The Centrum für Reisemedizin (CRM) is a comprehensive source of information, guidelines and resources on travel medicine for healthcare professionals and travellers. Its website offers up-to-date recommendations on disease prevention, vaccinations, malaria prophylaxis and health risks in different ...regions around the world. As part of the Thieme Group, the CRM promotes evidence-based medical counselling, training and educational materials for patients, with the aim of improving travel health outcomes and ensuring safe international mobility.
Accessed on 26/08/2025.
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The website "Bereit zu Reisen" provides comprehensive guidance on malaria prophylaxis for travelers to endemic regions. It emphasizes preventive strategies, including mosquito bite avoidance through protective clothing, insect repellents, and sleeping under treated nets. In addition, the site detail...s chemoprophylaxis options, explaining recommended medications, dosing schedules, and duration of use before, during, and after travel. Emergency self-treatment procedures are also outlined for situations where immediate medical care is unavailable. Overall, the resource serves as a practical reference for travelers, combining evidence-based recommendations on exposure prevention, medication use, and prompt response to potential malaria symptoms to ensure safe and healthy travel.
Accessed on 26/08/2025.
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This infographic from the Tropeninstitut illustrates the malaria transmission cycle. It begins when an Anopheles mosquito bites a human and injects its sporozoites into the bloodstream. The sporozoites then travel to the liver where they mature and release merozoites back into the bloodstream. The m...erozoites then infect red blood cells, resulting in the clinical symptoms of malaria. Some merozoites develop into gametocytes, which can be ingested by another mosquito when it bites the infected person again, thus continuing the transmission cycle.
The infographic serves as an educational tool, helping to explain the complex life cycle of the malaria parasite and the role of mosquitoes in spreading the disease.
Accessed on 26/08/2025.
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The CDC Yellow Book is the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's comprehensive reference guide to health issues related to international travel. It provides evidence-based recommendations and practical guidance for healthcare professionals advising travellers, as well as for travellers themse...lves. Topics covered include country-specific vaccination requirements, the prevention and treatment of infectious diseases, malaria prophylaxis, food and water safety, the management of travel-related conditions, and guidance for special populations, such as children, pregnant travellers and individuals with chronic illnesses. Updated every two years, the Yellow Book synthesises global surveillance data, World Health Organization guidelines and CDC expertise to help prevent illness and injury during international travel. Serving as both an authoritative clinical tool and a public health resource, it ensures safe and healthy travel worldwide.
Accessed on 27/08/2025.
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The poster is a public health communication tool designed to prevent the transmission of diseases such as chikungunya, dengue and Zika. The poster emphasises that Aedes mosquitoes bite aggressively during the day and sometimes at night, and recommends the key prevention strategies.
Accessed on 27.../08/2025.
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The 'Mosquito Bite Prevention Poster – Kids' is an educational public health resource designed to teach children how to protect themselves from mosquito bites. Using clear, simple instructions and visual cues, the poster engages young audiences by emphasising practical prevention strategies, such ...as correctly applying insect repellent, wearing protective clothing and avoiding standing water where mosquitoes breed. This tool serves as a preventive guide for children and caregivers alike, encouraging health-conscious behaviours within the community.
Accessed on 27/08/2025.
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This website provides comprehensive guidance on vaccinations, malaria prevention and general health measures for travellers to tropical and developing regions. It emphasises two main vaccination criteria: the administrative requirements of the destination country and the actual health risks to the t...raveller. Malaria prevention measures include chemoprophylaxis (e.g. atovaquone-proguanil, doxycycline or mefloquine) and vector control methods such as insecticide-treated nets, insect repellents and environmental protection measures. Additional travel health risks covered include bites from other arthropods, envenomations, dog and mammal bites, food and water hygiene, traveller's diarrhoea, and considerations for pregnant women, infants, the elderly, and people with chronic conditions. It strongly recommends carrying a travel medical kit and having a pre-travel consultation. Overall, the document aims to minimise illness and ensure safe travel.
Accessed on 27/08/2025.
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This ECDC overview summarises the number of travel-associated malaria cases reported in the EU/EEA in 2023. The cases are based on confirmed reports through the EpiPulse platform and only include infections acquired outside mainland Europe. The data show the number of cases and the infection rate pe...r 100,000 travellers by country of infection. The aim is to inform public health authorities and travellers about malaria risk. Analyses are limited to locations with repeated cases or sufficient case numbers. Infection rates were calculated using IATA air travel data. The findings reflect reported cases only and do not imply ongoing transmission.
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The eEML is a comprehensive, freely accessible online database containing information on essential medicine
The Mekong Malaria Elimination (MME) programme is an initiative aimed at supporting Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) countries – Cambodia, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Myanmar, Thailand, Viet Nam, and Yunnan (China) – in achieving the goal of malaria elimination by 2030. Data for this epidemi...ological summary were compiled from country reports. Between July and September 2024, 48 115 malaria cases were reported. During that period, GMS countries recorded 44% fewer cases, with P. falciparum + mixed and P. vivax cases declining by 81% and 36%, respectively. Meanwhile, testing declined by 25% when compared to the same period in 2023.
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Malaria remains a significant public health concern in the SADC region, accounting for 20% of childhood deaths, as well as prompting numerous outpatient visits and hospitalisations. Around three-quarters of the population, including 35 million children under the age of five and 8.5 million pregnant ...women, are at risk. Transmission patterns vary from high and stable in the north to malaria-free in the south, with low, unstable and seasonal zones in between. Although interventions such as indoor residual spraying (IRS), insecticide-treated nets (ITNs/LLINs), intermittent preventive treatment in pregnancy (IPTp), rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs), and artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs) have reduced the malaria burden, challenges persist in terms of funding, human resources, surveillance, and cross-border coordination. Achieving malaria elimination in the SADC region requires harmonised regional standards, strengthened surveillance, and improved access to quality treatment and policy prioritisation.
