This guidance is intended to be used by programme managers following the decision to introduce human papillomavirus (HPV) virological testing as a screening assay in their national cervical cancer prevention and control programme. The guidance includes a step-by-step process to be followed after the... decision has been made to specifically introduce and/or scale-up HPV virological testing for screening, which would be followed up with adequate management within the context of cervical cancer prevention
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Workplaces outside of healthcare facilities can be also settings for transmission of COVID-19. Outbreaks of COVID-19 has been reported in various types of workplaces and job categories.
All workers should be protected from acquiring COVID-19 because of their work. The prevention of COVID-19 in ...work settings should be combined with measures for protecting physical and mental health, safety and wellbeing of workers from other occupational hazards in the operation, closures and reopening of workplaces.
This joint WHO/ILO policy brief provides a summary of the evidence for transmission of COVID-19 in general workplaces and an overview of WHO and ILO recommendations for prevention and mitigation of COVID-19 and for protecting health and safety at work in the context of the pandemic.
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Cryptococcal disease, particularly cryptococcal meningitis is a significant cause of morbidity and mortality among people living with HIV with advanced HIV disease. It is estimated that it is responsible for nearly 19% of AIDS-related mortality, second only to tuberculosis. Rapid screening, diagnosi...s and linking to appropriate treatment are critical actions national programs must take to reduce the burden of disease.
WHO in 2022 introduced updated guidelines for diagnosing, preventing, and managing cryptococcal disease among adults, adolescents and children living with HIV. This policy brief provides a summary of the key recommendations, clinical considerations, and also stresses the importance of ensuring access to life-saving antifungals. There is an urgent need for countries to scale-up management for not just cryptococcal meningitis, but address cryptococcal disease in the context of a package of care for advanced HIV disease as recommended by WHO.
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This guide is available in following languages:
Arabic, German, English, French, Italien, Polish, Russian, Serbian, Croatian, Spanish, Turkish.
Go to http://www.ethno-medizinisches-zentrum.de/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=37&Itemid=40
The seven essential features of practice for scaling up are described with great clarity. They are practical and universal, and encourage local innovation. They include policy, funding and local management structure, as well as working with all possible partners and developing local context adaptati...ons. The case studies give ideas and inspiration to develop new programmes and find ways around obstacles in existing programmes, especially through involving those with most at stake including users and their families and local community leaders
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Children continue to be exposed to powerful food marketing, which predominantly promotes foods high in saturated fatty acids, trans-fatty acids, free sugars and/or sodium and uses a wide variety of marketing strategies that are likely to appeal to children. Food marketing has a harmful impact on chi...ldren’s food choice and their dietary intake, affects their purchase requests to adults for marketed foods and influences the development of their norms about food consumption. Food marketing is also increasingly recognized as a children’s rights concern, given its negative impact on several of the rights enshrined in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.This WHO guideline provides Member States with recommendations and implementation considerations on policies to protect children from the harmful impact of food marketing, based on evidence specific to children and to the context of food marketing. Guidelines on other policies to improve the food environment are currently under development.
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The Dublin Regulation (Regulation No. 604/2013; sometimes the Dublin III Regulation; previously the Dublin II Regulation and Dublin Convention) is a European Union (EU) law that determines the EU Member State responsible to examine an application for asylum seekers seeking international protection u...nder the Geneva Convention and the EU Qualification Directive, within the European Union.
For versions in other european languages go to http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?qid=1445168308626&uri=CELEX:32013R0604
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Calls for greater implementation research (IR) capacity came in the wake of compelling evidence that implementation strategies are critically important for the dissemination and facilitation of evidence-informed policies and interventions to tackle noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), thereby improving ...outcomes for both individuals and populations. However, at present, implementation of evidence-based interventions and policies is challenged by a gap in lack of academic research on how these cost–effective recommended interventions can be implemented in the context of local settings, especially those of low and middle-income.
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A public health emergency operations centre (EOC) is a central location for coordinating operational information and resources for strategic management of pugencies and events. EOCs provide communication and information tools and services blic health emer-
and a management system during a response ...to an emergency or event. This report lays out components and characteristics of an emergency operations plan, providing a suggested structure for plans and procedures. The planning process, and that of coducting a hazard analysis or needs assessment, are also discussed as key steps
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Overview: Risk communication and community engagement are essential for any disease outbreak response. This is particularly critical during outbreaks of Ebola which may create fear in the public and frontline responders alike due to severe presentation of symptoms, misunderstanding of the causes of ...illness and high fatality rates. This document outlines some of the key considerations for risk communication and community engagement response to Ebola outbreak in Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Ebola outbreaks have been associated with misinformation and false rumours. In the context of RCCE, rumours refer to unsubstantiated information, claims or beliefs about what is causing the disease or how it can be treated/cured. If not proactively addressed in culturally appropriate ways, misinformation and rumours can lead to the further rapid spread of the disease and unnecessary deaths, severe disease, suffering, and societal and economic loss.
