Conflict, in its active or latent forms, is everywhere. The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated that public health emergencies can strike any country at any time. Given the universality of and interconnections between conflict, humanitarian crises, and public health emergencies, practitioners trained... in one sector or the other are being called upon to understand how to navigate all of these emergencies at once.
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Vision Statement
From birth to 8 years of age, all children of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar will receive holistic, high-quality and developmentally-appropriate care from their parents, caregivers and service providers to ensure they will be happy, healthy, well nourished, socially adept..., emotionally balanced and well protected in conditions of freedom, equity and dignity in order to contribute positively to their families, communities and the nation.
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The guidelines are to be used to guide the management of adults with lower respiratory tract infection (LRTI). As will be seen in the following text, this diagnosis, and the other clinical syndromes within this grouping, can be difficult to make accurately. In the absence of agreed definitions of th...ese syndromes these guidelines are to be used when, in the opinion of a clinician, an LRTI syndrome is present. The following are put forward as def-initions to guide the clinician, but it will be seen in the ensuingtext that some of these labels will always be inaccurate. These definitions are pragmatic and based on a synthesis of available studies. They are primarily meant to be simple to apply in clinical practice, and this might be at the expense of scientific accuracy. These definitions are not mutually exclusive, with lower respiratory tract infection being an umbrella term that includes all others, which can also be used for cases that cannot be classified into one of the other groups. No new evidence has been identified that would lead to a change in the clinical definitions,which are therefore unchanged from the 2005 publication.
Clin Microbiol Infect 2011;17(Suppl. 6): 1–24 The full version of these guidelines can be found on Wiley Online Library.
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The main objective of the 2014-15 RDHS was to obtain current information on demographic and health indicators, including family planning; maternal mortality; infant and child mortality; nutrition status of mothers and children; prenatal care, delivery, and postnatal care; childhood diseases; and ped...iatric immunization. In addition, the survey was designed to measure indicators such as domestic violence, the prevalence of anemia and malaria among women and children, and the prevalence of HIV infection in Rwanda. For the first time, this 2014-15 RDHS also includes indicators to monitor HIV testing among children age 0-14 as well as domestic violence for males age 15-59.
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Healthcare-associated infections (HAI) are a significant burden globally, with millions of patients affected each year. These infections affect both high- and limited-resource healthcare settings, but in limited-resource settings, rates are approximately twice as high as high-resource settings (15 o...ut of every 100 patients versus 7 out of every 100 patients). Furthermore, rates of infections within certain patient populations are significantly higher in limited-resource settings, including surgical patients, patients in intensive-care units (ICU) and neonatal units. It is well documented that environmental contamination plays a role in the transmission of HAIs in healthcare settings. Therefore, environmental cleaning is a fundamental intervention for infection prevention and control (IPC).It is a multifaceted intervention that involves cleaning and disinfection (when indicated) of the environment alongside other key program elements to support successful implementation (e.g., leadership support, training, monitoring, and feedback mechanisms). To be effective, environmental cleaning activities must be implemented within the framework of the facility IPC program, and not as a standalone intervention. It is also essential that IPC programs advocate for and work with facility administration and government officials to budget, operate and maintain adequate water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) infrastructure to ensure that environmental cleaning can be performed according to best practices.
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Recognizing the extent to which the COVID-19 outbreaks affects women and men differently is hugely important. Some preliminary data suggested that more men than women are dying, potentially due to sex-based immunological differences, higher rates of cardiovascular disease for men and lifestyle choic...es, such as smoking. However, the experiences and lessons learned from the Zika and Ebola outbreaks and the HIV pandemic demonstrate that robust gender analysis and informed, gender-integrated response are vital to strengthen the access and acceptability of the humanitarian services needed to meet the distinct needs of women and girls, as well as men and boy and LGBTI people.
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For close to 15 years, the Monitor has tracked the impact of victim assistance on the lives of victims of landmines, cluster munitions,
and other explosive remnants of war (hereafter “mine/ERW victims”). Over this time, the international communi...ty has strengthened its resolve to promote the rights and address the needs of victims through programs and services that are accessible and adequate in quantity, quality, availability, and consistent with the high standards set by human rights as well as other international humanitarian law.
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The NGO Safety and Security Training Report provides a narrative of the research findings, an updated curriculum, and guidance tools for training. It is based on extensive research and interviews with members of the NGO community. The report draws upon existing training materials, community consulta...tions, survey responses, job descriptions, as well as relevant trends in humanitarian and development practice. It captures good practice and global understanding in regard to quality and consistency of NGO security training.
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In response to a call by the United Nations Secretary-General and the Governments of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, an international team conducted an Ebola Recovery Assessment.The aim was to contribute towards laying the foundation for short-, medium- and long-term recovery while the medical eme...rgency response continues to tackle the epidemic.
This summary report is based on a full report as well as three detailed reports submitted to each of the three governments as contributions to their national recovery planning processes.
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Burkina Faso has approximately 10.5 million inhabitants and is divided into 30 provinces. The study took place in the districts of Tougan, Nouna, and Solenzo, in provinces Sourou and Kossi, in north-west Burkina Faso. There is one medical centre in every district capital and 6 to 14 health centres i...n the surrounding villages. Each health centre covers a population of 10 000 to 15 000. The staff of one health centre generally consists of one nurse, a nurse aid and a midwife as well as one drug vendor for the nearby village pharmacy. The health personnel are trained and paid by the state.
