Diabetes is a serious, chronic disease that occurs either when the pancreas does not produce enough insulin (a hormone that regulates blood sugar, or glucose), or when the body cannot effectively use the insulin it produces. Diabetes is an important public health problem, one of four priority noncom...municable diseases (NCDs) targeted for action by world leaders. Both the number of cases and the prevalence of diabetes have been steadily increasing over the past few decades.
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This content provides concise, pragmatic guidance to front-line healthcare workers. The guidance is written by PCI’s Clinical Associates, who are themselves primary healthcare workers. It draws on up-to-date guidance from key sources including the WHO, UNHCR and PCI’s own sister organisation R...ed Whale (a leading provider of medical education in the UK). The modules include: A guide to public health measures; The definition of a case of COVID-19 virus, Preparing the primary health care centre; Prevent the spread of COVID-19; Triage and management in primary care; Managing patients with NCDs; Mental health -patients and healthcare workers; and Case studies.
How to access the course:
Go to the ‘PCI Academy’ website homepage https://covid19.pci-academy.org/
Register for an account, Go to the ‘COVID-19’ course
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People with Guinea worm disease (GWD) have no symptoms for about 1 year. Then, the person begins to feel ill. Symptoms can include the following:
Slight fever
Itchy rash
Nausea
Vomiting
Diarrhea
Dizziness
A blister then develops. This blister can form anywhere on the skin. However, the blis...ter forms on the lower body parts in 80%–90% of cases. This blister gets bigger over several days and causes a burning pain. The blister eventually ruptures, exposing the worm. The infected person may put the affected body part in cool water to ease the symptoms or may enter water to perform daily tasks, such as fetching drinking water. On contact with water, the worm discharges hundreds of thousands of larvae into the water.
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Stigma and discrimination related to mental health conditions are widespread and harmful. Reducing stigma and discrimination can benefit families, societies and economies – it can save lives. The toolkit offers practical guidance on how to achieve this, based on three core evidence-based principle...s: leadership or co-leadership by people with lived experience, social contact, and inclusive partnerships. These 3 principles can be realized using a four-step process: identify and define aims, plan and prepare, launch and learn and reflect and proceed. Twelve case studies from all across the world are provided to demystify the process. Stigma and discrimination can be ended if each of us acts as one using the principles in this toolkit.
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Se sabe que las mujeres embarazadas experimentan cambios inmunológicos y fisiológicos que pueden hacerlas más susceptibles a las infecciones respiratorias virales, incluido COVID-19. Varios estudios revelaron que las mujeres embarazadas con diferentes enfermedades resp...iratorias virales tenían un alto riesgo de desarrollar complicaciones obstétricas y resultados adversos perinatales en comparación con las mujeres no grávidas, debido a los cambios en las respuestas inmunes. También sabemos que las mujeres embarazadas pueden estar en riesgo de enfermedad grave, morbilidad o mortalidad en comparación con la población general, tal y como se observa en los casos de otras infecciones por coronavirus
5relacionadas [incluido el coronavirus del síndrome respiratorio agudo severo (SARS-CoV) y el coronavirus del síndrome respiratorio del Medio Oriente (MERS-CoV)] y otras infecciones respiratorias virales, como la gripe, durante el embarazo.
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The Lancet Global Health, published online 18 August 2017;
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S2214-109X(17)30332-7
The article "The Political Determinants of the Cholera Outbreak in Yemen" examines how the ongoing civil war has contributed to Yemen’s severe cholera outbreak. The 2017 epidemic was des...cribed as the worst in the world, with cholera spreading rapidly due to the collapse of health, water, and sanitation systems.
The analysis shows that Houthi-controlled areas were disproportionately affected, accounting for 77.7% of cases and 80.7% of deaths. The article highlights the role of the Saudi-led coalition in worsening conditions through airstrikes on infrastructure, blockades restricting medical and food supplies, and the overall humanitarian crisis. It criticizes UNICEF for accepting a $67 million donation from Saudi Arabia while the coalition contributed to the crisis.
