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Toolboxes
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This is the 2025 draft Malawi Guidelines for Syndromic Management of Sexually Transmitted Infections which is yet to be approved by the SMT.
Essential triple EMTCT services include testing for HIV, syphilis and HBV in ante-
natal care (ANC) settings; prompt and efficacious interventions to treat women
who test positive; prevent transmission of any of the infections to their children;
counseling for women and their partners to reduce t
...
ransmission risk and ensure
appropriate treatment; encourage clean and safe delivery; appropriate follow
up of exposed infants including provision of HBV vaccine birth dose; promoting
optimal infant-feeding; and lifelong treatment and care for mothers living with
HIV or those eligible for treatment for hepatitis B infections and treatment for
syphilis.
more
A Training Manual for Community Service Providers
A job aid for cadres supporting caregivers of children and adolescents living with HIV (ages 0-14) in Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC) Programs
A service guide for site operations
The paper “Artificial Intelligence for Public Health Surveillance in Africa: Applications and Opportunities” examines how artificial intelligence (AI) can improve public health systems across Africa, particularly in low-resource settings. It explores how machine learning and other AI techniques
...
are being used for disease detection, outbreak prediction, real-time surveillance, and health resource management.
The authors focus on major public health challenges such as HIV, cholera, Ebola, measles, tuberculosis, malaria, COVID-19, and mental health. Through numerous case studies, the paper shows that AI can enhance the accuracy and speed of disease detection, predict outbreaks more effectively than traditional methods, support vaccination strategies, and optimize healthcare resource allocation. At the same time, it discusses important barriers to implementation, including limited data quality, infrastructure constraints, ethical concerns, and shortages of technical expertise.
Overall, the paper highlights AI’s strong potential to strengthen disease surveillance and health outcomes in Africa while emphasizing the need for careful integration, improved data systems, and supportive policy frameworks.
more
The document “Public Health Surveillance for Cholera – Guidance Document (2024)” provides practical recommendations for countries on how to design, implement, and strengthen cholera surveillance systems. Developed by the Global Task Force on Cholera Control (GTFCC), it outlines the minimum req
...
uirements for detecting, confirming, reporting, and monitoring cholera cases and outbreaks.
The guidance explains the core functions of cholera surveillance, including case detection, laboratory testing (such as RDTs, culture, and PCR), routine data collection, outbreak notification, case and field investigation, data analysis, and performance monitoring. It also describes how surveillance strategies should be adapted depending on whether a country is experiencing no outbreak, clustered transmission, or community transmission.
Overall, the document aims to help countries establish adaptive, fit-for-purpose surveillance systems that enable early outbreak detection, guide timely response measures, and support long-term cholera control and elimination efforts.
more
The document “Communicable Disease Surveillance and Response Systems: A Guide to Planning” is a World Health Organization (WHO) guide designed to help countries develop and strengthen national surveillance and response systems for communicable diseases . It explains why surveillance is essential
...
for early detection of outbreaks, informed decision-making, and effective public health action, especially in the context of the revised International Health Regulations (2005).
The guide provides a structured approach to strategic and operational planning. It outlines how countries should assess their existing systems, define a vision and goals, identify expected key result areas (EKRAs), prioritize activities, set realistic targets, allocate resources, and monitor progress. It also includes practical tools such as templates, worksheets, and examples to support ministries of health in organizing planning workshops and developing multi-year strategic plans and annual operational plans. Overall, the document serves as a practical framework to improve preparedness, early warning, and response to public health emergencies.
more
Early Warning and Response to Outbreaks and other Public Health Events: A Guide provides practical guidance for strengthening early warning functions within existing public health surveillance systems in WHO’s South-East Asia Region. The document explains how countries can detect, verify, and resp
...
ond rapidly to outbreaks and other unusual public health events in line with the International Health Regulations (2005). It describes the five key steps of an Early Warning and Response (EWAR) system—information collection, signal detection, event verification, response, and communication—and outlines how to set alert thresholds, identify signals, and ensure timely reporting. The guide also includes recommendations for monitoring and evaluating system performance to improve timeliness, sensitivity, and overall effectiveness in preventing and controlling public health threats.
more
Populations affected by emergencies are continually at risk of outbreaks of epidemic-prone diseases and other public health hazards. This operational guidance aims to guide decision-making on when and how to implement and strengthen Early Warning Alert and Response (EWAR) in preparation for and resp
...
onse to emergencies. Each module aims to provide updated operational guidance for EWAR practices, which may be more easily understood and applied during emergencies. Through its application, this operational guidance aims to contribute to:
- earlier detection of acute public health events
- earlier and more effective response
- reduced impact of emergencies on health
- increased trust of the population in the (public) health system
- fulfilling our collective commitments to the International Health Regulations (IHR,
2005).
