The WHO Guide on Oral Cholera Vaccines in Mass Immunization Campaigns provides guidance on the planning and implementation of oral cholera vaccine (OCV) campaigns. It covers key aspects such as when and where to use OCVs, vaccine specifications, and recommendations for use in endemic areas, outbreak... settings, and complex emergencies. The document outlines steps for macro- and micro-planning, logistics, budgeting, human resource allocation, and risk communication. It also highlights challenges, including cold chain management, vaccine supply, and community engagement, ensuring that vaccination campaigns are efficient and effective in reducing cholera outbreaks.
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Emergency medical teams (EMTs) play an important role in strengthening health service networks in terms of their strategies and tactics for planning mass vaccination programs, especially in remote or under-resourced areas or those overwhelmed by COVID-19. EMTs experience deploying in remote areas an...d handling operational challenges to ensure their response even under the most austere conditions will be of great support in facing the technical and logistical challenges to timely and equitable access to vaccines at the local level.
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Trachoma is the leading infectious cause of blindness worldwide. In April 2023, it was a public health problem
in approximately 40 countries, with an estimated 116 million people at risk and 1.5 million people affected
by the late blinding stage of the disease (1). About 84% of those at risk of tr...achoma are in the World Health
Organization (WHO)’s African Region; about 52% of those at risk of trachoma live in Ethiopia
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This document updates the earlier version published in April 2020. In recent weeks, information on the potential use of chloroquine or hydroxychloroquine for the treatment of people with COVID-19 has been disseminated in academic journals and public media. Although there are now ongoing clinical tri...als testing the efficacy and safety of several medicines for COVID-19, as of the date of this document, there is a lack of quality evidence to demonstrate chloroquine and/or hydroxychloroquine are effective in the treatment of COVID-19. Evidence is recently emerging via small studies with sub-optimal methodologies that are conflicting.
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This operational guidance provides a structured approach to support countries in sustaining priority services for HIV, viral hepatitis and sexually transmitted infections in the context of reduced external funding. The guidance is intended for national governments, public health programmes, communit...y-led organizations, civil society, technical partners and donors working to safeguard priority services, support phased adaptation, protect health outcomes and preserve hard-won gains.
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This guide presents new knowledge and guidelines on the provision of care to persons living with HIV/AIDS, in accordance with the last guidelines of the World Health Organization (WHO) published in 2006 and adapted to the Rwandan national context. It thus responds to the need by the Ministry of Heal...th to improve the skills of the actors in the health sector as well as the quality of care and antiretroviral treatment offered in both public and private health facilities countrywide.
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This publication is a companion document to the NDVP National Deployment and Vaccination Plans guidance, which provides a framework for countries to develop their national strategies. As countries face challenges with erratic vaccine supplies, use of multiple vaccine products with different charact...eristics, and the size of populations and their diversity, this document provides operational guidance and information to support planners and immunization programme managers at the national and sub-national levels on microplanning for COVID-19 vaccination implementation.
This Guide is available in English, French, Arabic, chinese, Portuguese, Spanish, Russian
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Several countries affected by COVID-19, have seen increases in levels of violence occurring in the home, including violence against children, intimate partner violence and violence against older people. Countries also face increasing challenges in maintaining support and care for survivors of violen...ce. This brief compiles key actions that the health sector can undertake within a multisectoral response to prevent or mitigate interpersonal violence based on existing WHO guidance.
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This document aims to support those working in primary care to strengthen IPC, informed by existing WHO IPC guidance and implementation resources. Many of the existing WHO IPC guidance and implementation resources initially developed for acute health care facilities have a potential utility for IPC ...in primary care. However, navigating these resources to locate relevant content for IPC in primary care can be challenging as some documents can span over 100 pages. This document extracts relevant content, bringing together existing WHO IPC standards, indicators and implementation approaches that are focused on, or directly relevant to IPC in primary care. It should also be used to identify resources suitable for use in primary care that can be embedded within relevant IPC or other health programmes.
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The recommendations in this guideline are intended to inform development of national and subnational health policies, clinical protocols and programmatic guides. The target audience includes national and subnational public health policy-makers, implementers and managers of maternal, newborn and chil...d health programmes, health-care facility managers, supervisors/instructors for in-service training, health workers (including midwives, auxiliary nurse-midwives, nurses, paediatricians, neonatologists, general medical practitioners and community health workers), nongovernmental organizations, professional societies involved in the planning and management of maternal, newborn and child health services, academic staff involved in research and in the pre-service education and training of health workers, and those involved in the education of parents.
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Inerim Guidance. These guidelines have been developed in recognition that infection with Zika virus may present a risk to blood safety, and in consideration of the declaration on 1 February 2016 by the WHO Director-General of a Public Health Emergency of International Concern with regard to clusters... of microcephaly and other neurological disorders, potentially associated with Zika virus. Currently there is limited knowledge of Zika virus biology and lack of definitive evidence of a link between infection and potential complications
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The objective of this manual is to guide managers of schistosomiasis and soil-transmitted helminthiases control programmes towards the elimination of these diseases as public health problems informed by evidence generated through monitoring and evaluation of these programmes. The manual complements ...the objectives outlined by the World Health Organization (WHO) in the road map for neglected tropical diseases 2021–2030 (“the road map”) (WHO, 2020a) and the monitoring and evaluation framework (WHO, 2021a), a companion document to the road map.
