The following Emergency Response Plan for the COVID-19 pandemic seeks to set out activities that will be undertaken by humanitarian actors in Ukraine over the course of 2020 to respond to the public health impact of the epidemic – as well as the indirect, socio-economic impact on people’s well-b...eing, which will span across many areas. Given the extensive public exposure of the COVID-19 threat, the response will cover the whole of Ukraine, while providing a distinct focus on Donetska and Luhanska oblasts that have been ravaged by an armed conflict for the last six consecutive years. The planned COVID-19 response in the two conflict-affected oblasts will be treated as an annex to the current Humanitarian Response Plan for Ukraine
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On January 14-16, 2003, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) held a communications roundtable in Atlanta, Georgia, to explore hospitals' challenges in communicating with internal and external audiences in communitywide emergencies involving radioactive materials. The roundtable, Hosp...ital Communications in a Mass Casualty Radiological Incident, is part of CDC's effort to help prepare the nation's public health community for threats of terrorism.
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The document is intended to facilitate the detection, evaluation and management of incident EVD cases in Germany. It primarily addresses public health service staff and health care workers in hospitals, outpatient clinics and emergency services in Germany. It is a work in progress, intended to evolv...e over time. Updated 14 August 2015
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The report examines financing in the battle against malaria, focusing on the role of foreign aid. It analyzes whether or not a disease such as malaria can be controlled or eliminated in Africa without health aid. It also presents a theoretical model of the economics of malaria and shows how health a...id can help avoid the “disease trap.” While calling for increased funding from international sources to fight malaria, it also recommends that African countries step up their own efforts, including on domestic resource mobilization. In 2016, governments of endemic countries contributed 31% of the estimated total of US $ 2.7 billion.
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While many of the countries hit by the COVID-19 in the first few months of the year are now beginning to relax lockdown measures as infection and death rates fall, in the regions most affected by HIV, TB and malaria, such as Africa, South Asia and Latin America, the pandemic continues to accelerate.... In lower resource settings, lockdowns are less effective and hard to sustain, and clinical care facilities are extremely limited. In such environments, the response to COVID-19 must focus on containing the pandemic’s spread as far as possible through testing, contact tracing and isolation, protecting the health workforce through training and the provision of personal protective equipment (PPE) and minimizing the knock-on impact on other diseases through shoring up fragile health systems, and adapting existing disease programs.
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The virtual conference, co-organised by the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) and the South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC) brought together African leaders, public health professionals and researchers, policymakers, business leaders and civil society and commun...ity leaders.
The objective was to discuss strategies and approaches to remove barriers to widespread delivery and uptake of effective COVID-19 vaccines across Africa, guided by African voices and indigenous values. The goal of the conference was to provide input for a framework for fair, equitable and timely allocation of COVID-19 vaccines in Africa.
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This UNHCR guidance note provides comprehensive recommendations for the prevention and control of malaria in refugee settings worldwide. Aligned with the WHO Global Technical Strategy for Malaria, it outlines strategies to ensure access to effective prevention, diagnosis and treatment, implement sus...tainable transmission reduction measures and strengthen surveillance systems. The document is intended as a practical resource for humanitarian actors, public health officials and partners involved in planning and implementing malaria programmes in refugee operations, with the aim of reducing malaria-related morbidity and mortality among vulnerable populations.
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Community led-monitoring is based on the principle that «Nothing that is done for us should
be done without us”. The combination of this principle with evidence shows that community-led
monitoring is an important driver of improved service delivery and health outcomes that needs to
be re-empha...sized. Thus, the community must participate at all stages of the fight against malaria.
This guide will be useful to CSOs working in the field of malaria in the conduct of community-led
monitoring of activities efficiently and allow these CSOs to know their role and responsibilities in this
exercise at each key stage. This guide will also provide CSOs and communities affected by malaria
with templates of monitoring tools adapted to key malaria programs.
