La Organización Panamericana de la Salud se complace en presentar la segunda edición del Manual de procedimientos para la vigilancia y el control de las leishmaniasis en la Región de las Américas, un instrumento de apoyo a las áreas de gestión y de servicios que trabajan con la leishmaniasis e...n los países de la Región. El manual tiene por objetivo ampliar los conocimientos sobre la enfermedad y aspira a ser una herramienta de trabajo para que el personal de salud y los equipos de gestión presten apoyo a los ministerios de salud en sus respectivos procesos de estructuración de los servicios de salud, así como en la optimización de las actividades para reducir la morbilidad y la mortalidad asociadas a las leishmaniasis. En esta segunda edición, se han puesto al día los datos epidemiológicos y las recomendaciones, en consonancia con las Directrices para el tratamiento de las leishmaniasis en la Región de las Américas, publicadas en el 2022. Además, se han revisado y complementado todos los capítulos para ofrecer a los países información actualizada que contribuirá a fortalecer la vigilancia, la asistencia y el control de los casos en seres humanos, vectores y reservorios.
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Abstract: Chagas disease is caused by infection with the protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi, and although over 100 years have passed since the discovery of Chagas disease, it still presents an increasing problem for global public health. A plethora of information concerning the chronic phase of human Chaga...s disease, particularly the severe cardiac form, is available in the literature. However, information concerning events during the acute phase of the disease is scarce. In this review, we will discuss the current status of acute Chagas disease cases globally, the immunological findings related to the acute phase and their possible influence in disease outcome, and reactivation of Chagas disease in immunocompromised individuals, a key point for transplantation and HIV invection management.
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Mem Inst Oswaldo Cruz, Rio de Janeiro, Vol. 117: e220083chgsa, 2022
Two adjectives raise an issue for communicators working on Chagas disease (CD): “invisible and silent”. Two adjectives that can be ascribed to other neglected tropical diseases (NTD), but which are part of the essence of CD. Br...inging CD out of its situation of neglect and oblivion is a mission entrusted mainly to the world of communication as well as of science, politics and financial resources. However, communication has not always been considered among the priorities in the approach to the disease, except in valuable exceptions, some of which we have seen in the preceding article.
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Financing Global Health 2014 is the sixth edition of this annually produced report on global health financing. As in previous years, this report captures trends in development assistance for health (DAH) and government health expenditure (GHE). Health financing is one of IHME’s core research areas..., and the aim of the series is to provide much-needed information to global health stakeholders. Updated GHE and DAH estimates allow decision-makers to pinpoint funding gaps and investment opportunities vital to improving population health. This year, IHME made a number of improvements to the data collection and methods implemented to produce Financing Global Health estimates. Both government health expenditure and development assistance for health estimates were updated and enhanced in 2013.
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One of the main aims of the WHO Global Initiative for Childhood Cancer and the CureAll Americas framework is to strengthen centers of excellence and promote the training of the health workforce, especially pediatric oncology nurses, specialized in nursing care for children and adolescents with cance...r and their families. These health personnel provide compassionate, non traumatic, complex, continuous, ethical, conscious patient- and family-centered care in order to meet the physical, emotional, psychosocial, and cultural needs of the people involved. This publication is aimed at health administration teams, hospital management teams, and professional pediatric oncology nursing groups. Its objective is to identify, systematize, and consolidate available evidence on the scope of pediatric oncology nursing practice in Latin America and the Caribbean based on core competencies, in order to incorporate them into clinical practice, teaching, and research. The preparation process included a systematic review aimed at finding the best evidence on this subject. Patient- and family centered care and the conceptual model of competencies for teenagers and young adults with cancer, developed by the Teenage Cancer Trust with the support of the Royal College of Nursing, were the theoretical foundations supporting the systematization of recommendations.
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'Ethical Issues in Obstetrics and Gynecology' represents the results of carefully researched and considered discussion. The guidelines are intended to provide material for consideration and debate about ethical aspects of our discipline for member organisations and their constituent membership.