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There is increasing interest in understanding the role of air pollution as one of the greatest threats to human health worldwide. Nine of 10 individuals breathe air with polluted compounds that have a great impact on lung tissue. The nature of the relationship is complex, and new or updated data are... constantly being reported in the literature. The goal of our review was to summarize the most important air pollutants and their impact on the main respiratory diseases (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, asthma, lung cancer, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, respiratory infections, bronchiectasis, tuberculosis) to reduce both short- and the long-term exposure consequences. We considered the most important air pollutants, including sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide, volatile organic compounds, ozone, particulate matter and biomass smoke, and observed their impact on pulmonary pathologies. We focused on respiratory pathologies, because air pollution potentiates the increase in respiratory diseases, and the evidence that air pollutants have a detrimental effect is growing. It is imperative to constantly improve policy initiatives on air quality in both high- and low-income countries.
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In 2006, the Special Session of African Union Health Ministers adopted the Maputo Plan of Action for implementing the Continental Policy Framework on sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), which expired at the end of 2015. The goal was for all stakeholders and partners to join forces and ...re-double efforts, so that together, the effective implementation of the Continental Policy framework including universal access to sexual and reproductive health by 2015 in all countries in Africa can be achieved. The Revised Maputo Plan of Action (MPoA) 2016 – 2030 was subsequently endorsed by the African Union Heads of State at the 27th AU Summit in July 2016 in Kigali, Rwanda. The plan reinforces the call for universal access to comprehensive sexual and reproductive health services in Africa and lays foundation to the Sustainable Development Goals, particularly Goal 3 and 5, as well as the African Union Agenda 2063.
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Ghana's attempt to regulate health care waste management started in 2002 with the development of guidelines on health care waste manage-ment by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). In 2006, the Ghana Health Service (GHS) also developed the Health Care Waste Management Policy and Guidelines as ...a single document.
Although awareness on Health Care Waste Management (HCWM) has improved in recent years, there is the need for a systematic approach to improve on effective segregation, safe collection, and storage, as well as ultimate treatment before disposal.
This guideline seeks to ensure that HCW is managed effectively in compliance with existing International Conventions that Ghana is a signatory to, national laws and regulations, and others to be passed in future.
Recommendations for better management of HCW in the nation's health care facilities have been presented in this document. Also, standard operating procedures (SOPs) have been developed to provide
guidance to various levels of the health facilities.
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For most people in displacement contexts, there are simply not enough vaccines available in the places where they are hosted: 85% of refugees are hosted in lower- and middle-income countries, while in the first six months of this year 85% of vaccines went to wealthy countries; lower- and middle inco...me countries have still received only a fraction of the vaccine doses they require.3 Shortages in these countries can also pose particular risks to vaccination campaigns aimed at displaced populations, as they can result in them being deprioritized.
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The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in a double shock - health and economic. As of March 1, 2021, COVID-19 has cost more than 2.5 million lives and triggered an economic recession surpassing any economic downturn since World War II.
Part I of this paper explores the impact of this current macro-fisc...al outlook on the three primary sources of health spending. Drawing on experiences from previous economic crises, scenario analyses suggest a fall in government per capita spending on health in 2021 and 2022 unless governments make bold choices to increase the share of health in general government spending.
Part II of the paper discusses policy options to meet the spending needs in health. These options encompass strategies to make fiscal adjustments work and channel funds where they are most needed, as well as policies to stabilize the balance sheets of social health insurance (SHI) schemes. The paper explains how the health sector can play an active role in expanding fiscal space, contributing to tax reforms, most importantly pro-health taxes, and mobilizing and absorbing external financing, including debt relief.
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The Ministry of Health conducted STEPS surveys on adult risk factors surveillance in Myanmar in 2003, 2009 and 2014. Amongst these three surveys, the 2014 one is the most comprehensive, providing an analysis of all States and Regions within Myanmar through not only questionnaires and physical measur...ements – STEPs 1 and 2 of the survey – but also with data obtained through biochemical measurements (STEP 3).
The STEPS survey was initiated by the Ministry of Health in December 2014 with the technical support of WHO Headquarters, regional and country offices.
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The European Respiratory Society (ERS)/American Thoracic Society (ATS) Task Force on severe asthma includes an updated definition of severe asthma, a discussion of severe asthma phenotypes in relation to genetics, natural history, pathobiology and physiology, as well as sections on evaluation and tr...eatment of severe asthma where specific recommendations for practice are made. See the unabridged online version of the document for detailed discussion of the definition of severe asthma, phenotypes and recommendations for practice.
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The purpose of the survey is to identify the level of preparedness required by a health-care facility to be able to continue operating during, or following a conflict-related security event.
The survey method provides a measure of the security and preparedness of a given health facility in it...s specific context. Such a measure offers evidence-based guidance to assess whether urgent action needs to be taken and, if so, in what form.
Decision-makers can prioritize the most effective actions to mitigate specific risks and, eventually, will be able to rank the importance of needs faced by multiple facilities.
The survey covers three modules: the hazards affecting the facility, the current management procedures in place and the state of the physical infrastructure. Each of these modules is further divided into categories, and each category contains the questions – or indicators ‒ that cover the actual issues addressed in the survey. A detailed description of each indicator is provided in this manual.
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The seven essential features of practice for scaling up are described with great clarity. They are practical and universal, and encourage local innovation. They include policy, funding and local management structure, as well as working with all possible partners and developing local context adaptati...ons. The case studies give ideas and inspiration to develop new programmes and find ways around obstacles in existing programmes, especially through involving those with most at stake including users and their families and local community leaders
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A new reportshows that people in some 25 countries are set to face devasting levels of hunger in coming months due to the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic. While the greatest concentration of need is in Africa, countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, and in the Middle East and Asia – inclu...ding middle-income countries - are also being ravaged by crippling levels of food insecurity
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