It is too early to know the full impact of COVID-19 on Africa. To date the experience has been varied. There are causes for concern, but also reasons for hope. Early estimates were pessimistic regarding the pandemic’s impact on the continent. But the relatively low numbers of COVID-19 cases report...ed thus far have raised hopes that African countries may be spared the worst of the pandemic. While the virus is present in all African countries, most countries have recorded fewer than 1,000 cases. The African Union acted swiftly, endorsing a joint continental strategy in February, and complementing efforts by Member States and Regional Economic Communities by providing a public health platform.
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Onchocerca volvulus transmitted by repeated bites of infected blackflies (Simulium spp.). These blackflies breed along fast-flowing rivers and streams, close to remote villages located near fertile land where people rely on agriculture.
There is a need to reinforce skills of national and district... health workers to know and identify the disease, understand the risk factors according to the context and living conditions of the affected communities, and promote the implementation of public health interventions. With the shift from control to elimination, large areas in Africa require mapping to assess whether transmission is active, and treatment required. A sampling strategy named Onchocerciasis elimination mapping has been developed to help countries conduct those assessments and start treatment where needed.
This course examines the epidemiology of Onchocerciasis, clinical aspects, impact, diagnosis, treatment and control, elimination, public health interventions and role of community health workers
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The Global Leprosy Strategy 2021–2030 “Towards zero leprosy” was developed through a broad consultative process with all major stakeholders during 2019 and 2020. Valuable inputs were provided by national leprosy programme managers, technical agencies, public health and leprosy experts, funding... agencies and persons or members of communities directly affected by leprosy.
The Strategy aims to contribute to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. It is structured along four pillars:
(i) implement integrated, country-owned zero leprosy road maps in all endemic countries;
(ii) scale up leprosy prevention alongside integrated active case detection;
(iii) manage leprosy and its complications and prevent new disability; and
(iv) combat stigma and ensure human rights are respected. Interruption of transmission and elimination of disease are at the core of the Strategy.
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The handbook is the first comprehensive collection of practical tips for journalists on how to report on GBV in the context of Syria crisis, building upon internationally recognised ethical principles. It gives an overview of techniques to guarantee the safety, confidentiality and dignity of survivo...rs, their families and communities. It includes terms, ethical questions and practical concerns associated with covering GBV, as well as an overview of some of the organisations involved in both combatting GBV and providing support services for survivors.
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The document "Proteksyon Maladi" focuses on preventing waterborne and hygiene-related diseases through practical measures. It emphasizes the importance of personal hygiene, including washing hands with soap and clean water before eating, after using the toilet, and during food preparation. Maintaini...ng personal cleanliness is highlighted as a key step in preventing the spread of diseases.
Water safety is another critical focus, with recommendations to use treated or boiled water for drinking and cooking and to store water in clean, covered containers to prevent contamination. The document also addresses sanitation, encouraging the construction and maintenance of latrines to eliminate open defecation and promoting proper waste disposal to protect the environment and water sources.
Overall, the document serves as an educational resource, providing simple and effective strategies for communities to reduce the risk of diseases and improve public health through better hygiene, sanitation, and water safety practices.
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Pdf files are available by chapter or for the complete version; in English and French https://wedc-knowledge.lboro.ac.uk/details.html?id=16357
Based on three years of international research and collaboration with water and sanitation and disability sector organisations, this book fills a signific...ant gap in knowledge, and should be of interest to the following audiences:
Water and sanitation sector planners, to enable them to consider the needs of disabled people in low-income communities in the development of strategies and general programme design;
Water and sanitation service providers, to enable them to implement ordinary programmes and services in ways that include disabled people;
Organisations providing disability services, to enable them to address the issue of access to water and sanitation in their work; and
Disabled people's organisations, providing information and ideas to use in advocacy for access and rights, and to engage in the consultation process.
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This valuable and timely guidebook represents an innovative contribution to enhancing quality education through textbooks. It will change the way textbook authors, publishers and educators, as well as governments of the United Nations Member States, see the poten...tial of educational media at a time of growing violent extremism, changing notions of national identity, increasingly globalized and diverse communities, and environmental destruction. The need for education that promotes peace, social justice and global citizenship has become more urgent in a world of greater uncertainty. This guidebook builds on the momentum of Agenda 2030, providing a toolkit to enable textbook authors to place ESD at the core of their subjects in ways that are at once practical for them and interesting and relevant to the students.
