Infectious diseases continue to impose unpredictable burdens on global health and economies, a subject that requires constant research and updates. In this sense, the objective of the present article was to review studies on the role of wild animals as reservoirs and/or dispersers of etiological age...nts of human infectious diseases in order to compile data on the main wild animals and etiological agents involved in zoonotic outbreaks.
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22 April 2022, This document provides updated interim recommendations on the use of masks by health workers providing care to patients with suspected or confirmed COVID-19. This update is prompted by new evidence around mask use and COVID-19 transmission, as well as the emergence of variants of conc...ern including Omicron. Masks continue to be a critical tool to prevent the spread of COVID-19. These interim guidelines supersede the recommendations provided in the WHO recommendations on mask use by health workers, in light of the Omicron variant of concern published on 22 December 2022.
WHO continually evaluates the emerging evidence and will review these interim recommendations within two months and issue new guidance as needed.
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Lancet Glob Health 2022 Published Online May 24, 2022 https://doi.org/10.1016/S2214-109X(22)00185-1
Many commercial actors use a range of coordinated and sophisticated strategies to protect business interests— their corporate playbook—but many of these strategies come at the expense of public h...ealth. To counter this corporate playbook and advance health and wellbeing, public health actors need to develop, refine, and modernise their own set of strategies, to create a public health playbook. In this Viewpoint, we seek to consolidate thinking around how public health can counter and proactively minimise powerful commercial influences.
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This report outlines the coordination and partnership between two key ministries (Education and Public Health) in Kenya, other line ministries, the private sector, NGOs and the community in implementing the first phase of a sub-national school-based deworming exercise. The areas targeted included Co...ast, Central, Western, Nyanza
and parts of Eastern provinces, covering over 45 districts in this first phase. The SBD programme is guided by the National School Health Policy and Guidelines launched in 2009.
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The ninth WHO report on the global tobacco epidemic tracks the progress made by countries in tobacco control since 2008 and, marks 15 years since the introduction of the MPOWER technical package which is designed to help countries implement the demand-reduction measures of the WHO Framework Conventi...on on Tobacco Control. The report shows that many countries continue to make progress in the fight against tobacco, but efforts must be accelerated to protect people from the harms of tobacco and second-hand smoke.
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Since the 1970s, voluntary contributions have become an increasingly important component of WHO's budget. As voluntary contributions tend to be earmarked for donor-specified programmes and projects, there are concerns that this trend has diverted focus away from WHO's strategic priorities, made coor...dination and attaining coherence more difficult, undermined WHO's democratic structures and given undue power to a handful of wealthy donors. In the past few years, the WHO Secretariat has pushed for donors to increase the amount of flexible funding they provide.
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Access to safe blood and blood products is recognized as one of the key requirements for delivery of modern health care in the journey towards health for all. The foundation of safe and sustainable blood supplies depends on the collection of blood from voluntary non-remunerated and low-risk donors. ...Data from the WHO Global Database for Blood Safety (GDBS) brings out several inadequacies related to the supply and safety of blood and blood products. These inadequacies include a number of variations in safe blood practices across the world, including the quantity of blood donated (voluntary and replacement types), quality and adequate testing of the donated blood (immunohaematology [IH] and transfusion-transmitted infections [TTIs]), rational use of blood and blood components such as appropriate patient blood management protocols. These variations are very high in countries of the South-East Asian Region and most of them are either low- or middle-income countries (LMICs).
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The incidence and mortality of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) in low and middle income countries (LMICs) have been increasing, while access to CVDs medicines is suboptimal. We assessed selection of essential medicines for the prevention and treatment of CVDs on national essential medicines lists (NE...MLs) of LMICs and potential determinants for selection.
