PILOT SURVEY REPORT: BIRIM, HO, MANYA
The article "Barriers and determinants of asthma control in children and adolescents in Africa: a systematic review" analyzes factors contributing to poor asthma control in African youth. Based on studies conducted between 2014 and 2019 in Nigeria, Uganda, and South Africa, the review identifies key... challenges such as limited access to asthma diagnosis, inadequate use of inhaled corticosteroids, and environmental and socio-economic factors. It finds that urban living, older age, and concurrent allergic conditions significantly affect asthma management. The study emphasizes the need for improved diagnostic tools, better access to treatment, and tailored public health interventions to enhance asthma outcomes in African children.
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In spite of the work carried out by the EU institutions, the Member States, many cities and grassroot movements in Europe, the general public is still not engaging enough in air quality policy initiatives and the level of awareness and knowledge of the effects of poor air quality on health is often ...low.
HEAL, within its work with the EU urban air quality partnership has put together a toolkit on ‘Communicating on air quality and health – Inspiring practices, challenges and tips’, providing hands-on examples of how communication on air quality, the health links and (policy and behavioural) changes takes place, as an inspiration particularly for urban authorities wanting to communicate on clean air.
The Partnership on Air Quality was founded in 2016 with the main objective of improving air quality in cities and bringing the ‘healthy city’ higher on the local, national and EU agendas as part of the urban agenda.
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The World Food Programme (WFP) has taken important steps to progress disability inclusion across its programming and operations. In late 2022, WFP commissioned the Nossal Institute, University of Melbourne in partnership with the Faculty of Psychology, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Indonesia to identify ...pathways for increasing disability inclusion in WFP’s emergency preparedness and response (EPR) programming.
The study explored WFP’s programming in Indonesia and the Philippines, including WFP’s advisory, technical assistance and service provision roles to government and partners and informed the development of this guide (see appendix 2). As general guidance on disability inclusion is increasingly available, the purpose of this guide is to contextualize disability inclusion in WFP’s emergency preparedness and response programming. The guide builds on core reference materials, such as the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) Guidelines on Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities in Humanitarian Action, 2019. While of wider relevance, this guide is directed at WFP’s EPR programming in Asia and the Pacific.
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Background: Atherosclerotic cardiovascular diseases (ASCVD) including myocardial infarction, stroke and peripheral arterial disease continue to be major causes of premature death, disability and healthcare expenditure globally. Preventing the accumulation of cholesterol-containing atherogenic lipopr...oteins in the vessel wall is central to any healthcare strategy to prevent ASCVD. Advances in current concepts about reducing cumulative exposure to apolipoprotein B (apo B) cholesterol-containing lipoproteins and the emergence of novel therapies provide new opportunities to better prevent ASCVD. The present update of the World Heart Federation Cholesterol Roadmap provides a conceptual framework for the development of national policies and health systems approaches, so that potential roadblocks to cholesterol management and thus ASCVD prevention can be overcome.
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After the earthquake in Türkiye-Syria in February 2023 an emergency response was provided to the affected population. Young persons with disabilities were one of the social groups most affected by the crisis. These were either young persons who acquired a disability due to the earthquake, or young ...persons with disabilities who were further isolated after the crisis due to compounded and structural barriers.
In response to this situation the Compact for Young People in Humanitarian Action reached out to the Youth2030 Disability Task Team with the aim of supporting humanitarian teams in the field. The current version of this checklist has been developed for a broader context not only for the Türkiye-Syria case, but also for other humanitarian crises. This checklist aims to provide guidance on how to ensure meaningful participation of young persons with disabilities in local humanitarian response. The expected users are humanitarian actors, especially those working in the field.
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This articel summarises the evidence base underpinning supported self-management for asthma. It provides clinicians with a practical approach to providing supported self-management for asthma and suggests an appropriate strategy for implementing supported self-management.
Over the past 20 years, the Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA) has regularly published and annually updated a global strategy for asthma management and prevention that has formed the basis for many national guidelines. However, uptake of existing guidelines is poor. A major revision of the GINA r...eport was published in 2014, and updated in 2015, reflecting an evolving understanding of heterogeneous airways disease, a broader evidence base, increasing interest in targeted treatment, and evidence about effective implementation approaches. During development of the report, the clinical utility of recommendations and strategies for their practical implementation were considered in parallel with the scientific evidence.
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About one fourth of the world’s population is estimated to have been infected with the tuberculosis (TB) bacilli, and about 5–10% of those infected develop TB disease in their lifetime. The risk for TB disease after infection depends on several factors, the most important being the person’s im...munological status. TB preventive treatment (TPT) given to people at highest risk of progressing from TB infection to disease remains a critical element to achieve the global targets of the End TB Strategy, as reiterated by the second UN High Level Meeting on TB in 2023. Delivering TPT effectively and safely necessitates a programmatic approach to implement a comprehensive package of interventions along a cascade of care: identifying individuals at highest risk, screening for TB and ruling out TB disease, testing for TB infection, and choosing the preventive treatment option that is best suited to an individual, managing adverse events, supporting medication adherence and monitoring programmatic performance.
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This briefing note summarizes work undertaken by UN Women and WHO to inform the development of a module on violence against women 60 years and older that can be included in dedicated surveys on violence against women. It provides an overview of the challenges in the availability, measurement, and co...llection of data on violence against older women. It also makes recommendations to address some of the issues identified, with the aim of strengthening ongoing and future data collection efforts on violence against older women and increasing its availability.
Developed as part of the UN Women–WHO Global Joint Programme on Violence Against Women Data, this methodological briefing note is one in a series that aims to strengthen the measurement and data collection of violence against particular groups of women or specific aspects of violence against women. These briefing notes are meant for researchers, national statistics offices, and others involved in data collection on violence against women. They seek to contribute to strengthening the quality and availability of data on violence against women and enhance global, regional, and national level monitoring of progress towards its elimination.
