The Countdown country profile presents in one place the best and latest evidence to enable an assessment of a country’s progress in improving reproductive, maternal, newborn, and child health (RMNCH)
Chronic noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) are the number one cause of death and disability in the world. The term NCDs refers to a group of conditions that are not mainly caused by an acute infection, result in long-term health consequences and often create a need for long-term treatment and care. The...se conditions include cancers, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and chronic lung illnesses.
Many NCDs can be prevented by reducing common risk factors such as tobacco use, harmful alcohol use, physical inactivity and eating unhealthy diets. Many other important conditions are also considered NCDs, including injuries and mental health disorders.
more
Most foreign aid comes in one of two forms: either we pay a person or an institution today in exchange for delivering some beneficial activity in the future, or we observe something bad happen to them and then give them support to recover from it. This kind of aid is simple to design and deliver,
b...ut in the former case has limits in how sharply it incentivizes success and effort from a range of actors and in the latter case leads to the inefficient and undignified “begging bowl” approach to humanitarian financing. In what follows, I identify a broad family of alternative approaches, which
can loosely be grouped together as “contractually contingent financing,” and explain why they are still relatively underused.
more
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is one of the most complex and long-standing humanitarian crises in Africa. By the end of 2020, some 940,421 Congolese refugees and asylum seekers were hosted across the African continent. Ongoing conflicts in eastern DRC, as well as intercommunal violence,... continue to cause forced displacement within the DRC and into neighbouring countries, along with tragic loss of human life and destruction of communities.
more
Exciting new treatment approaches make the management of hepatitic C one of the most rapidly developing areas of medicine. The Flying Publisher short Guide to Hepatitis C is an up-to-date source of information for physicians, residents and advanced medical students.
Breast pain in a breastfeeding mother is commonly caused by one of three problems: engorgement, blocked ducts, or breast infections. This video shows how to evaluate and treat these 3 conditions.
Haiti, one of the poorest countries in the world, was devastated by an earthquake in 2010. The disaster uncovered the realities of a non-existent mental health care system with only ten psychiatrists nationwide. Attempts were made to assess the increased prevalence of mental illness, likely due to t...he trauma to which many were exposed. Several interventions were carried out with aims to integrate mental health into primary health care services. The interplay between socio-cultural beliefs and health (both mental and physical) in Haiti has been widely commented upon by both foreign aid and local caregivers. Observations frequently highlight barriers to the willingness of patients to seek care and to their acceptance of biomedicine over traditional Vodou beliefs. The perception of Haitian beliefs as barriers to the availability and acceptance of mental health care has intensified the difficulty in providing effective recommendations and interventions both before and after the earthquake. Argued in this review is the importance of considering the interactions between socio-cultural beliefs and mental health when developing models for the prevention, screening, classification and management of mental illness in Haiti. These interactions, especially relevant in mental health care and post-disaster contexts, need to be acknowledged in any healthcare setting. The successes and failures of Haiti’s situation provide an example for global consideration.
more
Retention of knowledge and application within the community one year later
Combatting the rising global threat of AMR through a One Health Approach
India has the largest number of
child brides in the world — one
third of the global total.1
Yet, recent data indicates that
in the last decade there has
been a significant decline in the
prevalence of child marriage
from 47 per cent to 27 per cent
of the proportion of women aged
20-24 yea...rs who were married
before age 18 from 2005/2006
to 2015/2016.2 Child marriage
among young men and boys has
also seen a positive change.
