This Rapid Advice Guideline updates the Interim Guidance on the “Assessment of infants with microcephaly in the context of Zika virus” published in February 2016 (WHO/ZIKV/MOC/16.3). The recommendations provides guidance on the screening, clinical assessment, neuroimaging, laboratory investigati...on and follow-up of children born to women living in areas of Zika virus transmission. The Guideline summarises the evidence base and rationale in support of the recommendations and expands the scope to address complications beyond microcephaly and what is now referred to as the congenital Zika virus syndrome
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Globally, 85,000 women and girls were killed intentionally in 2023. 60 per cent of these homicides—51,000—were committed by an intimate partner or other family member. 140 women and girls die every day at the hands of their partner or a close relative, which means one woman or girl is killed eve...ry 10 minutes.
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Ebola disease and Marburg disease outbreaks continue to occur in Africa, with increased frequency. In addition to resulting in high mortality and morbidity, the outbreaks generate fear and mistrust about the response activities within the communities affected.
Infection prevention and control (IP...C) is a key pillar in the outbreak response; adherence to IPC practices can prevent and control transmission of infections to health and care workers, patients and their family members.
During the 2014-2016 West African Ebola disease outbreak, there was an urgent need for rapid IPC guidance to help support ministries of health, health-care providers and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). In response, WHO produced several documents related to the outbreak based on expert opinion, including IPC-specific documents and documents on clinical management that also referenced key IPC principles and practices. Since that time, many practices in the field have become institutionalized.
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WHO today released its first roadmap to tackle postpartum haemorrhage (PPH) – defined as excessive bleeding after childbirth - which affects millions of women annually and is the world’s leading cause of maternal deaths.
Despite being preventable and treatable, PPH results in around 70 000 de...aths every year. For those who survive, it can cause disabilities and psychological trauma that last for years.
“Severe bleeding in childbirth is one of the most common causes of maternal mortality, yet it is highly preventable and treatable,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General. “This new roadmap charts a path forward to a world in which more women have a safe birth and a healthy future with their families.”
The Roadmap aims to help countries address stark differences in survival outcomes from PPH, which reflect major inequities in access to essential health services. Over 85% of deaths from PPH happen in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Risk factors include anaemia, placental abnormalities, and other complications in pregnancy such as infections and pre-eclampsia.
Many risk factors can be managed if there is quality antenatal care, including access to ultrasound, alongside effective monitoring in the hours after birth. If bleeding starts, it also needs to be detected and treated extremely quickly. Too often, however, health facilities lack necessary healthcare workers or resources, including lifesaving commodities such as oxytocin, tranexamic acid or blood for transfusions.
“Addressing postpartum haemorrhage needs a multipronged approach focusing on both prevention and response - preventing risk factors and providing immediate access to treatments when needed - alongside broader efforts to strengthen women’s rights,” said Dr Pascale Allotey, WHO Director for Sexual and Reproductive Health and HRP, the UN’s special programme on research development and training in human reproduction. “Every woman, no matter where she lives, should have access to timely, high quality maternity care, with trained health workers, essential equipment and shelves stocked with appropriate and effective commodities – this is crucial for treating postpartum bleeding and reducing maternal deaths.”
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Myanmar has made significant progress in its disaster management policies, plans, and procedures since 2008, when Cyclone Nargis impacted the country leaving devastation in its aftermath. The Government of Myanmar (GoM) has modified the government structure and created new authorities and plans to i...mprove the effectiveness of disaster management at all levels. While this progress is encouraging and shows the determination of the government to make necessary adjustments, the resources to implement the policy changes have been slower to develop. Myanmar has made significant progress in its disaster management policies, plans, and procedures since 2008, when Cyclone Nargis impacted the country leaving devastation in its aftermath. The Government of Myanmar (GoM) has modified the government structure and created new authorities and plans to improve the effectiveness of disaster management at all levels. While this progress is encouraging and shows the determination of the government to make necessary adjustments, the resources to implement the policy changes have been slower to develop.
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Key stakeholders must be involved in the planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of NCD plans and programmes. Within a ministry of health there will be different types of stakeholders, such as programme managers and senior managers in departments of prevention, health promotion, and hosp...ital and health services. Other stakeholders may come from ministries for transport, economics, agriculture, and education, funding partners, nongovernmental organizations, civil society and community members. It is critical to ensure that there are clear and accurate descriptions of the policies, plans and programmes, so that all interventions, activities and desired outcomes are clearly understood by all involved in their evaluation.
