User Guide.
This Laboratory Assessment Tool (LAT) is specifically designed to assess capacities of existing laboratories which have implemented or aim to implement SARS-CoV-2 testing. It addresses both core capacities of a laboratory and specificities related to SARS-CoV-2 testing. It is a focused... and shorter version from the existing complete laboratory assessment tool that can be found at https://www.who.int/ihr/publications/laboratory_tool/en/
The target audience is any stakeholder performing laboratory assessments such as national health authorities, multilateral agencies, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and laboratory managers. Assessors can use the tool, and customized if needed, to meet local requirements or assessment context. This tool is an Excel file, which enables automatic calculations of module indicators.
https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/laboratory-assessment-tool-for-laboratories-implementing-covid-19-virus-testing
more
The document provides educational messages and practical guidance to prevent and manage diarrhoea, particularly in children. It emphasizes hygiene practices like proper handwashing, using latrines, and safe food handling. It also highlights the importance of breastfeeding, balanced nutrition, immuni...zation, and the use of Oral Rehydration Solutions (ORS) and zinc for treating dehydration caused by diarrhoea. Developed alongside Save the Children programs in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the material integrates health education into schools and communities, encouraging children to act as agents of change in promoting hygiene and health practices.
more
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) aim to transform our world. They are a call to action to end poverty and inequality, protect the planet, and ensure that all people enjoy health, justice and prosperity. It is critical that no one is left behind. In 2015, all the countries in the United... Nations adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. It sets out 17 Goals, which include 169 targets. These wide-ranging and ambitious Goals interconnect. SDG 3 is to ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages. It has 13 targets measured through 26 indicators. However, a person’s health and well-being are affected not only by disease and treatment, but also by social and economic factors such as housing, poverty and education. Health targets can therefore also be found across the other SDGs. This fact sheet shows how alcohol consumption undermines commitments to achieve 13 of the 17 SDGs, impacting on a range of health-related indicators, such as child health, infectious diseases and road injuries as well as much broader range of indicators related to economic and social development, environment and equality. The inclusion of a specific target on harmful use of alcohol (SDG 3.5: strengthen the prevention and treatment of substance abuse, including narcotic drug abuse and harmful use of alcohol) into the SDGs demonstrates the key role of alcohol within the global development agenda. The factsheet highlights positive examples of Member States’ experiences. It provides a short overview of the most cost-effective and feasible policy recommendations to reduce alcohol consumption and alcohol-attributable burden in the WHO European Region, in line with the European Action Plan to Reduce the Harmful Use of Alcohol. It also suggests some important resources for Member States. This factsheet was launched as part of the European Awareness Week on Alcohol Related Harm 2020.
more
The paper presents interview data from Malawian government representatives, trade unionists, employers and people with disabilities from the country's largest cities Lilongwe and Blantyre. Findings relate to the gap between the discourse of employers and government officials and that of workers with... disabilities. Firstly, we find a policy-based assumption of a formalised workforce that is not representative of the predominantly informal disabled workforce. Secondly, the disruptive, intermittent and often reactive nature of non-governmental organisation (NGO) interventions can limit long-term inclusivity agendas and undermine the work of disabled activists in Malawi. Lastly, we present findings on the stigmatised nature of disability in these urban centres. We find that stigma is economic: Urban workers with disabilities are discriminated against locally by employers, landlords and banks on assumptions they will not produce or earn enough to meet productivity demands, rent or repayment costs.
more
The document "Priority medical devices list for the COVID-19 response and associated technical specifications" complements this guideline.
This document provides interim guidance on the quality, performance characteristics and related standards of personal protective equipment (PPE) to be used i...n the context of COVID-19. This includes WHO Priority Medical Devices, specifically: surgical masks, non-surgical masks, gloves, googles, face shields, gowns and N95 masks. It is intended for procurement agencies, occupational health departments, infection prevention and control departments or focal points, health facility administrators, biomedical and materials engineering, PPE manufacturers and public health authorities at both national and facility levels.
more
The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) Biosafety and Biosecurity Initiative was launched by the Africa CDC in April 2019 with the aim of strengthening the African Union (AU) Member States’ biosafety and biosecurity systems and enabling them to comply with national and i...nternational requirements for biosafety and biosecurity including the International Health Regulations (IHR) (2005), the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC), and United Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1540 and the multi-country Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA). The World Health Organization (WHO) Joint External Evaluation (JEE) and the Global Health Security Index report confirmed the known capacity gaps in biosafety and biosecurity among Africa Union Member (AU).
