March - June 2018
Myanmar introduced Child Death Surveillance and Response (CDSR) in 2015 as an initiative to reduce child (under-5) mortality, an initiative that will contribute to the country’s efforts to meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). Technical Guidelines for CDSR were devel...oped in 2015 followed by the development of Training Package in 2016. An Implementation Plan was made in 2016; and this led to all townships implementing CDSR in early 2017. After one year of implementation an assessment was carried out in early 2018.
The assessment was conducted in 3 region/states – Ayeyarwaddy, Magway, Shan South, with information gathered from the state/region, district, township and basic health unit levels. In addition a caretaker interview was conducted to see health-seeking behavior. In addition to these three regions/states, information was also gathered from three other regions/states but only at the region/state level – Mandalay, Yangon, Kachin.
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Research results of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) prevention and response before, during and after disasters in Indonesia, Lao PDR and the Philippines
This report contributes new evidence on why and how sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) risks increase during humanitarian disasters.... It details how humanitarian actors can better prevent and respond to such escalation of SGBV, and better meet the needs of affected women, girls, men and boys. This research is based on community views of disaster-affected women, adolescent girls, men and adolescent boys in three South-East Asian countries: Indonesia, Lao PDR and the Philippines.
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UNICEF Child Alert | February 2018
Back in Myanmar, an estimated half million Rohingya remain largely sealed off in their communities and displacement camps, fearful that the violence and horror that had driven so many of their relatives and neighbours to fl ee would engulf them too.
Today, t...here are an estimated 720,000 Rohingya children in southern Bangladesh and Myanmar’s Rakhine State, in dire need of humanitarian assistance and protection – and looking to the outside world for help.
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Advances have been made through expanded interventions delivered through five public health approaches: innovative and intensified disease management; preventive chemotherapy; vector ecology and management; veterinary public health services; and the provision of safe water, sanitation and hygiene. I...n 2015 alone nearly one billion people were treated for at least one disease and significant gains were achieved in relieving the symptoms and consequences of diseases for which effective tools are scarce; important reductions were achieved in the number of new cases of sleeping sickness, of visceral leishmaniasis in South-East Asia and also of Buruli ulcer.
The report also considers vector control strategies and discusses the importance of the draft WHO Global Vector Control Response 2017–2030.
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The 2014–2015 Ebola epidemic in western Africa was the longest and most deadly Ebola epidemic in history, resulting in 28,616 cases and 11,310 deaths in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone. The Ebola virus has been known since 1976, when two separate outbreaks were identified in the Democratic Repub...lic of Congo (then Zaire) and South Sudan (then Sudan). However, because all Ebola outbreaks prior to that in West Africa in 2014–2015 were relatively isolated and of short duration, little was known about how to best manage patients to improve survival, and there were no approved therapeutics or vaccines. When the World Heath Organization declared the 2014-2015 epidemic a public health emergency of international concern in August 2014, several teams began conducting formal clinical trials in the Ebola affected countries during the outbreak.
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Myanmar, as a country going through rapid socio-political transition and institutional development also suffers with a high burden of infectious disease. An ongoing challenge has been to effectively reach its 51 million population, most of whom battle tuberculosis, acute respiratory infections, diar...rhoea and malaria including amongst under-five children.
Limited research data on the occurrence of resistant organisms in the nation have, makes it hard to estimate the exact antimicrobial resistance (AMR) scenario. Limited peer reviewed evidence indicates significant divergence from the average resistance trends in APAC region. Nevertheless, several key steps by Government of Myanmar have been instrumental in paving the way for the country to join other nations in the South East Asia Region to speed up its plan on addressing the AMR crisis. Combating antimicrobial resistance would, however, require highest political commitment, multi-sectoral coordination, sustained investment and technical assistance.
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Internationally, there is a growing concern over antimicro-bial resistance (AMR) which is currently estimated to ac-count for more than 700,000 deaths per year worldwide. If no appropriate measures are taken to halt its pro-gress, AMR will cost approximately 10 million lives andabout US$100 trillion... per year by 2050. In contrast tosome other health issues, AMR is a problem that con-cerns every country irrespective of its level of incomeand development as resistant pathogens do not respect borders.Despite the threat presented by AMR, the 2014 WorldHealth Organization (WHO) and the recent O’Neill re-port describe significant gaps in surveillance, standardmethodologies and data sharing. The 2014 WHOreport identified Africa and South East Asia as the regions without established AMR surveillance systems.
