The 2014–2015 Ebola epidemic in western Africa was the longest and most deadly Ebola epidemic in history, resulting in 28,616 cases and 11,310 deaths in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone. The Ebola virus has been known since 1976, when two separate outbreaks were identified in the Democratic Repub...lic of Congo (then Zaire) and South Sudan (then Sudan). However, because all Ebola outbreaks prior to that in West Africa in 2014–2015 were relatively isolated and of short duration, little was known about how to best manage patients to improve survival, and there were no approved therapeutics or vaccines. When the World Heath Organization declared the 2014-2015 epidemic a public health emergency of international concern in August 2014, several teams began conducting formal clinical trials in the Ebola affected countries during the outbreak.
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AVADAR is a mobile sms-based software application designed to improve the quality and sensitivity of Acute Flaccid Paralysis (AFP) surveillance by health workers and key informants within hospital facilities and local communities.
The idea is simple: Health workers visit remote villages to check if... local inhabitants have any symptoms of a range of life-threatening infectious diseases, including polio and measles. Then, with the mobile app, they quickly and easily alert WHO.
The AFP video component was developed by World Health Organization (WHO) and eHA, and the software design component was handled by Novel-T. To date, eHA has translated the app into 17 languages.
Informant Selection & Capacity Building
The selection of informants (including health workers) was led by the WHO and each country’s Ministry of Health team. Once selected, screening and training was jointly conducted by WHO, the Ministries of Health, and eHealth Africa team.
In several countries, “special informants” with limited literacy participate in the project via a simplified version of the app that only requires a “yes” or “no” response to having seen a child with AFP symptoms
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This video animation was created for use in West Africa to help dispel myths about how Ebola is spread, and to prevent infection and further spreading of the disease. The story is based around a teenage boy on a hospital cot in Liberia, who speaks to his parents, brother and sister warning them abou...t the disease and telling them how it can be prevented. The story highlights the need for isolation and shows the heartache of the family as they are unable to comfort, touch, or care for the boy who is very ill. His words are words of comfort to those who are separated from their loved ones as they are encouraged to take care of themselves and keep away from those who are ill.
The video was created by Chocolate Moose Media, an organisation specialising in the use of film and animation for behaviour change, and mobile-health-education innovator iHeed, in collaboration with United Methodist Communications, who provided partial funding.
The video, which uses only young voices, is being made available in eight versions: Nigerian English and Pidgin, South African English, French (for Ivory Coast and Guinea), Sierra Leone English, and Liberian English and Krio. It can be downloaded in high definition, low definition, and for use on mobile platforms.
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The CHGN Ebola toolkit is a collection of resources that we hope will be of use to many of the organisations, agencies and individuals working to address the Ebola outbreak in English-speaking West Africa, particularly those engaged at the community-level.
The focus of the toolkit is on community... awareness raising and on prevention rather than treatment, reflecting CHGN’s aim of promoting community-based health initiatives. We have however, also included some resources on caring for people with Ebola, contact tracing and safe burial practices that are aimed primarily at health professionals. We have included guides on psychosocial support that are relevant to both health professionals and community members.
This toolkit is available in USB format. To order, please email to ebolaresponse@CHGN.org with your name, location, organisation and the number of USB sticks you would like. They will respond as soon as possible.
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S Afr Med J 2018;108(7):546-550. DOI:10.7196/SAMJ.2018.v108i7.13149
Antimicrobial stewardship programmes have been introduced worldwide in response to the rise in antimicrobial resistance. The World Health Organization has mandated each Member State to produce a plan to address this problem. We rep...ort on the organic development of an antibiotic stewardship programme in a rural regional hospital in a resource-limited setting in South Africa. This has resulted in organisational change with increased awareness, participation, monitoring and education in antibiotic stewardship throughout the hospital
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These guidelines have been developed to provide guidance to the Ministry of Health in managing applications for registration of human pharmaceutical products in Rwanda. It was compiled by the Technical Working Group (TWG) on Medicines Evaluation and Registration (MER) of the East African Community M...edicine Regulatory Harmonization (EAC MRH) Project. The group relied on their experiences and knowledge on medicines registration requirements of their individual Countries. World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Conference on Harmonization of Technical Requirements of Medicines for Human Use (ICH) and other available literature.