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This fourth annual report monitors global progress towards the 2023 target for global elimination of industrially produced trans-fatty acids (TFA), highlighting achievements during the past year (October 2021 – September 2022). Countries are responding to the World Health Organization (WHO) call t...o action by putting into place best-practice TFA policies. Mandatory TFA policies are currently in effect for 3.4 billion people in 60 countries (43% of the world population); of these, 43 countries have best-practice policies in effect, covering 2.8 billion people (36% of the world population).
Over the past year, several additional countries took action to eliminate industrially produced TFA: best-practice policies came into effect in India in January 2022, Uruguay in May 2022 and Oman in July 2022. Best-practice policies were passed in Bangladesh in November 2021 (to come into effect in December 2022) and in Ukraine in September 2020 (to come into effect in October 2023), best-practice TFA policies are projected to pass soon in Mexico, Nigeria and Sri Lanka.
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Little is known about asthma control in the rising number of African children who suffer from this condition. The Achieving Control of Asthma in Children in Africa (ACACIA) study is an observational study collecting evidence about paediatric asthma in urban areas of Ghana, Malawi, Nigeria, South Afr...ica, Uganda and Zimbabwe. The primary objectives are: (1) to identify 3000 children aged between 12 years and 14 years with asthma symptoms; and (2) to assess their asthma control, current treatment, knowledge of and attitudes to asthma and barriers to achieving good control. Secondary objective is to develop interventions addressing identified barriers to good symptom control.
Each centre will undertake screening to identify 500 school children with asthma symptoms using questions from the Global Asthma Network’s questionnaire. Children identified to have asthma symptoms will fill in a digital survey, including: Asthma Control Test, questions on medication usage and adherence, medical care, the Brief-Illness Perception questionnaire and environmental factors. Exhaled nitric oxide testing and prebronchodilator and postbronchodilator spirometry will be performed. A subgroup of children will participate in focus group discussions. Results will be analysed using descriptive statistics and comparative analysis. Informed by these results, we will assess the feasibility of potential interventions, including the adaption of a UK-based theatre performance about asthma attitudes and digital solutions to improve asthma management.
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Health communication has proven to play a crucial role in addressing diseases such as dengue, Zika and chikungunya, for which there are no definitive or easily accessible vaccines. In this context, this discipline becomes a fundamental tool to promote the change behavior and promote preventive pract...ices that reduce the transmission of these diseases. By not having a definitive medical solution, accurate and timely information, effectively disseminated through educational campaigns, media and communication channels public health, can significantly influence individual and community actions to control the spread of these mosquito-borne viruses. The accumulated research around the threat of the aforementioned arboviral diseases brings together a series of recommendations around specific communication activities, such as disseminating timely and accurate information that integrates public health concerns and the needs of information of the population, especially vulnerable groups such as women of childbearing age, pregnant women and health workers.
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A Guide for Low Resource Situations
The manufacturing process is one of the key steps where quality control is required to ensure quality of medicinal products, including herbal medicines. Good manufacturing practices (GMP) is one of the most important tools for this measure.
This guideline provides global, evidence-informed recommendations on a number of specific issues related to the management of severe acute malnutrition in infants and children, including in the context of HIV.
The Sphere standards in national humanitarian response discussion paper sets out to understand and describe opportunities for adapting international humanitarian standards to a regional, national or local level in preparing for, or responding to a disaster. The paper, which includes case studies and... recommendations for humanitarian professionals, is available in English, French and Spanish
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This manual summarizes key issues related to the safety of NTD medicines and their administration, with a focus on essential medicines used in mass drug administration (MDA), also called preventive chemotherapy. It can be used as a standalone reference manual, but is intended to be used in conjuncti...on with the accompanying training modules, which provide practical instruction, and the aide-mémoires. Versions of the aide-mémoires and training modules are available respectively for both (i) programme managers and district-level health officials and (ii) community drug distributors and community health workers
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This document is a guide defining requirements for quality and safety for malaria rapid diagnostic testing services to safeguard the quality of the results, the safety of the operators and patients and that of the environment for use by national malaria control programmes, regulators, implementers a...nd rapid diagnostic providers.
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