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Asthma is the most common noncommunicable disease in children, and among the most common in adults. According to the most recent estimates from the Global Asthma Network Phase I study, around one in 10 children and adults have symptoms of asthma and one in 20 school-aged children have severe asthma ...symptoms, with marked variations in prevalence and in prevalence trends between countries and regions of the world. The Global Burden of Disease Study estimated that asthma caused the loss of 21.6 million healthy years of life (disability-adjusted life years) and 461 069 deaths in 2019. Approximately 90% of the asthma burden of disease is borne by people living low and middle income countries (LMICs). Some countries report very high (up to 90%) rates of uncontrolled asthma. While the prevalence of asthma is highest in countries with a high Socio-Demographic Index (SDI), death rates from asthma are highest in countries with low and lower middle incomes.
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The report showed commitments made three decades ago to protect the rights of children remain unfulfilled for millions. Violence still affects countless children. Discrimination based on age, gender, disability, sexual orientation and religion harms children worldwide.
Key factors include a lack ...of investment in critically important services. Most countries fall well short of spending the 5-6% of GDP needed to ensure universal coverage of essential health care. And foreign aid, which many lower income countries rely on, is falling short in areas such as health, education, protection and child care.
Another factor, the report said, is the lack of quality data. Governments tend to rely on data that reflects national averages, making it difficult to identify the needs of specific children and to monitor progress. Comprehensive data collection and disaggregation of data by gender, age, disability and locality, are increasingly important as rights violations disproportionately affect disadvantaged children.
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While the full extent of Cyclone Ida’s impact is still being assessed, early reports indicate significant damage to infrastructure and livelihoods, with an estimated 3,000km2 of land submerged. Preliminary government reports as of 24 March indicate that more than 58,600 houses have been damaged, i...ncluding 36,747 totally destroyed, 19,733 partially destroyed and 2,184 flooded. More than 500,000 hectares of crops have been damaged, which is expected to significantly increase food insecurity given that the flooding has coincided with the annual harvest season. More than 3,100 schools have been damaged, along with at least 45 health centres.
Nearly 110,000 people remained displaced in more than 130 accommodation centres – mostly schools and other public buildings – in Sofala (90), Manica (26), Zambezia (10) and Tete (4), where humanitarian needs are acute and both the risk of communicable disease outbreaks and protection risks – particularly for women and girls – are high
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In 2015, the United Nations set important targets to reduce premature
cardiovascular disease (CVD) deaths by 33% by 2030. Africa disproportionately
bears the brunt of CVD burden and has one of the highest risks of dying
from non-communicable diseases (NCDs) worldwide. There is currently
an epide...miological transition on the continent, where NCDs is projected
to outpace communicable diseases within the current decade. Unchecked
increases in CVD risk factors have contributed to the growing burden of three
major CVDs—hypertension, cardiomyopathies, and atherosclerotic diseasesleading to devastating rates of stroke and heart failure. The highest age
standardized disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) due to hypertensive heart
disease (HHD) were recorded in Africa. The contributory causes of heart failure
are changing—whilst HHD and cardiomyopathies still dominate, ischemic
heart disease is rapidly becoming a significant contributor, whilst rheumatic
heart disease (RHD) has shown a gradual decline. In a continent where health
systems are traditionally geared toward addressing communicable diseases,
several gaps exist to adequately meet the growing demand imposed by CVDs.
Among these, high-quality research to inform interventions, underfunded
health systems with high out-of-pocket costs, limited accessibility and
affordability of essential medicines, CVD preventive services, and skill
shortages. Overall, the African continent progress toward a third reduction
in premature mortality come 2030 is lagging behind. More can be done in
the arena of effective policy implementation for risk factor reduction and
CVD prevention, increasing health financing and focusing on strengthening
primary health care services for prevention and treatment of CVDs, whilst
ensuring availability and affordability of quality medicines. Further, investing
in systematic country data collection and research outputs will improve the accuracy of the burden of disease data and inform policy adoption on
interventions. This review summarizes the current CVD burden, important
gaps in cardiovascular medicine in Africa, and further highlights priority
areas where efforts could be intensified in the next decade with potential
to improve the current rate of progress toward achieving a 33% reduction
in CVD mortality.
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This document provides the Humanitarian Country Team’s shared understanding of the crisis, including the most pressing
humanitarian needs and the estimated number of people who need assistance. It represents a consolidated evidence base and
helps inform joint strategic response planning.
