Effective malaria prevention is threatened by widespread and increasing vector insecticide resistance. Failure to mitigate this threat will likely result in an increased burden of disease, with significant cost implications. This new framework provides support for the development of a national insec...ticide resistance monitoring and management plan as part of a national malaria strategic plan.
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WHO has updated its guidelines for COVID-19 therapeutics, with revised recommendations for patients with non-severe COVID-19. This is the 13th update to these guidelines.
Updated risk rates for hospital admission in patients with non-severe COVID-19
The guidance includes updated risk rates for... hospital admission in patients with non-severe COVID-19.
The current COVID-19 virus variants tend to cause less severe disease while immunity levels are higher due to vaccination, leading to lower risks of severe illness and death for most patients.
This update includes new baseline risk estimates for hospital admission in patients with non-severe COVID-19. The new ‘moderate risk’ category now includes people previously considered to be high risk including older people and/or those with chronic conditions, disabilities, and comorbidities of chronic disease. The updated risk estimates will assist healthcare professionals to identify individuals at high, moderate or low risk of hospital admission, and to tailor treatment according to WHO guidelines:
**High: **People who are immunosuppressed remain at higher risk if they contract COVID-19, with an estimated hospitalization rate of 6%.
**Moderate: **People over 65 years old, those with conditions like obesity, diabetes and/or chronic conditions including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, kidney or liver disease, cancer, people with disabilities and those with comorbidities of chronic disease are at moderate risk, with an estimated hospitalization rate of 3%.
Low: Those who are not in the high or moderate risk categories are at low risk of hospitalization (0.5%). Most people are low risk.
Review of COVID-19 treatments for people with non-severe COVID-19
WHO continues to strongly recommend nirmatrelvir-ritonavir (also known by its brand name ‘Paxlovid’) for people at high-risk and moderate risk of hospitalization. The recommendations state that nirmatrelvir-ritonavir is considered the best choice for most eligible patients, given its therapeutic benefits, ease of administration and fewer concerns about potential harms. Nirmatrelvir-ritonavir was first recommended by WHO in April 2022.
If nirmatrelvir-ritonavir is not available to patients at high-risk of hospitalization, WHO suggests the use of molnupiravir or remdesivir instead.
WHO suggests against the use of molnupiravir and remdesivir for patients at moderate risk, judging the potential harms to outweigh the limited benefits in patients at moderate risk of hospital admission.
For people at low risk of hospitalization, WHO does not recommend any antiviral therapy. Symptoms like fever and pain can continue to be managed with analgesics like paracetamol.
WHO also recommends against use of a new antiviral (VV116) for patients, except in clinical trials.
The update also includes a strong recommendation against the use of ivermectin for patients with non-severe COVID-19. WHO continues to advise that in patients with severe or critical COVID-19, ivermectin should only be used in clinical trials.
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This document provides information and recommendations for action, based on the current available knowledge around monkeypox. It is a first draft which will be updated in light of evolving evidence and additional information as they become available.
Good primary care may lead to fewer avoidable hospitalizations, but unsafe primary care can cause avoidable illness and injury, leading to unnecessary hospitalizations, and in some cases, disability and even death.Implementing system changes and practices are crucial to improve safety at all levels ...of health care. Recognizing the paucity of accessible information on primary care, World Health Organization (WHO) set up a Safer Primary Care Expert Working Group. The Working Group reviewed the literature, prioritized areas in need of further research and compiled a set of nine monographs which cover selected priority technical topics. WHO is publishing this technical series to make the work of these distinguished experts available to everyone with an interest in Safer Primary Care.The aim of this technical series is to provide a compendium of information on key issues that can impact safety in the provision of primary health care.
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Long-lasting insecticidal nets (LNs) constitute a core vector control intervention against malaria. A number of new LN products are under development and will require assessment of risks to humans. This document provides an updated generic model that can be used for the risk assessment of exposure t...o insecticides of individuals sleeping under LNs and during the washing of nets.
In an Annex, exposures and health risks are described for the conventional treatment or retreatment of nets (ITNs) with an insecticide considering that such practices may still be used in evaluation of ITNs and their use. The generic model does not include the risks associated with the manufacturing of LNs in a factory environment.
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Each year, the WHO Global TB Report provides a comprehensive and up-to-date assessment of the TB epidemic, and of progress in prevention, diagnosis and treatment of the disease, at global, regional and country levels. This is done in the context of global TB commitments, strategies and targets.