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Today there is a new nutrition reality. It is a reality where undernutrition (such as micronutrient deficiencies, stunting and wasting) , overweight, obesity and diet-related noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) like diabetes and cancer now coexist in the same countries, communities, households and even ...individuals. This is what is called the double burden of malnutrition which impacts not only our health but also that of future generations, the health of our planet and our economies.
This video is designed to help viewers better understand this double burden of malnutrition and its drivers. It aims to raise awareness and contribute to the global dialogue and much needed new narrative and action to achieve better health through nutrition.
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The National Strategic Plan for HIV/AIDS and STIs 2017-2024 spells out the objectives and targets that we have jointly committed to achieve. The plan describes the strategies and activities that will need to be implemented on the ground across India's 36 States and Union Territories with the help of... AIDS Control Societies, District AIDS Prevention and Control Units, Regional Institutes, communities, development partners and the private sector. We must urgently scale up our efforts to avert new HIV infections and provide care and treatment to people living with HIV to materialise our commitment of ending AIDS in India by 2030.
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BMJ Glob Health 2019;4:e001272. doi:10.1136/bmjgh-2018-001272
Trust is an essential component of successful cooperative endeavours. The global health response to the 2014–2016 West Africa Ebola outbreak confronted historically tenuous regional relationships of trust. Challenging sociopolitical co...ntexts and initially inappropriate communication strategies impeded trustworthy relationships between communities and responders during the epidemic. Social scientists affiliated with the Ebola 100-Institut Pasteur project interviewed approximately 160 local, national and international responders holding a wide variety of roles during the epidemic
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Testing and diagnosis of hepatitis B (HBV) and C (HCV) infection is the gateway for access to both prevention and treatment services, and is a crucial component of an effective response to the hepatitis epidemic. Early identification of persons with chronic HBV or HCV infection enables them to recei...ve the necessary care and treatment to prevent or delay progression of liver disease. Testing also provides an opportunity to link people to interventions to reduce transmission, through counselling on risk behaviours and provision of prevention commodities (such as sterile needles and syringes) and hepatitis B vaccination.
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Der Praxisleitfaden »Gefluechtete LGBTI-Menschen« soll Asyl- und Migrationsfachpersonen im Umgang mit LGBTI-Asylsuchenden unterstuetzen – das sind Menschen, die aufgrund ihrer sexuellen Orientierung, Geschlechtsidentitaet, Geschlechtsmerkmale und/oder ihres Geschlechtsausdrucks aus ihrer Heimat ...gefluechtet sind. Diese Asylsuchenden sind besonders verletzlich und auch in der Schweiz leider noch immer mit Diskriminierung konfrontiert. Die Broschuere richtet sich aber auch an Mitarbeitende in den LGBTI-Organisationen, um die Integration der Gefluechteten in die lokalen LGBTI-Communities zu erleichtern, sowie an alle Menschen, die sich fuer dieses Thema interessieren.
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Improvements in water sanitation and hygiene (WASH) and wastewater management in all sectors are critical elements of preventing infections and reducing the spread of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) as identified in the Global Action Plan to combat AMR. Yet, at present, WASH and wastewater management... actors and improvement actions are under-represented in AMR multi-stakeholder platforms and national action plans (NAPs). This WHO/FAO/OIE technical brief on WASH and wastewater management to reduce the spread of AMR provides a summary of evidence and rationale for WASH and wastewater actions within AMR NAPs and sector specific policy to combat AMR. Evidence and actions are presented in the domains of; coordination and leadership, households and communities, health care facilities, animal and plant production, manufacturing of antimicrobials, and surveillance and research.
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8 March 2022
A very large number of people from Ukraine are fleeing the country and entering the European Union (EU) countries bordering Ukraine (Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia) and the EU-neighbourhood country of the Republic of Moldova. Those fleeing Ukraine - mainly women and children - are ...currently dispersing into communities, but as more people congregate at border crossings it is likely that they will also need to be housed in reception centres.