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Background:Neonatal mortality accounts for 43% of global under-five deaths and is decreasing more slowly than maternal or child mortality. Donor funding has increased for maternal, newborn, and child health (MNCH), but no analysis to date has disaggregated aid for newborns. We evaluated if and how a...id flows for newborn care can be tracked, examined changes in the last decade, and considered methodological implications for tracking funding for specific population groups or diseases. MethodsandFindings:We critically reviewed and categorised previous analyses of aid to specific populations, diseases, or types of activities. We then developed and refined key terms related to newborn survival in seven languages and searched titles and descriptions of donor disbursement records in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s Creditor Reporting System database, 2002–2010. We compared results with the Countdown to 2015 database of aid for MNCH (2003–2008) and the search strategy used by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation. Prior to 2005, key terms related to newborns were rare in disbursement records but their frequency increased markedly thereafter. Only two mentions were found of ‘‘stillbirth’’ and only nine references were found to ‘‘fetus’’ in any spelling variant or language
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Azraq refugee camp located in Zarqa governorate was established in April 2014. As of June 2023, the camp continues to hosts 40,600 Syrian refugees, with 61% of the population children, and 25% of all households female-headed (UNHCR, 2023).
The water supply system in Azraq has been operational sin...ce 2017 across the four villages of the camp and consists of 300 tap stands, two boreholes and two storage locations (each with 16 T-95 steel tanks).
Based on data from UNICEF (2022), the community is provided on average 2100 cubic meters of safe, treated water a day, which is distributed across the camp via a gravity flow system. A distribution schedule is in place, with water pumped during two shift times each day in the morning and evening. Monthly data reported through ActivityInfo (2023) shows a range 53.5-76.3 million liters per month provided through the network in 2022 for an average of 57 liters/person/day – well above the locally agreed minimum standard of 35 liters/person/day and the SPHERE standard of 15 liters/person/day.
Latrine and shower facilities in the camp are organized through communal WASH blocks shared typically between three households and connected to water and greywater networks. However, based on an ACF and World Vision assessment (2022), 60% of the surveyed households are using private latrines (50% self-constructed latrines, and 10% constructed by WASH actors), 24% of households used communal latrines as private latrines not shared with other families, and 16% reported the use of communal latrines shared with other families.
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Cystic echinococcosis (CE) is a well-known neglected parasitic disease. However, evidence supporting the four current treatment modalities is inadequate, and treatment options remain controversial. The aim of this work is to analyse the available data to answer clinical questions regarding medical t...reatment of CE.
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The first chapter provides an overview of gender and domestic violence in the HIV and AIDS discourse and their interconnect-
edness. It analyses literature regarding gender and HIV transmission, domestic violence, and HIV and AIDS. It then discusses how gender roles impact the effects of AIDS.
The... second chapter outlines implications of these findings for policy and practice. This section provides a definition for mainstreaming and deals with various aspects of mainstreaming HIV, AIDS and gender.
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Leishmaniases are a group of diseases of zoonotic importance caused by over 20 species of protozoa of the genus Leishmania, in which domestic dogs are considered to be the main reservoir for the disease. However, the involvement of other vertebrates as reservoirs for these parasites has also been in...vestigated. Therefore, the objective of the present study was to carry out a systematic review with meta-analysis on occurrences of leishmaniasis in equids. The case reports described animals with cutaneous symptoms of leishmaniasis (papules, nodules, ulcers or crusts) that regressed spontaneously, located mainly on the head and limbs, from which three species of protozoa were identified in the lesions: Leishmania braziliensis, Leishmania infantum and Leishmania siamensis. In turn, the meta-analysis showed a combined prevalence of 25%, although with high heterogeneity among the studies, which was attributed to the use of different methods for diagnosing the disease. Leishmaniasis in equids is a benign disease but it should be included in the differential diagnosis of cutaneous diseases among these species. Seroepidemiological studies are important in investigating and monitoring suspected exposure of these hosts to the parasite, especially in endemic areas. However, there is also a need to standardize diagnostic methods.
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Antimicrobial agents play an indispensable role in animal health and welfare management. At the same time, the need for prudent use is obvious to ensure good food safety outcomes and to manage the potential risk of antimicrobial resistance. The emergence of multi-resistant bacteria is posing challen...ges to health professionals and communities around the world for both human and animal health. These bacteria are not destroyed by the common antimicrobial agents and so pose a risk to people, particularly children, the elderly and those with poorly functioning immune systems, as well as to animals.
Throughout the years, the dairy sector has been very much aware of the need for responsible use and has, in many countries, implemented adequate measures throughout the dairy supply chain.
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The WHO estimates that 19 million children aged 15 years or younger are visually impaired. Of these, 1.4 million are irreversibly blind and need visual rehabilitation interventions for full psychological and personal development. The remainder have visual problems that could be prevented or treated.... Identifying children with visual problems early in life so that they can benefit from medical and optical interventions remains a key challenge for most child eye health programmes. Reports from various low-and middle-income countries indicate that the age of children undergoing operation for cataract is frequently too high to achieve maximum benefit.
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A study set out to investigate the factors affecting the prevalence of the practice among cross-border communities in East Africa and the Horn of Africa and the extent to which people cross borders to practise or undergo FGM and the effects of the practice on the women and girls in those communities.... Changes were found in social norms in the cross-border communities investigated, indicating that the practice of female genital mutilation (FGM) can be eradicated. Effective interventions to end FGM need to be tailored to communities’ belief systems if they are to be “owned” by and mobilize the communities to change their culture. This report summarises the findings.
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