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A new respiratory infectious disease, COVID-19, caused by a new coronavirus called SARS-CoV-2, emerged in early December 2019. Since then, the virus has spread to India and 106 other countries in Asia, Europe, North America, Africa, and Oceania. On March 11, the World Health Organization (WHO) decl...ared the outbreak a pandemic, which has since rapidly evolved. As an economic hub with substantial global connectivity and movement of people and goods, India is directly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Although it is too early to gauge the full spectrum of the outbreak’s social and economic impacts, COVID-19 has already caused lockdowns in China, Korea, and in many countries in Europe, and in some states of India, suspension of schools and universities, disruption of food systems and other supply chains, as well as a slowdown in trade between India and rest of the world.
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Wits Reproductive Health and HIV Institute (Wits RHI) is involved in an effort to curb the COVID-19 pandemic that is facing South Africa and the world at large. Prof. Helen Rees is a member of the team advising the Health Minister on COVID-19 (MAC). She is part of the Clinicians Group, the Research ...group and the Incident Management Team (IMT). Prof. Rees is Co-Chair of the South African arm of the Solidarity study
This is a World Health Organisation (WHO) coordinated trial that will generate high quality evidence on COVID-19 treatment options. Prof Helen is also the International Coordinator for the global Crown Coronation study. This study is aimed at looking at strategies to protect healthcare workers.
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Previous crises, such as the Ebola virus disease (EVD) in West Africa in 2014, indicate the direct impact movement restrictions and disease containment efforts have on food availability, access, utilization and violence – particularly gender-based violence (GBV). The importance of maintaining and ...upscaling food security interventions for the most vulnerable populations, alongside the health sector’s efforts to avert disease spread, is therefore undeniable. The COVID-19 outbreak in South Sudan threatens to paralyze an already fragile food system and negatively impact more than 6.5 million people in South Sudan who remain vulnerable. At the same time, the core national capacities for prevention, preparedness and response for public health events is limited, and the healthcare system has been weakened by years of conflict, poor governance and low investments.
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Climate change triggers mounting food insecurity, poverty and displacement in Africa
English Analysis on World about Agriculture, Climate Change and Environment and more; published on 29 Sep 2021 by FAO and NEPAD
In 1981, the Christian Medical Commission (CMC) of the World Council of Churches (WCC) assigned a pharmaceutical adviser to provide technical support in the area of pharmaceutical technical support to church health programmes in Africa. Later in 2000, the supported church health organizations jointl...y agreed to become a Network through membership. The Ecumenical Pharmaceutical Network (EPN) was then registered as a non-profit organization with a secretariat based in Nairobi, Kenya.
You can find online courses, publications, checklists....
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La variole du singe est une maladie infectieuse émergente causée par un virus transmis par des animaux infectés, le plus souvent des rongeurs. Elle peut ensuite se propager d’une personne à l’autre, mais la transmission de personne à personne ne peut à elle seule entretenir une éclosion. ...La présentation clinique est semblable à celle observée chez les patients atteints autrefois de la variole, mais moins grave. La variole a été éradiquée dans le monde entier en 1980. Cependant, la variole du singe est encore présente sporadiquement dans des régions d'Afrique centrale et occidentale, près des forêts tropicales humides. De manière générale, le taux de létalité dans les épidémies de variole du singe est de 1 à 10 %, mais avec des soins appropriés, la plupart des patients se rétablissent.
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Les progrès remarquables réalisés dans la lutte contre la forme à T. b. gambiense reposent sur le dépistage et le traitement curatif, une stratégie qui interrompt la transmission en réduisant le réservoir de parasites chez l’être humain. Parfois, cette
approche a été combinée avec des... activités de lutte antivectorielle. L’objet de ces lignes directrices est donc de la plus haute importance pour la poursuite des progrès en vue de l’élimination de la THA.
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With some 134,073,166 people living in endemic communities at risk of infection, Nigeria is the most endemic country in Africa and requires preventive chemotherapy (PC) for a total of 26.3 million persons. The National Schistosomiasis Elimination Programme (NSCHEP), with the support of international... partners, has been implementing PC in Nigeria since 2009 and most recently will need to revise its current strategy (Additional file 1). For example, the new World Health Organization (WHO) guideline has six key recommendations that will dramatically change the implementation of schistosomiasis elimination in endemic countries [3]. However, its impact and programmatic implications will vary from country to country, hence the need for a country-specific analysis. This article discusses these recommendations with specific reference to the challenges and opportunities in Nigeria. We summarise the key pointers in Additional file 1: Box 1 against the six recommendations of the WHO 2022 guideline.
