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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Lancet Public health 2022 January 6, 2022 https://doi.org/10.1016/ S2468-2667(21)00249-8
Growth in the number of individuals living with dementia underscores the need for public health planning efforts and policy to address the needs of this group. Country-level estimates can be used to inform nati...onal planning efforts and decisions. Multifaceted approaches, including scaling up interventions to address modifiable risk factors and investing in research on biological mechanisms, will be key in addressing the expected increases in the number of individuals affected by dementia.
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An output of a series of workshops on psychosocial support held in 2004-2005 by the Bernard van Leer Foundation and the Coalition on Children Affected by AIDS. Authors Linda Richter, Geoff Foster and Lorraine Sherr discuss the issues surrounding psychosocial care and support for children made vulner...able by the HIV/AIDS pandemic and make recommendations for future priorities and programming directions. Includes the ""Call To Action"" for Toronto 2006.
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Researchers focused on mental health of conflict-affected children are increasingly interested in the concept of resilience. Knowledge on resilience may assist in developing interventions aimed at improving positive outcomes or reducing negative outcomes, termed promotive or protective interventions....
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Post-traumatic symptoms in Ghanaian children. Thesis for Master of Philosophy in Peace and Conflict Studies (PECOS). This study investigated whether Ghanaian children exposed to low intensity warfare experience symptoms of PTSD as described in the DSM-IV. It also aimed to find out if there are cultu...rally-specific ways of displaying the symptoms and in dealing with the trauma.
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The Open AIDS Journal, 2012, 6, 245-258
PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases September 2014 | Volume 8 | Issue 9 | e3016 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0003016
Results of rapid assessment
The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted or halted critical mental health services in 93% of countries worldwide while the demand for mental health is increasing, according to a new WHO survey. The survey of 130 countries provides the first global data showing the devastating... impact of COVID-19 on access to mental health services and underscores the urgent need for increased funding.
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The report reviews progress with the task of planning and implementing measures necessary to secure a completely polio-free world. It also examines actions aimed at ensuring successful transfer of polio assets, innovations developed and lessons learned to countries’ public health programmes and ot...her global health priorities
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Globalization and Health 2012, 8:15
This research aims to identify a core set of clinical skills for working in
a Community Based Rehabilitation (CBR) setting, and to discuss whether they are appropriate for task shifting to a new or an alternative cadre of rehabilitation workers.
The COVID-19 pandemic has raised profound ethical challenges on an unprecedented global scale. These challenges include how to allocate scarce resources (especially vaccines and therapeutics), both within and between countries, whether and when to mandate vaccines and/or masks, whether and how to co...nduct public health surveillance, whether to issue vaccine passports, and how to address stark international and intranational inequities. In addition, there have been ethical concerns about the conduct of COVID-19 research, such as the appropriateness of challenge studies.
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The world is facing an unprecedented range of emergencies. In reaction to these complex adversities, many people experience considerable distress and impairment, and a minority may even go on to develop mental health conditions. Meanwhile, those with pre-existing mental health conditions may experie...nce a worsening of their condition and are at risk of neglect, abandonment, abuse and lack of access to support. Unfortunately, evidence-based mental health care is often extremely limited in humanitarian settings. In response, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) published the Mental Health Gap Action Programme (mhGAP) Humanitarian Intervention Guide (mhGAP-HIG) in 2015. This practical tool supports health-care providers in assessing and offering first-line management of mental, neurological and substance use (MNS) conditions in humanitarian emergency settings.
2 December 2021. The current report, Stories of change from four countries: Building capacity for integrating mental health care within health services across humanitarian settings, describes efforts in four countries to build evidence-based mental health systems in humanitarian emergency settings using the mhGAP-HIG. This report includes three sections, the first describing the importance of scaling up mental health care in emergency contexts, the second outlining case studies (“stories of change”) to scale up the Mental Health Gap Action Programme (mhGAP) programme in four settings and the third describing lessons learned by stakeholders.
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Concentrations of the major greenhouse gases, CO2 , CH4 , and N2 O, continued to increase despite the temporary reduction in emissions in 2020 related to measures taken in response to COVID-19.
2020 was one of the three warmest years on record. The past six years, including 2020, have been the si...x warmest years on record. Temperatures reached 38.0 °C at Verkhoyansk, Russian Federation on 20 June, the highest recorded temperature anywhere north of the Arctic Circle.
The trend in sea-level rise is accelerating. In addition, ocean heat storage and acidification are increasing, diminishing the ocean’s capacity to moderate climate change.
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