The publication includes a 'Rumour Tracking Tool' (Annex II).
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The Climate Dictionary is an initiative aimed at providing an everyday guide to understanding climate change. It seeks to bridge the gap between complex scientific jargon and the general public, making climate concepts accessible and relatable to individuals from various backgrounds and levels of ex...pertise.
The concept was driven by the belief that empowering people with knowledge is crucial in fostering action and collective responsibility towards addressing climate change. By utilizing a creative combination of compelling visuals, concise explanations, and engaging storytelling, "The Climate Dictionary" effectively communicated complex climate concepts in a user-friendly and visually captivating manner. The publication features a series of climate-related term or phenomenon. The content was meticulously crafted to cater to diverse audiences, catering to both the scientifically inclined and those with limited prior knowledge of the subject.
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The waves of yellow fever transmission in the Region of the Americas in 2016–2018 involved the largest number of human and epizootic cases to be reported in several decades. Yellow fever is a serious viral hemorrhagic disease that poses a challenge for health professionals. It requires early recog...nition of signs and symptoms, which are often nonspecific, and it can mimic other acute febrile syndromes. Early detection of suspected or confirmed cases, monitoring of vital signs, life support measures, and treatment of acute kidney failure continue to be the recommended strategies for case management. This report is the result of discussions among experienced specialists in the Americas on the clinical management of yellow fever patients, especially during outbreaks and epidemics, in the context of current medical and scientific evidence and taking into account the technical guidelines already available in the countries of the Region. It includes flowcharts for initially addressing patients with clinical suspicion of yellow fever and proposes a minimum package of laboratory tests that may be useful in contexts where resources are limited. In addition, it considers aspects of health system organization for dealing with yellow fever outbreaks and epidemics.
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The third edition, released in 2018, has grown to include a total of 18 chapters, contributed by 20 experts and authors from many countries. The goal remains the same: to educate primary care providers on the best practices in TB diagnosis, treatment and follow-up. All articles are richly illustrate...d, and most include quizzes and CME questions for self learning. The 3rd edition includes new chapters on MDR-TB, adverse effects of TB drugs, adherence monitoring strategies, and nutritional support. There is also content on how to manage children with TB, care for patients co-infected with TB and HIV, how to read and interpret chest x-rays, and how to avoid common pitfalls in TB management.
To download book chapters or the whole book go to the website: http://www.letstalktb.org/download/
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STGs are designed to assist health care professionals in making decisions about appropriate, effective patient care. However, health managers often have trouble setting and meeting the high standards required of modern, developed health care systems. With stakeholders expressing concern over issues ...such as strength of evidence, transparency, conflicts of interest, and effective implementation, it is clear that many health care professionals need further guidance in developing and making use of STGs.
This manual guides health professionals through the process of establishing and implementing STGs, placing special emphasis on the low- and middle-income country (LMIC) context. By including tools, templates, and success stories as well as hyperlinks to useful resources, the manual helps health practitioners understand not only important concepts of treatment guidelines, but also how they can best be used in practice.
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The 2021 COVID-19 Strategic Preparedness and Response Plan (SPRP) for AFR serves as a regional guide for a holistic public health response to COVID‑19 at regional, national and sub-national levels. The 2021
SPRP:
1. Builds upon the lessons learnt from the implementation of the 2020 SPRP and outl...ines a regional preparedness, response and recovery strategy for COVID‑19.
2. Has been adapted to reflect the Regional context including COVID-19 vaccination. It also considers epidemiological changes and recommen-dations emerging from the evaluation report of the 2020 SPRP4.
3. Highlights to Member States strategic preparedness and response actions to be sustained at national and sub-national levels, as well as the critical inter-agency and partner support required.
4. provides the indicative resource requirements to reinforce WHO planned interventions in the African Region to enhance countries’ capacities to suppress transmission, save lives and mitigate the impact of the pandemic on people and health systems.
5. Provides a road map for mitigating potential resurgence in the Region as economies reopen and ensure country level continuity of other essential health services.
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This Community Health Systems (CHS) Catalog country profile is the 2016 update of a landscape
assessment that was originally conducted by the Advancing Partners & Communities (APC) project
in 2014. The CHS Catalog focuses on 25 countries deemed priority by the United States Agency for
Internation...al Development’s (USAID) Office of Population and Reproductive Health, and includes
specific attention to family planning (FP), a core focus of the APC project.
The update comes as many countries are investing in efforts to support the Sustainable Development
Goals and to achieve universal health coverage while modifying policies and strategies to better align
and scale up their community health systems.
