run or private institutions, as well as traditional or religious healing centers, they are often forced to fast, take medications or herbal concoctions, and face physical and sexual violence. The report includes field research and testimonies from Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, China, Ghana, Indonesia, Kenya, Liberia, Mexico, Mozambique, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Palestine, the self-declared independent state of Somaliland, South Sudan, and Yemen.
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Six months in, the indirect impacts of COVID-19 take a toll on health, social and economic outcomes.
Whole-genome sequencing (WGS) provides a vast amount of information and the highest possible resolution for pathogen subtyping. The application of WGS for global surveillance can provide information on the early emergence and spread of AMR and further inform timely policy development on AMR control.... Sequencing data emanating from AMR surveillance may provide key information to guide the development of rapid diagnostic tools for better and more rapid characterization of AMR, and thus complement phenotypic methods. This document addresses the applications of WGS for AMR surveillance, including the benefits and limitations of current WGS technologies
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The WHO COVID-19 Essential Supplies Forecasting Tool (COVID-19-ESFT) is meant to help countries forecast essential supplies for their COVID-19 response including personal protective equipment (e.g., masks and gloves), biomedical equipment for case management (e.g., ventilators and oxygen concentrato...rs), diagnostic reagents and equipment, essential drugs for supportive care, and consumable medical supplies.
The tool is best suited for estimating essential supply needs over a short time period (12 weeks or fewer) but can be used for longer.
COVID-19-ESFT does not quantify or account for resources already available locally or those pending delivery. When using the ESFT to inform procurement, we recommend factoring in resources already available locally and only including the additional resources required in the forecast.
This tool is updated regularly so users should monitor the website for the latest release version.
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A guide to preventing and addressing social stigma.
Social stigma in the context of health is the negative association between a person or group of people who share certain characteristics and a specific disease. In an outbreak, this may mean people are labelled, stereotyped, discriminated against,... treated separately, and/or experience loss of status because of a perceived link with a disease.
Different Languages are available
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Risk communication encompasses all the basics of health communication but differs in the need for speed and reliance on trust. At times of crisis, leaders are called on to provide a quick, sensitive and trustworthy response.
Con esta guía de referencia rápida podrán reconocer con facilidad las enfermedades y efectos secundarios relacionados con el cambio climático, administrar los tratamientos adecuados y aconsejar a las poblaciones expuestas, presentar información actualizada sobre la relación entre los efectos s...ecundarios de ciertos medicamentos y la agravación de las dolencias sensibles al clima, y determinar las consecuencias posibles para los servicios de salud. En este libro se abordan los principales fenómenos meteorológicos, así como las afecciones en las que pueden tener incidencia, agrupados por áreas clínicas específicas.
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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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he pandemic has produced an unprecedented economic and social crisis, and it could generate a food, humanitarian, and political crisis if urgent measures are not taken. The policy options for addressing the pandemic entail consolidating national plans and achieving intersectoral consensus. The respo...nse should be structured in three nonlinear and interrelated phases—control, reactivation, and rebuilding—involving the participation of technical actors representing not only the field of health but also other social and economic areas. Measures implemented to control the pandemic as well as measures for the reactivation and rebuilding phases will require increased public investment in health until the recommended parameters are achieved.
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This document shall serve as the most comprehensive set of guidelines on the safe management of waste generated from heath care activities in the country. It incorporates the requirements of all Philippine laws and regulations governing HCWM and is designed for the use of individuals, public and pri...vate establishments, and other entities involved in segregation, collection, handling, storage, treatment,and disposal of waste generated from heath care activities.
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