As countries aim to progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and achieving universal health coverage, health inequities driven by racial discrimination and intersecting factors remain pervasive. Inequities experienced by indigenous peoples as well as people of African descent, Roma ...and other ethnic minorities are of concern globally; they are unjust, preventable and remediable.
Health systems themselves are important determinants of health and health equity. They can perpetuate health inequities by reflecting structural racism and discriminatory practices of wider society. For instance, systemic racism, implicit bias, misinformed clinical practice, or discrimination by health professionals contributes to health inequities. However, health systems can also be a leading force for tackling the inequities faced by populations experiencing racial discrimination.
Primary health care (PHC) is the essential strategy for reorientating health systems and societies to become healthier, equitable, effective and sustainable. In 2018, on the 40th anniversary of the Declaration of Alma-Ata, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) renewed the emphasis on PHC with their strategy,
WHO outlines 14 strategic and operational levers for policy-makers to strengthen PHC. Within each lever, there are multiple potential entry points for targeted actions to address racial discrimination, foster intercultural care, and reduce health inequities experienced by indigenous peoples as well as people of African descent, Roma and other ethnic minorities.
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This guide provides practical, step-by-step guidance on how to organize, implement, and monitor community-based care for DR TB. It is equally useful for program planning or supervision. The target audience for this guide is TB Program Managers, governments, policy makers, nongovernmental organizatio...ns (NGOs), donors and TB advocates.
This guide does not replace other guidelines and documents that contain important medical information, such as Guidelines for the Programmatic Management of Drug-resistant TB (WHO, 2008 and 2011 updates), and Management of MDR-TB: A Field Guide (WHO, 2009).
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Global actions to reduce antimicrobial resistance (AMR) include optimising the use of antimicrobial medicines in human and animal health. In countries with weak healthcare regulation, this requires a greater understanding of the drivers of antibiotic use from the perspective of providers and consume...rs. In Bangladesh, there is limited research on household decision-making and healthcare seeking in relation to antibiotic use and consumption for humans and livestock. Knowledge is similarly lacking on factors influencing the supply and demand for antibiotics among qualified and unqualified healthcare providers. The aim of this study is to conduct integrated research on household decision-making for healthcare and antibiotic use, as well as the awareness, behaviours and priorities of healthcare providers and sellers of antibiotics to translate into policy development and implementation
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The purpose of this publication is to facilitate the implementation of existing WHO guidelines on nutrition-specific and nutrition-sensitive actions required for improving health and well-being of adolescents. Implementing these actions should explicitly take into account the heterogeneity of adoles...cents in general (for instance, in their state of physical growth and social development), as well as the diversity within their country (for instance, in terms of the expected responsibilities in the family, the number out of school or out of work and existing social norms).
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This case study takes a closer look at experiences in three countries and one sub-region, each with a unique profile, a specific set of challenges and opportunities, and differing levels of WASH competencies. Through the lens of the participating National Societies and the communities they serve, th...is study captures rich layers of learning from multi-country implementation between 2016 to 2020.
The unfolding of the COVID-19 pandemic gives a glimpse of the resulting global restrictions that are testing aspects of National Society capacity and preparedness on the ground. It is an opportunity to take stock of progress and the outlook ahead - to celebrate achievements and share experiences with National Societies and partners contemplating capacity development in emergency WASH in the Asia Pacific region.
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The Regional Action Framework for Noncommunicable Disease Prevention and Control provides a unified vision of objectives and recommended actions to combat the noncommunicable disease (NCD) epidemic in the Western Pacific Region. Implementation should be supported by cross-sectoral coordination..., sustainable financing, evidence-based policy, and community engagement, tailored to each Member State’s unique context. In doing so, Member States are encouraged to transform a disease treatment-centered “sick system” into a “health system” in which a population’s health and well-being enable socioeconomic development.
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Four initiatives have estimated the value of aid for reproductive, maternal, newborn, and child health
(RMNCH): Countdown to 2015, the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), the Muskoka Initiative, and
the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) policy marker. We... aimed to compare the
estimates, trends, and methodologies of these initiatives and make recommendations for future aid tracking.
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The Newborn Situational Analysis reports of 2009 and 2011, as well as the “Bottleneck analysis on neonatal health” of 2013, culminated in the Nigeria launch of “Call to action on Newborn health” at the first National Newborn Health Conference in 2014. This call to action provided the framewo...rk for the development of the Nigeria Every Newborn Action
Plan (NiENAP). The NiENAP lays out a vision to end preventable stillbirths and newborn deaths by accelerating progress and scaling up evidence- based high-impact and cost effective interventions. The plan is guided by the principles of country-leadership, integration, accountability, equity, human rights, innovation and research. This blue print outlines our commitment as government and stakeholders to repositioning newborn health as we implement approaches that impact on the lives of newborns for improved health outcome.
