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.
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Last update: 2 April 2020
This document is developed using technical input from the Interim Guidance on Scaling-up COVID-19 Outbreak in Readiness and Response Operations in Camps and Camp-like Settings and Key Considerations for Selecting Health Infrastructure for the Response to COVID 19 in addition to other tec...hnical guidance documents developed by WHO and referenced accordingly.
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In 1964 medical mission was challenged and called to define its distinctiveness and its special role in the context of that particular time. The consultation "Tuebingen I" clearly stated: "The Christian church has a specific task in the field of health and healing"1, and developed a conce...pt of wholeness and of the role of the congregation in health provision. 50 years later, the question of the proprium of Christian health services is again a very important one. At a time when governments, international non-governmental organizations and other philanthropic organizations participate in health care, the question has to be asked: What is the specific contribution of a Christian health service or ministry of healing? At a time when chronic disease challenges not only rich but now also poor countries, when infections like Ebola that for years were hidden in Africa pose a threat to the global situation, Christians have to reflect on the question of the proprium of Christian health care.
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In 2016, the risk of premature mortality1 from noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) in Ethiopia was 18.3%. The economic costs of NCDs are significant and are due principally to their impact on the non-health sector (reduced workforce and productivity). In this study, it is estimated that NCDs cost Ethiop...ia at least 31.3 billion birr (US$ 1.1 billion) per year, equivalent to 1.8% of the gross domestic product (GDP). Less than 15% of the costs are for health care.
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This document draws on scientific evidence from the COVID-19 pandemic and from prior public health research on behaviour change, with the purpose of empowering African Union Member States to promote widespread adoption of masks in the general population. This document complements existing Africa CDC... technical guidance on the community use of face masks.
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The World Health Organization organized a Consultation of National Leprosy Programme managers, partners and affected persons to discuss the draft Global Leprosy Strategy, 2021--2030. This virtual event took place from 26 to 30 October 2020. It was attended by more than 450 stakeholders. Contribution...s were shared through 70 presentations made by stake holders from all Regions. The presentations covered the key strategic approaches: global context, challenges in countries, contact tracing and post exposure prophylaxis, disability care, interruption of transmission and elimination of disease, stigma and d iscrimination, research. In addition to numerous comments received through the chat box and by email, the conclusions and recommendations of this Consultation will guide finalizing the post 2020 Global Leprosy Strategy.
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This paper reviews the effects of vertical responses to COVID-19 on health systems, services, and people’s access to and use of them in LMICs, where historic and ongoing under-investments heighten vulnerability to a multiplicity of health threats. We use the term ‘vertical response’ to describ...e decisions, measures and actions taken solely with the purpose of preventing and containing COVID-19, often without adequate consideration of how this affects the wider health system and pre-existing resource constraints.
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Background paper 13
The Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response
May 2021
Epidemic meningitis is a major public health challenge in the African 'meningitis belt', an area that extends from Senegal to Ethiopia with an estimated total population of 500 million. Since 2002, the World Health Organization (WHO), in collaboration with its collaborating centres for meningitis, h...as progressively supported countries in implementing a strategy of ES for meningitis. The strategy is the recommended standard for all countries of the Belt and it is now actively being implemented at different levels in all countries.
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Country Strategic Plan Evaluations (CSPEs) encompass the WFP strategy and entirety of WFP activities during a specific period. Their purpose is twofold: 1) to provide evaluation evidence and learning on WFP's performance for country-level strategic decisions, specifically for developing the next Cou...ntry Strategic Plan (CSP) and 2) to provide accountability for results to WFP stakeholders. These evaluations are mandatory for all CSPs and are carried out in line with the WFP Policy on Country Strategic Plans and the WFP Evaluation Policy.
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Ensuring mental health and well-being has become a worldwide imperative and an important target of the Sustainable Development Goals. But in all countries around the world, our response has been woefully insufficient, and we have made
little progress to advance mental health as a fundamental human ...right.
One in ten people are affected by a mental health condition, up to 200 million people have an intellectual disability and an estimated 50 million people have dementia. Many persons with mental health conditions, or psychosocial, intellectual, or cognitive disabilities lack access to quality mental health services that respond to their needs and respect their rights and dignity.
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The domestic regulation of public health emergencies (PHEs) is inextricably linked to the regulation of other types of disaster. PHEs are usually governed at least partly by general disaster and emergency laws. Moreover, there is significant overlap in the legal mechanisms used to respond to PHEs an...d other types of disaster, including the declaration of a state of disaster or emergency and the use of emergency powers. Even where PHEs are regulated by separate instruments, those instruments must surmount many of the same policy and practical challenges as general disaster laws, such as finely balancing competing considerations (e.g. speedy response versus due process), facilitating the coordination of a multitude of actors, and protecting the most vulnerable within society. Finally, many contemporary developments in disaster risk management (DRM), such as a greater emphasis on risk reduction and preparedness, are just as pertinent to PHEs as to other types of disaster.
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Myanmar continues to experience a severe - and worsening - humanitarian and human rights crisis. Conflict and violence have escalated across the country, impacting children and their families and displacing more than 1.5 million people. Access of conflict-affected populations to services and deliver...y of humanitarian assistance has been further constrained by restrictions imposed on movement of both people and goods.
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The guidance in this publication consists of generic definitions and methodologies for the characterization of extreme weather and climate events. This publication contribute to ensuring consistent exchange of information that underpins the WMO State of the Climate Reports, Climate Watches, climate ...change studies and other emerging applications.
The purpose of the present guidelines is not to change the practice at the national level. Instead, it provides guidance for generic definitions, which are useful in contributing to WMO State of the Climate reports, climate watches, climate change studies and other emerging applications, including the recently adopted methodology for cataloguing hazardous events (WMO-CHE). These applications require regional and/or international exchange of information on extreme events.
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The content of these guidelines goes beyond the technicalities of medical needs with additional insights into community empowerment, possible access to welfare and economic opportunities and similar issues. If these are adequately explored, the health and quality of life of people affected and their... families would be greatly restored.
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The Mapping Antimicrobial Resistance and Antimicrobial Use Partnership (MAAP) project has conducted a multi-year, multi-country study that provides stark insights on the under-reported depth of the antimicrobial resistance (AMR) crisis across Africa and lays out urgent policy recommendations to addr...ess the emergency.
MAAP reviewed 819,584 AMR records from 2016-2019, from 205 laboratories across Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Eswatini, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. MAAP also reviewed data from 327 hospital and community pharmacies and 16 national-level AMC datasets.
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The social protection landscape for people affected by TB in the WHO South-East Asia Region
Available in English, French, Spanish and Russian from the website https://apps.who.int/iris/handle/10665/344562