Violence against women and girls is widespread in the Region of the Americas, resulting in enormous consequences for the health and wellbeing of women and girls, their families and communities. These costs are unacceptable and they can be prevented through evidence-based action, including the health... sector through its policies and protocols, as well as in collaboration with other sectors. This report remains the first of its kind and is a major milestone for the Region. It is specifically informed by the commitments of Member States in the regional Strategy and Plan of Action on Strengthening the Health System to Address Violence against Women. The report provides an analysis of efforts to advance the prevention of violence against women through health policies, clinical protocols, multisectoral plans and related approaches across the Americas. Attention to this topic is timely, as the COVID-19 pandemic has created new visibility for this area of work. This report offers critical information on efforts in the Region that can be learned from and used to build upon in the future to prevent and respond to violence against all women and girls everywhere.
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The annual Joint Meeting of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Panel of Experts on Pesticide Residues in Food and the Environment and the World Health Organization (WHO) Core Assessment Group on Pesticide Residues (JMPR) was held in Rome, Italy, from 13 to 22 September.... The FAO panel of experts had met in preparatory sessions from 8 to 12 September. The Meeting was held in pursuance of recommendations made by previous Meetings and accepted by the governing bodies of FAO and WHO that studies should be undertaken jointly by experts to evaluate possible hazards to humans arising from the occurrence of pesticide residues in foods. During the meeting the FAO Panel of Experts was responsible for reviewing pesticide use patterns (use of good agricultural practices), data on the chemistry and composition of the pesticides and methods of analysis for pesticide residues and for estimating the maximum residue levels that might occur as a result of the use of the pesticides according to good agricultural use practices. The WHO Core Assessment Group was responsible for reviewing toxicological and related data and for estimating, where possible and appropriate, acceptable daily intakes (ADIs) and acute reference doses (ARfDs) of the pesticides for humans. This report contains information on ADIs, ARfDs, maximum residue levels, and general principles for the evaluation of pesticides. The recommendations of the Joint Meeting, including further research and information, are proposed for use by Member governments of the respective agencies and other interested parties.
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The Antimicrobial Resistance Benchmark has evaluated for the second time how the most important players in the antibiotic market are addressing the rise of resistance and the global need for appropriate access to antibiotics. Although we can see progress — it’s hanging by a thread.
We have reac...hed a tipping point where large and prominent drugmakers have retreated from the antibiotics field and smaller innovative biotech companies have gone bankrupt due to the poor financial rewards on offer.
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The WHO continuously reviews available data on SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern. For this version, the global epidemiological
situation of the COVID-19 pandemic as of 21 January 2022 – at a time when the Omicron VOC had been identified in 171
countries across all six WHO Regions and was rapidly re...placing Delta worldwide – was considered Omicron has a substantial growth advantage, higher secondary attack rates and a higher observed reproduction number than Delta.
There is now significant evidence that immune evasion contributes to the rapid spread of Omicron. Other factors may be a shorter
serial interval (by about 0.8 to 1.2 days compared to Delta) and potential increased intrinsic transmission fitness . There is
growing evidence that with Omicron, there is lower vaccine effectiveness (VE) against infection and symptomatic disease soon after vaccination compared to Delta. There is also evidence of accelerated waning of VE over time of the primary series against infection and symptomatic disease for the studied vaccines. Further studies are required to better understand the drivers of transmission and declining incidence in various settings. These factors include the intrinsic transmission fitness properties of the virus, degree of immune evasion, vaccination coverage and level of vaccine-derived and post-infection immunity, levels of social mixing and degree of application of public health and social measures (PHSM).
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Over 6 million people worldwide are infected with Trypanosoma cruzi, the protozoan that causes Chagas disease
(CD). T. cruzi is transmitted by triatomine insects, congenitally, through uncontrolled blood donations and organ transplants,
and via consumption of food or drink contaminated by triatomi...nes.
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The aim of this “model contingency plan” is to assist programme managers and planners in devel-oping a national, context-specific, dengue outbreak response plan in order to: (a) detect a dengue outbreak at an early stage through clearly defined and validated alarm signals; (b) precisely define w...hen a dengue outbreak has started; and (c) organize an early response to the alarm signals or an “emergency response” once an outbreak has started.
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This brochure presents a summary of the situation of health systems and services in the Americas as they progress toward the achievement of universal access to health and universal health coverage (universal health). The information provided presents an overview of the situation before the COVID-19 ...pandemic, how the pandemic has impacted health systems, and recommendations to address current and future challenges for building resilient health systems to advance toward universal health in the Americas.