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This guideline provides updated, evidence-informed guidance on the percentage of total fat in the diet to reduce the risk of unhealthy weight gain.
This guideline is intended for a wide audience involved in the development, design and implementation of policies and programmes in nutrition and pub...lic health. This guideline includes a recommended level of total fat intake which can be used by policy-makers and programme managers to address various aspects of dietary fat in their populations through a range of policy actions and public health interventions.
The guidance in this guideline replaces previous WHO guidance on total fat intake, including that from the 1989 WHO Study Group on Diet, Nutrition and the Prevention of Chronic Diseases and the 2002 Joint WHO/FAO Expert Consultation on Diet, Nutrition and the Prevention of Chronic Diseases. The guidance in this guideline should be considered in the context of that from other WHO guidelines on healthy diets.
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La carga de la diabetes es enorme, posicionándola como uno de los principales desafíos que enfrenta la salud pública en la actualidad. Actualmente, se estima que 62 millones de personas viven con diabetes en la Región de las Américas y las proyecciones muestran que su prevalencia seguirá aumen...tando en los próximos años. La Región muestra el mayor número de años de vida saludable perdidos (ya sea por discapacidad o muerte prematura) debido a la diabetes en todo el mundo. Los altos costes asociados a su tratamiento producen una pesada carga económica. Sus complicaciones pueden afectar seriamente la calidad de vida de las personas que viven con diabetes, sus familias y la sociedad y sobrecargar los sistemas de salud. Este informe muestra los últimos datos comparables internacionalmente sobre la diabetes y sus principales factores de riesgo por año, país y sexo. También incluye un resumen de la respuesta de los sistemas de salud de los países a la diabetes, incluidos planes nacionales, objetivos, vigilancia, directrices y acceso a medicamentos y tecnologías esenciales, y sintetiza información sobre las complicaciones relacionadas con la diabetes y la estrecha relación entre la diabetes y otras patologías, como enfermedades cardiovasculares, tuberculosis y COVID-19.
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Apart from implementation of TB infection Prevention and Control measures, treatment of those with active TB of the lungs is key in preventing the spread of the TB bacilli. The Public Health Act CAP 242, section 17 classify TB as notifiable infectious disease and under section 26 as part of preventi...on and control of infectious diseases, those exposed or suffer from the notifiable infectious diseases should be isolated in designated place and detained while taking medication until in the assessment of the Medical officer of health confirm that the person is free from infection or able to be discharged without danger to public health.
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Interim Guidance.
A number of medical problems have been reported in survivors, including mental health issues. Ebola virus may persist in some body fluids, including semen. Ebola survivors need comprehensive support for the medical and psychosocial challenges they face and also to minimize the ...risk of continued Ebola virus transmission. WHO has developed this document to guide health services on how to provide quality care to survivors of Ebola virus disease
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Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) has significantly helped in early diagnosis and commencement of specific interventions for diseases control. It also plays a critical role in understanding the disease epidemiology and unraveling the transmission dynamics of the disease. This manual intends to p...rovide primary guidelines to assist health lab personnel in developing countries to establish a PCR diagnostic facility for efficient support to patient care as well as public health actions.
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Suicides take a high toll. Over 800 000 people die by suicide every year and it is the second leading cause of
death in 15-29-year-olds. Most suicides occur in low- and middle-income countries where resources
and services, if they do exist, are often scarce and limited for early identification, tr...eatment and support of
people in need. These striking facts and the lack of implemented timely interventions make suicide a serious
global public health problem that needs to be tackled urgently.
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Background
Asthma education, a key component of long-term asthma management, is challenging in resource-limited settings with shortages of clinical staff. Task-shifting educational roles to lay (non-clinical) staff is a potential solution. We conducted a randomised controlled trial of an enhanced a...sthma care intervention for children in Malawi, which included reallocation of asthma education tasks to lay-educators. In this qualitative sub-study, we explored the experiences of asthmatic children, their families and lay-educators, to assess the acceptability, facilitators and barriers, and perceived value of the task-shifting asthma education intervention.
Methods
We conducted six focus group discussions, including 15 children and 28 carers, and individual interviews with four lay-educators and a senior nurse. Translated transcripts were coded independently by three researchers and key themes identified.
Results
Prior to the intervention, participants reported challenges in asthma care including the busy and sometimes hostile clinical environment, lack of access to information and the erratic supply of medication. The education sessions were well received: participants reported greater understanding of asthma and their treatment and confidence to manage symptoms. The lay-educators appreciated pre-intervention training, written guidelines, and access to clinical support. Low education levels among carers presented challenges, requiring an open, non-critical and individualised approach.
Discussion
Asthma education can be successfully delivered by lay-educators with adequate training, supervision and support, with benefits to the patients, their families and the community. Wider implementation could help address human resource shortages and support progress towards Universal Health Coverage.
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The main purpose of the meeting was to review tsetse control tools, activities and their contribution to the elimination of gHAT and the monitoring thereof. Seven endemic countries provided reports on recent and ongoing vector control interventions at the national level (Angola, Cameroon, Côte d’...Ivoire, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Guinea and Uganda). Country reports focused on the in situations implementing and supporting vector control activities, the tools and the approaches in use, the coverage of the activities in space and time and their impacts on tsetse populations. Future perspectives for vector control in the respective countries were also discussed, including opportunities and challenges to sustainability.
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