Introduction The novel Coronavirus (nCoV) epidemic in 2019 -2020 has recently emerged. The route of transmission is not totally known, although it is known that it can spread from person to person, and local health care systems may be ill-equipped to handle a large-scale outbreak. Furthermore, misco...nceptions and misinformation about the disease often spreads rapidly in such epidemics.
In previous epidemics mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) has been identified as a key priority. MHPSS ensures the well-being of the affected populations, and counter-acts the threats to public health and safety that fear, stigmatization and misconception pose. Access to information, knowledge about the disease and how it spreads, make it easier for the affected to feel supported and calm, and to comply with instructions. Furthermore, psychosocial support to staff and volunteers help the operation as work conditions are extremely stressful.
This briefing note provides background knowledge on the MHPSS aspects related to nCoV and suggests MHPSS activities that can be implemented. The messages can be helpful for those in contact with patients or relatives and feel the strain of working and living during the epidemic. The briefing is aimed both at those working in any capacity with those affected by nCoV and for the MHPSS responders who implement MHPSS activities and interventions for everyone affected.
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The Lancet Countdown is an international collaboration that independently monitors the health consequences of a changing climate. Publishing updated, new, and improved indicators each year, the Lancet Countdown represents the
consensus of leading researchers from 43 academic institutions and UN ag...encies. The 44 indicators of this report expose an unabated rise in the health impacts of
climate change and the current health consequences of the delayed and inconsistent response of countries around the globe—providing a clear imperative for accelerated action that puts the health of people and planet above all else.The 2021 report coincides with the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change 26th Conference of the Parties (COP26), at which countries are facing pressure to realise the ambition of the Paris Agreement to keep the global average temperature rise to 1·5°C and to
mobilise the financial resources required for all countries to have an effective climate response. These negotiations unfold in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic—a global health crisis that has claimed millions of lives, affected livelihoods and communities around the globe, and exposed deep fissures and inequities in the world’s capacity to cope with, and respond to, health emergencies. Yet, in its response to both crises, the world is faced with an unprecedented opportunity to ensure a healthy future for all.
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The Washington Group/UNICEF Module on Child Functioning, finalized in 2016, covers children between 2 and 17 years of age and assesses functional difficulties in different domains including hearing, vision, communication/comprehension, learning, mobility and emotions. To better reflect the degree of... functional difficulty, each area is assessed against a rating scale. The purpose is to identify the subpopulation of children who are at greater risk than other children of the same age or who are experiencing limited participation in an unaccommodating environment. The set of questions is intended for use in national household surveys and censuses.
Available for ages 2-4 and 5-17 in English, French, Spanish, Vietnamese, Russian, Chinese, Arabic, Portuguese, Brazilian, Khmer
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his sequel to the Groundswell report includes projections and analysis of internal climate migration for three new regions: East Asia and the Pacific, North Africa, and Eastern Europe and Central Asia. Qualitative analyses of climate-related mobility in countries of the Mashreq and in Small Island D...eveloping States (SIDS) are also provided. This new report builds on the scenario-based modeling approach of the previous Groundswell report from 2018, which covered Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and Latin America. The two reports’ combined findings provide, for the first time, a global picture of the potential scale of internal climate migration across the six regions, allowing for a better understanding of how slow-onset climate change impacts, population dynamics, and development contexts shape mobility trends.
Available in English, French, Arabic, Spanish
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Applicable to both IDP and refugee scenarios, the Toolkit incorporates a wide range of relevant information on managing displaced populations living in communal settings (collective centres, spontaneous sites, established camps, etc.). Large scale displacements caused by recent conflict and natural ...disaster events have created a high demand for the Toolkit, which has proven an invaluable resource for field practitioners, government actors and displaced populations since its original release in 2004.
Available in other languages
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This document has been developed for the WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean to establish a regional plan of action to support the countries of the Region to rapidly accelerate the scaling up of their capacities for the prevention and early detection of, and ... rapid response to, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), as required under the International Health Regulations (IHR 2005). The regional plan is aligned with the WHO global 2019 novel coronavirus strategic preparedness and response plan, but tailored to the regional context.
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3rd edition. Patient safety standards are critical for the establishment and assessment of patient safety programmes within hospitals. This third edition of the Patient safety assessment manual provides an updated set of standards and assessment criteria that reflect current best practice and WHO gu...idance. The manual will support the implementation of patient safety assessments and improvement programmes within hospitals as part of the Patient Safety Friendly Hospital Framework to ensure that patient safety is prioritized and facilities and staff implement best practices. The manual is a key tool for use by professional associations regulatory accrediting or oversight bodies and ministries of health to improve patient safety.
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This handbook has been compiled as a source of ideas and experiences that can be used for CLTS orientation workshops, advocacy to stakeholders, training facilitators and natural leaders and implementing CLTS activities. It is a resource book especially for field staff, facilitators and trainers for ...planning, implementation and follow-up for CLTS.
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The toolbox contains guidance and tools (sample templates) for data collection in M&E of PSS programmes. The tools can be adapted to PSS programme, depending upon target group, activities and scope. These are tools that may be useful for your programme and many are drawn from existing PSS programme ...M&E tools, but they are not an exhaustive list. They can act as an inspiration and supplement to other existing tools.