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The number of people facing acute food insecurity1 is growing at an alarming rate in the European Union (EU) Member States of Central Eastern Europe. COVID-19 and the resulting disruption to global markets, trade, and food supply chains have negatively affected food security since 2020; now, this ha...s been compounded by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Women and girls who have been displaced from Ukraine into Hungary are facing tremendous obstacles to their safety and wellbeing, particularly given the link between food insecurity and gender-based violence (GBV). Urgent policy responses and concrete actions are needed to support low-income households and vulnerable communities, particularly women and their families displaced from Ukraine, to stem this growing crisis.
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Forests, trees and green spaces, hereinafter ‘forests and trees’ for short, provide multiple goods and services that contribute to human health. These include medicines, nutritious foods and other non-wood forest products (NWFPs). Globally, at least 3.5 billion people use NWFPs, including medici...nal plants, which are particularly important for vulnerable groups and Indigenous Peoples and local communities (IPLCs).
During periods of crises, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, demand for forest products typically increases amongst these groups. Forests and trees also contribute to better health by playing a role in climate change
mitigation and adaptation, contributing to regulating the carbon cycle, but also moderating the micro-climate, filtering pollutants from the air and protecting settlements against the effects of extreme events such as droughts and flash floods.
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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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The increasing prevalence of childhood asthma in the developed world is a cause for concern. A so-called Western lifestyle has been the factor most commonly cited to explain this worrying increase in asthma prevalence. Early studies in a limited number of African countries showed a very low rural pr...evalence of childhood asthma, especially where children lived according to a traditional lifestyle. These same studies showed that asthma was not uncommon in urbanized African children. There has been an
increasing tendency over the past 20 years for those in rural communities to move to the large urban centers. This article analyses the urban-rural differences and factors that influence the development of asthma in susceptible children.
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The 2019-2023 Strategy for UNU-IIGH, developed in
2018, built on UNU-IIGH’s strategic advantage and
position vis-à-vis the UN and global health ecosystem.
The Strategy set a goal to advance evidencebased policy on key issues related to sustainable
development and health and shifted the Instit...ute’s
body of work from investigator-driven global health
projects to three priority-driven, policy-relevant pillars
of work, each reflecting UNU-IIGH’s unique value
position.
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020, the
Institute adapted and reprioritised its areas of work
while continuing to deliver on the main strategic
objectives of translating evidence to policy, generating
policy-relevant analyses on gender and health, and
strengthening capacity for local decision making
especially in the Global South.
The new strategic plan encompasses four work packages:
1. Gender Equality and Intersectionality: through this work, we will aim to improve the quality of health care through a human-centred approach, by ensuring the health system is responsive to the needs of structurally excluded individuals and communities; and by advancing a positive and enabling environment for the frontline health workforce—e.g. addressing the experience of gender-based violence.
2. Power and Accountability: through this work, we will catalyse equitable shifts in power and address key accountability deficits that prevent the equitable and effective functioning of the global health system and prevent adequate responsiveness to the needs of states and populations in the Global South.
3. Digital Health Governance: through this work, we will address the colonial legacies and power asymmetries that negatively impact robust digital health governance, identify ways to strengthen health data governance with a particular focus on SRHR and promote diversity in technology design and development.
4. Climate Justice and Determinants of Health: through this work we will leverage UNU-IIGH's position within the UN and network of UNU institutes, network experts, practitioners, policy-makers, and academics to advance evidence-based policy on the different dimensions of the climate emergency and its impact on health.
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This field workbook supports the implementation of the interagency (FAO, UNICEF, WHO) “Communication for Behavioural Impact (COMBI): A toolkit for behavioural and social communication in outbreak response”. It is a handheld guide and notebook for applying the WHO COMBI methodology in 7-steps, du...ring an outbreak. It is primarily intended for risk communication, developmental communication and health promotion/education personnel working in multidisciplinary teams to investigate and respond to disease outbreaks. It contains essential tools, checklists, and information needed to design effective behavioural and communication interventions in support of outbreak prevention and control objectives - to limit loss of life and minimize disruption to families, communities and societies
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