This is a detailed manual giving a step by step approach to undertaking the pharmacovigilance of antiretrovirals. It is intended to be a source of practical advice for Pharmacovigilance Centres and health professionals involved in HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment programmes. A number of WHO publica...tions are available that provide a background to pharmacovigilance and, as far as possible, that material will not be repeated here. Health officials, planners, the staff of Pharmacovigilance Centres, public health teams and all health workers should become familiar with these publications, which are: • Safety of Medicines: A guide to detecting and reporting adverse drug reactions
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The DHS report itself explains the purpose was, “to obtain and provide information on basic indicators of social progress including fertility, childhood mortality, reproductive and child health, nutritional status of children, and awareness of HIV/AIDS and other health-related issues” in PNG. Th...is is important because a DHS then provides the evidence base for PNG officials themselves to track progress in PNG over time, compare trends with other comparable countries, and then allocate financial and human resources to where they are needed most.
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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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The target audience for this guideline is primarily for health care providers nurses, doctors, social workers and other people involved in HIV response in Rwanda so that they are capable of offering quality care services to patients over a long time. The new National Guidelines for Prevention and Ma...nagement of HIV and STIs are articulated in accordance to treat all HIV+ patients regardless of CD4 count and a new service delivery model to support its implementation.
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The guidelines are to be used to guide the management of adults with lower respiratory tract infection (LRTI). As will be seen in the following text, this diagnosis, and the other clinical syndromes within this grouping, can be difficult to make accurately. In the absence of agreed definitions of th...ese syndromes these guidelines are to be used when, in the opinion of a clinician, an LRTI syndrome is present. The following are put forward as def-initions to guide the clinician, but it will be seen in the ensuingtext that some of these labels will always be inaccurate. These definitions are pragmatic and based on a synthesis of available studies. They are primarily meant to be simple to apply in clinical practice, and this might be at the expense of scientific accuracy. These definitions are not mutually exclusive, with lower respiratory tract infection being an umbrella term that includes all others, which can also be used for cases that cannot be classified into one of the other groups. No new evidence has been identified that would lead to a change in the clinical definitions,which are therefore unchanged from the 2005 publication.
Clin Microbiol Infect 2011;17(Suppl. 6): 1–24 The full version of these guidelines can be found on Wiley Online Library.
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6 July 2021. Three new nucleic acid amplification test (NAAT) classes are endorsed by WHO and included.
The latest operational handbook includes the new classes recommended by WHO. It aims at facilitating the implementation of the WHO recommendations by the Member States, technical partners, and ot...hers involved in managing patients with TB and DR-TB. The operational handbook provides practical information on existing and new tests recommended by WHO, step-by-step advice on implementing and scale-up testing to achieve local and national impact and lastly, model diagnostic algorithms, which are updated to incorporate the latest recommendations. An overview of budgetary considerations and information sheets on each of the newly recommended tests is provided.
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Results of rapid assessment
The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted or halted critical mental health services in 93% of countries worldwide while the demand for mental health is increasing, according to a new WHO survey. The survey of 130 countries provides the first global data showing the devastating... impact of COVID-19 on access to mental health services and underscores the urgent need for increased funding.
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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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Frontline health workers (FHWs) provide services directly to communities where they are most needed, especially in remote and rural areas. Many are community health workers and midwives, though they can also include local emergency responders/paramedics, pharmacists, nurses, and doctors who serve in... community clinics.
The growing burden of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) on low- and middle-income countries threatens many health systems that are already weakened. In many countries, health systems—and health workers—are not prepared to address the complex nature of NCDs. Health systems are often fragmented, and designed to respond to single episodes of care or long-term prevention and control of infectious diseases.1 Many countries also continue to face shortages and distribution challenges of trained and supported health workers. As most NCDs are multifactorial in origin and are detected later in their evolution, health systems face significant challenges to provide early detection as well as affordable, effective, and timely treatment, particularly in underserved communities.
