Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B (2010) 365, 2959–2971; doi:10.1098/rstb.2010.0143.
Agricultural ecosystems provide humans with food, forage, bioenergy and pharmaceuticals and are essential to human wellbeing. These systems rely on ecosystem services provided by natural ecosystems, including pollination, b...iological pest control, maintenance of soil structure and fertility, nutrient cycling and hydrological services. Preliminary assessments indicate that the value of these ecosystem services to agriculture is enormous and often underappreciated. Agroecosystems also produce a variety of ecosystem services, such as regulation of soil and water quality, carbon sequestration, support for biodiversity and cultural services. Depending on management practices, agriculture can also be the source of numerous disservices, including loss of wildlife habitat, nutrient runoff, sedimentation of waterways, greenhouse gas emissions, and pesticide poisoning of humans and non-target species. The tradeoffs that may occur between provisioning services and other ecosystem services and disservices should be evaluated in terms of spatial scale, temporal scale and reversibility. As more effective methods for valuing ecosystem services become available, the potential for ‘win–win’ scenarios increases. Under all scenarios, appropriate agricultural management practices are critical to realizing the benefits of ecosystem services and reducing disservices from agricultural activities.
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This document outlines the evaluation process that WHO undertakes to assess novel tools and strategies targeted at VBDs. Its aim is to articulate the linkage between the generation of evidence that demonstrates public health impact of novel interventions, and the development of policy recommendation...s based on the generated data. The document defines standards for the evaluation process, as well as the steps that an applicant needs to undertake, along with some guiding principles that aim to support applicants in the development of submissions with WHO.
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WHO needs US$2.54 billion to provide life-saving assistance to millions of people around the world facing health emergencies. WHO’s Health Emergency Appeal is a consolidation of WHO’s priorities and financial requirements for 2023 to carry out health interventions in emergency and humanitarian r...esponses. The number of people in need of humanitarian relief has increased by almost a quarter compared to 2022, to a record 339 million. WHO is responding to an unprecedented number of intersecting health emergencies: climate change-related disasters such as flooding in Pakistan and food insecurity across the Sahel in the greater Horn of Africa; the war in Ukraine; and the health impact of conflict in Yemen, Afghanistan, Syria and north eastern Ethiopia – all of these emergencies overlapping with the health system disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and outbreaks of measles, cholera, and other killers. Contributions to the appeal can be fully flexible, flexible across a region, or flexible within a country appeal.
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Available in: English, French, Chinese, Spanish, Russian, Arabic, Thai, Korean, Tajik, Vietnamese, Uzbek
http://www.who.int/disabilities/cbr/guidelines/en/
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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The need for a roadmap for risk assessment stemmed from the lack of standardised and systematic effort to national risk assessment effort to date. The road map details the process, activities necessary for each step and the availability and accessibility of technical and financial resources, and coo...rdination mechanisms for the implementation f a national risk assessment.
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A tool for measuring alcohol policy implementation
Healthy Settings, a key component of Malawi’s Health Sector Strategic Plan (HSSP) 2011–2016, is the World Health Organization’s (WHO) holistic community-led approach to achieving health improvement by addressing social determinants of health, an approach which is central to the current WHO fra...mework on integrated people-centred health services. Healthy Settings projects by their construct have many different components which vary from one group and community to another depending on their priorities: from housing, hospital improvements and waste management to “softer” interventions like leadership skills training and health promotion. It can be challenging to find relevant indicators to monitor and assess the impact of such a complex holistic project, this paper explores if social capital data can provide useful impact assessment indicators at the start of such a project.
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This article provides an overview of the current and projected climate change risks and impacts to mental health and provides recommendations for priority actions to address the mental health consequences of climate change.
Diabetes mellitus is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in Scotland and worldwide, with an increasing prevalence. In 2009 there were around 228,000 people registered as having diabetes in Scotland, an increase of 3.6% from the preceding year. This increase relates, in part, to the increasing a...ge of the population, an increase in obesity and also perhaps to increasing survival of those with diabetes.
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Interconnected Disaster Risks is a new science-based report for the general public from United Nations University – Institute for Environment and Human Security. It was first published in 2021, and is set to become an annual report.
The GHS Index is intended to be a key resource in the face of increasing risks of high-consequence and globally catastrophic biological events and in light of major gaps in international financing for preparedness. These risks are magnified by a rapidly changing and interconnected world; increasing ...political instability; urbanization; climate change; and rapid technology advances that make it easier, cheaper, and faster to create and engineer pathogens.
Key findings from the study of 195 countries:
• Out of a possible 100 points, the average GHS Index score across 195 countries was 40.2.
• The majority of high- and middle-income countries do not score above 50.
• Action is urgently needed to improve countries’ readiness for high-consequence infectious disease outbreaks.
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Cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) is a premalignant lesion that may exist at any one of three stages: CIN1, CIN2, or CIN3. If left untreated, CIN2 or CIN3 (collectively referred to as CIN2+) can progress to cervical cancer. Instead of screening and diagnosis by the standard sequence of cytolo...gy, colposcopy, biopsy, and histological confirmation of CIN, an alternative method is to use a ‘screen-and-treat’ approach in which the treatment decision is based on a screening test and treatment is provided soon or, ideally, immediately after a positive screening test. This guideline provides recommendations for strategies for a screen-and-treat programme
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this toolkit presents a structured, rating-based methodology designed to provide a rapid, comprehensive assessment of the capacity of the human resource support system for a country’s supply chain. Data are gathered from a document review, focus group discussions, and in-country stakeholder interv...iews to identify the strengths, areas for improvement, opportunities, and challenges for a wide range of human resource inputs and components. The findings are transformed into specific recommendations and strategies for action based on an understanding of country priorities and programming gaps. It includes Word templates; PowerPoint templates and Exce-based Diagnostic Dashboard
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