WHO has developed a clinical case definition of post COVID-19 condition by Delphi methodology that includes 12 domains, available for use in all settings. This first version was developed by patients, researchers and others, representing all WHO regions, with the understanding that the definition ma...y change as new evidence emerges and our understanding of the consequences of COVID-19 continues to evolve.
Post COVID-19 condition occurs in individuals with a history of probable or confirmed SARS CoV-2 infection, usually 3 months from the onset of COVID-19 with symptoms and that last for at least 2 months and cannot be explained by an alternative diagnosis. Common symptoms include fatigue, shortness of breath, cognitive dysfunction but also others and generally have an impact on everyday functioning. Symptoms may be new onset following initial recovery from an acute COVID-19 episode or persist from the initial illness. Symptoms may also fluctuate or relapse over time.
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Since 24 February 2022, the war in Ukraine has caused widespread suffering to its people and serious damage
to the country’s infrastructure. Attacks on the country’s health system and its power network threaten people, compromise the provision of health care, and complicate the distribution of ...essential medicines and equipment.
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The World Heart Federation (WHF) Roadmap series covers a large range of cardiovascular conditions. These Roadmaps identify potential roadblocks and their solutions to improve the prevention, detection and management of cardiovascular diseases and provide a generic global framework available for loca...l adaptation. A first Roadmap on raised blood pressure was published in 2015. Since then, advances in hypertension have included the publication of new clinical guidelines (AHA/ACC; ESC; ESH/ISH); the launch of the WHO Global HEARTS Initiative in 2016 and the associated Resolve to Save Lives (RTSL) initiative in 2017; the inclusion of single-pill combinations on the WHO Essential
Medicines’ list as well as various advances in technology, in particular telemedicine and mobile health. Given the substantial benefit accrued from effective interventions in the management of hypertension and their potential for scalability in low and middle-income countries (LMICs), the WHF has now revisited and updated the ‘Roadmap for raised BP’ as ‘Roadmap for hypertension’
by incorporating new developments in science and policy. Even though cost-effective lifestyle and medical interventions to prevent and manage hypertension exist, uptake is still low, particularly in resource-poor areas. This Roadmap examined the roadblocks pertaining to both the demand side (demographic and socio-economic factors, knowledge and beliefs, social relations, norms, and
traditions) and the supply side (health systems resources and processes) along the patient pathway to propose a range of possible solutions to overcoming them. Those include the development of population-wide prevention and control programmes; the implementation of opportunistic screening and of out-of-office blood pressure measurements; the strengthening of primary care and a greater focus on task sharing and team-based care; the delivery of people-centred care and stronger patient and carer education; and the facilitation of adherence to treatment. All of the above are dependent upon the availability and effective distribution of good quality, evidencebased, inexpensive BP-lowering agents.
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Comprehensive Primary Health Care has an important role in the primary and secondary prevention of several disease conditions, including non-communicable diseases which today contribute to over 60% of the mortality in India. The provision of Comprehensive primary health care reduces morbidity, disab...ility and mortality at much lower costs and significantly reduces the need for secondary and tertiary care. Estimates suggest that almost 52% of all conditions can be managed at the
primary care level.
In order to ensure comprehensive primary health care, close to where people live, Sub- Centres should be strengthened as Health and Wellness Centres (H&WC), staffed by appropriately trained primary health care team. The Medical officer of the Primary Health Centre would oversee the functioning of the SC/HWC that falls in that area.
Services include those that (i) can be delivered at the level of the household and outreach sites in the community by suitably trained frontline workers, (ii) those that are delivered by a team headed by a mid-level health provider, at the level of the Sub-Centre/Health and Wellness Centre and (iii) the referral support and continuity of care within the district health system in rural and urban areas. The package of services is in Box. States would need to either phase in these services or add on additional services based on state specific and local context.
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Mpox can spread in humans through close contact, usually skin-to-skin contact, including sexual contact, with an infected person or animal, as well as with materials contaminated with the virus such as clothing, beddings and towels, and respiratory droplets in prolonged face to face contact. People ...remain infectious from the onset of symptoms until all the lesions have scabbed and healed. The virus may spread from infected animals through handling infected meat or through bites or scratches. Diagnosis is confirmed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing of material from a lesion for the virus’s DNA.
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From the start of the COVID-19 pandemic until August 2021, extreme weather events have affected at least 139.2 million people and killed at least 17,242 people in at least 433 unique events. These figures are certainly an underestimate, as they do not include estimates of numbers of people affected ...by extreme temperatures, or mortality during drought events.
One dimension of the compound risk of COVID-19 and climate extremes was the additional challenge of preparing for and responding to disasters during the pandemic, such as the constraints of physical distancing during evacuations and response operations.
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Sector Environmental Guidelines, Full technical Update
This situation analysis has gathered information about the current state of AMR, contributing factors and antimicrobial use in Zimbabwe from the human, animal, agricultural and environmental sectors. Data has been gathered from different sectors such as the general public, academia, the Ministry of ...Health and Child Care, the Ministry of Agriculture Mechanization and Irrigation Development and the Ministry of Environment, Water and Climate. It shows that AMR is a real concern in Zimbabwe and a threat to the health outcomes of humans, to the economic productivity of the livestock industry and a risk to the environment.
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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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This treatment guideline is intended to assist clinicians in the Behavioral Health department in treatment planning and service delivery for patients with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). It may also assist clinicians treating patients who have some of the signs and symptoms of PTSD but who do... not meet the full criteria of PTSD. The treatment guideline is not intended to cover every aspect of clinical practice, but to focus specifically on the treatment models and modalities that clinicians in our outpatient treatment setting could provide. These guidelines were developed through a process of literature review and discussion amongst clinicians in the Behavioral Health department and represent a consensus recommendation for service provision for this disorder. The guideline is intended to inform both clinical and administrative practices with the explicit goals of outlining treatment that is: effective, efficient, culturally relevant and acceptable to clinicians, program managers, and patients.
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Desk Review and Recommendations for Private Sector Engagement
Accessed: 04.10.2019
The data collection process was organized by UCDC Director, Natalia Nizova, and M&E Department Head, Igor Kuzin, and implemented by M&E specialists from oblast AIDS Centers: Zhanna Antonenko, Oksana Gorbachuk, Volodymyr Zahorovskyi (Kiev City); Anna Lopatenko, Irina Kozina, I...ryna Chukhalova, (Dnipropetrovsk); Galina Vysotskaja, Iryna Petrovska, Oleksandr Guzieiev (Mykolayiv). Qualitative data collection as well as a desk review was done by the WB’s local consultants Anna Shapoval, Olesia Trofymenko, Anna Pisotska and Elena Dzyuba.
The report was prepared by a World Bank Task Team led by Iris Semini (seconded to the World Bank until July 2013, and now back with UNAIDS), and concluded by Emiko Masaki and Marelize Görgens (World Bank), with support and guidance provided by Daniel Dulitzky, Paolo Belli, Alejandro Cedeno, Alona Goroshko and Lombe Kasonde. Administrative support was provided by Anna Goodman, Mario Mendez and Uma Balasubramanian. When draft results were ready, an in-country workshop was held where stakeholders provided their inputs. Once a draft report was produced, written comments were received from World Bank colleagues, Son Nam Nguyen, Rosemary Sunkutu and Alona Goroshko.
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A Paper submitted to the 56th session of the UN Committee to CEDOW, July 2014, Geneva