The regional consultations by Africa CDC conducted between 2019-2021 highlighted the deficiency or limited availability of standardized and regionally recognized training programs in the continent, limiting biosafety and biosecurity capacity building efforts in the region. In response, Africa CDC working with AU Member States developed a home grown, implementable and accessible professional training and certification program that is both recognized and endorsed by AU Member States. The Regional Training and Certification Program for Biosafety and Biosecurity Professionals, for African Biosafety and Biosecurity Professionals (RTCP-BBP) has four (4) areas of specialization, namely
- Selection, Installation, Maintenance and Certification of Biological Safety Cabinets
- Biorisk Management
- Design and Maintenance of Facilities Handling High Risk Pathogens (Biocontainment Engineering)
- Biological Waste management
more
The World Health Organization's Regional Office for Africa webpage on diabetes provides an overview of the disease's impact in the African Region. It highlights that diabetes is a serious, chronic, and costly condition, with projections estimating cases to rise to 23.9 million by 2030. The page outl...ines risk factors such as physical inactivity, overweight and obesity, tobacco use, and diets high in unhealthy fats and calories. It also discusses the three main types of diabetes: type 1, type 2, and gestational diabetes. Recent surveys indicate that up to 15% of adults aged 25 to 64 in the region have diabetes, with many unaware of their condition. The lack of access to proper treatment and medications, especially insulin, often leads to complications like neurological, vascular, or visual disorders, heart disease, stroke, lower limb amputation, and kidney failure.
more
Le présent document donne des lignes directrices provisoires afin de garantir l’efficacité des communications sur les risques relatives à la transmission du virus Zika et aux complications potentielles. Le lien de causalité entre l’infection à virus Zika et ces complications potentielles n...a pas encore été prouvé. Malgré ces incertitudes, des stratégies de communication efficaces devraient être mises en œuvre afin de permettre aux gens de prendre les meilleures décisions éclairées pour se protéger et protéger leurs familles et leurs communautés. Les présentes lignes directrices sont destinées à être utilisées par les responsables, le personnel et les bénévoles chargés de la communication sur les risques et la santé à l’échelle mondiale, régionale ou nationale; les professionnels de la communication; les anthropologues; les sociologues; les agents de santé; les administrateurs des hôpitaux; les responsables communautaires; les gestionnaires de programme et les décideurs politiques.
more
In the year 2008, for the first time in history, more than half of the world’s population was living in urban areas. Cities have become more numerous, more populous, and denser. The complexity and density of urban environments significantly alter the viability of certain humanitarian protection st...rategies that might work well in rural, more sparsely populated areas. In addition, it has become difficult to draw the line between acute and chronic vulnerability and therefore, the identification of beneficiaries. This blur in distinction between chronic and acute vulnerability has raised a number of important questions for humanitarian organizations regarding if and how they should intervene. While many such organizations are equipped with the appropriate skills to mitigate overwhelming public health challenges is such contexts, the absence of a crisis point - such as armed conflict or natural disaster - brings the mandate of humanitarian agencies into question.
more
Vector-borne diseases are responsible for 17% of the global burden of communicable diseases and more than 500 000 deaths annually. The ambitious global targets for the control of vector-borne diseases come in the context of the (re-)emergence of diseases, increasing resistances to insecticides and u...ncertainty related to the financing of global vector control efforts. The United Nations 2030 Agenda with its related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the New Urban Agenda adopted at the United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development (Habitat III)
in Quito in 2016 and WHO’s Global vector control response 2017–2030 (WHO, 2017a) emphasize the value of elevating multisectoral actions and strategies that extend beyond the health sector to the core of integrated vector control.
This policy brief underlines the important role housing conditions have in the transmission of vector-borne diseases and showcases interventions and policies the housing sector can contribute to effective, integrated and intersectoral vector-borne diseases management.
more
With the growing prevalence of type 2 diabetes, particularly in emerging countries, its management in the context of available resources should be considered. International guidelines, while comprehensive and scientifically valid, may not be appropriate for regions such as Asia, Latin America or Afr...ica, where epidemiology, patient phenotypes, cultural conditions and socioeconomic status are different from America and Europe. Although glycaemic control and reduction of micro- and macrovascular outcomes remain essential aspects of treatment, access and cost are major limiting factors; therefore, a pragmatic approach is required in restricted-resource settings. Newer agents, such as sodium–glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitors and glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor agonists in particular, are relatively expensive, with limited availability despite potentially being valuable for patients with insulin resistance and cardiovascular complications. This review makes a case for the role of more accessible second-line treatments with long-established efficacy and affordability, such as sulfonylureas, in the management of type 2 diabetes, particularly in developing or restricted-resource countries.
more
Philos Ethics Humanit Med. 2014 Oct 24;9(1):15. The current Ebola epidemic has presented challenges both medical and ethical. Although we have known epidemics of untreatable diseases in the past, this particular one may be unique in the intensity and rapidity of its spread, as well as ethical challe...nges that it has created, exacerbated by its geographic location. We will look at the infectious agent and the epidemic it is causing, in order to understand the ethical problems that have arisen. Free Full Text, please got he website http://www.peh-med.com/content/9/1/15/abstract
more
La Centrale d’Achats des Médicaments Essentiels et Consommables Médicaux (CAME) du
Benin est chargée d’assurer la disponibilité et l’accessibilité des produits de santé dans le secteur
publique et privé à but non lucratif. Lors de la mise en oeuvre des subventions du Fonds Mondial, l...es
Récipiendaires Principaux des différentes subventions avaient choisi la CAME comme agent
d’approvisionnement pour l’acquisition, la gestion des stocks et la distribution des produits médicaux
acquis dans le cadre de ces subventions (produits pharmaceutiques et autres produits médicaux tel
que les moustiquaires, les équipements de laboratoire et de radiologie, les préservatifs, les tests de
diagnostique rapide et non rapide, les insecticides et les seringues).
