A practical toolkit for young people who are passionate about advancing HIV and sexual and reproductive health and rights through national advocacy in the post-2015 agenda.
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 recommendations in this guideline are intended to inform development of national and subnational health policies, clinical protocols and programmatic guides. The target audience includes national and subnational public health policy-makers, implementers and managers of maternal, newborn and chil...d health programmes, health-care facility managers, supervisors/instructors for in-service training, health workers (including midwives, auxiliary nurse-midwives, nurses, paediatricians, neonatologists, general medical practitioners and community health workers), nongovernmental organizations, professional societies involved in the planning and management of maternal, newborn and child health services, academic staff involved in research and in the pre-service education and training of health workers, and those involved in the education of parents.
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The availability of controlled medicines is crucial for patients requiring palliative care, pain relief and symptom management. Many individuals worldwide, especially in low- and middle-income countries, continue to experience limited access to these essential medicines. Enhancing access to controll...ed medicines is paramount in promoting universal health coverage. This report offers a detailed situational analysis of policies and programmes aimed at improving access to affordable, high-quality controlled medicines for pain management in the WHO South-East Asia Region. The report identifies the existing barriers, challenges and possible solutions to facilitate access to such medicines across all Member States.
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The content of these guidelines goes beyond the technicalities of medical needs with additional insights into community empowerment, possible access to welfare and economic opportunities and similar issues. If these are adequately explored, the health and quality of life of people affected and their... families would be greatly restored.
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This publication is designed to be used by programme planners and managers as a resource when designing interventions to integrate postpartum family planning into national and subnational strategies. Postpartum family planning should not be considered a ‘vertical’ programme, but rather as an int...egrated part of existing maternal and child health and family planning efforts. Successful interventions for postpartum family planning require holistic and evidence-based programme strategies that contribute to strengthened health systems and sustained improvements in high-quality services that put people at the centre of health care
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The Road Map outlines various strategies which will guide policy makers, development partners, training institutions and service providers in supporting Government efforts towards the attainment of MDGs related to maternal and neonatal health.
Fact Book on WHO Level I and Level II monitoring indicators - To monitor the progress of efforts to improve the global medicines situation, WHO has developed a system of indicators that measure important aspects of a country’s pharmaceutical situation. Level 1 indicators measure the existence and ...performance of key national pharmaceutical structures and processes. Level II indicators measure key outcomes of these structures and processes in the areas of access, product quality and rational use. These indicators can be used to assess progress over time; to compare situations between countries; and to reassess and prioritize efforts based on the results.
This Fact Book gives the results of the assessment of Level I indicators conducted in 2003 and of Level II indicator surveys conducted between 2002 and 2004
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A toolkit to equip young people with the skills to become powerful advocates for Youth Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights (YSRH&R)
Accessed: 17.11.2019
The document, "Sustainable Management of Radiotherapy Facilities and Equipment," by WHO and IAEA, provides guidelines for managing radiotherapy equipment and facilities to ensure effective and safe cancer treatment. It covers essential aspects like preventive and corrective maintenance, funding, inf...rastructure, and staffing requirements for sustainable operation. The document aims to support radiotherapy departments, especially in low-resource settings, by outlining strategies for equipment procurement, maintenance, and replacement, emphasizing safety, quality assurance, and optimal patient care.
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Oxygen is an essential medicine required at all levels of the health care system; only high quality, medical-grade oxygen should be given to patients. Pressure swing adsorption (PSA) oxygen generating plants are a source of medical-grade oxygen. This document provides technical specifications as th...e minimum requirements that a PSA Oxygen Plant must meet for use for the administration of medical-grade oxygen.
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Regular physical activity is proven to help prevent and treat noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) such as heart disease, stroke, diabetes and breast and colon cancer. It also helps to prevent hypertension, overweight and obesity and can improve mental health, quality of life
and well-being.
