Effective malaria prevention is threatened by widespread and increasing vector insecticide resistance. Failure to mitigate this threat will likely result in an increased burden of disease, with significant cost implications. This new framework provides support for the development of a national insec...ticide resistance monitoring and management plan as part of a national malaria strategic plan.
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This study examines the gendered impacts of the Ebola virus disease (EVD) in Liberia in the largest outbreak of EVD ever recorded. The findings are based on an extensive two-week desk study and one-week participatory field study conducted in January 2015 in the cities of Monrovia and Buchanan in Lib...eria
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Regional situation analysis, practices, experiences, lessons learned and ways forward.
Ebola Virus Disease Outbreak Response Plan in West Africa July to December 2014. Annex 1
The global burden of disease (GBD) study provides information about fatal and non-fatal health outcomes around the world.
The objective of this work is to describe the burden of mental disorders among children aged 5–14 years in each of the six regions of the World Health Organisation. Data come ...from the GBD 2015 study. Outcomes: disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) are the main indicator of GBD studies and are built from years of life lost (YLLs) and years of life lived with disability (YLDs).
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This rapid compilation of data analyses provides a ‘stock-take’ of social science and behavioural data related to the on-going outbreak of Ebola in North Kivu, South Kivu and Ituri provinces. Based on data gathered and analysed by organisations working in the Ebola response and in the region mor...e broadly, it explores convergences and divergences between datasets and, when possible, differences by geographic area, demographic group, time period and other relevant variables. Data sources are listed at the end of the document.
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This report is not a country scorecard. Rather, its purpose is to act as a compass to guide progress towards health in the SDGs.
There has been a significant improvement in the state of health in the region with healthy life expectancy - time spent in full health - in the region increasing from 50....9 years to 53.8 between 2012 and 2015 - the most marked increase of any region in the world.
What is making Africans sick is changing. The top killers are still lower respiratory infections, HIV and diarrhoeal disease and countries have routinely focused on preventing and treating this trio, often through specialized programmes. The payoff has been significant declines in deaths due to these diseases. There has been a 50% reduction in the burden of disease caused by what have been the top 10 killers since 2000 and death rates have dropped from 87.7 to 51.1 deaths per 100,000 persons between 2000 and 2015...
Chronic diseases like heart disease and cancer are now claiming more lives with a person aged 30 to 70 in the region having a one in five chance of dying from a noncommunicable disease (NCDs).
Countries are specifically failing to provide essential services to two critical age groups – adolescents and the elderly...
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Maldives has made significant strides in the area of infectious disease prevention and control. This is exemplified by elimination of malaria from Maldives in 2015 and successes in TB control. In addition, Maldives is a front runner in infectious disease prevention through successful water, sanitati...on, hygiene and vaccination campaigns and coverage. However, given the limited evidence that exists with respect to the occurrence of resistant organisms in the nation, it is hard to estimate the exact antimicrobial resistance (AMR) scenario. Also, it becomes difficult to compare the current situation with other countries in the region. Moreover, limited evidence exists on the trends of use of antimicrobial agents (AMA) in Maldives. Although, recent prescription audits have indicated overuse of antibiotics, especially for common conditions such as flu, cough and fever.
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Unlike foot and mouth disease, the avian flu, e-coli or listeria, the COVID-19 pandemic has not spread directly through livestock or agriculture commodities, and has therefore not directly disrupted on-farm production. However, the crisis is undermining the ability of farms and agri-enterprises to e...nsure consistent supplies of food to markets due to enforced closures, labour shortages resulting from illness, and slowdowns in operations caused by physical distancing and lockdowns.
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This module is part of the WHO series The Immunological Basis for Immunization, which was initially developed in 1993 as a set of eight modules, comprising one module on general immunology and seven modules each devoted to one of the vaccines recommended for the Expanded Programme on Immunization, i....e. vaccines against diphtheria, measles, pertussis, polio, tetanus, tuberculosis and yellow fever. Since then, this series has been updated and extended to include other vaccines of international importance. The main purpose of the modules is to provide national immunization managers and vaccination professionals with an overview of the scientific basis of vaccination against a range of important infectious diseases. The modules developed since 1993 continue to be vaccine-specific, reflecting the biological differences in immune responses to the individual pathogens and the differing strategies employed to create the best possible level of protection that can be provided by vaccination. The modules also serve as a record of the immunological basis for the WHO recommendations on vaccine use, published in the WHO vaccine position papers.*
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A workshop of “first mover” countries to exchange experience and identify wider policy implications for the WHO European Region
The World Health Organization (WHO) European Region continues to be severely affected by diet-related noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), obesity and, in some countries, ...micronutrient deficiencies.
In order to drive further progress on improving dietary intake and food product improvement, the WHO Regional Office for Europe, Public Health England and the Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House) co-convened a workshop of “first mover” countries in March 2019.
