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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Humanitarian crises exacerbate nutritional risks and often lead to an increase in acute malnutrition. Emergencies include both manmade (conflict) and natural disasters (floods, drought, cyclones, typhoons, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, etc.). Complex emergencies are combinations of both manmade a...nd natural disasters, often of a protracted nature. Millions of people are affected by humanitarian crises every year. The increasing frequency and scale of emergencies requires nutrition to be addressed in all phases of a response.
Crisis situations, whether acute or protracted, impact on a range of factors that can increase the risk of undernutrition, morbidity, and mortality. They may involve: the large-scale destruction of property and infrastructure; the erosion of livelihood strategies and purchasing power; a breakdown of and reduced access to essential services, including health services, water supply, and sanitation; and the displacement of large numbers of people. Emergencies can also disrupt social systems and the quality of care/feeding practices. Household access to food may be negatively affected and people may find themselves in overcrowded settlements with their families divided. As a result, at the individual level, there is often an increased risk of deteriorating health and nutritional status, resulting in a greater likelihood of death.
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After almost 50 years of military dictatorship, and following the 2010 general elections which were rigged in favour of the military Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), Myanmar underwent a series of political reforms from 2011 onwards. In November 2015, the first free general elections si...nce the 1990 elections resulted in a victory for the National League for Democracy (NLD). The NLD formed a new government in 2016 with Htin Kyaw as the first non-military president since 1962, and with Aung San Suu Kyi in the newly-created position of State Counsellor.
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Antimicrobial resistance is a global crisis that threatens a century of progress in health and achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. There is no time to wait. Unless the world acts urgently, antimicrobial resistance will have disastrous impact within a generation.
Project Drawdown (2022) provides evidence of how climate solutions can also be win-win opportunities for meeting development and human well-being needs while boosting prosperity for rural communities in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. The report summarizes the co-benefits of five groups of a subs...et of Project Drawdown climate solutions (28 total solutions) for advancing human well-being in rural areas of low- and middle-income countries
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Key Considerations
This brief focuses on cross-border movement in Eastern and Southern Africa (ESA) and its implications for development of risk communication and community engagement (RCCE) strategies aimed at preventing transmission of COVID-19 in the ESA region. Given the extensive risk of cross...-border transmission of the virus and the imminent reopening of borders, such strategies are essential to containment efforts
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Time has seen management for Cystic Fibrosis (CF) advance drastically, most recently in the development of the disease-modifying triple combination therapy ivacaftor/tezacaftor/elexacaftor. There is currently limited evidence regarding both the global epidemiology of CF and access to this transforma...tive therapy - and therefore where needs are not being met. Therefore, this study aims to define gaps in access to CF treatment. The results show that a significant CF patient burden exists in countries where disease-modifying drugs are unavailable, and final figures are likely underestimates. This analysis shows the potential to improve rates of diagnosis and treatment for CF, so a higher percentage of patients receive the most effective triple combination treatment.
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This document outlines Rwanda's policy on non-communicable diseases. The overall goal of NCDs Policy is to alleviate the burden of NCDs and their risk factors and protect Rwandan population from premature morbidity and mortality related to NCDs. This policy was developed through a series of consulta...tive meetings and workshops of NCDs' core team members of MOH and RBC, National Technical Working Group (TWG), all implementing and non implementing partners and other development partners. This policy was developed in line with the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), Vision 2020, Rwanda Economic Development Poverty Reduction Strategy (EDPRS II) of 2013-18 and NCDs Global Action Plan 2013-2020 and national Health Policy. This policy focuses on of the following NCDs: Cardiovascular diseases, Chronic Pulmonary Diseases (CPD), Cancers, Diabetes, injuries and disabilities, oral, eye and kidney diseases.
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Despite the continuing war in Ukraine, the Government is preparing for the country’s recovery and reconstruction. Given the magnitude of the attacks on the health infrastructure and consequent disruption to health system functioning, reconstruction of the health system is integral to the country...s recovery. The immediate priorities are to restore essential services, respond to new physical and mental health needs, protect public health, and provide a secure and attractive environment for the return of both health professionals and the general population. This policy note identifies strategic directions for post-war health system recovery in the short and longer terms, while sustaining essential health services during the ongoing invasion
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This policy will serve as a cornerstone from which to address the accessibility of Family Planning services and to encourage its integration with services for HIV/AIDS, maternal health, child health, and other development initiatives. This policy is timely, as Rwanda is embarking on the introduction... of community-based provision of Family Planning through community health workers. In addition, the expansion of adolescent sexual and reproductive health programs is a pillar of this policy that will help attract and retain the next generation of Family Planning users. These efforts are anticipated to trigger a paradigm change in the way Family Planning services are provided and accessed in order to contribute towards a healthy and productive Rwanda for all.
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In this course you will examine the interconnections between poverty, development and violent conflict. This is one of seven Medical Peace Work courses.
