A desk guide for health facilities . It outlines a comprehensive approach to respiratory health, which health facilities can adapt and implement in resource-limited settings
Hendra virus (HeV) continues to pose a serious public health concern as spillover events occur sporadically. Terminally ill horses can exhibit a range of clinical signs including frothy nasal discharge, ataxia or forebrain signs. Early signs, if detected, can include depression, inappetence, colic o...r mild respiratory signs. All unvaccinated ill horses in areas where flying foxes exist, may potentially be infected with HeV, posing a significant risk to the veterinary community. Equivac® HeV vaccine has been fully registered in Australia since 2015 (and under an Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority special permit since 2012) for immunization of horses against HeV and is the most effective and direct solution to prevent disease transmission to horses and protect humans. No HeV vaccinated horse has tested positive for HeV infection. There is no registered vaccine to prevent, or therapeutics to treat, HeV infection in humans. Previous equine HeV outbreaks tended to cluster in winter overlapping with the foaling season (August to December), when veterinarians and horse owners have frequent close contact with horses and their bodily fluids, increasing the chance of zoonotic disease transmission. The most southerly case was detected in 2019 in the Upper Hunter region in New South Wales, which is Australia's Thoroughbred horse breeding capital. Future spillover events are predicted to move further south and inland in Queensland and New South Wales, aligning with the moving distribution of the main reservoir hosts. Here we (1) review HeV epidemiology and climate change predicted infection dynamics, (2) present a biosecurity protocol for veterinary clinics and hospitals to adopt, and (3) describe diagnostic tests currently available and those under development. Major knowledge and research gaps have been identified, including evaluation of vaccine efficacy in foals to assess current vaccination protocol recommendations.
more
UNAIDS and the World Health Organization have published this updated guidance on ethical considerations in HIV prevention trials. The new guidance is the result of a year-long process that saw more than 80 experts and members of the public give inputs and is published 21 years after the first editio...n appeared.
more
Technical Note
Recently, the approach to hazardous events has undergone a considerable shift, away from reactive activities focused on managing and responding to events and towards a more proactive process of emergency and disaster risk management (DRM). The ultimate goal of this shift in focus is ...to prevent new and reduce existing disaster risks, a process known as disaster risk reduction (DRR), while strengthening individual, community, societal and global resilience.
more
This booklet presents key messages for action, summarized from a set of
chapters on different environmental health issues.
Health Evidence Network synthesis report 72
Lancet Planet Health 2021; 5: e542–52
This document aims to provide guidance to healthcare facilities and healthcare providers in the European Union/European Economic Area (EU/EEA) and the United Kingdom (UK) on preparedness and infection prevention and control (IPC) measures for the management of possible and confirmed cases of COVID-1...9 in healthcare settings, including long-term care facilities (LTCFs). In addition, this document addresses the management of clinical diagnostic specimens at laboratories in the EU/EEA. This is the sixth update of the ECDC guidance on ‘Infection prevention and control and preparedness for COVID-19 in healthcare settings’, and replaces the document dated 6 October 2020.
more
A new report released today documents an “invisible wall” which has blocked migrants from accessing basic services since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, and is now preventing them from accessing vaccines.
The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted regular cardiovascular healthcare access and delivery. Service utilisation has declined, and excess cardiovascular mortality has been reported in several countries. We aim to estimate excess cardiovascular deaths in Chile during 2020.
Ukrainian decentralization reform has increased and democratized local government responsibility for health care at the level of local government closest to communities and has increased regional and local government responsibility for public health. Decentralization affects health system reform in ...three important areas: health financing, individual health services and public health.
more
Emergency medical teams (EMTs) play an important role in strengthening health service networks in terms of their strategies and tactics for planning mass vaccination programs, especially in remote or under-resourced areas or those overwhelmed by COVID-19. EMTs experience deploying in remote areas an...d handling operational challenges to ensure their response even under the most austere conditions will be of great support in facing the technical and logistical challenges to timely and equitable access to vaccines at the local level.
more
2020 was a year like no other. Amidst on-going humanitarian crises, largely fuelled by conflict and violence but also driven by the effects of climate change – such as the largest locust infestation in a generation – the world had to contend with a global pandemic. In less than one year (March-D...ecember 2020), more than 82 million COVID-19 cases and 1.8 million deaths were recorded. In that timeframe, out of the global COVID-19 totals, 30 per cent of COVID-19 cases and 39 per cent deaths were recorded in GHRP countries.
more
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a global threat that requires urgent
collaborative action within and among countries. As a result of the worldwide reports of the increasing rates of AMR to hospital and community-acquired infections and in the agricultural sector, the Global Action Plan on AMR was... adopted in 2015. T
more
This updated step by step guide aims to assist the ministries of health (MoHs) in developing the national action plans for noma prevention and control, with a view to sustainably reducing the incidence of noma as a public health problem through programmes that are fully integrated with national heal...th planning, strengthening of primary health care (PHC) and attainment of universal health coverage (UHC).
more
A module from the suite of health service capacity assessments in the context of the COVID-19 pandemicINTERIM GUIDANCE5 February2021
The Community needs, perceptions and demand: community assessment toolcan be used by countries to conduct a rapid pulse survey of community health needs and perceptio...ns around effective use of essential health services during the COVID-19 outbreak. The assessment helps to establish an early warning system on the need to implement coping strategies to continue to respond to communities’ health needs throughout the course of the pandemic. This assessment tool is informed by WHO and partner tools and guidance on community health needs, continuity of essential health services and readiness planning for COVID-19
more
31 Janaury 2021
SCORE for health data technical package. The first global assessment on the status and capacity of health information systems in 133 countries, covering 87% of the global population.
It identifies gaps and provides guidance for investment in areas that can have the greatest impact ...on the quality, availability, analysis, accessibility and use of health data.
more
This guide provides an overview of the major elements that must be considered before, during and after the implementation of antigen-detecting rapid diagnostic tests (Ag-RDTs) for SARS-CoV-2. This guide is complementary to policy guidance issued by the World Health Organization (WHO). The guide may ...appeal to a range of audiences including Ministries of Health, donors, public and private organizations/agencies acting as implementing partners and community based and civil society organizations with experience working on health, especially organizations familiar with similar testing campaigns for other disease programmes like HIV and malaria
more