As ...the conflict in South Sudan enters its fifth year in 2018, the humanitarian crisis has continued to intensify and expand, on a costly trajectory for the country’s people and their outlook on the future. The compounding effects of widespread violence and sustained economic decline have further diminished the capacity of people to face threats to their health, safety and livelihoods. People in need of assistance and protection number 7 million, even as more than 2 million have fled to neighbouring countries.
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Constituting the second part of the World Drug Report 2022, the present booklet contains an overview of the global demand for and supply of drugs.
The first chapter of the booklet begins with the latest estimates of the number of people who use drugs, the distribution of those users by type of drug...s, age and sex, and recent trends in the use of drugs. The chapter also reviews the impact of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic on drug use patterns and service provision. Other issues examined in the chapter are the health consequences of drug use, including the number of people in treatment for drug use disorders and the extent of drug injecting and of HIV and hepatitis C among people who inject drugs. The chapter concludes with a review of the extent to which strategies, policies and interventions are in place to respond to the drug use problem.
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The world is not on track to end the AIDS pandemic. New infections are rising and AIDS deaths are continuing in too many communities. This report reveals why: inequalities are holding us back. In frank terms, the report calls the world’s attention to the painful reality that dangerous inequalities... are undermining the AIDS response and jeopardising the health security of everyone. The report highlights three specific areas of inequality for which concrete action is immediately possible—gender
inequalities and harmful masculinities driving HIV; marginalisation and criminalisation of key populations, which our data show is resulting in starkly little progress for those populations and undermining the overall response; and
inequalities for children whose lives must matter more than their market share. But this is not a counsel of despair, it is a call to action. Through bold action to confront these inequalities, we can end AIDS.
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Evidence shows that oral pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) reduces the risk of contracting HIV during sexual intercourse by more than 90% when taken daily. It is for this reason the National HIV Prevention Strategy 2015-2020 (2018 Revision) emphasises the role of preexposure prophylaxis (PrEP) in ...reducing new HIV infections in Malawi.
The Ministry of Health has prioritised PrEP use among the populations most at-risk of HIV infection in Malawi: young women ages 10 to 24 years, sero-discordant couples, female sex workers, men who have sex with men, and other priority populations (such as members of the uniformed services, prisoners, and mobile populations).
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Since the discovery of insulin nearly 100 years ago, advances in diabetes treatments and therapies have transformed the lives of people
with diabetes (PwD), notably reducing the daily burden of its management.
Newer technologies, including those driven by artificial intelligence, have the potentia...l to further improve the quality of life of PwD and help
identify and diagnose people at risk of developing Type 2 diabetes and diabetes-related complications early. However, medical and technological advances alone are not enough to fix the diabetes challenge. It is also critical to acknowledge the complexity and the seriousness of diabetes, its impact on the quality of life and well-being of over 32 million PwD in the EU and the financial burden it represents for health systems and society at large.
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These guidelines were developed as part of Kenya's fast-track plan to end AIDS among adolescents and young people. Based on research into adolescent and young key populations in Kenya and elsewhere, they outline a package of HIV prevention services, and emphasize the need to combine biobehavioural i...nterventions with services in education, job skills training, mental health, and social care and protection.
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MODULE 5 RESOURCE GUIDE | This guide is part of a series of manuals that focuses on six topics in Early Childhood Development (ECD): different programming approaches, basic concepts, assessments, early childhood environments, children with special needs and child protection, and the health, safety a...nd nutrition of young children. The series was prepared within a three-year CRS-led project called “Strengthening the Capacity of Women Religious in Early Childhood Development,” or “SCORE ECD.” Funded by the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, the project helps Catholic sisters in Kenya, Malawi, and Zambia in their work with children aged 0-5 years and their families. The project is being implemented from January 2014 to December 2016
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The aim of the SATG was to produce a triage scale for use throughout South Africa. The group was multi-disciplinary and comprised doctors, nurses and paramedics. The result of the SATG’s activities is the South African Triage Scale (SATS), a physiology and symptom based scale which prioritises int...o one of four colours and can be used in hospital Emergency Centres as well as in the pre-hospital setting. The SATS has been validated in the public, private health care setting as well as pre-hospital.
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