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The climate crisis has many consequences – among them widespread health impacts that will lead to immense societal, ecological, and economic harm.
Over the past two decades multiple large-scale reviews on climate change and health have made clear the need for a multi-sectoral approach to target t...he drivers and impacts of climate change, biodiversity loss, and ecosystem degradation. Despite this abundance of scientific evidence underscoring urgency of action, policy implementation responses lag behind. Even at COP26, itself delayed due to an ongoing pandemic, health continues to be considered by many countries a problem independent from climate and environment.
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These guidelines provide a framework for effective action to facilitate access to safe and ethical
testing services for different population groups. The implementation of the a comprehensive
approach, known as HIV Testing Services (HTS) is cardinal as an effective package of services
that diminis...hes the impact of the HIV epidemic in our country. All forms of HTS adhere to
the 5Cs: Confidentiality, Counselling, Consent, Correct results and Connection, or linkage
to care, with all based within a human right context. In addition to the 5Cs, however, the
MOHCDGEC emphasizes the use of a variety of approaches to HTS that will reduce the
number of missed opportunities. These include Provider-Initiated Testing and Counselling
testing, Couple counselling and testing, Index testing, and infant and children counselling and
testing in alignment to the revised WHO guidelines. Furthermore, these guidelines accentuate
on the continual provision of integrated HTS service at all levels of the public and private
health service delivery system.
The HTS Providers, managers and other stakeholders
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No publication year indicated
In the context of the floods in August 2015 in Myanmar, the Disaster Risk Reduction Working Group (DRR WG) was requested to provide clear recommendations to the DMH (Department of Hydrology and Meteorology)to strengthen preparedness activities, in particular for t...he next Monsoon season. UNDP as the lead of the DRR WG’s Policy Technical Task force carried out a desk review on EW (Early Warning) from all the DRR WG’s members at national and community levels. The document synthesizes the received information related to baseline surveys, lessons learned from the 2015’s floods, studies, project documents and initial recommendations on EW. Those serve as a base to this analysis and its overall recommendations.
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Women and Health Initiative Working Paper No. 1. Women and Health Initiative
Improving maternal health in the context of the sub-Saharan African HIV epidemic requires greater understanding of the relationships between HIV disease and maternal morbidity and mortality, integrated and effective resp...onses by the health system, and a social context which promotes quality care and encourages use of MCH and HIV services. Advancing the proposed research agenda will make an invaluable contribution by generating needed evidence for policy and practice that improves the maternal health of women who are living with HIV, as well as those who are not. Bringing together maternal health and HIV researchers, policy-makers and program implementers to reduce HIV-related maternal morbidity and mortality and improve the HIV response for women represents an opportunity and a challenge.
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The threat posed by antimicrobial resistance (AMR) to public health as well as global health security has been reiterated in umerous World Health Assembly (WHA) resolutions. AMR is also prioritized under the Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA), and India is one of the contributing countries. The Mi...nistry of Health & Family Welfare (MoHFW) identified AMR as one of the top 10 priorities for the ministry’s collaborative work with WHO. The National Health Policy 2017 identifies antimicrobial resistance as a problem and calls for effective action to address it. An international conference on AMR – “Combating Antimicrobial Resistance: A
Public Health Challenge and Priority”, was jointly organized by the Government of India and World Health Organization (WHO) in February 2016, which was attended by more than 350 participants. The Hon’ble Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, and the Hon’ble Union Minister for Health, Shri J.P. Nadda have reiterated government’s commitment to tackle AMR.
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Integrating WASH and MHCP interventions will always require imagination and creativity to adapt the approach to specific conditions, opportunities and constraints in each context. The book is designed to stimulate reflection and encourage initiatives to seek opportunities for closer integration of t...hese two sectors. It provides examples and tools for integration, highlights possible obstacles and proposes strategies for overcoming them. It provides ideas, examples and resources that can be used at all stages of the project cycle. It is intended for readers at strategic and operational levels, in ACF country missions and at headquarters.