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Un comité OMS d’experts sur la trypanosomiase humaine africaine (THA) : lutte et surveillance, s’est réuni à Genève (Suisse), du 22 au 26 avril 2013. Le Dr H. Nakatani, sous-directeur général pour le VIH/SIDA, la tuberculose, le paludisme et les maladies tropicales négligées, a ouvert la... réunion au nom du Dr M. Chan, directeur-général de l’OMS.
La THA est une maladie qui afflige les populations rurales de l’Afrique, là où prolifère la mouche tsé-tsé (ou glossine), vecteur des trypanosomes qui en sont la cause. On distingue deux formes de THA : la forme à T. b. gambiense ou forme gambienne, endémique en Afrique de l’Ouest et en Afrique centrale et qui
représente actuellement 95 % des cas, et la forme à T. b. rhodesiense ou forme rhodésienne, endémique en Afrique de l’Est et en Afrique australe, à laquelle sont dus les 5 % restants.
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Rebuilding Liberia’s health system is crucial for improving the country’s overall health outcomes. This annual report highlights key achievements, challenges,and lessons learned in implementing programmes of technical cooperation with the Government of Liberia from January to December 2022. T...he key achievements are summarized under the thematic areas of Universal Health Coverage, Health Emergencies and Corporate and Enabling Support.
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Cholera is a transmissible diarrhoeal infection caused by Vibrio cholerae. Endemic and/or epidemic in over 40 countries (mainly in Africa and Asia), cholera continues to be a major global public health issue.
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that the number of cases reported worldwid...e represents in reality only 5 to 10% of actual cases.
This guide is intended for medical and non-medical staff responding to a cholera outbreak. It attempts to provide concrete answers to the questions and problems faced by staff, based on the recommendations of reference organisations, such as WHO and UNICEF, as well as Médecins Sans Frontières’ experience in the field.
It is divided into 8 chapters. Chapter 1, Cholera overview, outlines the epidemiological and clinical features of cholera. Chapter 2, Outbreak investigation, explains the method and stages of a field investigation, from the alert to implementation of initial activities. Chapter 3, Cholera control measures, details measures and tools to prevent and/or control cholera transmission and mortality in populations affected, or at risk of being affected, by an epidemic (curative care, prevention means and health promotion activities). Chapter 4, Strategies for epidemic response, addresses the roll-out strategies of the measures described in Chapter 3 which depend on context (e.g. urban, rural, endemic, non-endemic setting, etc.), resources and particular constraints. Chapter 5, Cholera case management, details the different stages of cholera treatment, from diagnosis through to cure.
Chapter 6, Setting up cholera treatment facilities, focuses on the installation of treatment facilities that vary in size and complexity according to operational requirements (treatment centres and units and oral rehydration points). Chapter 7, Organisation of cholera treatment facilities, describes the organisation of these specialized facilities in terms of human resources, supply, water, hygiene and sanitation, etc. Chapter 8, Monitoring and evaluation, presents the key data to be collected and analysed during an epidemic to facilitate a tailored response and evaluate its quality and effectiveness.
The guide includes various practical tools in the appendices to facilitate activities (e.g. water quality tests, job descriptions, documents, etc.). Moreover, the toolbox also contains additional tools in editable formats (individual patient file, cholera case register, pictograms).
Despite all efforts, it is possible that certain errors may have been overlooked in this guide. Please inform the authors of any errors detected.
To ensure that this guide continues to evolve while remaining adapted to field realities, please send any comments or suggestions.
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Air pollution is one of the leading causes of health complications and mortality worldwide, especially affecting lower-income groups, who tend to be more exposed and vulnerable. This study documents the relationship between ambient air pollution exposure and poverty in 211 countries and territories.... Using the World Health Organization’s (WHO) 2021 revised fine particulate matter (PM2.5) thresholds, we show that globally, 7.3 billion people are directly exposed to unsafe average annual PM2.5 concentrations, 80 percent of whom live in low- and middle-income countries. Moreover, 716 million of the world’s lowest income people (living on less than $1.90 per day) live in areas with unsafe levels of air pollution, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa. Air pollution levels are particularly high in lower-middle-income countries, where economies tend to rely more heavily on polluting industries and technologies. These findings are based on high-resolution air pollution and population maps with global coverage, as well as subnational poverty estimates based on harmonized household surveys.
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The National Asthma Education Programme (or NAEP for short) was started in 2008. We are a registered Non-Profit Organisation that aims to disseminate impartial information about asthma diagnosis and treatment to health professionals and the South African public.