The report provides a brief introduction to patents and licences and their effect on the market for antiretroviral (ARV) medicines. It gives an overview of the patent landscape with respect to a select number of ARV medicines in developing countries as of April 2014. The focus is primarily on those ...ARVs that are recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) as well as new ARVs that have either recently obtained regulatory approval or are in phase III clinical trials.
                                                                    more
                                                            
                         
                     
                                                        
                        
                        
                            
                            
                                                                In  where under-five mortality is high and vitamin A deficiency is a public health problem, two high-dose supplements of vitamin A per year, spaced four to six months apart, can strengthen children’s immune systems and improve their chances of survival.
During much of early childhood – from... 6 months to 5years of age – two high doses of vitamin A every year can prevent blindness and hearing loss, boost children’s immunity against diseases like measles and diarrhoea and provide critical protection against death. Like all forms of malnutrition, vitamin A deficiency is a marker of inequality. In countries where diets are lacking in vitamin A and infections and deaths are prevalent, supplementation programmes give vulnerable children a better chance to survive, develop and thrive. 
                                                                    more
                                                            
                         
                     
                                                        
                        
                        
                            
                            
                                                                J Glob Health Sci. 2020 Jun;2(1):e3. A group of enzootic and zoonotic protozoan infections, the leishmaniases constitute among the most severely neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) and are found in all continents except Oceania. Representing the most common infectious diseases, NTDs comprise an open-...ended list of some 20 parasitic, bacterial, viral, protozoan and helminthic infections. Called “diseases of the poor,” because of their characteristic prevalence in poor populations regardless of a country's income status, they infect over one billion people in over 140 countries, with about 90% of the global burden in Africa. While NTDs do not contribute significantly to global deaths, they are debilitating and remain the most common infections among the poor worldwide, preventing them from escaping poverty by impacting livelihoods such as agriculture and livestock, and affecting cognitive, developmental and education outcomes.
                                                                    more
                                                            
                         
                     
                                                        
                        
                        
                            
                            
                                                                A Focus on the Journey to Self-Reliance for Preventing Child and Maternal Deaths . June 2018
The 2018 Acting on the Call report focuses on 25 countries’ journeys to self-reliance for preventing child and maternal deaths. Self-reliance is a country’s ability to finance and implement solution...s to its own development challenges. Understanding where countries lie on this effort - known as the journey to self-reliance - helps USAID to best partner with countries and support their efforts.
The report looks at the health status of 25 priority countries as well as the current capacity of the health system to meet the needs of women and children. In the report, we recount progress since the 2012 Call to Action as well as identify gaps in order to inform future programming and areas that need strengthening during the journey to self-reliance. For the first time ever, we’ve calculated the return on our investment to eliminate bottlenecks to improving health services.
                                                                    more
                                                            
                         
                     
                                                        
                        
                        
                            
                            
                                                                Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is an important public health concern shared by developed and developing countries. In developing countries the burden of infectious diseases is greater and exacerbated by limited access to, and availability and affordability of, antimicrobials required to treat infect...ions caused by AMR organisms. With drugs not listed on the essential drugs list (EDL), problems of increased morbidity, costs of extended hospitalisation and mortality are extremely serious. The problem of susceptibility to and spread of infections caused by multidrug-resistant (MDR) infectious agents is fuelled by factors such as limited access to clean water and sanitation to ensure personal hygiene, malnutrition, and the HIV/TB epidemic.
                                                                    more
                                                            
                         
                     
                                                        
                        
                        
                            
                            
                                                                Antibiotics  and  other  antimicrobial  agents  are  invaluable  life  savers,  particularly  in  resource-limited  countries where infectious diseases are abundant. Both uncomplicated and severe infections are potentially curable  as  long  as  the  aetiological  agents  are  susceptible  to  the  ...antimicrobial  drugs.  The  rapid  rate  with  which  antimicrobial  agents  are  becoming  ineffective  due  to  resistance  acquired  as  a  result  of   unchecked  overuse and misuse threatens to undo the benefit of controlling infections. The evidence for resistant microorganisms,  many  times  to  more  than  a  single  antimicrobial  agent,  has  been  observed  globally.  In  Tanzania, there is evidence in the form of  few scattered studies conducted in different parts of  the country in  a  multitude  of   settings  including  health  care  facilities,  the  community,  domesticated  animals  and  wild  animals
                                                                    more
                                                            