The... 2021 edition of the report has been produced in a new and more web-centric format. This is designed to make the content available in smaller (more “bite-sized”) chunks that are easier to read, digest, navigate and use. There is a short and slim report PDF with 30 pages of main content plus six short annexes. This is accompanied by expanded and more detailed digital content on web pages. The total amount of content remains similar to that of previous years.
Available in English, French, Arabic and Chinese
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Monkeypox is an emerging viral zoonosis with symptoms similar to those observed in smallpox patients, although less severe. Since the global eradication of smallpox in 1980, monkeypox has emerged as the most important orthopoxvirus in humans. The Advisory Committee on Variola Virus Research (ACVVR) ...which meets annually to oversee smallpox research has highlighted the importance of diagnostics that could distinguish between variola and other strains of orthopoxviruses, including monkeypox virus. The ACVVR encourages the positive effects of current smallpox research on all orthopoxviruses, specifically monkeypox, such as the development of diagnostic tools.
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The Participant’s manual contains summaries of information presented by the trainers, copies of worksheets and checklists for the clinical practice and practical sessions, and exercises that participants will do during the course. One manual should be provided for each participant, using the modul...es selected, for use during the course and can be used as a reference after the course. child feeding counselling. Course facilitators can decide which sessions to cover, depending on the specific learning needs of the health workers in your community.
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Revised and expanded version of the Guidelines
These country profiles present progress on implementation of policy recommendations of the Global Action Plan on Physical Activity (GAPPA) 2018-2030 in each country. They also present an estimate of the cost to health systems of not taking action to improve physical activity levels and reinforce th...e urgency to position physical activity as a shared, whole-of-government priority, and to strengthen coordination and partnerships to promote physical activity.
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To support the achievement of health equity in the Region, the regional inter-agency movement Every Woman Every Child Latin America and the Caribbean (EWEC-LAC) advocates for and supports the use of equity and evidence-based policies, strategies and interventions to accelerate equitable progress in ...the health of women, children and adolescents. Although progress has been made, great inequities persist. Women from the LAC region’s poorest countries are almost four times more likely to die due to complications during childbirth than those living in the wealthiest countries. Through the years, several tools, instruments and methods (TIMs) have been developed by global, regional and country partners that can be used to conduct systematic equity-based analyses and/or re-designs of health systems, programs, strategies and interventions. The main purpose of this document is to present an overview of existing TIMs that can be used by policymakers, program managers, development partners, nongovernmental organizations, academia and civil society partners to strengthen systematic identification, analysis and responding to social inequities in the health of women, children and adolescents in LAC. The TIMs included were identified through a systematic search process
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There is growing understanding and high-level endorsement of the importance of strong collaborative multisectoral approaches to address a broad range of social, economic and governance issues for the prevention and control of noncommunicable disease (NCDs) and mental health conditions. In 2019, Worl...d Health Organization (WHO) Member States requested the WHO Director-General to provide an analysis across countries of successful approaches for the prevention and control of NCDs that used multisectoral action. This WebAnnex to the Global mapping report on multisectoral actions to strengthen the prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases and mental health conditions details experiences from around the world.
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Guidance for health workers
This publication is based on the list of clinical interventions selected from clinical guidelines on prevention, screening, diagnosis, treatment, palliative care, monitoring and end of life care. This publication addresses medical devices for six types of cancer: breast, cervical, colorectal, leukem...ia, lung and prostate. The first section defines the global increase in cancer cases, the global goals to manage NCDs and the WHO activities related to these goals. The second section presents the methodology used for the selection of medical devices that support clinical interventions required to screen, diagnose, treat and monitor cancer stages, as well as the provision of palliative care, based on evidence-based information. The third section lists the priority medical devices required to manage cancer in seven different units of health care services: 1. Vaccination, clinical assessment and endoscopy, 2. Medical imaging and nuclear medicine, 3. Surgery, 4. Laboratory and pathology, 5. Radiotherapy, 6. Systemic therapy and 7. Palliative and end of life care
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Reduced healthy life expectancy due to the high burden of both mental ill health and noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) is a major public health concern in the European Region. The links between mental disorders and major NCDs are well established.
In clinical practice, however, mental disorders in pa...tients with NCDs as well as NCDs in patients with mental disorders are often overlooked. Premature mortality and disability could be reduced if there were a greater focus on comorbidity.
This report addresses the needs of adults of working age with mental health problems – those with common mental disorders such as depression and anxiety and those with more severe conditions such as schizophrenia and bi-polar affective disorder. It also addresses the needs of those with NCDs, specifically cardiovascular diseases, cancers, chronic respiratory diseases and diabetes mellitus.
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