The article underscores that political actions and conflict have been key factors in the outbreak’s severity, with both warring sides failing to protect civilians.
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Cholera is a major health risk in many parts of the world, affecting millions of people every year. Since mid-2021, the world has been facing an acute upsurge of the 7th cholera pandemic, which is characterized by the number, size and concurrence of multiple outbreaks, the spread to areas that had b...een free of cholera for decades and alarmingly high mortality rates. The mortality associated with these outbreaks is of particular concern as many countries have reported higher case fatality ratios (CFR) than in previous years
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This document contains a series of desk reviews for the eight ENGAGE-TB priority countries supported by the Global Fund (DRC, Kenya, Indonesia, Mozambique, Myanmar, Nigeria, Pakistan and Tanzania). The document provides a situation assessment and gap analysis about the state of community based TB ac...tivities in these countries. The focus on these eight countries was justified by the high prevalence of TB and the very high number of missed/unreported cases.
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According to the World Health Organization (WHO), sub-Saharan Africa has only 3% of the world’s health workers to cater for 11% of the world population, bearing over 25% of the global disease burden (WHO, 2014). With a steady increase in reported cases on the African Continent, the current COVID-1...9 pandemic threatens to overwhelm our already taxed health infrastructure. It is, therefore, imperative to take serious and urgent measures towards disease management and monitoring especially as the need for self-quarantine and contact surveillance rises.
In view of the infrastructural and resource gaps, technology should be considered for remote management of healthcare deliver to patients during this period. As it is abundantly clear, even countries with more advanced healthcare infrastructure and resources have struggled to treat COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 patients during this pandemic.
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This toolkit for integrated vector management (IVM) is designed to help national and regional programme managers coordinate across sectors to design and run large IVM programmes.
The toolkit provides the technical detail required to plan, implement, monitor and evaluate an IVM approach. IVM can... be used when the aim is to control or eliminate vector-borne diseases and can also contribute to insecticide resistance management. This toolkit provides information on where vector-borne diseases are endemic and what interventions should be used, presenting case studies on IVM as well as relevant guidance documents for reference.
The diseases that are the focus of this toolkit are malaria, lymphatic filariasis, dengue, leishmaniasis, onchocerciasis, human African trypanosomiasis and schistosomiasis. It also includes information on other viral diseases (Rift Valley fever, West Nile fever, Chikungunya, yellow fever) and trachoma. If other vector-borne diseases appear in a country or area, vector control with an IVM approach should be adopted, as per national priorities.
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16 Dec. 2020
This document provides guidance to Ministries of Health (MOHs), laboratory personnel and implementing partners in African Union Member States on the application of rapid antigen tests to COVID-19 testing. The guidance serves as reference for policymakers, laboratory leads, implementing... partners, and experts on use case scenarios and associated testing algorithms for COVID-19 antigen tests. It recommends the use of antigen tests to increase access to testing and enable timely results for persons with or without symptoms in specific settings. The document will be reviewed and updated as more evidence becomes available regarding the use of rapid antigen tests for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) from global studies and evaluation efforts.
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Objetivos.
Estimar la carga de tuberculosis (TB) en menores de 15 años y describir las características clínico, epidemiológicas y los resultados del tratamiento antituberculoso en Ecuador.
Métodos.
Se realizó un estudio retrospectivo utilizando los datos del programa nacional de TB de los... años 2015 y 2016. Se estimaron la tasa y el porcentaje de casos de TB infantil y se describieron las características de la enfermedad y el resultado del tratamiento según las categorías de edad: 0-4, 5-9 y 10-14 años.
Resultados.
De los 10 991 casos de TB diagnosticados, 223 (2,03%) fueron menores de 15 años; según la región del país esta carga varió entre 0 y 5,5%. De los 223 casos, en 213 se había registrado el resultado del tratamiento y fueron incluidos en el estudio; 78 (37%) eran menores de 5 años y en 147 (69%) no hubo registro de la investigación de contactos. Sesenta y cinco (68%) de los adolescentes y 40 (51%) de los menores de 5 años tenían diagnóstico de TB pulmonar. La prevalencia de VIH fue 11,5% en los menores 5 años y 6,3% en el grupo de 10-14 años. El tratamiento fue satisfactorio en el 93% de los casos, (curación, 36,6%, tratamiento terminado, 56,8%).
