History has shown that governments tend to deprioritize environmental commitments during times of financial and public crises as they work to mitigate immediate needs—and the age of COVID-19 has been no different. Even though human interaction with wildlife is believed to be the cause of the pande...mic, the focus on COVID’s fallout has deprioritized the importance of reversing the damage humans have done to the planet.
COVID has had a multifaceted and detrimental effect on environmental conservation. Not only has funding been diverted to deal with the pandemic, conservation-oriented organizations are operating with minimal staff or have closed entirely. People whose daily work it is to advance environmental science and protect the land and water have become ill or have been forced to stay home because of travel restrictions. Plastic use is at an all-time high.
The good news is that there is an unprecedented opportunity for philanthropy to recharge the effort to protect the planet. This Giving Smarter Guide examines the state of environmental philanthropy, and provides an overview of potential strategic starting points for philanthropy and impact capital to play a role in saving the planet. In addition to offering recommendations specific to the COVID-19 response, the Center for Strategic Philanthropy also asks the questions that philanthropists should consider at the start of their journey into the field of conservation philanthropy.
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Interim Guidance, published 11 January 2021.
The cold chain is necessary to prevent damage to vaccines caused by heat exposure. However, improper use of cold chain equipment may cause damage to freeze-sensitive vaccines (i.e. those vaccines containing alum adjuvant or oil-emulsion adjuvant). Studie...s conducted in several countries with hot and cold climates show frequent occurrences of sub-zero temperatures in the cold chain. The most common cause of exposure to freezing temperature is the failure to correctly condition ice packs prior to transport. Vaccines that are inadvertently frozen lose potency, increase wastage rates and increase the risk of adverse events following immunization (AEFI). Vaccine carriers protect vaccine potency during immunization sessions and transport to outreach sites. This guidance document is intended to help inform which type of vaccine carrier to select based on local context, to maintain vaccine quality, especially at service delivery points.
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Этот документ содержит техническое руководство для стран по мониторингу усилий, направленных на
профилактику и лечение ВИЧ-инфекции среди людей, употребляющих и...ъекционные наркотики (ЛУИН),
и определению амбициозных, но достижимых задач национального уровня для расширения всеобщего
доступа к услугам.
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Practical Guideline for collaborative interventions
PEPFAR Malawi’s Country Operational Plan 2022 (COP22) embodies joint priorities from national and subnational dialogues building on the 2020-2025 National Strategic Plan for HIV/AIDS. The interagency team has developed a person-centered, district-tailored and Malawi Population-Based HIV Impact Ass...essment (MPHIA)-informed strategy through extensive engagement with Government of Malawi (GoM) and Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) to sustain HIV epidemic control. At the end of COP21, PEPFAR Malawi was commended for contributing to reaching epidemic control in strong collaboration with GoM and stakeholders including the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (Global Fund). This includes enrollment of 88% of recipients of care on three or more months of antiretroviral treatment (ART), better outcomes for Malawian children through remarkable efforts in Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC) programming and progress made towards reaching men with more intentional and focused programming.
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La méningite est mortelle et débilitante ; elle frappe brutalement ; elle a de graves conséquences sanitaires, économiques et sociales et touche tous les âges de la vie dans tous les pays du monde. La méningite bactérienne peut être à l’origine d’épidémies, entraîner la mort dans les... 24 heures et un patient sur cinq peut rester handicapé à vie à la suite d’une infection. La plupart des cas et des décès dus à la méningite pourraient être évités par la vaccination mais les progrès obtenus pour la vaincre sont bien moins rapides que ceux réalisés contre d’autres maladies à prévention vaccinale.
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The marathon to eradicate polio is on its final lap: the world is more than 99% of the way to success. After millennia of living with poliovirus and suffering the paralysis it causes, today nearly all the world’s people live in polio-free countries; two of the three strains of wild poliovirus (WPV...) have been eradicated. Some 20 million people are walking who would have been paralysed had it not been for the efforts of national governments and health workers. If eradicating polio has been a marathon, the finishing line is in sight.