In African traditional medicine, the curative, training, promotive and rehabilitative services are referred to as clinical practices. These traditional health care services are provided through tradition and culture prescribed under a particular philosophy, e.g. ubuntu or unhu. Norms, taboos, tradit...ion and culture, which are the cornerstones of clinical practice of traditional medicine, are the major reason for the acceptability of traditional health practitioners in the community they serve. The philosophical clinical care embedded in these traditions, culture and taboos have contributed to making traditional medicine practices acceptable and hence highly demanded by the population. This paper discusses the different traditional health care services, such as curative services, general traditional healthcare, mental healthcare, midwifery, bone setting, rehabilitative and promotional services that increases health awareness and developing
positive attitudes and behaviour towards healthier living).
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The aims of these guidelines are to provide guidance to health-care providers (i.e. the end-users of these guidelines: physicians, nurses, pharmacists and caregivers) on the adequate relief of pain associated with cancer. They also assist policy-makers, programme managers and public health personnel... to create and facilitate appropriately balanced policies on opioids and prescribing regulations for effective and safe cancer pain management. Proper and effective stewardship of opioid analgesics in the cancer treatment setting is essential to ensure the safety of patients and to reduce the risk of diversion of medicine into society.
The goal of cancer pain management is to relieve pain to a level that allows for an acceptable quality of life.
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This document addresses the issue of the medical and rehabilitative care of persons with physical disabilities. It is understood that this policy is to be integrated with the policy documents of other advisory working groups. It should also be emphasised that the physical disability work of CBM occu...rs within the context of CBM’s Disability and Development Policy, with a human rights perspective and working toward full inclusion of people with disabilities within
their society.
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This report makes the case for a major new initiative—to rapidly recruit, train and deploy 2 million community health workers in Africa. Drawing on a vast body of evidence and substantial regional experience, the report shows how community health workers save lives and improve quality of life and ...how investments in community health workers effectively harness the demographic dividend, reduce gender inequality and accelerate economic growth and development. Indeed, the benefits of community health workers stretch from one end of the Agenda for Sustainable Development to the other.
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The risk communication and community engagement (RCCE) competency framework is a resource that details the essential behaviours and activities necessary for effective communication and engagement with communities before, during and after public health emergencies. The purpose of this framework is to... establish and promote a common understanding of behavioural competencies and how they should be applied for high-performing and community-centred health emergency programmes. It is intended to support the development of standardized training programmes, professional development and talent acquisition and to enhance the capabilities of public health professionals involved in RCCE. Its goal is to inform the establishment of a skilled, well-trained RCCE workforce that consistently understands and executes the necessary behaviours and activities required to conduct RCCE activities with competence and professionalism.
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Regional Network for Equity in Health in east and southern Africa (EQUINET): Disussion Paper 113
This report synthesises the learning across the full programme of work. It presents the methods used, the context and policy motivations for developing EHBs; how they are being defined, costed, di...sseminated and used in health systems, including for service provision and quality, resourcing and purchasing services and monitoring and accountability on service delivery and performance, and for learning, useful practice and challenges faced.
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[Updated 2015]
SCOPING QUESTION: What is the effectiveness of psychosocial interventions (including caregiver skills training) for behavioural disorders in children and adolescents?
Evidence-based guidelines are one of the most useful tools for improving public health and clinical practice. Their purpose is to formulate interventions based on strong evidence of efficacy, avoid unnecessary risks, use resources efficiently, reduce clinical variability and, in essence, improve hea...lth and ensure quality care, which is the purpose of health systems and services. These guidelines were developed following the GRADE methodology, with the support of a panel of clinical experts from different countries, all convened by the Pan American Health Organization. By responding to twelve key questions about the clinical diagnosis and treatment of dengue, chikungunya, and Zika, evidence-based recommendations were formulated for pediatric, youth, adult, older adult, and pregnant patients who are exposed to these diseases or have a suspected or confirmed diagnosis of infection. The purpose of the guidelines is to prevent progression to severe forms of these diseases and the fatal events they may cause. The recommendations are intended for health professionals, including general, resident, and specialist physicians, nursing professionals, and medical and nursing students, who participate in caring for patients with suspected dengue, chikungunya, or Zika. They are also intended for health unit managers and the executive teams of national arboviral disease prevention and control programs, who are responsible for facilitating the process of implementing these guidelines.
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