Conclusiones:
Ecuador presenta un alto porcentaje de subdiagnóstico de TB infantil y una carga menor a la esperada, principalmente en menores de 5 años. La alta prevalencia de VIH y la falta de sistematización adecuada de la investigación de contactos en los adolescentes revelan la necesidad de considerar estrategias centradas en la familia y que involucren la capacitación del personal de salud en el manejo del paciente pediátrico centrándose en las necesidades específicas de cada población.
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La tuberculosis (TB) continúa siendo un problema mundial de salud pública de grave magnitud, clasificándose como la segunda causa de muerte por enfermedad infecciosa, pese a los aportes logrados en el control las cifras no son alentadoras, de acuerdo con la Organización Mundial de la Salud (OMS)..., en el 2017, se presentaron 10,0 millones de personas que padecieron tuberculosis, estos casos se presentaron en 5,8 millones de hombres, 3,2 millones de mujeres y 1,0 millón de niños
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Journal of Tuberculosis Research, 2017, 5, 189-200
Background: In Benin, little is known about the influence of both gender and
HIV-status on diagnostic patterns and treatment outcomes of Tuberculosis
(TB) patients. Objective: To assess whether differences in gender and HIV
status affect diagn...ostic patterns and treatment outcomes of TB patients. Methods:
Retrospective cohort study of patients registered in 2013 and 2014 in
the three largest TB Basic Management Units in south Benin. Results: Of 2694
registered TB patients, 1700 (63.1%) were male. Case notification rates were
higher in males compared with females (96 vs 53/100,000 inhabitants). The
male to female ratio was 1:1 in HIV positive patients, but was 2:1 among HIV
negative cases. In HIV-positive patients, there were no differences in TB types
between men and women. In HIV-negative patients, there were significantly
higher proportions of females with clinically diagnosed pulmonary TB (p =
0.04) and extrapulmonary TB (p < 0.001). Retreatment TB was 4.65 times
higher amongst males compared with females. For New bacteriologically confirmed
pulmonary TB, no differences were observed in treatment outcomes
between genders in the HIV positive group; but significantly more unfavorable
outcomes were reported among HIV negative males, with higher rates of
failure (p < 0.001) and loss-to-follow up (p = 0.02). Conclusion: The study
has shown that overall TB notification rates were higher in males than in females
in south Benin, with more females co-infected with HIV. Unfavorable outcomes were more common in HIV-negative males.
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Despite progress in improving antiretroviral therapy (ART) for people with HIV in Malawi, the burden of HIV infections and HIV treatment outcomes among key populations is suboptimal. Client-centered differentiated service delivery approaches may facilitate addressing HIV prevention and treatment nee...ds of key populations in Malawi.
Methods
De-identified program data routinely collected as part of the LINKAGES project–Malawi were assembled from October 2017 to September 2019. HIV case finding was compared across different testing modalities for each population. Poisson regression was used to estimate the association between testing modalities and ART initiation.
Results
Of the 18 397 people included in analyses, 10 627 (58%) were female sex workers (FSWs), 2219 (12%) were men who have sex with men (MSM), and 4970 (27%) were clients of FSWs. HIV case finding varied by modality and population, with index testing and enhanced peer outreach demonstrating high yield despite reaching relatively few individuals. FSWs who tested positive through risk network referral testing were more likely to initiate ART within 30 days compared with those who tested positive through clinic-based testing (adjusted risk ratio [aRR], 1.50; 95% CI, 1.23–1.82). For MSM, index testing (aRR, 1.45; 95% CI, 1.06–2.00) and testing through a drop-in center (aRR, 1.82; 95% CI, 1.19–2.78) were associated with 30-day ART initiation.