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A Focus on the Journey to Self-Reliance for Preventing Child and Maternal Deaths . June 2018
The 2018 Acting on the Call report focuses on 25 countries’ journeys to self-reliance for preventing child and maternal deaths. Self-reliance is a country’s ability to finance and implement solution...s to its own development challenges. Understanding where countries lie on this effort - known as the journey to self-reliance - helps USAID to best partner with countries and support their efforts.
The report looks at the health status of 25 priority countries as well as the current capacity of the health system to meet the needs of women and children. In the report, we recount progress since the 2012 Call to Action as well as identify gaps in order to inform future programming and areas that need strengthening during the journey to self-reliance. For the first time ever, we’ve calculated the return on our investment to eliminate bottlenecks to improving health services.
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FIND conducted independent evaluations at the University Hospitals of Geneva (HUG), to verify the limit of detection (LOD) and the clinical performance (as reported by the manufacturers) of the following molecular test kits. The LOD analysis was performed using cultured viral stocks from a clinical ...isolate from Switzerland, and quantified using an E gene standard. The clinical performance analysis was conducted on extracted samples from individuals suspected to have COVID-19 that were tested using an in-house PCR protocol that was optimized based on the Tib Molbiol assay.
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This article is part of a series of explainers on vaccine development and distribution. Learn more about vaccines – from how they work and how they’re made to ensuring safety and equitable access – in WHO’s Vaccines Explained series.
Vaccines are supported by decades of medical research. ...They work by preparing the body's own immune system to recognise and defend against a specific disease. The volume of information available about vaccination can be overwhelming, so it’s important to talk through the topic.
Available in different languages
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Procurement and supply management activities are fundamental to consistent and reliable access to essential medicines and health products. To reduce the impact of CVD, action needs to be taken to improve prevention, diagnosis, care and management of CVD diseases. Affordable essential medicines and t...echnologies to manage CVD disease must be available where and when they are required. Medicines and technologies need to be managed appropriately to ensure that the correct medicines are selected, procured in the right quantities, distributed to facilities in a timely manner, and handled and stored in a way that maintains their quality. This needs to be backed up by policies that enable sufficient quantities to be procured in order to reduce cost inefficiencies, ensure the reliability and security of the distribution system, and encourage the appropriate use of these health products. In order to avoid stock-outs and the disruption of treatment, all related activities need to be conducted in a timely manner, with performance continually monitored, and prompt action taken in response to problems that may arise. Additionally, medication must be dispensed correctly and used rationally by the healthcare provider and patient alike. The purpose of this guide is to explain the necessary steps.
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In many low- and middle-income countries, there is a wide gap between evidencebased recommendations and current practice. Treatment of major CVD risk factors remains suboptimal, and only a minority of patients who are treated reach their target levels for blood pressure, blood sugar and blood choles...terol.
In other areas, overtreatment can occur with the use of non-evidence-based
protocols. The aim of using standard treatment protocols is to improve the quality
of clinical care, reduce clinical variability and simplify the treatment options,
particularly in primary health care. Standard treatment protocols can be developed by preparing new national treatment guidelines or by adapting or adopting international guidelines.
The Evidence-based protocols module uses hypertension and diabetes screening
and treatment as an entry point to control cardiovascular risk factors, prevent target organ damage, and reduce premature morbidity and mortality. A comprehensive risk- based approach for integrated management of hypertension, diabetes, and high cholesterol is included in the Risk-based CVD management module.
This module includes clinical practice points and sample protocols for:
1. hypertension detection and treatment
2. type 2 diabetes detection and treatment
3. identifying basic emergencies – care and referral.
HEARTS emphasizes adaptation, dissemination, and use of a standardized set of
simple clinical-management protocols, which should be drug- and dose-specific,
and include a core set of medications. The simpler the protocols and management tools, the more likely they are to be used correctly, and the higher the likelihood that a programme will achieve its goals.
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