The purpose of the CHS Catalog is to provide the most up-to-date information available on community
health systems based on existing policies and related documentation in the 25 countries. Hence, it does
not necessarily capture the realities of policy implementation or service delivery on the ground. APC
has made efforts to standardize the information across country profiles, however, content between
countries may vary due to the availability and quality of the data obtained from policy documents.
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As of 12 December 2022, over 645 million people worldwide have been diagnosed with COVID-19, with over 6.6 million deaths (4).
The Omicron variant, which emerged in late November 2021, and its subvariants, are now the dominant circulating viruses, contributing to the ongoing surge in several countr...ies (4). Vaccination has substantially reduced case numbers and hospitalizations in many countries,but limitations in global access to vaccines mean that many populations, including those in low- and middle-income countries, remain vulnerable. Even in vaccinated individuals, uncertainties remain about duration of protection and efficacy, and the degree of crossprotection with new variants.
There remains a need for more effective treatment and management for those affected by COVID-19. The pandemic – and the
explosion of both research and misinformation – has highlighted the need for trustworthy, accessible and regularly updated living
guidelines to place emerging findings into context and provide clear recommendations for clinical practice
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This module covers common Non-Communicable Diseases such as Hypertension, Diabetes and three common cancers (Cervical,
Breast and Oral cancer). The focus of this module is on building the knowledge and skills of the Multi-Purpose Workers (MPW) in
undertaking Population Based Screening, identifi ca...tion of cases for referral, follow up, recognition of complications, prevention
and health promotion. This module can be used by the female
or male MPW. However, while the content of the overall module
is the same for both some tasks will be different, particularly
those related to screening which the female MPW will have to
undertake. It is expected that the ANM/MPW will work closely
with the ASHA in her area. Together they form a front line worker
team to serve the needs of the community. The content of this
module will be covered in three days.
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Food environments are usually defined as the settings with all the different types of
food made available and accessible to people as they go about their daily lives.
That is, the range of food in supermarkets, small retail outlets, wet markets, street
food stalls, coffee shops, tea houses, s...chool canteens, restaurants, and all the other
venues where people buy and eat food. These environments differ enormously depending on the context. They can be extensive and diverse, with a seemingly endless array of options and price ranges, or they can be sparse, with very few options on offer. Because they determine what food consumers can access at a given moment in time, at what price, and with what degree of convenience, food environments both constrain and prompt the consumer’s choice.Food environments are influenced by the food systems which supply them, and vice versa. Food systems encompass the entire range of activities, people and institutions involved in the production, processing,
marketing, consumption and disposal of food (FAO, 2013). They include but are not limited to food supply chains. Making food systems nutrition-sensitive can contribute to addressing all forms of malnutrition, as food systems determine whether the food needed for good nutrition are available, affordable, acceptable and of adequate
quantity and quality. How closely food systems and food environments are interrelated and interdependent, and the degree to which external factors affect nutrition outcomes, varies from setting to setting.Many of today’s food systems
and food environments are challenged in supporting consumer choices that are
consistent with healthy diets and good nutrition. Consumers are not making choices based on nutrition and health, and poor diet is now the number one risk factor for death and disability worldwide (GBD, 2015). Food systems that do not enable healthy diets are increasingly recognized as an underlying cause of malnutrition (GLOPAN, 2016), and malnutrition, irrespective of form, has a huge cost. Economic costs associated with undernutrition are estimated at $1-2 trillion per year, about 2-3% of global GDP (FAO, 2013); the global economic cost of obesity and associated diet-related non-communicable diseases is estimated at $2 trillion per year, about 2.8% of global GDP (McKinsey, 2014). Influencing food environments for promoting healthy diets is an emerging strategy to address today’s nutrition challenges.
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This template dossier complements and should be used after fulfilling the criteria and preconditions specified in the Process of validation of elimination of kala-azar as a public health problem in South-East Asia. The national kala-azar programme should be in the consolidation phase of elimination;... that is, the annual incidence of kala-azar in the implementation unit is maintained below 1 case (new plus relapse) per 10 000 population for a minimum of 3 consecutive years.
The template is designed to help national kala-azar elimination programmes prepare a dossier documenting the essential evidence supporting the request to the World Health Organization (WHO) to validate the status of kala-azar elimination as a public health problem in their country. The information presented in this document will help independent assessors understand the national programme’s specific context, achievements and relevant epidemiological data.
The dossier should be organized according to the following sections:
- Description of the country context and health system capabilities
- Historical data and delineation of endemic areas
- Surveillance and elimination activities
- Epidemiological data
- Vector control strategy and activities
- Post-validation surveillance plan
Once the dossier is prepared, it should be examined and duly endorsed by the National Task Force on kala-azar elimination and/or neglected tropical diseases, or a similar body, before submission to WHO.
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