Alcohol use is deeply embedded in the social landscape of many societies, and some 2300 million people drink alcoholic beverages in most parts of the world. At the same time, more than half of the global population aged 15 years and older reported having abstained from drinking alcohol during the pr...evious 12 months. Several major factors have an impact on levels and patterns of alcohol consumption in populations – such as historical trends in alcohol consumption, the availability of alcohol, culture, economic status and implemented alcohol control measures. At the individual level the patterns and levels of alcohol consumption are determined by multiple factors that include gender, age and individual biological and socioeconomic vulnerability factors as well as the policy environment. Prevailing social norms that support drinking behaviour and mixed messages about the harms and benefits of drinking may encourage alcohol consumption, delay appropriate health-seeking behaviour and weaken community action.
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Guidance has been updated on a number of chemicals: asbestos, bentazone, chromium, iodine, manganese, microcystins, nickel, silver, tetrachloroethene and trichloroethene. Guidance has also been added for chemicals not previously assessed in the Guidelines: anatoxin-a and analogues, cylindrospermopsi...ns and saxitoxins. The new guidance on organotins has replaced the prior guidance focused on dialkyltins. With these updates, the guideline values for tetrachloroethene and trichloroethene have been revised while new guideline values for cylindrospermopsins, manganese, microcystins, and saxitoxins have been established .
Updated information on cyanobacteria has been included, introducing an alert level framework for early-warning and to guide short-term management responses. Guidance has also been updated in the sections on adequacy of water supply, climate change, emergencies, food production and processing, and radiological aspects, particularly on managing radionuclides when exceeding WHO screening values and guidance levels.
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Climate-related disasters, heatwaves, climate-sensitive diseases, and severe droughts and floods are taking lives and harming health, livelihoods, and ecosystems across the countries of the Caribbean, as in other Small Island Developing States (SIDS) around the world. In recognition of the high vuln...erability of those countries, the World Health Organization launched in 2017 the Special Initiative on Climate Change and Health in Small Island Developing States, aiming to increase the resilience of these countries and territories to climate variability and climate change
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A consolidated set of reproductive health kits for use by humanitarian agencies. These kits are intended to speed up the provision of appropriate reproductive health services in emergency and refugee situations.
Offical Statement
INT J TUBERC LUNG DIS 12(12):1376–1379
Country profile: Democratic Republic of Congo
In 2014 UNICEF, WHO and the World Bank report new joint estimates of child malnutrition using available data up to 2013 The Interactive dashboard allows users to generate a variety of graphs and charts, using the newest joint estimates of prevalence and numbers for child stunting, underweight, overw...eight, wasting and severe wasting. Users can select the different regional country groupings of the UN, MDG, UNICEF, WHO regions as well as World Bank income groups and geographic regions to present the data.
A summary of 4 pages presents the key findings for each indicator, an introduction to the dashboard and updates on methods
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This resource consists of technical guidelines for District Medical Officers, counselors and laboratory technicians for second-line antiretroviral therapy drugs, operational guidelines for pilot roll-out in two centres and laboratory guidelines for viral-load testing and standard operating procedure...s.
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Best practice guidelines are systematically developed statements designed to assist nurses working in partnership with persons and their families to make decisions about health care and services (Field & Lohr, 1990). This nursing Best Practice Guideline (BPG) is intended to replace the RNAO BPGs Scr...eening for Delirium, Dementia and Depression in Older Adults (2010b) and Caregiving Strategies for Older Adults with Delirium, Dementia and Depression (2010a).
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Country profile: Mozambique
Community pharmacists are the health professionals most accessible to the public and are a cornerstone of primary health care. The role of community pharmacists is expanding globally. This report provides an overview of existing components and provisions of the legal and regulatory framework for com...munity pharmacies and their activities in Europe. It presents the diverse approaches to community pharmacy licenses and to establishment of new pharmacies and their ownership. It also details the framework for community pharmacy operating requirements (including opening hours, workforce, premises and equipment, services provided and identification of a community pharmacy) and the types of activity undertaken. Provisions associated with possible alternative forms of dispensing medicines (over-the-counter medicines, prescription-only medicines, dispensing by medical doctors and online medicine sales) are also described
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In-and Out-Patient Treatment
The Director’s guide contains all the information that the course director needs in order to plan and prepare for the course, to decide which modules and sessions will be included in the training, and to select trainers and participants, starting several months before the actual training. It conta...ins lists of the materials and equipment needed, and sample timetables. Copies of the forms to be photocopied and used during the course can be found in the Course handouts. The Director’s guide also describes the director’s role during the course itself.
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Accessed 18 June 2018 | Last updated 1-Jun.-2018 (data as of 25-May-2018) | Next overall update Mid-July 2018