Fact sheet
Good hygiene is critical to ensure that healthcare staff provide quality care, reduce the spread of infections, and protect the health of communities. This fact sheet explores the healthcare-related risks of poor hygiene and the critical elements of hand hygiene needed to improve qua...lity of care and reduce negative outcomes of poor compliance (e.g., healthcare-associated infections and antimicrobial resistance) in healthcare facilities, and provides recommendations and additional readings for improving hygiene in health settings and achieving a safe, clean healthcare environment.
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Geneva, 22 May 2023 – Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance today published a roadmap* outlining critical actions needed to ensure supply of oral cholera vaccine (OCV) is able to meet growing demand from countries. Released against a backdrop of a recent wave of cholera outbreaks around the world, the roadma...p forecasts the short-, mid- and long-term outlook for global cholera vaccine supply. Developed in consultation with a range of key Alliance partners, including WHO, UNICEF, the Global Taskforce for Cholera Control (GTFCC), and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), it describes how these organizations, manufacturers and countries can work together towards ensuring global OCV supply can support largescale preventive vaccination by 2026.
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Health Statistics in the Western Pacific Region 2023: Monitoring health for the SDGs is the third biennial report providing an overview of the progress of the World Health Organization (WHO) Western Pacific Region towards the health-related Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) targets. Thi...s edition also serves as a baseline assessment for the implementation of the global WHO Fourteenth General Programme of Work 2025–2028 (GPW14) within the Western Pacific Region and the for the Regional Vision “Weaving Health for Families, Communities, and Societies of the Western Pacific Region: Working Together to Improve Health, Well-Being and Save Lives”.
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Lymphatic filariasis (LF) infection if untreated results in fluid accumulation in the limbs or breasts (lymphedema) or genitalia (hydrocele) that is painful and causes great discomfort. Morbidity management and disability prevention (MMDP) strategies such as surgery for hydrocele, treatment of acute... attacks and management of lymphedema are necessary for the management of the advanced stages of LF. However, very few countries including Zambia, have adequate information on the health beliefs and health seeking behavior of communities living in endemic areas towards MMDP services for LF. This study sought to explore community and health provider perspectives towards MMDP services for LF in a highly endemic region, Luangwa District, Zambia, between February and April 2019.
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Annual report on global preparednessfor health emergencies
The next pandemic is not a question of if, but when—and the world is woefully unprepared, according to the first annual report from the Global Preparedness Monitoring Board. The WHO and the World Bank convened the independent group after ...the 2014-2015 Ebola outbreak in West Africa, Global News reports. Within 36 hours, a contagion like the 1918 flu could sweep the globe and take 50 to 80 million lives while wreaking havoc on the global economy, the report warns. And that’s just one possibility.
What would it take to get prepared? An investment of $1-$2 per person per year could create “acceptable” level of preparedness.
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Poor quality health services are holding back progress on improving health in countries at all income levels.
Today, inaccurate diagnosis, medication errors, inappropriate or unnecessary treatment, inadequate or unsafe clinical facilities or practices, or providers who lack adequate training an...d expertise prevail in all countries.
The situation is worst in low and middle-income countries where 10 percent of hospitalized patients can expect to acquire an infection during their stay, as compared to seven percent in high income countries. This is despite hospital acquired infections being easily avoided through better hygiene, improved infection control practices and appropriate use of antimicrobials.. At the same time, one in ten patients is harmed during medical treatment in high income countries.
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World Health Organization, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations & World Organisation for Animal Health. (2021). Antimicrobial resistance and the United Nations sustainable development cooperation framework: guidance for United Nations country teams. World Health Organization
This technical report has been developed within the framework of the WHO Global Initiative for
Childhood Cancer. Its goal is to improve the situation of children and adolescents with cancer worldwide,
giving them the best chances of survival, living a full life and, above all, enjoying quality of ...life and dying
without suffering
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Direct acting antivirals (DAAs) have revolutionized treatment for hepatitis C. Combi-
nations of DAAs can cure infection with HCV in 12 weeks, are highly effective and
have limited side-effects. Affordability of DAAs has improved significantly, but access remains lim-
i...ted. Initially, due to their high prices, affordability of DAAs was limited in high-, middle- and low-
income countries alike. Now there is a divide between those countries where, because of intellectual
property barriers, prices have remained (very) high and other countries where generics are, or can be,
available at much lower prices. The result is a dual market
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Beat the heat: child health amid heatwaves in Europe and Central Asia finds that half of these children died from heat-related illnesses in their first year of life. Most children died during the summer months.
"Around half of children across Europe and Central Asia – or 92 million children –... are already exposed to frequent heatwaves in a region where temperatures are rising at the fastest rate globally. The increasingly high temperatures can have serious health complications for children, especially the youngest children, even in a short space of time. Without care, these complications can be life-threatening,” said Regina De Dominicis UNICEF Regional Director for Europe and Central Asia.
Heat exposure has acute effects on children, even before they are born, and can result in pre-term births, low birth weight, stillbirth, and congenital anomalies. Heat stress is a direct cause of infant mortality, can affect infant growth and cause a range of paediatric diseases. The report also notes that extreme heat caused the loss of more than 32,000 years of healthy life among children and teenagers in the region.