This guidance was developed jointly by 69 experts from more than 20 organizations from global level to country level.
more
This report examines how clinical trials contribute to environmental impacts and outlines key considerations for integrating environmental sustainability into trial design, conduct and oversight. It explores the carbon footprint and resource use associated with clinical research activities – inclu
...
ding site operations, participant travel, supply chains, data management and waste – and highlights how these impacts intersect with climate change risks to health systems and research infrastructure.
more
World Health Organization (2018). A practical guide for developing and conducting simulation exercises to test and validate pandemic influenza preparedness plans.
This document consolidates, for the first time, WHO recommendations on the prevention, testing, treatment and monitoring of hepatitis B and C, and includes testing strategies for hepatitis D. Drawing on a decade of evidence-based guidance issued between 2015 and 2025, it provides a single, practical
...
handbook to support global progress toward eliminating viral hepatitis by 2030.
The document also highlights simplified service delivery models that promote decentralization, integration with primary care and related programmes such as HIV and tuberculosis, as well as task sharing and differentiated care to expand access and improve efficiency. It further underscores the need for robust data and monitoring systems to support effective programme implementation.
more
The document presents a strategic framework by the World Health Organization for managing risks related to emergencies and disasters in the health sector. It highlights that such events (such as epidemics, natural disasters, or conflicts) have major impacts on health, healthcare systems, and societa
...
l development. The framework proposes a comprehensive and proactive approach based on prevention, preparedness, response, and recovery, while emphasizing the importance of collaboration across different sectors and stakeholders. Its main objective is to reduce health risks, strengthen the resilience of communities and health systems, and improve health security at the global level.
more
The document provides practical guidelines for conducting a national disaster risk assessment, developed by the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction. It emphasizes the importance of understanding disaster risk as a foundation for effective disaster risk management and sustainable develo
...
pment. The guidelines outline a structured process that includes preparing and scoping the assessment, conducting risk analysis, and using the results to inform policy and decision-making. They promote a comprehensive, multi-hazard approach that considers vulnerabilities, exposure, and capacities, while encouraging collaboration among governments, experts, and stakeholders. Overall, the document aims to help countries build stronger systems for assessing and managing risks, thereby enhancing resilience and reducing the impacts of disasters.
more
Ocean plastic pollution has reached crisis level: every minute, more than an entire garbage truck of plastic makes its way into the world’s oceans—roughly 11 million metric tons annually. While plastic waste presents an immediate threat to marine wildlife and ecosystems, this global challenge al
...
so has implications for major industries such as fishing and tourism, impacting the livelihoods of millions of people. The drivers and impacts of ocean plastic pollution also contribute to global challenges in food security, human health, and climate change.
more
Environmental Research Letters
Microplastic debris floating at the ocean surface can harm marine life. Understanding the severity of this harm requires knowledge of plastic abundance and distributions. Dozens of expeditions measuring microplastics have been carried out since the 1970s, but they ha
...
ve primarily focused on the North Atlantic and North Pacific accumulation zones, with much sparser coverage elsewhere. Here, we use the largest dataset of microplastic measurements assembled to date to assess the confidence we can have in global estimates of microplastic abundance and mass. We use a rigorous statistical framework to standardize a global dataset of plastic marine debris measured using surface-trawling plankton nets and coupled this with three different ocean circulation models to spatially interpolate the observations. Our estimates show that the accumulated number of microplastic particles in 2014 ranges from 15 to 51 trillion particles, weighing between 93 and 236 thousand metric tons, which is only approximately 1% of global plastic waste estimated to enter the ocean in the year 2010. These estimates are larger than previous global estimates, but vary widely because the scarcity of data in most of the world ocean, differences in model formulations, and fundamental knowledge gaps in the sources, transformations and fates of microplastics in the ocean.
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