The Interim Guidance on Cholera Rapid Diagnostic Tests (RDTs) by the Global Task Force on Cholera Control (GTFCC) provides recommendations for using RDTs to detect cholera in areas with limited laboratory capacity. It highlights the advantages of RDTs, such as rapid detection (within 30 minutes), ea...se of use by non-laboratory personnel, and their role in early outbreak identification and surveillance. However, it emphasizes that RDTs should not replace culture or PCR testing, as they vary in sensitivity (58-100%) and specificity (60-100%). The document advises on proper test selection, storage, training, and integration into national surveillance systems to enhance cholera response efforts.
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Information for families affected
Overview
• How are diseases transmitted from person to person?
• What are the principles of infection prevention and control
• What IPC measures are other countries / organisations recommending for the transport industry/workers?
• How can we apply this knowledge to protect us while w...e protect our country?
• Administrative controls = screening and awareness, people flow, health promotion
• Environmental controls = ventilation, airflow
• Personal protective equipment = use of masks, gloves, hand hygiene
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Health Situation
Health policies and systems
Cooperation for Health
WHO Country Cooperation Strategic Agenda (2008-2013)
Under-diagnosis of asthma in ‘under-fives’ may be alleviated by improved inquiry into disease history. We assessed a questionnaire-based screening tool for asthma among 614 ‘under-fives’ with severe respiratory illness in Uganda. The questionnaire responses were compared to post hoc consensu...s diagnoses by three pediatricians who were guided by study definitions that were based on medical history, physical examination findings, laboratory and radiological tests, and response to bronchodilators. Children with asthma or bronchiolitis were categorized as “asthma syndrome”. Using this approach, 253 (41.2%) had asthma syndrome. History of and present breathing difficulties and present cough and wheezing was the best performing combination of four questionnaire items [sensitivity 80.8% (95% CI 77.6–84.0); specificity 84.7% (95% CI 81.8–87.6)]. The screening tool for asthma syndrome in ‘under-fives’ may provide a simple, cheap and quick method of identifying children with possible asthma. The validity and reliability of this tool in primary care settings should be tested.
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30 April 2020
| COVID-19: Essential health services
31 March 2021
This article is part of a series of explainers on vaccine development and distribution. Learn more about vaccines – from how they work and how they’re made to ensuring safety and equitable access – in WHO’s Vaccines Explained series.
Vaccines are a critical tool in the battl...e against COVID-19, and getting vaccinated is one of the best ways to protect yourself and others from COVID-19.
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Document provides basic information on Hypertension (symptoms, risk factors, complications, treatment) in a descriptive way.
Information note. In 2021, preliminary results of observational studies from the Community Access to Rectal Artesunate for Malaria (CARAMAL) project did not confirm the mortality impact observed in the controlled trial in 2009. Consequently, in January 2022, WHO released an information note on recta...l artesunate (RAS), suggesting immediate risk mitigation measures. To provide clarity on the evidence, WHO subsequently convened independent experts to conduct a formal evidence review of the data from the CARAMAL project, as well as data from other studies evaluating the deployment of pre-referral RAS at programmatic level
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Country profile: Cote d'Ivoire
Policy brief.
Globally, one in five people with HIV are unaware of their status, despite considerable scale up of HIV testing, treatment and prevention services. Many of those unreached by HIV testing services (HTS) are from key populations, partners of people with HIV and, in Eastern and southern ...Africa, men and young people. Improving the availability, accessibility, friendliness and quality of services is important to address these testing gaps.
At the same time, tools and interventions that increase the demand for HTS are needed to reach people who are uninformed about HTS options and advances in treatment and prevention, people who are not motivated to seek HTS and those who are hesitant to test because of fear of an HIV diagnosis or other reasons.
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