Accessed on 27/08/2025.
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Tobacco mythbusters: tools for debunking common myths promoted by the tobacco industry
PHSM are vital in reducing the risk and scale of infectious disease transmission and lowering hospitalization and deaths. Examples include contact tracing, quarantine and isolation, mask use, ventilation, school or workplace measures, mobility restrictions and travel requirements.
While these mea...sures are essential, decision-making on PHSM becomes particularly complex during rapidly evolving health emergencies, with incomplete information and under significant public and political pressure, especially when the pathogen is novel or poorly understood. In such contexts, guidance needs to be agile and responsive, developed and adapted based on emerging evidence and shifting epidemiological patterns. Decision-makers are frequently confronted with difficult trade-offs, having to balance measures that are:
─ effective but socially disruptive;
─ cost-effective but logistically burdensome;
─ beneficial for public health but economically disruptive; or
─ practical but inequitable or unethical
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The Best Buys for Disease Elimination is a practical, evidence-based guide to the most effective actions for countries to implement in order to eliminate communicable diseases. The guide highlights the efficient use of resources and prioritizing populations in vulnerable situations.
“The Region... of the Americas is advancing steadily towards the elimination of communicable diseases,” said Dr. Jarbas Barbosa, PAHO Director. “To achieve this, it is necessary to increase and sustain high vaccination coverage, engage communities to expand access to diagnosis and treatment, strengthen surveillance, and bring integrated services to marginalized communities, incarcerated populations, and those living in informal settlements,” he added.
For each disease and condition included in the Elimination Initiative, the Best Buys are presented as one-page documents with clear, accessible information. Each Best Buy summarizes expected impact goals, disease elimination targets, key operational indicators, and priority interventions that have proven to be cost-effective in different contexts.
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On 4 September 2025, the Ministry of Health of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) declared an outbreak of Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) in Kasai Province, following confirmation of Zaire ebolavirus by the National Institute of Biomedical Research (INRB) in Bulape and Mweka Health Zones. As of 19... September, there have been 48 total cases (38 confirmed, 10 probable) with 31 deaths (21 confirmed, 10 probable) and a CFR of 64.5%. Among laboratory confirmed cases, 16 deaths were recorded (CFR: 45.7%). Four deaths occurred among health workers, underscoring the risk of nosocomial transmission. Most cases (39.7%) are among adults aged 20 years and above, in a densely populated, remote, and under-resourced area.
The outbreak is driven by multiple risk factors, including transmission in health facilities with limited infection prevention and control (IPC) measures and personal protective equipment (PPE), incomplete contact tracing, delayed detection, and unsafe burial practices. High population mobility between Bulape and Tshikapa, reliance on traditional healers, and the concurrent mpox outbreak are further straining the fragile health system and increasing the risk of geographic spread.
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This plan, approved by the Organization’s 62nd Directing Council, was shaped by extensive consultations with countries and stakeholders, and commits to transformative health outcomes over the next six years, tackling noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), mental health, health security, fragmented healt...h systems and services, and the elimination of communicable diseases, amongst others.
“The COVID-19 pandemic taught us that the Region of the Americas is stronger when we work together,” said Dr. Jarbas Barbosa, PAHO Director. “This Strategic Plan harnesses our collective strength to build resilient health systems, reduce disease burden, and improve health and well-being for all across the Americas.”
The plan builds on lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic, which exposed gaps in health systems while highlighting the power of joint action. It targets measurable impacts in countries, such as reducing maternal mortality, reversing rising suicide rates, and eliminating diseases like leprosy and Chagas.
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In 2015, the world reaffirmed its commitment to sustainable development by endorsing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17 SDGs (2030 Agenda). To reach older people – an important, heterogeneous and growing population – and to create visibility in global and national policy and ...accountability mechanisms, a closer examination is needed of the kinds of data collection mechanisms and methods, and types of data collected to measure each SDG indicator relevant for older persons, including existing levels of disaggregation, analysis and dissemination.
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Asthma is a chronic (long-term) lung condition that affects your airways or bronchial tubes. It can cause your airways to narrow and their lining to swell and to produce extra mucus, which makes it more difficult to breathe. The narrowing of the airways causes you to feel short of breath, wheeze, or... cough. Asthma is there even when you don’t have any symptoms.
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Diabetes Poster - Do you have any of these symptoms?
Desde el 2016, la Organización Panamericana de la Salud (OPS) ha promovido la implementación de la Iniciativa HEARTS en las Américas, una adaptación regional de la estrategia Global HEARTS de la Organización Mundial de la Salud (OMS). Durante este tiempo, 33 países de la Región de las Améric...as se han comprometido a implementar HEARTS y la OPS ha desarrollado una amplia variedad de herramientas clínicas para asistir a los equipos de salud en su trabajo cotidiano e impulsarlos a buscar la mejora continua de la calidad. Este compendio pretende presentar en un solo documento, y de manera simple y didáctica, todos los recursos técnicos desarrollados por la Iniciativa HEARTS en las Américas para facilitar su implementación en la práctica diaria del ámbito clínico. El lector notará que cada herramienta se detalla en una sola página y se presenta en un formato modular. Por lo tanto, cada herramienta se puede utilizar en conjunto o por separado según sea necesario. Además, en la parte inferior de cada herramienta, el lector encontrará las referencias y los enlaces para acceder a los textos completos en caso de que los usuarios deseen profundizar más su conocimiento respecto a cada tema.
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