                         
                     
                                                        
                        
                        
                            
                            
                                                                this Service Delivery brief provides evidence-based strategies that can help support drug shops and pharmacies in providing a wider variety of family planning methods and information. Evidence shows that with training and support, pharmacy and drug shop staff can facilitate the use of a broad range ...of modern contraception, especially in areas where the unmet need is high, access to family planning services is poor, and health worker shortages and other barriers prevent women, men, and youth from accessing family planning services
Availabe in English, French, Spanish and Portuguese
                                                                    more
                                                            
                         
                     
                                                        
                        
                        
                            
                            
                                                                South  Africa  has  faced  many  challenges  over  the  past  two  decades, accomplishing profound positive changes in the social structure and government of the nation. This has not yet fully translated into better health for the population, however, particularly the poorest segment. In fact, the p...opulation has lost ground since the 1990s in virtually all important health indicators, leaving South Africa with a high burden of infectious disease. 
August 2011, Vol. 101, No. 8  SAMJ
                                                                    more
                                                            
                         
                     
                                                        
                        
                        
                            
                            
                                                                After introducing Ethiopia's WASH sector challenges and trends, the plan describes IRC Ethiopia's vision and strategy which draws from IRC and Water For People's joint framework - Destination 2030. It then details the organisational changes and business development needed to implement the strategic ...plan. Detailed targets are provided in the annexes.
At IRC, we believe that turning on a working tap should not be a surprise or cause for celebration. We believe in a world where water, sanitation and hygiene services are fundamental utilities that everyone is able to take for granted. For good.
We face a complex challenge. Every year, thousands of projects within and beyond the WASH sector fail – the result of short-term targets and interventions, at the cost of longterm service solutions.
This leaves around a third of the world’s poorest people without access to the most basic of human rights, and leads directly to economic, social and health problems on a global scale. IRC exists to continually challenge and shape the established practices of the WASH sector.
Through collaboration and the active application of our expertise, we work with governments, service providers and international organisations to deliver systems and services that are truly built to last.
                                                                    more
                                                            
                         
                     
                                                        
                        
                        
                            
                            
                                                                The Demographic Dividend study on Rwanda assessed the socio-economic and human development potential of our country in the short, medium and long-term period using a comprehensive approach. It generated relevant policy and programme information to guide a well-informed polciy required to propel Rwan...da towards achieving its aspirations of being high middle income country by 2035 and high income country by 2050.
The primary objectives of this study were to assess Rwanda’s prospects for harnessing the demographic dividend and demonstrate priority policy and programme options that the country should adopt in order to optimise its chances of earning a maximum demographic dividend in the context of its youthful population and medium, long-term socio-economic development aspirations.
                                                                    more
                                                            
                         
                     
                                                        
                        
                        
                            
                            
                                                                Supplement article
The Journal of Infectious Diseases® 2017;216(S7):S675–8
DOI: 10.1093/infdis/jix368
Finding the Missing Tuberculosis Patients • JID 2017:216 (Suppl 7) • S675
Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/jid/article-abstract/216/suppl_7/S675/4595547
by guest on 13 Nove...mber 2017
                                                                    more
                                                            
                         
                     
                                                        
                        
                        
                            
                            
                                                                Ending the epidemics of HIV, tuberculosis and malaria by 2030 is within reach, but not yet fully in our grasp.
With only 11 years left, we have no time to waste. We must step up the fight now.
                                                            
                         
                     
                                                        
                        
                        
                            