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This publication is intended for professionals training or practicing in mental health and not for the general public. The opinions
expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the Editor or IACAPAP. This publication seeks to
describe the best treatments and pra...ctices based on the scientific evidence available at the time of writing as evaluated by the authors and may change as a result of new research. Readers need to apply this knowledge to patients in accordance with the guidelines and laws of their country of practice. Some medications may not be available in some countries and readers should consult the specific drug information since not all dosages and unwanted effects are mentioned. Organizations, publications and websites are cited or linked to illustrate issues or as a source of further information. This does not mean that authors, the Editor or IACAPAP endorse their content or recommendations, which should be critically assessed by the reader. Websites may also change or cease to exist.
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The situation in South Sudan has proven to be unpredictable and volatile. New hotspots of violent conflict and civil unrest have continued to emerge and levels of severe acute food insecurity have become progressively worse. In addition to years of fighting and political instability, the country fac...es natural hazards, disease and pests, such as the desert locust, and the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Collectively, these risks have had and continue to have a catastrophic impact on the lives and livelihoods of South Sudanese, the majority of whom rely on agriculture, livestock, forestry and fisheries as their main source of income.
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his publication provides an overview of social inequalities in several indicators related to the health of women, children, and adolescents in a region deemed as one with high levels of inequality: Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). In order for it to serve as a baseline for the 2030 Agenda, emp...hasis is placed on examining these inequalities around the year 2014. The analysis suggests that reducing within-country disparities is a priority, as widespread social inequalities in health are identified among LAC countries.
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To guide One Health capacity building efforts in the Republic of Guinea in the wake of the 2014–2016 Ebola virus disease (EVD) outbreak, we sought to identify and assess the existing systems and structures for zoonotic disease detection and control. We partnered with the government ministries resp...onsible for human, animal, and environmental health to identify a list of zoonotic diseases – rabies, anthrax, brucellosis, viral hemorrhagic fevers, trypanosomiasis and highly pathogenic avian influenza – as the country's top priorities. We used each priority disease as a case study to identify existing processes for prevention, surveillance, diagnosis, laboratory confirmation, reporting and response across the three ministries. Results were used to produce disease-specific systems “maps” emphasizing linkages across the systems, as well as opportunities for improvement. We identified brucellosis as a particularly neglected condition. Past efforts to build avian influenza capabilities, which had degraded substantially in less than a decade, highlighted the challenge of sustainability. We observed a keen interest across sectors to reinvigorate national rabies control, and given the regional and global support for One Health approaches to rabies elimination, rabies could serve as an ideal disease to test incipient One Health coordination mechanisms and procedures. Overall, we identified five major categories of gaps and challenges: (1) Coordination; (2) Training; (3) Infrastructure; (4) Public Awareness; and (5) Research. We developed and prioritized recommendations to address the gaps, estimated the level of resource investment needed, and estimated a timeline for implementation. These prioritized recommendations can be used by the Government of Guinea to plan strategically for future One Health efforts, ideally under the auspices of the national One Health Platform. This work demonstrates an effective methodology for mapping systems and structures for zoonotic diseases, and the benefit of conducting a baseline review of systemic capabilities prior to embarking on capacity building efforts.
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Despite its rich culture, great economic potential, high level of education and last but not least its sheer size – it is the largest state whose borders lie entirely within Europe and is 1.7 times the size of the Federal Republic of Germany – Ukraine seems far away in perception and awareness. ...Publications on recent dramatic events, such as the Ukraine conflict or the Crimea crisis, have done little to change this. In fact, the armed conflict in the eastern Ukrainian oblasts of Donetsk and Luhansk, which has been ongoing since February 2014, is still a burdening feature of many political and economic difficulties destabilizing the country. News coverage of health issues in Ukraine has recently been dominated by highly critical reports on the handling of the Covid 19 pandemic. This pandemic exacerbated existing weaknesses in the Ukrainian health care system, but at least it did not create any new ones.
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MSF provides treatment for HIV and tuberculosis (TB) in more than 20 countries around the world. The report Burden sharing or burden shifting? How the HIV/TB response is being derailed examines the situation in nine countries where MSF runs programmes: Central African Republic, Democratic Republic ...of Congo, Eswatini, Guinea, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Myanmar and Zimbabwe. With a focus on the financial resources available, this report highlights the current risks and gaps in HIV and TB service delivery in these countries.
Given the findings of gaps in diagnosis, prevention and care services and dwindling resources, MSF calls for a robust assessment of the needs and the resource capacity of each affected country, and calls on international donors to ensure that the financial burden is shared, rather than shifted onto those countries worst affected by the diseases.
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