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This article looks at the Baseline Standards developed by the International Society for Paediatric
Oncology (SIOP) for paediatric oncology nursing care in low- and middle-income countries. The
Baseline Standards lay the foundation for effective care and address barriers such as inadequate
staffin...g levels, lack of support, limited access to nurse education and unsafe nursing environments.
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The WHO End TB Strategy aims to end the global TB epidemic by 2030, in alignment with Goal 3 of the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Member States of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the UN committed to ending the TB epidemic through adoption of WHO’s End TB Strateg...y and the UN SDGs in 2014 and 2015, respectivel
Almost half of the deaths worldwide caused by TB in 2019 occurred in the WHO South-East Asia Region, home to around a quarter of the global population. Maintaining robust progress in this Region is therefore essential if the global goal of ending the TB epidemic is to be realized. Despite substantial gains made in the Region, the threat to
health worldwide posed by the COVID-19 pandemic has the potential to reverse these gains and eclipse the focus on the global TB emergency.
While continuing to tackle COVID-19-related challenges, countries will need to rapidly and urgently deploy supplementary measures to address the large numbers of missed cases, poor treatment outcomes and, potentially, a higher TB burden.
The Regional Strategic Plan towards Ending TB in the Region 2021–2025 clearly articulates priority interventions, analyses the challenges, bottlenecks and opportunities, and focuses on implementation considerations in the Region.
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These guidelines provide a framework for effective action to facilitate access to safe and ethical
testing services for different population groups. The implementation of the a comprehensive
approach, known as HIV Testing Services (HTS) is cardinal as an effective package of services
that diminis...hes the impact of the HIV epidemic in our country. All forms of HTS adhere to
the 5Cs: Confidentiality, Counselling, Consent, Correct results and Connection, or linkage
to care, with all based within a human right context. In addition to the 5Cs, however, the
MOHCDGEC emphasizes the use of a variety of approaches to HTS that will reduce the
number of missed opportunities. These include Provider-Initiated Testing and Counselling
testing, Couple counselling and testing, Index testing, and infant and children counselling and
testing in alignment to the revised WHO guidelines. Furthermore, these guidelines accentuate
on the continual provision of integrated HTS service at all levels of the public and private
health service delivery system.
The HTS Providers, managers and other stakeholders
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Integrated management of childhood illness. The last update was in the IMCI chart booklet in 2014, but since then there have been significant updates on the management of sick young infant (SYI) aged up to 2 months. This 2019 update of the sick young infant section Management of the sick young infan...t age up to 2 months: IMCI chart booklet. supersedes the 2014 IMCI chart booklet. The new updates reflect the recent guidelines on Managing possible serious bacterial infection (PSBI) in young infants when referral is not feasible published in 2015. It includes assessment, classification and referral of SYI with PSBI; and outpatient treatment of SYI with local infection or fast breathing (pneumonia) in infants 7-59 days old. Other updates include: a new section on how to reassess, classify and treat SYI with PSBI when referral is not feasible in outpatient health facilities by IMNCI trained health workers; changes in assessment and management of young infants for HIV infection; and identification of infants less than 7 days of who need Kangaroo Care.
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Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease that usually affects the lungs, though it can affect any organ in the body. It can develop when bacteria spread through droplets in the air. TB can be fatal, but in many cases, TB is preventable and treatable. This report examines the human rights impact of... the prevalence of Tuberculosis (TB) and Multi-drug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) among the Indigenous San peoples of Namibia. Combining political economy and root-cause methodology, the report explores the socioeconomic factors that make the San vulnerable to TB and limit their access to adequate health services.
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Interim rapid response guidance, 10 June 2022.
It includes considerations for certain populations such as patients with mild disease with considerations for community care, patients with moderate to severe disease, sexually active persons, pregnant or breastfeeding women, children and young persons.... The guidance also addresses considerations for clinical management such as the use of therapeutics, nutritional support, mental health services, and post-infection follow-up.