As the temperatures continue to rise, UNICEF urges governments across Europe and Central Asia to:
- Integrate strategies to reduce the impact of heatwaves including through National Determined Contributions (NDC), National Adaptation Plans (NAP), and disaster risk reduction and disaster management policies with children at the centre of these plans
Invest in heat health action plans and primary health care to more adequately support heat-related illness among children
- Invest in early warning systems, including heat alert systems
- Adapt education facilities to reduce the temperatures in the areas children play in and equip teachers with skills to respond to heat stress
- Adapt urban design and infrastructure including ensuring buildings, particularly those housing the most vulnerable communities are equipped to minimize heat exposure
- Secure the provision of safe water, particularly in countries with deteriorating water quality and availability.
UNICEF works with governments, partners and communities across the region to build resilience against heatwaves. This includes equipping teachers, community health workers and families with the skills and knowledge to respond to heat stress.
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This Commission report aims to contribute to a new era of multilateral cooperation based on strong UN institutions to reduce the dangers of COVID-19, forestall the next pandemic, and enable the world to achieve the agreed goals of sustainable development, human rights, and peace that governments are... committed to pursue as members of the UN. We address this Commission report to the UN member states, the UN agencies and multilateral institutions, and multilateral processes such as the G20 and the G7.
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The Polio Transition1
Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Framework was designed to monitor progress towards achieving the strategic and operational outcomes of the post-2023 Strategic Action Plan on Polio Transition (2018– 2023), as outlined in the Global Vision to use polio investments to build st...rong, resilient and equitable health systems (the Global Vision), and regional strategic plans for the WHO African, Eastern Mediterranean and SouthEast Asia Regions. It aims to support an efficient and effective polio transition process through both process and outcome-based monitoring. The M&E Framework promotes accountability and strives for a harmonized approach to monitoring and evaluating the polio transition at the country, regional and global levels
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With a focus on Pakistan and Nigeria’s most vulnerable communities, this report provides insight about the role that community push-back is playing in the transmission of the polio virus and how the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) can mitigate these social risks to reach every missed ch...ild.
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Current evidence that the climate is changing is overwhelming. Impacts of climate change and variability are being observed: more intense heat-waves, fires and floods; and increased prevalence of food- water- and vector-borne diseases. Climate change will put pressure on environmental and health det...erminants, such as food safety, air pollution and water quantity and quality. A climate-resilient future depends fundamentally on reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Limiting warming to below 2 °C requires transformational technological, institutional, political and behavioural changes: the foundations for this are laid out in the Paris Agreement of December 2015. The health sector can lead by example, shifting to environmentally friendly practices and minimizing its carbon emissions. A climate-resilient future will increasingly depend on managing and reducing climate change risks to protect health. In the near term, this can be enhanced by including climate change in national health programming and creating climate-resilient health systems.
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The Guidelines for drinking-water quality: small water supplies have been developed to address the needs and opportunities associated with small supplies to facilitate progressive improvement towards safe and sustainable drinking-water services for all. These Guidelines are based on the principal re...commendation in the World Health Organization’s Guidelines for drinking-water quality, and they provide guidance on applying that recommendation to small water supplies in particular. These Guidelines aim to help governments and practitioners improve the safety of drinking-water delivered through small supplies.
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For the 24th consecutive year, PAHO has published the report Health Situation in the Americas: Core Indicators featuring the latest information on key indicators for the Region of the Americas. This 2018 edition includes data on the 82 core indicators for the countries, territories, and sub regions ...of the Americas, grouped into the following categories: demographic-socioeconomic, health status, risk factors, service coverage, and health systems. Information is also presented on 22 indicators of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
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This sourcebook aims to detail why health needs to be part of urban and territorial planning and how to make this happen. It brings together two vital elements we need to build habitable cities on a habitable planet: 1) Processes to guide the development of human settlements – in this document ref...erred to as “urban and territorial planning (UTP)”; and 2) concern for human health, well-being and health equity at all levels – from local to global, and from human to planetary health.
This sourcebook identifies a comprehensive selection of existing resources and tools to support the incorporation of health into UTP, including advocacy frameworks, entry points and guidance, as well as tools and illustrative case studies. It does not provide prescriptions for specific scenarios – these should be determined by context, people and available resources.
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TB heroes
Hello, my name is Nurse X
My job is to promote integrated HIV and TB prevention, care, treatment and support. This ensures that we, and my team of health care service providers treat everyone who is living with HIV and TB to have all the antiretroviral therapy (ART) and HIV care services... are provided with TB diagnosis and treatment at one facility. Services that we provide include * Infection control education * TB screening and diagnosis * HIV testing * Treatment for those who require it * Adherence support
Accessed November 2017
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The third edition, released in 2018, has grown to include a total of 18 chapters, contributed by 20 experts and authors from many countries. The goal remains the same: to educate primary care providers on the best practices in TB diagnosis, treatment and follow-up. All articles are richly illustrate...d, and most include quizzes and CME questions for self learning. The 3rd edition includes new chapters on MDR-TB, adverse effects of TB drugs, adherence monitoring strategies, and nutritional support. There is also content on how to manage children with TB, care for patients co-infected with TB and HIV, how to read and interpret chest x-rays, and how to avoid common pitfalls in TB management.
To download book chapters or the whole book go to the website: http://www.letstalktb.org/download/
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A practical approach for developing policy and strategy to improve quality of care
The handbook outlines an approach for the development of national policies and strategies to improve the quality of care. Such policy and strategy can help clarify the structures, roles and responsibilities within n...ational quality efforts, support the institutionalization of a culture of quality, and secure buy-in from health system leaders and stakeholders
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