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The primary audience for the guideline is policy makers and health programme managers of MNCH and immunization programmes in ministries of health where decisions are made and policies created on the use and implementation of homebased records.
The guideline is also aimed at health providers who use... home-based records as a tool for recording information and providing health education or communicating key information. Development and international agencies and non-governmental organizations that support the implementation of home-based records will also find this guideline of use.
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Mental, Neurological, and Substance Use Disorders: Disease Control Priorities, Third Edition (Volume 4).
Patel V, Chisholm D, Dua T, et al., editors.
Washington (DC): The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / The World Bank; 2016 Mar 14.
The Lancet Published Online September 13, 2016 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(16)31404-0
Sci Rep. 2016; 6: 25920. Published online 2016 May 16. doi: 10.1038/srep25920
Évaluation du programme burkinabé dans les districts de Kaya et de Zorgho
Objectif. L’objectif central de cette thèse est d’évaluer, dans des conditions réelles d’implantation, les effets du programme burkinabé de prise en charge communautaire du paludisme sur le recours aux soins de...s enfants fébriles. Les objectifs spécifiques sont : (1) de sonder les perceptions des ASC à l’égard du programme et explorer les facteurs contextuels susceptibles d’affecter leur performance ; (2) d’estimer le recours aux ASC par les enfants fébriles et identifier ses déterminants ; (3) de mesurer, auprès des enfants fébriles, le changement des pratiques de recours aux soins induit par l’introduction d’une intervention concomitante – la gratuité des soins dans les centres de santé.
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PLoS ONE 9(1): e87262. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0087262
The Philippine Government, International Non-government Organizations (INGOs) and local NGOs are all making attempts to address the impact of disasters and climate change at various levels. The Philippine Government has made significant strides in the implementation of disaster risk reduction (DRR) ...planning and activities through the development of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) which acts as the lead agency for DRR in the Philippines. The disaster focal points are the NDRRMC and the Office of Civil Defence (OCD). The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) is responsible for leading immediate disaster relief efforts.
The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) is a primary responder in disasters and have been deployed frequently to several disaster relief operations in the country in recent years. The Philippines has endured disasters that involve national and international assistance.
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Adapted from well-established decision-making concepts and honed through practical application in resource-limited settings, the AFP Advocacy Portfolio includes:
1. Advocate for Family Planning, an introduction to AFP’s approach.
2. Develop a Strategy, featuring a tool to understand your context... and AFP SMART: A Guide to Quick Wins, our 9-step approach to developing a focused, collaborative advocacy strategy that leads to quick wins.
3. Implement a Plan, tools to monitor your impact and make your case to decision makers.
4. Capture Results, with the AFP Results Cascade: A User’s Guide, a monitoring and evaluation tool that provides instructions to track a quick win or series of quick wins to long-term impact, and case study writing guidance.
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Resilience has rapidly become one of the most prominent objectives for the development sector, so ascertaining how best to measure it is an essential task for practioners working in monitoring and evaluation. In this discussion paper, the main insights emerging from the series of large-N Effectivene...ss Reviews, a set of quantitative studies that aim to evaluate impact and generate learning from a random sample of Oxfam’s projects are outlined. It is also considered how this measurement approach may adapt as ideas about resilience change both within Oxfam and in the development sector at large
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The objective of the 2022 Compendium is to compile and highlight emerging innovative health technologies for low-resource settings. It presents a snapshot of technologies that are solutions to an unmet medical/health technology need or are likely to improve health outcomes and the quality of life. H...ealth technologies in the Compendium underwent WHO evidence-based assessments focused on the life cycle of health technology innovations for low-resource settings.
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This is the second guidance note in a four-part series of notes related to impact evaluation developed by InterAction with financial support from the Rockefeller Foundation.This second guidance note, Linking Monitoring and Evaluation to Impact Evaluation, illustrates the relationship between routine... M&E and impact evaluation – in particular, how both monitoring and evaluation activities can support meaningful and valid impact evaluation. The guidance note is also available in French, Arabic and Spanish on https://www.interaction.org/impact-evaluation-notes.
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This World Migration Report 2018 is the ninth in the series. Since 2000, IOM has been producing world migration reports to contribute to increased understanding of migration throughout the world. This new edition presents key data and information on migration as well as thematic chapters on highly t...opical migration issues.
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his publication addresses surveillance and outbreak management of WRID associated with drinking-water supply systems, building on existing guidelines for infectious disease surveillance and outbreak response. It aims to help countries to build on and strengthen their systems by providing technical i...nformation on the specific features, activities and methodologies related to WRID surveillance and outbreak management.
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