The cholera outbreak has affected 14 countries in the WHO African Region. The climate-induced natural disasters such as cyclone and flooding in the southern African region and drought in the Horn of Africa led to increase in cases of cholera in many of the affected countries. With the rainy season c...ommencement in the west African region there is risk of more cholera outbreaks on the horizon. The trend across the region is being closely monitored and this highlights the need for Member States to enhance readiness, heighten surveillance and institute preventive and control measures in communities and around border crossings to prevent and mitigate cross border infection. Since 1 January 2022, a cumulative number of 213 443 cholera cases has been reported to the WHO Regional Office for Africa (AFRO), including 3 951 deaths with a case fatality ratio (CFR) of 1.9% as of 16 July 2023 (Table 1). Malawi accounts for 28% (58 941) of the total cases and 45% (1 766) of all deaths reported, and together with Cameroon, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mozambique, and Nigeria contribute to 85% (181 300) of the overall caseload and 88% (3 464) of cumulative deaths. In Epidemiologic week 28, six countries Burundi, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi and Mozambique reported a total of 667 new cases.
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In May the Sixty-sixth World Health Assembly adopted resolution WHA66.12 (1) on 17 neglected tropical diseases (NTDs). Among other measures, the resolution urges Member States to:
• ensure country ownership of prevention, control, elimination and eradication programmes;
• expand and implemen...t interventions and advocate for predictable, long-term international financing for activities related to control and capacity strengthening;
• integrate control programmes into primary health-care services and existing programmes;
• ensure optimal programme management and implementation;
• achieve and maintain universal access to interventions and reach the targets of the roadmap.
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Sequencing SARS-CoV-2 in the Americas
The COVID-19 Genomic Surveillance Regional Network was created in 2020 not only to strengthen the sequencing capacity in the participating laboratories, but also for them to establish a routine SARS-CoV-2 genomic sequencing, as a strategy to increase the amoun...t of genetic sequence data available to the global community, which is critical to support the development of diagnostic protocols, the information for vaccine development and to better understand the evolution and molecular epidemiology of the SARS-CoV-2.
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Suicide is a serious public health problem surrounded by stigma, myths, and taboos. With an annual average of 81,746 suicide deaths in the period 2010–2014 and an age-adjusted suicide rate of 9.3 per 100,000 population (age-unadjusted rate of 9.6), suicide continues to be a public health problem o...f great relevance in the Region of the Americas. Contrary to common belief, suicides are preventable with timely, evidence-based, and often low-cost interventions. It is estimated that for each suicide that occurs, there are more than 20 attempts. Suicide can occur at any age and it is the third highest cause of death among young people between the ages of 20 and 24 in the Region of the Americas.
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El presente informe regional sobre la situación de la tuberculosis en las Américas contiene la información correspondiente al 2019, provista por los países de la Región a través del sistema de recolección de datos de TB de la OMS. Esta información ha sido consolidada y analizada a nivel regi...onal. Su objetivo, además de presentar la situación epidemiológica y programática de la TB en las Américas, es sensibilizar, motivar e incentivar a todas las partes involucradas en la prevención y el control de esta enfermedad, para acelerar los esfuerzos hacia su eliminación en la Región y alcanzar las metas de la Estrategia Fin de la TB. En el informe se consignan los logros, pero también las brechas en el trabajo que se realiza en aspectos de diagnóstico, tratamiento, comorbilidades, poblaciones vulnerables, factores de riesgo y financiación, entre otros asuntos. A partir de la información presentada, se brindan unas recomendaciones concretas para seguir avanzando.
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The 12th Meeting of the Regional Certification Commission (RCC) for the Polio Endgame in the Region of the Americas was conducted virtually due to the pandemic of COVID-19. The meeting was composed of 5 steps:
Step 1: An introductory meeting between RCC members and Secretariat
Step 2: Assessment... of the annual and containment reports by the reviewers
Step 3: Observations and recommendations review
Step 4: A meeting between RCC Chair and the Secretariat to review the draft report and general recommendations of the meeting
Step 5: RCC meeting to review and approve the recommendations to each country and the final report and recommendations of the meeting
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The State of the World's Midwifery
A guide for Regional Workshop and Hospital Technicians
The Asia Pacific Observatory on Health Systems and Policies is a collaborative partnership which supports and promotes evidence-based health policy making in the Asia Pacific Region. Based in WHO’s Regional Office for South-East Asia, it brings together governments, international agencies, foundat...ions, civil society and the research community with the aim of linking systematic and scientific analysis of health systems in the Asia Pacific Region with the decision-makers who shape policy and practice.
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The brief concludes that sustaining the continuity of EHS requires policies that ensure a whole-society and systems strengthening approach. This involves increased health care investment, community engagement, disease control regulations, and multisector approaches to improve resilience, EHS quality..., and equity.
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Consultancy Report May 2022
Peru celebrates 200 years of independence in 2021. Over this period of independent life, and despite the turbulent socio-political scenarios, from internal armed conflict to economic crisis to political instability over the last 40 years, Peru has experienced major changes on its epidemiological and... population health profile. Major advancements in maternal and child health as well as in communicable diseases have been achieved in recent decades, and today
Peru faces an increasing burden of non-communicable diseases including mental health conditions. In terms of the configuration of the public health system, Peru has also strived to secure country-wide optimal health care, struggling in particular to improve primary health care and intercultural services.
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Nurses play a key role in the provision of primary health care (PHC) and the coordination and organization of medical care overall. Nurses are often the first point of contact with the health system and have an important role to play in leaving no one behind.
Large-scale reform of PHC in Uk...raine started in 2018, and evolving and expanding practices have led to new challenges for both medical facilities and staff. It has become critically important to initiate new practices in the organization of the nursing profession, to adapt and increase their competencies, invest in skills development and create more nursing posts.
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It provides insight into WHO’s work that aims to improve the health of the people of the United Republic of Tanzania in collaboration with key stakeholders.
No Public Health without Refugee and Migrant health.
This report, the first of its kind, creates an evidence base with the aim of catalysing progress towards developing and promoting migrant-sensitive health systems in the 53 Member States of the WHO European Region and beyond. This report seeks to... illuminate the causes, conse-quences and responses to the health needs and challenges faced by refugees and migrants in the Region, while also providing a snapshot of the progress being made across the Region. Additionally, the report seeks to identify gaps that require further action through collaboration, to improve the collection and availability of high-quality data and to stimulate policy initiatives
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The scale of international migration in the WHO European Region has increased substantially in the last decade. The dynamics of large-scale migration pose specific challenges and opportunities to health systems, and responses will differ from country to country. Strengthening health system responses... is one of the priority areas in the 2016 Strategy and action plan for refugee and migrant health in the WHO European Region. Its agreed actions include the identification and mapping of practices for developing and delivering health services that respond to the needs of refugees, asylum seekers and migrants. This compendium aims to collect and present some of these practices in the form of case studies. Selected in 2016, the case studies reflect experience from different levels of administration in a variety of European countries, and during the different phases of the migration journey.
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Technical guidance.
This technical guidance aims to inform policy and practice development specifically related to improving the health of older refugees and migrants within the European Union and the larger WHO European Region. Both ageing and migration are in themselves complex multidimensional p...rocesses shaped by a range of factors at the micro, meso and macro levels over the life-course of the individual, but also with intertwined trajectories. Relevant areas for policy-making include healthy ageing over the life-course, supportive environments, people-centred health and long-term care services, and strengthening the evidence base and research
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