Climate change is damaging human health now and is projected to have a greater impact in the future. Low- and middle-income countries are seeing the worst effects as they are most vulnerable to climate shifts and least able to adapt given weak health systems and poor infrastructure. Low-carbon appro...ach can provide effective, cheaper care while at the same time being climate smart. Low-carbon healthcare can advance institutional strategies toward low-carbon development and health-strengthening imperatives and inspire other development institutions and investors working in this space. Low-carbon healthcare provides an approach for designing, building, operating, and investing in health systems and facilities that generate minimal amounts of greenhouse gases. It puts health systems on a climate-smart development path, aligning health development and delivery with global climate goals. This approach saves money by reducing energy and resource costs. It can improve the quality of care in a diversity of settings. By prompting ministries of health to tackle climate change mitigation and foster low-carbon healthcare, the development community can help governments strengthen local capacity and support better community health.
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Over half a billion children are living in areas with extremely high levels of floods and nearly 160 million children live in areas of high or extremely high droughts. The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that 26% of the annual 6.6 million deaths of children under five are linked to environ...ment-related causes and conditions. Children are also disproportionately affected by pollution, not only in terms of death rates, but also in terms of cognitive and physical development. This report illustrates that environmental causes also have an impact on whether children are pushed to work and on the kind of work they engage in, the conditions of work, exposure to dangerous toxicants and the risk of exploitation. However, the report raises more questions than it answers as it is one of the first reports addressing the question, how environmental degradation and climate change affect the vulnerability of children towards exploitation.
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Volume 20, September
Global smart update
Second Edition
Good Policy and Practice in HIV & AIDS and Education
This report summarizes the latest scientific knowledge on the links between exposure to air pollution and adverse health effects in children. It is intended to inform and motivate individual and collective action by health care professionals to prevent damage to children’s health from exposure to ...air pollution.
Air pollution is a major environmental health threat. Exposure to fine particles in both the ambient environment and in the household causes about seven million premature deaths each year. Ambient air pollution alone imposes enormous costs on the global economy, amounting to more than US$ 5 trillion in total welfare losses in 2013.
This public health crisis is receiving more attention, but one critical aspect is often overlooked: how air pollution affects children in uniquely damaging ways. Recent data released by the World Health Organization (WHO) show that air pollution has a vast and terrible impact on child health and survival. Globally, 93% of all children live in environments with air pollution levels above the WHO guidelines (see the full report, Air pollution and child health: prescribing clean air. More than one in every four deaths of children under 5 years of age is directly or indirectly related to environmental risks. Both ambient air pollution and household air pollution contribute to respiratory tract infections that resulted in 543 000 deaths in children under the age of 5 years in 2016.
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Esta publicação apresenta a Agenda para as Américas sobre Saúde, Meio Ambiente e Mudança Climática 2021–2030 (a Agenda). Esta Agenda é um apelo ao setor da saúde para que se posicione na vanguarda da abordagem aos determinantes ambientais da saúde nas Américas. A Organização Pan-Americ...ana da Saúde (OPAS) trabalhará com os Estados Membros para alcançar a meta e objetivo desta agenda: assegurar uma vida saudável e promover o bem-estar para todos, em todas as idades, usando um enfoque sustentável e equitativo que priorize a redução das iniquidades em saúde. A Agenda foi desenvolvido sob a égide da Estratégia Mundial da Organização Mundial da Saúde (OMS) sobre a Saúde, o Meio Ambiente e a Mudança Climática e se baseia nos compromissos estabelecidos na Agenda de Saúde Sustentável para as Américas 2018–2030 e no Plano Estratégico da OPAS 2020–2025. A Agenda foi desenvolvida em consulta com o Grupo Técnico Assessor (GTA), por meio de um processo decisório consensual com os Estados Membros, durante os anos de 2019 e 2020. Para alcançar o Objetivo de Desenvolvimento Sustentável 3, a Agenda enfoca: melhoria do desempenho dos programas e instituições de saúde pública ambiental; promoção de sistemas de saúde ambientalmente resilientes e sustentáveis; e promoção de cidades e comunidades ambientalmente saudáveis e resilientes. A implementação da Agenda deverá ser contextual, com base nas necessidades e realidades de cada país. Ela beneficiará países e territórios ao promover boas práticas de governança; fortalecer as funções de liderança e coordenação do setor da saúde; favorecer ações intersetoriais; focar na prevenção primária; e melhorar as evidências e a comunicação. Facilitará o acesso aos recursos humanos, técnicos e financeiros necessários para abordar os determinantes ambientais da saúde e garantir que a Região esteja totalmente engajada nos processos e acordos globais de saúde, meio ambiente e mudança climática. O objetivo desta Agenda é fortalecer a capacidade dos atores da saúde, tanto no setor da saúde quanto em outros setores, para abordarem e se adaptarem aos determinantes ambientais da saúde (DAS), priorizando as populações que vivem em condições de vulnerabilidade, a fim de atingir o Resultado Intermediário 18 do Plano Estratégico da OPAS 2020–2025, diretamente, e vários outros resultados do Plano, indiretamente. Para enfrentar e se adaptar aos desafios dos DEA na Região, será necessária uma abordagem integrada e baseada em evidências dentro do setor da saúde e entre os setores, possibilitada e favorecida por boas práticas de governança, mecanismos de gestão adequados, vontade política de alto nível e dotação adequada de recursos humanos, técnicos, tecnológicos e financeiros.