                            
                                                                Improving the survival chances and quality of life of women, newborns, and children remains an urgent global challenge. Since 2012, substantial progress has been made in reducing maternal and under-5 deaths, and a only handful of countries are on target to meet the SDG targets in 2030. Yet, 5 millio...n children still die each year under the age of 5, and nearly half of those are newborns less than a month old. Worse still, the global maternal mortality ratio is going in the wrong direction.
A Decade of Progress and Action for the Future will examine the tenacity and innovation that helped us make gains, the lessons learned through monitoring, country-led adaptation and leadership, analysis, and reflection, as well as the approaches we must take to reinvigorate the momentum and global commitment to improving maternal and child survival. Increasing coverage, strengthening the quality of care, and enhancing equity will be tantamount to our global progress.
                                                                    more
                                                            
                         
                     
                                                        
                        
                        
                            
                            
                                                                The goal of the United States Government  for the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) in Mozambique is to support country efforts to achieve epidemic control by 2020 through evidence-based policies and interventions to drive progress and save
lives. This document details PEPFAR's op...erational plan in Mozambique. 
                                                                    more
                                                            
                         
                     
                                                        
                        
                        
                            
                            
                                                                This Commission report aims to contribute to a new era of multilateral cooperation based on strong UN institutions to reduce the dangers of COVID-19, forestall the next pandemic, and enable the world to achieve the agreed goals of sustainable development, human rights, and peace that governments are... committed to pursue as members of the UN. We address this Commission report to the UN member states, the UN agencies and multilateral institutions, and multilateral processes such as the G20 and the G7.
                                                                    more
                                                            
                         
                     
                                                        
                        
                        
                            
                            
                                                                This guide provides a comprehensive overview of essential information related to immunization, including technical information about vaccines, a review of immunization program management best practices, guidance on the delivery of immunization services, monitoring and evaluation, disease surveillanc...e, and the role of behavior change.
                                                                    more
                                                            
                         
                     
                                                        
                        
                        
                            
                            
                                                                The well-being of children in sub-Saharan Africa is under siege from all directions since the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic. The region is now suffering its first-ever economic recession, pushing about 50 million people into extreme poverty, a majority of whom are children.
                                                            
                         
                     
                                                        
                        
                        
                            
                            
                                                                Governments have dedicated a pivotal role to the private sector in the implementation and financing of the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs. This has pushed a turn towards the private sector, the promotion of multi-stakeholder partnerships between public and private actors. However, far too often there is a... considerable gap between the social and environmental commitments companies make publicly in political fora like the UN and the actual effects of their production patterns and investment strategies on people and the environment. A new working paper, published by Brot für die Welt, Global Policy Forum and MISEREOR provides an overview of the ways and means by which the UN involves business actors in the debates around the implementation of the 2030 Agenda. It describes new initiatives and alliances of business actors around SDG implementation at the international level, and their main messages and policy proposals. With a few selected examples it contrasts the sustainability rhetoric of corporations with their business reality. And finally, the working paper draws conclusions and formulates recommendations for policymakers on how to increase the benefits of UN-business interactions in implementing the 2030 Agenda - and how to reduce associated risks and negative side effects.
                                                                    more
                                                            
                         
                     
                                                        
                        
                        
                            
                            
                                                                The UNICEF-GAIN Partnership Project 
The report notes that iodine deficiency is a leading cause of preventable brain damage worldwide. Insufficient iodine during pregnancy and infancy results in neurological and psychological deficits, reducing a child’s IQ by 8 to 10 points. This translates ...into major losses in the cognitive capital of entire nations and thus their socio-economic development.
The report outlines urgent steps to reduce the risk of mental impairment to babies’ growing brains:
• Integrate salt iodization into national plans to support children’s nutrition and brain development in early childhood; 
• Align salt iodization and salt reduction agendas;
• Establish surveillance systems to identify unreached populations; 
• Strengthen regulatory systems to enforce existing legislation on salt iodization; 
• Recognize the growing importance of fortified foods as potential sources of iodized salt.
                                                                    more
                                                            
                         
                     
                                                        
                        
                        
                            
                            
                                                                The Handbook is primarily addressed to child protection coordination teams, which may include coordinators, co-leads and information managers, the guidance is equally valid for all members of the child protection coordination group, including national and international nongovernmental organizations ...(NGOs), government representatives and other members, who seek to achieve an effective and coordinated response
                                                                    more