Globally, over two million women live with obstetric fistula with the majority of the cases
being from Africa. In low-resource settings such as Zambia, obstetric fistula (OF) is a visible indicator of
gaps in maternal health care resulting in failure to provide adequate, accessible and quality m...aternal health
care, including family planning, skilled birth attendance, basic and emergency obstetric and neonatal care,
and affordable treatment of fistula. OF is preventable and treatable, and no woman in Zambia should continue to endure the condition. It is therefore necessary that Zambia intensifies national scale up of OF management centers including
community based interventions, train more surgeons and other health workers to provide quality and
affordable care closer to the women who are silently suffering from obstetric fistula.
more
The new WHODAS 2.0 supersedes WHODAS II and shows the following advantages:
- A generic assessment instrument for health and disability
- Used across all diseases, including mental, neurological and addictive disorders
- Short, simple and easy to administer (5 to 20 minutes)
- Applicable in both... clinical and general population settings
- A tool to produce standardized disability levels and profiles
- Applicable across cultures, in all adult populations
- Directly linked at the level of the concepts to the International
- Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF)
more
The new guidelines provide public health guidance on pharmacological agents for managing hyperglycaemia in type 1 and type 2 diabetes for use in primary health-care in low-resource settings. These guidelines update the recommendations for managing hyperglycaemia in the WHO Package of Essential NCD I...nterventions (WHO PEN) for primary care in low-resources settings, reviewing several newer oral agents as second- and third-line treatment: dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitors, sodium-glucose co-transporter 2 inhibitors and thiazolidinediones. The guidelines also present recommendations on the selection of type of insulin (analogue versus human insulin) for adults with type 1 and type 2 diabetes.
more
“Preferred product characteristics” (PPCs) are key tools to incentivize and guide the development of urgently needed health products. Some of the vector control interventions deployed in complex emergencies and in response to natural disasters – namely insecticide-treated nets (ITNs) and indoo...r residual spraying (IRS) – have already met identified public health needs in more stable settings; other tools such as insecticide-treated tarpaulins have been specifically designed for this use case. Given the diverse mix of existing and potential new interventions and the considerable gaps in the associated evidence base, this PPC aims to clearly articulate the unmet public health needs for tools designed to control malaria transmission in complex emergencies and in response to natural disasters.
more
Interim Guidance October 2022. This addendum addresses some of the methodological aspects of VE evaluations that have been learned during the past year, as well as those that have become relevant in the current epidemiological setting of the COVID-19 pandemic. For some of the COVID-19 vaccine method...ology issues there are still insufficient data to make a recommendation, in which case different options for approaching VE evaluations are presented.
more
WHO has developed a clinical case definition of post COVID-19 condition by Delphi methodology that includes 12 domains, available for use in all settings. This first version was developed by patients, researchers and others, representing all WHO regions, with the understanding that the definition ma...y change as new evidence emerges and our understanding of the consequences of COVID-19 continues to evolve.
Post COVID-19 condition occurs in individuals with a history of probable or confirmed SARS CoV-2 infection, usually 3 months from the onset of COVID-19 with symptoms and that last for at least 2 months and cannot be explained by an alternative diagnosis. Common symptoms include fatigue, shortness of breath, cognitive dysfunction but also others and generally have an impact on everyday functioning. Symptoms may be new onset following initial recovery from an acute COVID-19 episode or persist from the initial illness. Symptoms may also fluctuate or relapse over time.
more
WHO has developed a clinical case definition of post COVID-19 condition by Delphi methodology that includes 12 domains, available for use in all settings. This first version was developed by patients, researchers and others, representing all WHO regions, with the understanding that the definition ma...y change as new evidence emerges and our understanding of the consequences of COVID-19 continues to evolve.
Post COVID-19 condition occurs in individuals with a history of probable or confirmed SARS CoV-2 infection, usually 3 months from the onset of COVID-19 with symptoms and that last for at least 2 months and cannot be explained by an alternative diagnosis. Common symptoms include fatigue, shortness of breath, cognitive dysfunction but also others and generally have an impact on everyday functioning. Symptoms may be new onset following initial recovery from an acute COVID-19 episode or persist from the initial illness. Symptoms may also fluctuate or relapse over time.
more
Research Ethics Online Training is adapted from an e-Learning course and resource package designed and produced by the World Health Organization (WHO) for use by internal staff. Research is a vital ingredient for improved global health and scientifically sound and ethically appropriate research is e...specially important in resource-poor settings where the need for locally applicable research findings is so great.
more
A new story book that aims to help children understand and come to terms with COVID-19 has been produced
With the help of a fantasy creature, Ario, “My Hero is You, How kids can fight COVID-19!” explains how children can protect themselves, their families and friends from coronavirus and how to... manage difficult emotions when confronted with a new and rapidly changing reality.
Available in more languages
The book – aimed primarily at children aged 6-11 years old – is a project of the Inter-Agency Standing Committee Reference Group on Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Emergency Settings, a unique collaboration of United Nations agencies, national and international nongovernmental organizations and international agencies providing mental health and psychosocial support in emergency settings.