Conclusions
These data suggest that differentiated HIV testing and outreach approaches tailored to the needs of different key populations may facilitate improved ART initiation in Malawi. Achieving 0 new infections by 2030 suggests the need to adapt treatment strategies given individual and structural barriers to treatment for key populations with HIV in high-prevalence settings.
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The ECA, says over 300,000 Africans could lose their lives due to COVID-19. This, as the pandemic continues to impact on the Continent’s struggling economies whose growth is expected to slow down from 3.2 percent to 1.8 percent in a best-case scenario, pushing close to 27 million people into extr...eme poverty.
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Tras el terremoto de Turquía y Siria en febrero de 2023, se brindó respuesta de emergencia a la población afectada. Las personas jóvenes con discapacidad fueron uno de los grupos sociales más afectados por la crisis. Se trata de jóvenes que adquirieron una discapacidad como consecuencia del te...rremoto, o jóvenes con discapacidad que sufrieron mayor aislamiento tras el terremoto, debido a barreras estructurales, agravadas con la crisis.
Como repuesta a esta situación, el Pacto para la Juventud en la Acción Humanitaria contactó al Grupo de Trabajo sobre Personas Jóvenes con Discapacidad de Juventud 2030, con el objetivo de apoyar a los equipos humanitarios que brindan asistencia en terreno. Concretamente, esta Guía Corta busca apoyar a los equipos en el terreno para asegurar la participación significativa de personas jóvenes con discapacidad en la respuesta humanitaria local. La versión actual de esta Guía Corta se ha creado para un contexto más amplio: será útil no solo en el caso de Turquía y Siria, sino también en otras crisis humanitarias.
Las personas jóvenes con discapacidad son aquellas entre los 15 y los 24 años de edad con impedimentos físicos, mentales, intelectuales o sensoriales a largo plazo que, al interactuar con diversas barreras sociales, pueden dificultar su participación completa y efectiva en la sociedad en igualdad de condiciones con los demás1 . Sin embargo, según el contexto, se considera personas jóvenes a aquellas entre los 15 y los 29 años. Por ejemplo, en el movimiento por los derechos de las personas con discapacidad, algunas organizaciones proponen este rango de edad más amplio2 debido a las barreras estructurales que afectan al desarrollo de las personas con discapacidad y, por ende, su posterior transición hacia la edad adulta.
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Hypertension, also known as high or raised blood pressure, is a condition in which the blood vessels have persistently raised pressure. Blood is carried from the heart to all parts of the body in the vessels. Each time the heart beats, it pumps blood into the vessels. Blood pressure is created by th...e force of blood pushing against the walls of blood vessels (arteries) as it is pumped by the heart. The higher the pressure, the harder the heart has to pump.
Hypertension is a serious medical condition and can increase the risk of heart, brain, kidney and other diseases. It is a major cause of premature death worldwide, with upwards of 1 in 4 men and 1 in 5 women – over a billion people – having the condition. The burden of hypertension is felt disproportionately in low- and middle-income countries, where two thirds of cases are found, largely due to increased risk factors in those populations in recent decades.
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What is good ear care? Should we clean our ears? How can noise affect our ears?
Many myths and misconceptions are associated with ear problems and hearing loss. 360 million persons across the world have disabling hearing loss. About half of all these cases are easily prevented or treated. Following... good ear care practices, such as reducing exposure to noise, avoiding insertion of objects into the ears can prevent many from developing ear and hearing problems.
This brief animation features a young girl talking about her experience of ear pain. It depicts common home remedies and behaviour that can damage the ears, leading to hearing loss.
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The WHO document "Integrating the prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases in HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and sexual and reproductive health programmes: implementation guidance" provides a framework for integrating noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) into existing health programs for HIV/AIDS, tub...erculosis (TB), and sexual and reproductive health (SRH). It emphasizes the importance of a people-centered approach to enhance healthcare accessibility and efficiency, especially in low-resource settings. The document outlines strategies for strengthening policy, financing, capacity building, and health system infrastructure. It offers actionable steps, tools, and case studies to support countries in reducing the burden of NCDs through integrated, holistic care within primary health services.
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