National and state averages,
however, mask realities at the
district level, and despite the
overall decline, a few districts
continue to have very high rates
of child marriage. (Child marriage
rates among women in a few
districts of Rajasthan and Bihar,
continue to be in the range of 47
per cent to 51 per cent).
more
These guidelines group all recommendations on TB care and support in one document and are complemented by an operational handbook. The guidelines are to be used primarily by national TB programmes, or their equivalents in Ministries of Health, stakeholders and technical organizations working on... TB care in the public and private sectors and in the community.
more
Proper and dignified management of the dead in disasters is one of the three key pillars of humanitarian response and a fundamental factor in facilitating identification of the deceased and helping families discover the fate of their loved ones. This second and updated edition of this hugely success...ful manual provides practical and easy-to-follow guidelines on the recovery, documentation and storage of the remains of individuals who have died in disasters, helping first responders ensure that the dead are treated with respect and that information crucial for their subsequent identification is recorded. This revised edition incorporates experience gained in recent catastrophes, such as the 2013 Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines, the 2014/15 Ebola epidemic in West Africa and the 2015 earthquake in Nepal.
more
Policy brief.
Globally, one in five people with HIV are unaware of their status, despite considerable scale up of HIV testing, treatment and prevention services. Many of those unreached by HIV testing services (HTS) are from key populations, partners of people with HIV and, in Eastern and southern ...Africa, men and young people. Improving the availability, accessibility, friendliness and quality of services is important to address these testing gaps.
At the same time, tools and interventions that increase the demand for HTS are needed to reach people who are uninformed about HTS options and advances in treatment and prevention, people who are not motivated to seek HTS and those who are hesitant to test because of fear of an HIV diagnosis or other reasons.
more
The principle Life and Dignity of the Human Person is one of the seven themes of Catholic social teaching (United States Conference of Catholic Bishops) . We believe that God created man and woman in his image (Genesis 1:26–27) and because of this all people have inherent dignity . There is nothin...g anyone can do to gain or take away their human dignity, since it is God given, not earned . Because of this, we believe that every life is sacred and that no life—born or unborn—is disposable . All of the principles of Catholic social teaching flow from the core belief that every person has inherent dignity that must be respected .
more
Persons with acute respiratory illness with sudden onset of at least one of the following: cough, sore throat, shortness of breath or fever [≥ 38°C (measured) or history of fever (subjective)] irrespective of admission status AND In the 14 days prior to onset of symptoms, met at least one of the ...following epidemiological criteria: Were in close contact1 with a confirmed2 or probable3 case of SARS-CoV-2 infection; OR Had a history of travel to areas with presumed ongoing community transmission of SARS-CoV-2; (Visit WWW.NICD.AC.ZA for an updated case definition). OR Worked in, or attended a health care facility where patients with SARS-CoV-2 infections were being treated. OR Admitted with severe pneumonia of unknown aetiology.
more
The Pocket Guide to Managing Contraceptive Supplies addresses one of
the most important components of any program that provides family
planning services—the logistics system that manages the delivery,
quality, and storage of contraceptive supplies. These supplies are
essential; without them, f...amily planning services cannot be provided.
This guide is for the staff of family planning or health clinics who
manage contraceptive supplies and for the supervisor who oversees
these logistics activities. This booklet is not a complete logistics text;
its purpose is to be a quick reference for logistics formulas and
principles to help you manage your supplies (both contraceptives and
other commodities) correctly and efficiently.
more
The report notes that the number of people in need of one or more assistive products is likely to rise to 3.5 billion by 2050, due to populations ageing and the prevalence of noncommunicable diseases rising across the world. The report also highlights the vast gap in access between low- and high-inc...ome countries. An analysis of 35 countries reveals that access varies from 3% in poorer nations to 90% in wealthy countries.
Affordability is a major barrier to access, the report notes. Around two thirds of people with assistive products reported out-of-pocket payments for them. Others reported relying on family and friends to financially support their needs.
more
Chromoblastomycosis (CBM), represents one of the primary implantation mycoses caused by melanized fungi widely found in nature. It is characterized as a Neglected Tropical Disease (NTD) and mainly affects populations living in poverty with significant morbidity, including stigma and discrimination.
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).
more
Monkeypox Factsheet in English
Hesperian’s fact sheet is one of the first accessible yet comprehensive health resources on Monkeypox. We describe common symptoms of monkeypox, how to prevent its spread, and how it can be treated at home. We also note how the world seems to have learned nothing fr...om COVID about the need for vaccine equity! Translations of this factsheet will soon be available in several languages.
more