Hepatitis B (HBV) infection is a major public health problem and cause of chronic liver disease.
The 2024 HBV guidelines provide updated evidence-informed recommendations on key priority topics. These include expanded and simplified treatment criteria for adults but now also for adolescents; expa...nded eligibility for antiviral prophylaxis for pregnant women to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HBV; improving HBV diagnostics through use of point-of-care HBV DNA viral load and reflex approaches to HBV DNA testing; who to test and how to test for HDV infection; and approaches to promote delivery of high-quality HBV services, including strategies to promote adherence to long-term antiviral therapy and retention in care.
The 2024 guidelines include 11 updated chapters with new recommendations and also update existing chapters without new recommendations, such as those on treatment monitoring and surveillance for liver cancer.
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This review examines high-quality research evidence that synthesises the efects of extreme heat on human health in tropical
Africa. Web of Science (WoS) was used to identify research articles on the efects extreme heat, humidity, Wet-bulb Globe
Temperature (WBGT), apparent temperature, wind, Heat ...Index, Humidex, Universal Thermal Climate Index (UTCI), heatwave, high temperature and hot climate on human health, human comfort, heat stress, heat rashes, and heat-related morbidity
and mortality
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The aim of this toolkit is to guide countries on how to best estimate their current burden of dengue by combining existing data from dengue surveillance systems with on-going research efforts to measure the community burden
of dengue.
Second interim report to the SMAC program, DFID Freetown
This report provides further output from an anthropological study of 25 villages affected by Ebola Virus Disease in eastern and central Sierra Leone, undertaken as part of the DFID-funded social mobilization initiative for Ebola prevention in... Sierra Leone. Eight focus group transcripts for 3 villages in Kenema District are presented, covering local responses to health issues, and Ebola in particular. Supporting material from a matching questionnaire-based study of health behavior and perceived causes of Ebola is also provided. Of particular relevance are two summary tables aggregating the questions villagers asked survey teams about Ebola and quarantine-related issues in villages where the epidemic has in effect ceased to be active
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In 2015, 26% of the deaths of 5.9 million children who died before reaching their fifth birthday could have been prevented
through addressing environmental risks – a shocking missed opportunity. The prenatal and early childhood period represents
a window of particular vulnerability, where enviro...nmental hazards can lead to premature birth and other complications,
and increase lifelong disease risk including for respiratory disorders, cardiovascular disease and cancers. The environment
thus represents a major factor in children’s health, as well as a major opportunity for improvement, with effects seen in every
region of the world.
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Geflüchtete Menschen sind vielfältigen psychosozialen Belastungen ausgesetzt. Um Versorgungs- und Präventionsbedarfe dieser Bevölkerungsgruppe niedrigschwellig und diversitätssensibel zu decken, werden vermehrt Peer-Ansätze verfolgt. Der vorliegende Beitrag informiert den Diskurs über die (We...iter-)Entwicklung und Implementierung von entsprechenden Angeboten für geflüchtete Menschen in Deutschland, indem zentrale Erkenntnisse aus der Prozessevaluation des präventiven Peer- Ansatzes „Mind-Spring“ (MS) nach Pilotierung in einem kommunalen Setting vorgestellt und diskutiert werden.
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Unstable settings present challenges for the effective provision of antiretroviral treatment (ART). In this paper, we summarize the experience and results of providing ART and implementing contingency plans during acute instability in the Central African Republic (CAR) and Yemen.
Le nombre de cas de COVID-19 augmente à nouveau, l’Afrique du Sud comptant pour près de la moitié de tous les cas confirmés de la Région africaine de l’OMS. La menace de nouveaux variants plane, et la faible couverture vaccinale soulève des questions concernant les mesures qui devront êtr...e prises pour lutter contre la COVID-19. Dans la plupart des pays d’Afrique subsaharienne, la prévention reste la stratégie clé. Dans ce document, cinq centres nationaux de la plateforme de l’Observatoire africain de la santé sur les systèmes et politiques de santé (AHOP), basés en Éthiopie, au Kenya, au Nigéria, au Rwanda et au Sénégal analysent les leçons à tirer de leurs mesures d’endiguement respectives lors despremières phases de la pandémie.
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The rapid assessment tool (RAT) is meant to assess health facilities within mpox-affected areas that have at least one inpatient bed. Depending on time and resources available, certain facilities may be prioritized during an mpox outbreak. The RAT evaluates 16 infection prevention and control (IPC) ...and water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) criteria identified as the minimum essential elements required for safe patient care and prevention of transmission within the health facility during readiness or response activities for outbreaks of mpox.
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The Guidelines for the Prevention, Surveillance and Management of COVID-19 Infection amongst Health Care Workers (HCW) in Zimbabwe were developed to prevent, detect and manage HCW COVID-19 infection, an emerging pandemic affecting the whole world. The HCW is at the fore front of this pandemic, thus ...the need for standardised operating procedures is of utmost importance. These guidelines therefore seek to reduce the significant morbidity and mortality among the HCW, ultimately ensuring the reduction of the cost to the health care worker and the Ministry of Health and Child Care (MoHCC) as a whole. The Ministry of Health and Child Care requires that all health care workers in various health care settings follow infection prevention and control procedures.
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Produced by Training and Research Support Centre for the Regional Network for Equity in Health in east and southern Africa (EQUINET), March 20, 2020.
This brief summarises and provides links to official, scientific and other resources to support an understanding of and individual to regional level... responses to the epidemic of ‘novel coronavirus’, also known as COVID-19.
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A new report from aid agencies Age International and HelpAge International, If not now, when? criticises the humanitarian sector for its failure to address the needs of older people in emergencies. This failure contravenes several international commitments made in recent years and flies in the face ...of humanitarian principles
Download the full report here: https://www.helpage.org/download/5fb34a78e7597/
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With 71 million people forcibly displaced around the world and aid budgets woefully underfunded, how do humanitarian agencies decide whom to help and for how long?
The 40-page field guide outlines possible causes of separation, discusses the psychosocial impacts of being separated, such as how we experience loss, and provides guidelines on how to support those who have been separated from family members – including delivering difficult news to loved ones, ba...sic helping skills, interviews, on-going support and referrals, and reunification. There is also a chapter on self-care for staff and volunteers. The materials provided here will need to be adapted to suit local contexts. The aim of this field guide is to build both confidence and skills in responding to disaster and crisis situations, and to raise awareness of the broader goals of the Movement’s work in supporting families separated from their loved ones
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