The document provides guidance for clinicians, health facility managers, health workers and infection prevention and control practitioners including but not limited to those working in primary care clinics, sexual health clinics, emergency departments, infectious diseases clinics, genitourinary clinics, dermatology clinics, maternity services, paediatrics, obstetrics and gynaecology and acute care facilities that provide care for patients with suspected or confirmed monkeypox
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Policy Brief. 24 June 2022. This policy brief, one of two on the updated hepatitis C (HCV) guidelines, focuses on the new recommendations on simplified service delivery for a public health approach to HCV testing, care and treatment. These recommendations include decentralization, integration and ta...sk-sharing, in addition to the use of point-of-care (POC) HCV viral load assays and reflex viral load testing.
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The pandemic has emphasized the high risk of avoidable harm to patients, health workers, and the general public, and has identified a range of safety gaps across all core components of health systems at all levels.
The rapid review ‘Implications of the COVID-19 pandemic for patient safety’ ex...plores impacts that the COVID-19 pandemic did have on patient safety in terms of risks and avoidable harm, specifically in terms of diagnostic, treatment and care management related issues as well as highlights the main patterns of these implications within the broader health system context.
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As countries aim to progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and achieving universal health coverage, health inequities driven by racial discrimination and intersecting factors remain pervasive. Inequities experienced by indigenous peoples as well as people of African descent, Roma ...and other ethnic minorities are of concern globally; they are unjust, preventable and remediable.
Health systems themselves are important determinants of health and health equity. They can perpetuate health inequities by reflecting structural racism and discriminatory practices of wider society. For instance, systemic racism, implicit bias, misinformed clinical practice, or discrimination by health professionals contributes to health inequities. However, health systems can also be a leading force for tackling the inequities faced by populations experiencing racial discrimination.
Primary health care (PHC) is the essential strategy for reorientating health systems and societies to become healthier, equitable, effective and sustainable. In 2018, on the 40th anniversary of the Declaration of Alma-Ata, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) renewed the emphasis on PHC with their strategy,
WHO outlines 14 strategic and operational levers for policy-makers to strengthen PHC. Within each lever, there are multiple potential entry points for targeted actions to address racial discrimination, foster intercultural care, and reduce health inequities experienced by indigenous peoples as well as people of African descent, Roma and other ethnic minorities.
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Rabies remains an under-reported neglected zoonosis with a case-fatality rate of almost 100% in humans and animals. Dog-mediated human rabies causes tens of thousands of human deaths annually despite being 100% preventable. More than 95% of human cases are caused by the bite of a rabies-infected dog.... Dog-mediated human rabies disproportionately affects rural communities, particularly children, and economically disadvantaged areas of Africa and Asia, where awareness of the disease and access to appropriate post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) can be limited or nonexistent.
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WHO has published the first-ever guidance on the clinical management of diphtheria. The only previously available guidance was an operational protocol. The new guidance followed the rigorous process for developing guidance at WHO.
It addresses the use of Diphtheria Antitoxin (DAT) in the treatmen...t of diphtheria. There is a worldwide shortage of DAT and evidence based recommendations on the use of DAT were requested by many Member States.
The guidance also includes new recommendations on antibiotics. In patients with suspected or confirmed diphtheria, WHO recommends using macrolide antibiotics (azithromycin, erythromycin) rather than penicillin antibiotics.
This clinical practice guideline has been rapidly developed recognizing the global increase in diphtheria outbreaks. Outbreaks of diphtheria in Nigeria, Guinea and neighbouring countries in 2023 have highlighted the urgent need for evidence-based clinical practice guidelines for the treatment of diphtheria. Given the sporadic nature of outbreaks, many clinicians in the affected regions have never managed acute diphtheria and its related complications. Diphtheria remains a neglected disease and vaccination is the top priority. At the same time, for patients with diphtheria, access to antibiotics, DAT and supportive care can be lifesaving.
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