Small island developing states (SIDS) are a set of islands and coastal states that share similar sustainable development challenges, as a result of their size, geography and vulnerability to climate change. Thirty-nine WHO member states in four regions – the African Region, the Region of the Ameri...cas, the South-East Asian Region, and the Western Pacific region – are classified as SIDS. Whilst the individual countries differ in many respects, collectively they face unique social, economic and environmental challenges.
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A WHO guide to inform & harmonize national & international pandemic preparedness and response
The main updates from the 2013 interim guidance are:
Alignment with other relevant United Nations policies for crisis and emergency management, and
Inclusion of the significant development in re...cent years of the strategies for pandemic vaccine response during the start of a pandemic.
The guide is available in English, Arabic, Chinese, French, Spanish and Russian
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It focuses on nine major priority areas, namely: Leadership and Governance for Health; Health Service Delivery; Human Resources for Health; Health Financing; Health Information Systems; Health Technologies; Community Ownership and Participation; Partnerships for Health Development; and Researc...h for Health.
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The National Strategic Plan is based on the following guiding principles:
1) Life-course approach: adolescence is a key decade in the course of life that influences the health outcomes later in life.
2) Comprehensive approach: It recognizes the cross cutting health and development needs o...f young people such as intentional and unintentional injuries and violence, SRH, HIV/AIDS, mental health, substance use, violence, substance use and substance use disorders, infectious diseases and common conditions.
3) Equity and rights-based approach: focusing on equitable access to services to all adolescents including vulnerable groups and the recognizing the need to move from aspirations to obligations in fulflling young people rights for the highest attainable standard of health.
4) Multisectoral approach: recognizing cognizant of the fact that holistic development of young people requires multisectoral approach involving education, social welfare.
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Regional Network for Equity in Health in east and southern Africa (EQUINET): Disussion Paper 109
This report describes the evolution of mainland Tanzania’s EHB; the motivations for developing the EHBs, the methods used to develop, define and cost them; how it is being disseminated, communicat...ed, and used; and the facilitators (and barriers) to its development, uptake or use. Findings presented in this report are from three stages of analysis: literature review, key informant perspectives and a national consultative meeting.
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This publication provides guidance to governments, civil society organizations (nongovernmental organizations and community-based organizations) and other partners implementing HIV prevention, care and treatment programs with key populations. This guide is designed to assist these programs in the de...velopment of monitoring systems for frontline workers (such as peer outreach workers, staff outreach supervisors and program managers) to understand performance. It includes comprehensive tools and forms that various levels of staff can use to collect and analyze data to manage and improve a program.
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The purpose of the survey is to identify the level of preparedness required by a health-care facility to be able to continue operating during, or following a conflict-related security event.
The survey method provides a measure of the security and preparedness of a given health facility in it...s specific context. Such a measure offers evidence-based guidance to assess whether urgent action needs to be taken and, if so, in what form.
Decision-makers can prioritize the most effective actions to mitigate specific risks and, eventually, will be able to rank the importance of needs faced by multiple facilities.
The survey covers three modules: the hazards affecting the facility, the current management procedures in place and the state of the physical infrastructure. Each of these modules is further divided into categories, and each category contains the questions – or indicators ‒ that cover the actual issues addressed in the survey. A detailed description of each indicator is provided in this manual.
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Early Childhood Matters is a journal about early childhood.
It looks at specific issues regarding the development
of young children, in particular from a psychosocial
perspective.
It is published twice per year by the Bernard
van Leer Foundation. The views expressed in Early Childhood
Matters ...are those of the authors and do not necessarily
reflect those of the Bernard van Leer Foundation. Work
featured is not necessarily funded by the Bernard van Leer
Foundation.
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From 2000 to 2010, Rwanda implemented comprehensive health sector reforms to strengthen the public health system, with the aim of reducing maternal and newborn deaths in line with Millennium Development Goal 5, among many other improvements in national health. Based on a systematic review of the lit...erature, national policy documents and three Demographic & Health Surveys (2000, 2005 and 2010), this paper describes the reforms and the policies they were based on, and provides data on the extent of Rwanda’s progress in expanding the coverage of four key women’s health services. Progress took place in 2000–2005 and became more rapid after 2006, mostly in rural areas, when the national facility-based childbirth policy, performance-based financing, and community-based health insurance were scaled up. Between 2006 and 2010, the following increases in coverage took place as compared to 2000–2005, particularly in rural areas, where most poor women live: births with skilled attendance (77% increase vs. 26%), institutional delivery (146% increase vs. 8%), and contraceptive prevalence (351% increase vs. 150%). The primary factors in these improvements were increases in the health workforce and their skills, performance-based financing, community-based health insurance, and better leadership and governance. Further research is needed to determine the impact of these changes on health outcomes in women and children.
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