more
19 de março de 2020. Introdução Este documento fornece orientações rápidas sobre o uso de máscaras médicas em comunidades, em domicílios e em unidades de saúde em áreas que relataram surtos causados pelo novo coronavírus de 2019 (2019-nCoV). Destina-se a profissionais de saúde pública ...e de prevenção e controle de infecção (IPC), gerentes de atenção à saúde, profissionais de saúde e agentes comunitários de saúde. Será revisado à medida que mais PCI dados estiverem disponíveis. Com as informações disponíveis atualmente, sugere-se que a via de transmissão humano a humano do 2019-nCoV seja por gotículas respiratórias ou contato. Qualquer pessoa que esteja em contato próximo (dentro de 1 metro) com alguém com sintomas respiratórios (por exemplo, espirros, tosse, etc.) está sob risco de exposta a gotículas respiratórias potencialmente infectantes. Máscaras médicas são máscaras cirúrgicas ou de procedimento que são planas ou com pregas (algumas são como copos); elas são afixadas na cabeça com tirasa.
more
الاستراتيجيات لإدارة النقص الحاد في معدات الحماية الشخصية خلال جائحة فيروس COVID-19
This guidance provides considerations and a series of options that can be used to inform country strategies in managing any shortages of personal prote...ctive equipment.Re-use and reprocessing of single-use PPE must be a last resort temporary measure to be adopted until stocks are replenished. The WHO and other agencies are currently conducting research about this and further guidance will likely become available soon.
more
Information note.
This information note provides a strategic overview of key implementation considerations for diagnostic integration using these devices, and is primarily intended for use by national laboratory services and TB, HIV, and hepatitis programme managers.
It may also be of inte...rest to managers of maternal, newborn and child health programmes and sexual and reproductive health programmes, international and bilateral agencies, and organizations that provide financial and technical support to the relevant national health programmes.
more
The Global Health Expenditure Report delves into the intricate landscape of global economies and health systems. This year, it focuses on health spending in 2022, the third year of the COVID-19 pandemic. It shows how countries around the world responded to the health and economic shocks of the pande...mic from a financial perspective. It also considers what the future may hold as countries emerge from the pandemic. Although it is still too early to gauge whether the COVID-19 pandemic has altered long-term trends in health spending, spending appears to have peaked and is now at or below its long-term rising trend in most country income groups. Additionally, to mark the 25th anniversary of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Health Expenditure Tracking Program, the report reviews the program’s achievements and envisions a path forward. As the program’s lead technical agency, WHO is committed to working closely with partners to support countries in tracking health spending and sustaining the Global Health Expenditure Database and the Global Health Expenditure Report as global public goods.
more
Este documento del CLAP/SMR (Centro Latinoamericano de Perinatología) aborda las infecciones de transmisión vertical, es decir, aquellas que se transmiten de la madre al niño durante el embarazo, el parto o el período neonatal. Se presenta una tabla detallada con distintos agentes infecciosos (c...omo VIH, sífilis, toxoplasmosis, hepatitis B y C, citomegalovirus, entre otros), describiendo su forma de transmisión, diagnóstico, prevención, tratamiento y seguimiento.
Además, se destacan estrategias sistemáticas de tamizaje materno y neonatal, intervenciones prenatales y postnatales, así como recomendaciones específicas para cada patógeno. El objetivo es reducir los resultados adversos perinatales mediante intervenciones basadas en la evidencia y adaptadas al contexto latinoamericano.
more
This document is designed to assist UNICEF and WHO country offices in collaborating with national, sub-national, and
local counterparts to implement the UNICEF Game Plan to Reach Safely Managed Sanitation 2022–2030 and the WHO
Guidelines on sanitation and health. It also aims to facilitate compl...ementary activities by sector partners towards shared
goals. The implementation steps outlined here promote greater alignment of sanitation activities among UNICEF, WHO,
and other stakeholders, including UN agencies, civil society, the private sector, and academia
more
2ieme edtion. Cette deuxième édition s'appuie sur l'expérience de plus de 10 ans de déploiement de la CPS et reflète les changements introduits dans les lignes directrices de l'OMS pour le paludisme, le 3 juin 2022. L'objectif de cette publication est de partager ces bonnes pratiques afin d'am...liorer la mise en œuvre, la couverture, le suivi et l'évaluation de la CPS. Des exemples de supports et d'outils ainsi que des liens vers des ressources sont inclus pour soutenir les responsables et les agents de santé dans leurs efforts pour mener à bien les activités de CPS et prévenir le paludisme chez les enfants vulnérables.
more