Tadesseet al. BMC Infectious Diseases (2017) 17:616 DOI 10.1186/s12879-017-2713-1
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The arrival and rapid spread of the mosquito-borne viral disease Chikungunya across the Americas is one of the most significant public health developments of recent years, preceding and mirroring the subsequent spread of Zika. Globalization in trade and travel can lead to the importation of these vi...ruses, but climatic conditions strongly affect the efficiency of transmission in local settings. In order to direct preparedness for future outbreaks, it is necessary to anticipate global regions that could become suitable for Chikungunya transmission. Here, we present global correlative niche models for autochthonous Chikungunya transmission. These models were used as the basis for projections under the representative concentration pathway (RCP) 4.5 and 8.5 climate change scenarios. In a further step, hazard maps, which account for population densities, were produced. The baseline models successfully delineate current areas of active Chikungunya transmission. Projections under the RCP 4.5 and 8.5 scenarios suggest the likelihood of expansion of transmission-suitable areas in many parts of the world, including China, sub-Saharan Africa, South America, the United States and continental Europe. The models presented here can be used to inform public health preparedness planning in a highly interconnected world.
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Census Report Volume 4-E
As no census has been undertaken in over 30 years, many aspects of the demographic situation in the country were unknown. For instance, before the Census it was thought that the country had a population of about 60 million, but the 2014 Census showed that the population... (including an estimate for under-enumeration) was 51,486,253 persons, around 8.5 million less than the previous estimate.
In the 1983 census, 35,307,913 persons were recorded. Therefore between 1983 and 2014, the population increased by 46 per cent. With an average annual population growth rate of 0.89 per cent between 2003 and 2014, Myanmar is one of the slowest growing countries in Southeast Asia.
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Globally, millions of vulnerable people are experiencing increased hunger and poverty due to droughts, floods, storms and extreme temperature fluctuations as a result of a climatic occurrence: El Niño. This phenomenon is not an individual weather event but a climate pattern which occurs every two t...o seven years and lasts 9-12 months. The 2015/2016 occurrence is one of the most severe in a half-century and the strongest El Niño since 1997/1998 which killed some 21,000 people and caused damage to infrastructure worth US$ 36 billion. The negative consequences of El Niño are foreseen to continue through 2017, particularly in Southern Africa where this event has followed multiple droughts compounding the already fragile situation.
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This brochure draws on data from more than 90 nationally representative surveys making it the most up-to-date compilation of statistics on FGM/C. Available data show that the practice of FGM/C is highly concentrated in a swath of countries from the Atlantic coast to the Horn of Africa, in areas of t...he Middle East such as Iraq and Yemen and in some countries in Asia like Indonesia. However, FGM/C is a human rights issue that affects girls and women worldwide. Evidence suggests that FGM/C exists in some places in South America such as Colombia and elsewhere in the world including in India, Malaysia, Oman, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.
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Pakistan Global Antibiotic Resistance Partnership (GARP) was formed in the wake of international and national efforts for AMR curtailment. A group of experts from microbiology, infectious diseases and veterinary medicine formed a core group at the organizational meet...ing of GARP in Kathmandu, Nepal in July 2016. In the meeting, this core group was expanded to include other members from different sectors with the selection of the Chair and co-chairs. These were asked to serve on a voluntary basis, in their own individual capacities, with no personal gains, or gains to the institutions to which they are affiliated. The first phase of GARP took place from 2009 to 2011 and involved four countries: India, Kenya, South Africa and Vietnam. Phase one culminated in the 1st Global Forum on Bacterial Infections, held in October 2011 in New Delhi, India. In 2012, phase two of GARP was initiated with the addition of working groups in Mozambique, Tanzania, Nepal and Uganda. Phase three has added Bangladesh, Lao PDR, Nigeria, Pakistan and Zimbabwe to the network to date.