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The “Wuppertal Call” – Contributions and Recommendations from an
International Conference on Eco-Theology and Ethics of Sustainability
Wuppertal, Germany, 16 – 19 June 2019
The WHO Global Antimicrobial Resistance and Use Surveillance System (GLASS) was launched in 2015 to foster AMR surveillance and inform strategies to contain AMR. The system started with surveillance of AMR in bacteria causing common human infections and has expanded its scope to include surveillance... of antimicrobial consumption (AMC), invasive fungal infections, and a One Health surveillance model relevant to human health. To meet future challenges, it is in continuous evolution to enhance the quality and representativeness of data to inform the AMR burden accurately. As of the end of 2022, 127 countries, territories and areas participate in GLASS.
The fifth GLASS report, produced in collaboration with Member States, summarizes 2020 data on AMR rates in common bacteria from countries, territories, and areas. The report brings new features, including analyses of population testing coverage or AMR trends. For the first time, the report presents 2020 data on AMC at the national level. A new interactive dashboard allow users to explore AMR and AMC global data, country profiles and download the data.
This report marks the end of the early implementation phase of GLASS. In addition to presenting data collected through the latest data call, this report provides a summary of five years of national AMR surveillance data contributed to GLASS from its initiation, presents AMR findings in the context of progress of country participation in GLASS and in global AMR surveillance coverage and laboratory quality assurance systems at (sub)national level.
Patterns of antimicrobial consumption are presented by country with a particular focus on antibacterials. The report also presents the antimicrobial consumption according to the WHO AWaRe antibiotic classification, for penicillins and cephalosporines. From a One Health perspective, the report presents antimicrobial consumption data in the human sector expressed in tons to allow a comparison with antimicrobial consumption from other sectors (not included in this report).
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Access to health workers who are fit for purpose, motivated and protected is a fundamental force of health service delivery and the achievement of universal health coverage and the health and health-related Sustainable Development Goals. Data and knowledge of the distribution, skill mix and future d...evelopment needs of the health workforce can mean the difference between enabling or impeding health systems performance, inclusive economic growth and global health security preparedness and response
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To support the achievement of health equity in the Region, the regional inter-agency movement Every Woman Every Child Latin America and the Caribbean (EWEC-LAC) advocates for and supports the use of equity and evidence-based policies, strategies and interventions to accelerate equitable progress in ...the health of women, children and adolescents. Although progress has been made, great inequities persist. Women from the LAC region’s poorest countries are almost four times more likely to die due to complications during childbirth than those living in the wealthiest countries. Through the years, several tools, instruments and methods (TIMs) have been developed by global, regional and country partners that can be used to conduct systematic equity-based analyses and/or re-designs of health systems, programs, strategies and interventions. The main purpose of this document is to present an overview of existing TIMs that can be used by policymakers, program managers, development partners, nongovernmental organizations, academia and civil society partners to strengthen systematic identification, analysis and responding to social inequities in the health of women, children and adolescents in LAC. The TIMs included were identified through a systematic search process
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