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Background: The World Health Organization (WHO) published a clinical case definition of post COVID-19
condition, by a Delphi consensus, on 6 October 2021. That process concluded that a separate definition
may be applicable for children. It is important to understand the frequency, characteristics ...and risk factors
that lead to post COVID-19 condition, along with its impact on everyday functioning and development of
children and adolescents. Long-term outcomes of the condition are currently unknown and need to be
studied. For these reasons, a globally standardized clinical case definition is needed.
Aim: To develop a globally relevant standardized clinical case definition for children and adolescents by
building on the WHO clinical case definition for post COVID-19 condition in adults.
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Human schistosomiasis, a parasitic and often chronic illness, is one of the major neglected tropical diseases worldwide. It is estimated that 240 million people suffer from schistosomiasis, with more than 200000 fatalities recorded each year. Schistosomiasis is caused by an infection of the blood fl...uke Schistosoma and is transmitted to humans through direct contact with infected water.
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Arsenical monotherapies were previously very successful for treating human African trypanosomiasis (HAT).
Melarsoprol resistance emerged as early as the 1970s and was widespread by the late 1990s.
Melarsoprol resistance represents the only example of widespread drug resistance in HAT patients wher...e the genetic mechanism has been established.
The current goal of elimination of HAT as a public health problem by 2020 may be undermined by the emergence and spread of resistance to current or new drugs.
Insights into potential resistance mechanisms for current and new drugs will facilitate predictions of the likelihood of resistance and will also facilitate rational approaches to minimizing, monitoring, and tackling the future emergence of resistance.
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This guideline provides evidence-based recommendations on parenting interventions for parents and caregivers of children aged 0–17 years that are designed to reduce child maltreatment and harsh parenting, enhance the parent–child relationship, and prevent poor mental health among parents and emo...tional and behavioural problems among children.
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Revised and expanded version of the Guidelines
States have committed and assumed obligations to address multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination against refugees, internally displaced persons, asylum seekers, returnees and stateless persons. The Global Compact on Refugees places ending discrimination of any kind based on the grounds of ...race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth, disability, age, or other status at the centre of action to prevent displacement and to ensure peaceful coexistence between refugee and host communities. Narratives about cultural diversity and inclusion are important, but there is also a pressing need in many societies for conversations and action to address racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance.
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Schistosomiasis is widely recognized as a disease that is socially determined. An understanding of the social and behavioural factors linked to disease transmission and control should play a vital role in designing policies and strategies for schistosomiasis prevention and control. To this must be a...dded the awareness that schistosomiasis is also a disease of poverty. It still survives in poverty-stricken, remote areas where there is little or no safe water or sanitation, and health care is scarce or non-existent. For a variety of complex reasons, many of which are addressed in this book, the disease is particularly prevalent in sub-Saharan Africa, and persists in certain areas of rural China. This concern for human behaviour in an environment of poverty echoes the concerns of the new research priority for “diseases of poverty” identified by the Special Programme for Research & Training in Tropical Diseases.
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Access to health workers who are fit for purpose, motivated and protected is a fundamental force of health service delivery and the achievement of universal health coverage and the health and health-related Sustainable Development Goals. Data and knowledge of the distribution, skill mix and future d...evelopment needs of the health workforce can mean the difference between enabling or impeding health systems performance, inclusive economic growth and global health security preparedness and response
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This chapter discusses the antibacterial treatment of leprosy infections. Antibiotic treatment is
a key component of leprosy treatment, as it is vital to prevent the progression of the infection.
Treatment with rifampin and other antibiotics is highly effective and cures 98% of patients with
the ...leprosy infection. Furthermore, the relapse rate is very low, at about 1% over 5–10 years.
There is little M. leprae drug resistance in leprosy and few reports of multi-drug resistance (1, 2, 3,
4, 5, 6, 7, 8). An antibiotic treatment may take months or years to produce clinical improvement,
especially in patients with an initial high bacterial index (BI).
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Over 6 million people worldwide are infected with Trypanosoma cruzi, the protozoan that causes Chagas disease. Endemic in 21 Latin American countries, the disease can be transmitted by vector insects called triatomines — also known as “kissing bugs” —, foods or beverages contaminated with th...e parasite, blood transfusions, organ transplants, or congenitally during pregnancy or delivery.
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Trachoma is an eye infection that for thousands of years caused many people to go blind across all continents. As the result of development and targeted interventions, trachoma is now limited to an estimated 57 countries, often affecting the poorest
populations of the world. Today, more than 2 mill...ion people are either blind or suffer from a very painful disability as the result of trachoma.
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Front Chem. 2021; 9: 622286.
Published online 2021 Mar 12. doi: 10.3389/fchem.2021.622286
• provide scientific information on the safety, efficacy, and quality control/ quality assurance of widely used medicinal plants, in order to facilitate their appropriate use in Member States;
• provide models to assist Member States in developing their own mono- graphs or formularies for these... or other herbal medicines; and
• facilitate information exchange among Member States.
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