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The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) declared a Yellow Fever (YF) outbreak and activated a multi-sectoral Emergency Operations Centre for coordination of Yellow Fever response on 12 November 2020. The outbreak, which mainly affected three states of Delta, Enugu and Bauchi, already recorded ...a total of 222 suspected cases 19 confirmed cases and 76 deaths between 1 and 11 November 2020.
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The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has created a global and gendered crisis that is compounding existing inequalities and disproportionately affecting girls and women. Emerging evidence from the COVID-19 crisis in 2020 shows school closures, disruptions in essential services and rising... poverty contributed to girls’ increased risk of female genital mutilation (FGM). School closures limited the monitoring and reporting of cases of FGM. Rising household monetary poverty may have contributed to families adopting negative coping mechanisms, including having girls undergo FGM as a precursor to marriage to reduce household costs. A report from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) estimates 2 million additional cases of FGM by 2030 due to the pandemic.
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The new treatment recommendations that extend the 2018 treat all recommendation for adults with chronic HCV infection to include adolescents and children down to 3 years, and to align the existing recommended pangenotypic direct-acting antiviral (DAA) regimens (SOF/DCV, SOF/VEL and G/P) for adults, ...to those for adolescents and children. This alignment is expected to simplify procurement, promote access to treatment among children in low- and middle-income countries and contribute to global efforts to eliminate the disease
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Chagas disease caused by Trypanosoma cruzi is a public health issue in Latin America. This highly diverse parasite is divided into at least seven discrete typing units (DTUs) TcI-TcVI and Tcbat. Some DTUs have been associated with geographical distribution in epidemiological scenarios and clinical m...anifestations, but these aspects remain poorly understood. Many studies have focused on studying the parasite and its vectors/hosts, using a wide variety of genetic markers and methods. Here, we performed a systematic review of the literature for the last 20 years to present an update of DTUs distribution in the Americas, collecting ecoepidemiological information. We found that the DTUs are widespread across the continent and that there is a whole gamma of genetic markers used for the identification and genotyping of the parasite. The data obtained in this descriptor could improve the molecular epidemiology studies of Chagas disease in endemic regions.
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Urogenital schistosomiasis is a common neglected tropical disease in many rural communities in African countries, with patches of infection in the Eastern Mediterranean Region. Globally, an estimated 239 million people are currently infected, with burden estimated at more than 3.5 million disability...-adjusted life years (DALYs). In many endemic areas, severely infected individuals may suffer fibrosis of the bladder, kidney damage, bladder cancer, and death if untreated. This, however, depends on several factors such as host-parasite genetics, degree and length of exposure, intensity of infection, host immune response to the parasites, and coinfections with other tropical diseases such as malaria and HIV-1.
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Schistosomiasis is a neglected tropical disease of global medical and veterinary importance. As efforts to eliminate schistosomiasis as a public health problem and interrupt transmission gather momentum, the potential zoonotic risk posed by livestock Schistosoma species via viable hybridisation in s...ub-Saharan Africa have been largely overlooked. We aimed to investigate the prevalence, distribution, and multi-host, multiparasite transmission cycle of Haematobium group schistosomiasis in Senegal, West Africa.
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This perspective draws on the record of ancient pathogengenomes and microbiomes illuminating patterns of infectious disease over the course of the Holocene in order toaddress the following question. How did major changes inliving circumstances involving the transition to and intensification of farmi...ng alter pathogens and their distributions? Answers to this question via ancient DNA researchprovide a rapidly expanding picture of pathogen evolution and in concert with archaeological and historical data, give a temporal and behavioral context for heath in the past that is relevant for challenges facing the world today, including the rise of novel pathogens.
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The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic exacerbated pre-existing inequalities in the treatment and care of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs). This report examines the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on access to NCD medicines, and the policies and strategies implemented by countries and health sys...tems to anticipate and mitigate stresses across NCD medicine supply chains. The full range of upstream and downstream impacts are investigated, including: manufacturing; procurement, importation and last mile delivery; patient-level effects through affordability and availability; and the effects on NCD medicine availability by category of disease. The report culminates in recommended actions and interventions for key stakeholders in the NCD pharmaceutical supply chain, including governments, regulatory authorities, manufacturers and the private sector; as well as directions for future research for improving access and supply chain access resilience.
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Smallpox eradication was certified in 1980. Mpox has been endemic in Central and West African countries since it was first detected in 1958 . It is a zoonosis; cases are often found close to tropical rainforests where various animals carry the orthopoxvirus that causes the disease. In endemic countr...ies, most mpox infections in humans result from a primary animal-to-human transmission. Human-to-human transmission can result from close contact with respiratory secretions, skin lesions of an infected person, or recently contaminated objects. Transmission can also occur via the placenta from mother to fetus or through close contact during and after birth.
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