Available in different languages
more
The WHO Trauma Bag 2021 is intended to provide the resources needed to care for care of acutely ill and injured patients in hospital emergency units, field hospitals or clinics providing acute care. The Trauma Bag may also be applicable in prehospital settings if care is provided by advanced practi...tioners. The bag allows users to access essential equipment in one location and is organized into removable color-coded pouches according to the clinical indication. The composition of the bag was determined by broad consensus among diverse emergency care stakeholders.
The new trauma bag is designed for trained medical doctors & first responders. The majority of the included supply can be used by trained first responders. A dedicated intubation module should only be handled by trained providers acting within their scope of practice. The WHO Trauma Bag aims to provide materials to meet the needs of 2 adults and 2 children requiring trauma care
more
The document, titled "Prevention and Control of Noncommunicable Diseases: Guidelines for Primary Health Care in Low-Resource Settings," provides the World Health Organization's (WHO) recommendations for managing noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) such as cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and chronic res...piratory illnesses in low-resource healthcare settings. It outlines cost-effective interventions for early diagnosis, treatment, and prevention within primary healthcare, focusing on accessible methods for diabetes management, blood pressure control, dietary and lifestyle guidance, and essential medication use. The guidelines aim to support healthcare professionals in delivering effective NCD care where resources are limited, ultimately improving health outcomes and reducing NCD complications.
more
Module 4
Leaders
July 2017
Module 4: Leaders. This module aims to inform and update leaders and decision-makers about PrEP. It provides information on the benefits and limitations of PrEP so that they can consider how PrEP could be effectively implemented in their own settings. It also contai...ns a series of frequently asked questions about PrEP.
more
The Rehabilitation Competency Framework (RCF) is a model that communicates
the expected or aspired performance of the rehabilitation workforce across
professions, specializations and settings to enable quality care and service
delivery.
Cholera is an acute diarrhoeal infection caused by ingestion of contaminated water or food. This course provides a general introduction to cholera and is intended for personnel responding to outbreaks in complex emergencies or in settings where the basic environmental infrastructures have been damag...ed or destroyed. It includes materials that can be accessed in English, Arabic and Hausa.
Free Online Course. Learning objectives: By the end of this course, participants should be able to: describe the case definition and alerts for cholera; describe main transmission routes; list list the key preventive actions; and explain how cholera control is multisectoral.
Course duration: Approximately 1 hour.
more
WHO TRS N°1012.
Key updates include: (i) surveillance strategies, including cross-sectoral linking of systems and suitable diagnostics; (ii) the latest recommendations on human and animal immunization; (iii) palliative care in lowresource settings; (iv) risk assessment to guide management of bite... victims; and (v) a proposed process for validation and verification of countries reaching zero human deaths from rabies.
more
The document provides detailed guidelines for managing cholera outbreaks, focusing on prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and control strategies. It emphasizes the importance of setting up Cholera Treatment Centers (CTCs), ensuring access to clean water, promoting hygiene, and utilizing oral rehydrati...on solutions (ORS) and antibiotics for treatment. The guide also addresses outbreak surveillance, community education, and resource allocation to effectively mitigate cholera's spread and impact.
more
Countries are making progress toward the global goal of 95% of people living with HIV knowing their status by 2025. However, considerable gaps remain in achieving these goals globally. Men in high HIV burden settings and men from key populations in all settings are consistently less likely to know t...heir HIV status than women. Globally, 78% of men ages 15 years and older who are living with HIV are aware of their HIV status, compared with 86% of women with HIV of these ages.
Offering HIV testing services, including HIV self-testing, at formal and informal workplaces has emerged as an effective, acceptable and feasible approach for reaching men. A 2018 World Health Organization (WHO) and International Labour Organization (ILO) policy brief provides key guiding principles for HIVST implementation at workplaces. Building on the 2018 policy brief, this brief captures early experience with HIVST implementation at workplaces and discusses emerging approaches of sustainable financing that can be adapted for HIV self-testing at workplaces.
The primary audiences for this policy brief are ministries of health and labour, national HIV programmes, employers’ organizations, workers’ organizations (labour unions), enterprises, implementing partners, including civil society organizations, and health insurance agencies.
more
The primary goal of the guideline is to improve the quality of care and the outcome in people with type 2 diabetes in low-resource settings. It recommends a set of basic interventions to integrate management of diabetes into primary health care. It will serve as basis for development of simple algor...ithms for use by health care staff in primary care in low-resource settings, to reduce the risk of acute and chronic complications of diabetes. The guideline was developed by a group of external and WHO experts, following the WHO process of guideline development. GRADE methodology was used to assess the quality of evidence and decide the strength of the recommendations.
more
Cholera is an acute diarrhoeal infection caused by ingestion of contaminated water or food.
This introductory-level course has 4 sections and is intended for personnel responding to cholera outbreaks in complex emergencies or in settings where the basic environmental infrastructures have been damag...ed or destroyed.
Section 1: Case definition and alerts for cholera. Section 2: Main transmission routes. Section 3: Key preventive actions. Section 4: Multisectoral cholera control strategy. We hope that this course will help you refresh what you already know and help you transform good principles on cholera management into action. Resources are attached to each section to dive further into this topic.
more
This document presents the findings of a modelling study that examined in detail the costs and benefits of tuberculosis (TB) screening plus TB preventive treatment (TPT) in four countries – Brazil, Georgia, Kenya and South Africa – which may serve as examples for other settings with a similar ep...idemiological context.
more