Addressing comorbidities and risk factors for tuberculosis (TB) is a crucial component of the World Health Organization (WHO)’s End TB Strategy. This WHO operational handbook on tuberculosis. Module 6: tuberculosis and comorbidities aims to support countries in scaling up people-centred care, ...based on the latest WHO recommendations on TB and key comorbidities, and drawing upon additional evidence, best practices and inputs from various experts and stakeholders obtained during WHO processes. It is intended for use by people working in ministries of health, particularly TB programmes and the relevant departments or programmes responsible for comorbidities and health-related risk factors for TB such as HIV, diabetes, undernutrition, substance use, and tobacco use, as well as programmes addressing mental health and lung health.
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WHO recommends that pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) be offered as an additional prevention choice for HIV-negative individuals at substantial risk of HIV infection as part of combination prevention approaches.
HIV drug resistance has been rarely reported among PrEP users who tested HIV positive i...n randomized controlled trials or open-label studies. However, PrEP-selected HIV drug resistance could potentially negatively impact the effectiveness of treatment options among PrEP users who acquire HIV, since there is a potential for overlapping resistance profiles between antiretroviral drugs used for both PrEP and first-line antiretroviral therapy.
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Rapid review and case studies from Member States
Peripheral artery disease (PAD) is the most underdiagnosed, underestimated and undertreated of the atherosclerotic vascular diseases despite its poor prognosis. There may be racial or contextual differences in the Asia-Pacific region as to epidemiology, availability of diagnostic and therapeutic mod...alities, and even patient treatment response. The Asian Pacific Society of Atherosclerosis and Vascular Diseases (APSAVD) thus coordinated the development of an Asia-Pacific Consensus Statement (APCS) on the Management of PAD.
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The roadmap describes the actions needed to
achieve the three development goals for TB
vaccines set by the WHO:
1. A safe, effective and affordable TB vaccine
for adolescents and adults.
2. An affordable TB vaccine for neonates and
infants with improved safety and efficacy.
3. A therapeutic v...accine to improve TB
treatment outcomes
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The National Asthma Education Programme (NAEP) is a registered non-profit organisation whose mission is to provide asthma education to healthcare professionals, patients and the lay public. It was founded in 1994 by Dr Mike Greenblatt and Profs Dave Luyt and Robin Green. This year NAEP celebrates it...s 25th anniversary and remains driven by the need to improve the daily lives of numerous asthmatics in South Africa (SA) and Africa.
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More than 700 000 people lose their life to suicide every year. A core foundation of suicide prevention is the timely registration and regular monitoring of suicide and self-harm. Surveillance data can be used to show important progress towards reaching global targets, such as reducing the suicide r...ate by one third by 2030 as articulated in the UN SDGs and in the WHO Mental Health Action Plan 2013-2030. However, there are considerable discrepancies in the quality of data on suicide and self-harm globally. The aim of this training manual is to equip fieldworkers and supervisors with the skills to collect and manage data on suicide and self-harm in the community via key informants, health-care facilities and police records. In doing so, the value and overall goal is to strengthen the surveillance of suicide and self-harm in communities, particularly in LMICs and hard-to-reach communities where CRVS systems are weak or absent.
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Thefirst report on Latin America and the Carribean presents key indicators on health and health systems in 33 Latin America and the Caribbean countries. . Analysis is based on the latest comparable data across almost 100 indicators including equity, health status, determinants of health, health car...e resources and utilisation, health expenditure and financing, and quality of care. The editorial discusses the main challenges for the region brought by the COVID-19 pandemic, such as managing the outbreak as well as mobilising adequate resources and using them efficiently to ensure an effective response to the epidemic.
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