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The World Health Organization (WHO) Global Status Report on Noncommunicable Diseases 2010 projects that noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) will be responsible for over 44 million deaths during the next decade, representing an increase of about 15% since 2010. Most of these deaths will occur in the WHO ...regions of Africa, South-East Asia and the Eastern Mediterranean. In the African Region alone, NCDs will cause around 3.9 million deaths by 2020.
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WHO commissioned a survey, carried out in September/October 2015, among some 10 000 members of the public in 12 countries (2 per WHO Region: Barbados, China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Nigeria, the Russian Federation, Serbia, South Africa, Sudan and Viet Nam) on their use of antibiotics, knowl...edge of antibiotics and of antibiotic resistance. While not claiming to be exhaustive, this and other surveys will help WHO and partners to ensure efforts are focused on tackling some of the biggest gaps in understanding and the most prevalent misconceptions
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Rabies is a global public health problem with important socioeconomic impacts. Human rabies is preventable; almost all cases are transmitted through the bite of a rabid dog. Elimination of human rabies is possible. Technical support and tools are available. This report covers:
- Why investment ...is needed: key rationale.
- Investment purpose: global elimination of rabies.
- Investment in action: four case examples in Philippines, Kwa-Zulu Natal, South Africa, United Republic of Tanzania, Bangladesh.
- Summary results of case examples: Programme similarities and differences, and Health impact success stories from case examples.
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ecancer, Cardiff University and the African Palliative Care Association have developed an online course in palliative care contextualised for African healthcare professionals. The course has been created through the IAEA Programme of Action for Cancer Therapy, Virtual University of Cancer Control a...nd is available for free through ecancer as well as the VUCCnet online.
Filming and development of the modules took place in the UK and South Africa and involved input from 37 of Africa’s leading palliative care experts as well as Cardiff University’s team. Dr Fiona Rawlinson, who is a consultant in palliative medicine at the Princess of Wales Hospital, UK and the leader of Cardiff University’s team, worked closely with the African Palliative Care Association to ensure the content of the course was appropriate for the sub-Saharan cancer profile and resource setting
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EVALUATION REPORT | This evaluation is the first comprehensive global exercise to examine UNICEF’s programme response in protecting children in emergencies. Its purpose is to strengthen child protection programming by assessing performance in recent years and to draw lessons and recommendations th...at will influence ongoing and future programmes. It is expected that the findings of the evaluation will inform the roll-out of the Strategic Plan 2014-2017. The evaluation design includes country case studies analysing outcomes for children against the medium term strategic plan (MTSP, 2006-2013), the CCCs and selected evaluation questions. Twelve countries provided data for the analysis, four as case studies with country visits and standalone reports (Colombia, Democratic Republic of the Congo [DRC], Pakistan and South Sudan) and a further eight countries as desk studies (Afghanistan, Haiti, Myanmar, Philippines, Somalia, Sri Lanka, State of Palestine and Sudan). Four of the countries (Haiti, Myanmar, Pakistan and the Philippines) are disaster-affected and sudden-onset contexts while the remainder are primarily contexts of protracted conflict that include sudden-onset upsurges in violence.
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The Member States of the Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO)
that appear in the tables below have used the assessment instrument for mental health systems (WHOAIMS)
(1), as have Anguilla, the British Virgin Islands, Montserrat, and Turks and Caicos, all British
O...verseas Territories. For the purpose of this report, the countries and territories were grouped into three subregions, as follows:
Central America, Mexico, and the Latin Caribbean, the non-Latin Caribbean, and South America. The tables
also indicate the year each national WHO-AIMS report was published.
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EVALUATION REPORT | The purpose of the evaluation is to strengthen child protection programming in the context of emergencies by assessing UNICEF’s performance and drawing lessons and recommendations that will influence ongoing and future programmes, in both preparedness and response. Apart from g...lobal and regional interviews and desk reviews, the evaluation is grounded in a solid base of evidence from four indepth case studies of recent emergency responses, in Colombia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Pakistan and South Sudan, as well as extensive research covering eight additional countries.
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This is a qualitative research documentary that was created by Alyson and Timothy Holland. The documentary explores the ethics of global health clinical electives and volunteer projects in developing regions. It features interviews from experts and global health providers from Europe, Africa, Asia, ...North and South America.
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