Urogenital schistosomiasis is a common neglected tropical disease in many rural communities in African countries, with patches of infection in the Eastern Mediterranean Region. Globally, an estimated 239 million people are currently infected, with burden estimated at more than 3.5 million disability...-adjusted life years (DALYs). In many endemic areas, severely infected individuals may suffer fibrosis of the bladder, kidney damage, bladder cancer, and death if untreated. This, however, depends on several factors such as host-parasite genetics, degree and length of exposure, intensity of infection, host immune response to the parasites, and coinfections with other tropical diseases such as malaria and HIV-1.
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May 2020 International Journal of Infectious Diseases 96 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijid.2020.05.003
A manual for impact assessments. The SCH Practical and Precision Assessment (SPPA) strategy is an evidence-based approach for conducting impact assessments for SCH. The SPPA was identified by programme managers and SCH experts from the African region as a feasible and sufficiently accurate approach ...after reviewing and discussing the results of a multi-country study. This manual describes the resulting Practical and Precision Assessments approach and includes a discussion of the underlying concepts, factors to consider when determining what approach is appropriate, and how to interpret the collected data. The manual also includes annexes with standard operating procedures for conducting the stool and urine analyses.
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The number of new Ebola infections in Sierra Leone is declining, despite the outbreak continuing to claim lives. New cases have dropped to around 9-12 per week, according to recent WHO figures. There were over 500 cases per week at the height of the crisis around late November 2014.
The impact on t...he lives of the thousands of people directly affected by the disease has been devastating. It has caused substantial suffering to many others, leaving the population very vulnerable.
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The harmful use of alcohol causes approximately 3 million deaths every year and the overall burden of disease and injuries attributable to alcohol consumption remains unacceptably high. The pace of development and implementation of alcohol policies has been uneven in WHO regions, and resources and c...apacities for implementation of the WHO Global strategy to reduce the harmful use of alcohol 10 years after its endorsement do not correspond to the magnitude of the problems. On this basis, the WHO Executive Board in its decision EB146 (14) called for accelerated action to reduce the harmful use of alcohol.
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Building on the 2021 Interim guidance, this second version and update, incorporates the lessons and feedback from the hepatitis pilots that successfully demonstrated the feasibility of measuring hepatitis B and C impact targets to demonstrate elimination, whilst highlighting challenges caused by hig...h disease burden in some countries, as well as delays in reaching mortality targets due to the long natural history of disease progression to liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma.
The path to elimination provides a framework with 3 levels of achievements for which WHO certification is available. Each stepwise progression from bronze to silver to gold tiers will promote an iterative expansion of prevention, diagnosis and treatment services for viral hepatitis services and strengthen measurement systems to support attainment of the 2030 elimination goals.
This updated version also includes changes, clarifications and new guidance on alternative measurement approaches for country validation of elimination. Through the validation process, WHO and partners continue to provide country support for strengthening health system capacity and patient-centred services that respect and protect the human rights of people living with viral hepatitis and ensures meaningful engagement of communities in the national, regional and global viral hepatitis response.
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The overview of findings from five Latin American countries
Vaccines are powerful weapons in the fight against pandemic viruses as shown by responses to both the 2009 H1N1 influenza and the COVID-19 pandemics. However, planning for accessing, allocating and deploying vaccines in a pandemic situation is a complex endeavour, beset with multiple challenges at a...ll levels – local, regional and global. The World Health Organization (WHO) and its partners have prepared this revised guidance document to assist countries update their national deployment and vaccination plans (NDVPs) by leveraging global learnings from past pandemic responses, including the recent COVID-19 vaccination effort. The development and testing of a NDVP would not only advance pandemic preparedness efforts but would also have benefits in terms of increasing national capabilities to manage other health emergencies which require emergency vaccination campaigns.
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This new publication presents the continuing and emerging challenges to children’s environmental health.
An historic opportunity to end AIDS as a public health threat by 2030 and launch a new era of sustainability
A decade of progress has inspired the once unthinkable—that the AIDS epidemic can be ended as a public health threat. The global community has embraced the bold idea to end the AIDS ep...idemic as a target of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Governments from around the world have committed to a Fast-Track agenda and a set of ambitious but attainable milestones to be achieved by 2020 in order to end the AIDS epidemic by 2030, as set out in the United Nations General Assembly Political Declaration on Ending AIDS. Regular reporting through UNAIDS reinforces accountability for results.
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This note provides information and practical guidance to support gender-based violence (GBV) practitioners to integrate attention to disability into GBV prevention, risk mitigation and response efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic. This document complements other resources relating to GBV and COVID-...19 and assumes that the user is already familiar with common GBV prevention, risk mitigation and response approaches.
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Standard Operating Procedures for Implementation of TB Activities at HIV/AIDS Service Delivery Sites
Global Fund Investment Guidance for Eastern Europe and Central Asia
Accessed: 29.09.2019
Guidance issued as of 25 March 2020
This guidance is intended for use by health authorities to guide the actions taken by health-care providers for refugees and migrants in relation to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. This document is intended to address the needs and rights of refugees a...nd migrants living in all types of setting.
General recommendations made by WHO in the COVID-19 response (link here) are the superseding guidelines. Unfounded measures regarding testing, health screening and quarantine should not be imposed on refugees and migrants.
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This report provides an overview of the operations and activities of the WHO Country Office in Ukraine in 2023. Despite the acute health impacts of the war in Ukraine, the Country Office continued its work according to its core mandate. WHO supported the Government of Ukraine in managing the health ...emergency and pursued existing priorities set out in WHO’s Thirteenth General Programme of Work 2019–2023, the European Programme of Work 2020–2025, and the Biennial Collaborative Agreement 2022–2023 signed with the Government of Ukraine. The report presents the achievements of the WHO Country Office in Ukraine in 2023 in the context of the war’s impact on the lives, health, and well-being of Ukrainians.
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