Cancer is an emerging public health problem in sub-Saharan Africa due to population growth, ageing and westernisation of lifestyles. In this piece, we use data from Mozambique over a 50-year period to illustrate cancer epidemiological trends in low-income and middle-income countries to hypothesise ...potential circumstances and factors that could explain changes in cancer burden and to discuss surveillance weaknesses and potential improvements. This epidemiological transition deserves increasing policy attention.
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Depress Anxiety. 2018 March ; 35(3): 195–208. doi:10.1002/da.22711.
Introduction Pharmacovigilance (PV) systems to monitor drug and vaccine safety are often inadequate in sub-Saharan
Africa. In Malawi, a PV enhancement initiative was introduced to address major barriers to PV.
Objective The objective of this initiative was to improve reporting of adverse events (A...Es) by strengthening passive safety
surveillance via PV training and mentoring of local PV stakeholders and healthcare providers (HCPs) at their own healthcare
facilities (HCFs).
Methods An 18-month PV training and mentoring programme was implemented in collaboration with national stakeholders,
and in partnership with the Ministry of Health, GSK and PATH. Two-day training was provided to Expanded Programme on
Immunisation coordinators, identified as responsible for AE reporting, and four National Regulatory Authority representa-
tives. Abridged PV training and mentoring were provided regularly to HCPs. Support was given in upgrading the national
PV system. Key performance indicators included the number of AEs reported, transmission of AE forms, completeness of
reports, serious AEs reported and timeliness of recording into VigiFlow.
Results In 18 months, 443 HCPs at 61 HCFs were trained. The number of reported AEs increased from 22 (January 2000 to
October 2016) to 228 (November 2016 to May 2018), enabling Malawi to become a member of the World Health Organization
Programme for International Drug Monitoring. Most (98%) AE report forms contained mandatory information on reporter,
event, patient and product, but under 1% were transmitted to the national PV office within 48 h.
Conclusion Regular PV training and mentoring of HCPs were effective in enhancing passive safety surveillance in Malawi,
but the transmission of reports to the national PV centre requires further improvement.
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Technical Report
AIDS Medicines and diagnostics service
July 2015
In South Africa, young women and girls are exposed to extremely high levels of gender-based violence (GBV) and HIV infection. Given the links between the two epidemics, it is important that HIV prevention programmes also address violence against women and children. The Global Fund’s Young Women an...d Girls (YWG) programme is a multi-pronged HIV prevention programme targeting young women and girls and was implemented in 10 districts in South Africa from April 2016 to March 2019. This briefing paper reports on the lessons learnt from a process evaluation of the child protection component of the programme
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This policy brief has been developed in response to the contemporary challenge of antibiotic resistance (ABR). ABR poses a formidable threat to global health and sustainable development. It is now increasingly recognized that the systematic neglect of cultural factors is one of the biggest obs...tacles to achieving better health outcomes and better standards of living worldwide. Using a cultural contexts of health approach, the policy brief explores the centrality of culture to the challenge of ABR. The brief examines how the prescription and use of antibacterial medicines, the transmission of resistance, and the regulation and funding of research are influenced by cultural, social and commercial, as well as biological and technological factors. The brief moves beyond the ready equation of culture with individual behaviours and demonstrates how culture serve as an enabler of health and provide new possibilities for change.
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This paper aims to contribute to the reflection on effective practices to address protracted displacement, in support of the GP20 Plan of Action roll-out. It expands on the research conducted by Walter Kälin and Hannah Entwisle Chapuisat for the 2017 OCHA-commissioned study Breaking the Impasse: Re...ducing Protracted Internal Displacement as a Collective Outcome.1 That study provided a comprehensive picture of the impact of protracted internal displacement, as well as five country case studies in contexts of conflict and disasters.It also offered a road map for addressing such displacement through seven steps, including conducting joint analysis and defining collective outcomes.
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More than two years since the first SARS-CoV-2 infections were reported, the COVID-19 pandemic remains an acute global emergency. In this Strategic Preparedness, Readiness and Response plan for 2022, WHO sets out a number of key strategic adjustments that, if implemented rapidly and consistently at ...national, regional, and global levels, will enable the world to end the acute phase of the pandemic.
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Le présent rapport fait un apperçu sur la situation de la riposte au VIH/Sida en 2015 au Burkina Faso. Il se veut être, un outil de sensibilisation, de plaidoyer, d’information, et d’orientations sur les décisions programmatiques, et également sur les efforts de mobilisation des ressources,... et de suivi évaluation.
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UNAIDS Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS
Water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) are critical in the prevention and care for all of the 17 neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) scheduled for intensified control or elimination by 2020.
Provision of safe water, sanitation and hygiene is one of the five key interventions within the global NTD ...roadmap. Yet to date, the WASH component of the strategy has received little attention and the potential to link efforts on WASH and NTDs has been largely untapped.
Focused efforts on WASH are urgently needed if the global NTD roadmap targets are to be met. This is especially needed for NTDs where transmission is most closely linked to poor WASH conditions such as soil-transmitted helminthiasis, schistosomiasis, trachoma and lymphatic filariasis.
This strategy aims to mobilise WASH and NTD actors to work together towards the roadmap targets.
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This paper focuses on the Sustainable Development Goals related to poverty, economic growth, inequality, health, food production and the environment. It presents concrete examples of the underlying and complex aspects of antibiotic resistance and its impacts across different Sustainable Development ...Goals. The aim of this paper is to inform and stimulate discussions on how to further advance the implementation of 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the Global Action Plan on Antimicrobial Resistance, National Action plans on Antimicrobial Resistance, as well as work within all sectors that affect and are affected by antibiotic resistance
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In an environment of stagnant donor funding and increasing private sector investment in low- and middle-income countries, actors in both the public and private sectors are increasingly interested in using blended finance approaches to catalyze new funding for global health and achieve health outcome...s. As USAID moves towards greater engagement with the private sector, blended finance will be an important component to help achieve development objectives.
Accessed 19th May 2019.
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