The Toolbox is also available in word format for easy use and adaptation here:
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Mortality due to enteric infections is projected to increase because of global warming; however, the different temperature sensitivities of major enteric pathogens have not yet been considered in projections on a global scale. We aimed to project global temperature-attributable enteric infection mor...tality under various future scenarios of sociodemographic development and climate change.
The Lancet Planetary Health Volume 5, ISSUE 7, e436-e445, July 01, 2021
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The Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) on Immunization held a meeting on 3-6 October 2022. This report summarizes the discussions, conclusions and recommendations.
It covers the following items:
Global Reports
Immunization Agenda 2030 and Regional reports
Monkeypox
RSV
COVID-19 vacci...nes
Polio vaccination
Ebola (Sudan ebolavirus outbreak update)
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The recommendations cover the level of blood pressure to start medication, what type of medicine or combination of medicines to use, the target blood pressure level, and how often to have follow-up checks on blood pressure. In addition, the guideline provides the basis for how physicians and other h...ealth workers can contribute to improving hypertension detection and management.
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This document compiles the recommendations made by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) to help professionals in charge of vector control programs in Latin America and the Caribbean at the national, subnational, and local level update their knowledge in... order to make evidence-based decisions on the most appropriate control measures for each specific situation. IVM can be used for surveillance and control or for elimination of VBDs and can help reduce the development of insecticide resistance through the rational use of these products. This document provides instructions for fulfillment of the 2008 PAHO mandate set forth in CD 48/13 (Integrated Vector Management).
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Inequality of access to palliative care and symptom relief is one of the greatest disparities in global health care (1). Currently, there is avoidable suffering on a massive scale due to lack of access to palliative care and symptom relief in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) (1). Yet basic p...alliative care that can prevent or relieve most suffering due to serious or life-threatening health conditions can be taught easily to generalist clinicians, can be provided in the community and requires only simple, inexpensive medicines and equipment. For these reasons, the World Health Assembly (WHA) resolved that palliative care is "an ethical responsibility of health systems"(2). Further, most patients who need palliative care are at home and prefer to remain there. Thus, it is imperative that palliative care be provided in the community as part of primary care. This document was written to assist ministries of health and health care planners, implementers and managers to integrate palliative care and symptom control into primary health care (PHC).
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The report highlights key trends and developments in laws affecting people living with HIV and key populations in Asia and the Pacific over the five-year period 2014–2019. It updates the legal and policy review conducted in 2016 for UNAIDS, UNDP and the United Nations Economic and Social Commissio...n for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP). A database of laws of the 38 Member States of ESCAP was created as part of this review. The database identifies laws that are either punitive or enabling for people living with HIV and key populations in Asia and the Pacific.
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The risks of the use of nuclear, radiological, biological or chemical (NRBC) weapons are heterogeneous. Each risk has its own implications for developing and deploying any capacity to assist victims of an NRBC event and, in parallel, for the health and security of the people bringing this assistance.... At an international level, there are no plans for assisting the victims of an NRBC event which are both adequate and safe. Recognizing
the realities of the contexts associated with each risk throws up numerous challenges; such recognition is also a prerequisite for addressing these challenges. The realities that have to be considered relate to:
1. developing, acquiring, training for and planning an NRBC response capacity;
2. deploying a response capacity in an NRBC event;
3. the mandates and policies of international organizations pertaining to NRBC events. The challenges that will pose the greatest difficulty for a humanitarian organization are those for which the solutions are ‘non-buyable’ and which involve making extremely difficult decisions. Attempting to assist victims of an NRBC event without a reality-based approach might generate ineffective and unacceptably dangerous situations for those involved.
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To identify and to assess factors enhancing or hindering the delivery of breast and cervical cancer screening services in Malawi with regard to accessibility, uptake, acceptability and effectiveness.
Systematic review of published scientific evidence. A search of six bibliographic databases and gre...y literature was executed to identify relevant studies conducted in Malawi in the English language, with no time or study design restrictions. Data extraction was conducted in Excel and evidence synthesis followed a thematic analysis approach to identify and compare emerging themes.
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The new guidelines provide public health guidance on pharmacological agents for managing hyperglycaemia in type 1 and type 2 diabetes for use in primary health-care in low-resource settings. These guidelines update the recommendations for managing hyperglycaemia in the WHO Package of Essential NCD I...nterventions (WHO PEN) for primary care in low-resources settings, reviewing several newer oral agents as second- and third-line treatment: dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitors, sodium-glucose co-transporter 2 inhibitors and thiazolidinediones. The guidelines also present recommendations on the selection of type of insulin (analogue versus human insulin) for adults with type 1 and type 2 diabetes.
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The Regional strategy for measles control recommends that a second opportunity for measles immunization be provided to all children irrespective of their vaccination status or history of clinical measles. The preferred method of provision of a second opportunity is through Supplemental Immunization ...Activities (SIAs) targeting children 9 months to 14 years in catch-up campaigns and 9 months to 4 or 5 years during periodic follow-up campaigns
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WHO clinical guidelines.
For the first time, WHO has published guidelines to help (primarily) front-line healthcare providers give high-quality, compassionate, and respectful care to children and adolescents (up to age 18) who have or may have experienced sexual abuse, including sexual assault or r...ape.
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