This Spotlight presents an in-depth analysis including opinions, facts and figures, and key resources. It features commentary by Sylvie Briand of the WHO, Rosamund Southgate of Médecins Sans Frontières and Annie Wilkinson of the Institute of Development Studies.
It includes first-hand accounts b...y researchers with experience in the field, and interviews with social science expert Melissa Leach and communications managers at Médecins Sans Frontières-UK and BBC Media Action.
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Staying safe in spite of a disaster. What can you do for your safety in the event of a disaster?
In spring 2013, after weeks of rain, whole areas of southern, eastern and northern Germany were beset by catastrophic floods. Settlements vanished in th...e floods up to the roofs of the houses, tens of thousands of emergency personnel and volunteers struggled against the water with sandbags. Villages and parts of towns had to be evacuated, and the citizens were only able to take the essentials with them.
Disasters are part of life. Almost every day, we can read about disasters and largescale emergencies in a variety of media and see the images of destruction and suffering. These are not just major disasters which affect large areas for a long time. Local torrential rain, a severe storm, an electric power breakdown resulting from such a storm, or a house fire can trigger a very personal disaster for each individual, each family, which has to be overcome. Take the time to contemplate your personal emergency planning.
This brochure aims to help you to develop your personal preparedness plan.
The brochure is also available in different languages: https://www.bbk.bund.de/DE/Service/Publikationen/Broschürenfaltblätter/Ratgeber_node.html
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Leishmaniasis is a parasitic disease that is found in parts of the tropics, subtropics, and southern Europe. Leishmaniasis is caused by infection with Leishmania parasites, which are spread by the bite of infected sand flies. There are several different forms of leishmaniasis in people. The most com...mon forms are cutaneous leishmaniasis, which causes skin sores, and visceral leishmaniasis, which affects several internal organs (usually spleen, liver, and bone marrow).
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Cervical cancer is the fourth most common cancer in women worldwide in 2018, with 570,000 new cases and 311,000 deaths occurring annually.T he highest incidence rates are in Southern Africa, Eastern Africa, SubSaharan Africa, Western Africa, Melanesia, and Middle Africa . It also ranks as the leadin...g cause of cancer-related death in most African countries. More than 85% of these deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries . In addition, women living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) are six times as likely to have cervical cancer
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WHO Myanmar factsheet special, August 2018
Recently, schistosomiasis is reported also from Myanmar, viz. Rakhine State, Southern Shan State (near Lake Inle) and Bago Region. Between October 2016 and 30 June 2018, for instance, 302 cases have been diagnosed at Sittwe General Hospital.
About a year after infection, a painful blister forms – 90% of the time on the lower leg – and one or more worms emerge accompanied by a burning sensation. To soothe the burning pain, patients often immerse the infected part of the body in water. The worm(s) then releases thousands of larvae (ba...by worms) into the water. These larvae reach the infective stage after being ingested by tiny crustaceans or copepods, also called water fleas.
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This implementation brief addresses integration of HIV testing services into family planning (FP) services. It is intended as a practical resource for national health programmes seeking to introduce or scale up HIV testing and linkage to HIV prevention, sexually transmitted infection, and antiretrov...iral therapy services in FP.
This document highlights emerging good practices and country experiences of integrated HIV prevention and testing services within FP and advocates for increased linkage for FP clients to HIV services according to their needs. It also brings together information on models of integration of HIV testing into FP services, programme examples from east and southern Africa and guidance on the implementation monitoring process.
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This study, and similar studies in Kenya, Mozambique, Swaziland, Uganda, and Zambia is the outcome of close collaborative by a team in Swaziland, with technical and financial support from the UNAIDS Regional Support Team for Eastern and Southern Africa, UNAIDS Geneva, and the World Bank's Global HIV.../AIDS Program (Global AIDS Monitoring and Evaluation Team). The study entailed using existing data and collecting new data to better know the country's HIV epidemic, know the country HIV response and how funding was allocated, so as to improve the HIV response and strengthen prevention based on evidence on what works to prevent new infections.
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COVID-19 Global is the hub page for all ReliefWeb's coverage on the COVID-19 Pandemic, focusing on the countries with humanitarian situations. For updates grouped by regions, see Regional COVID-19 pages for Sub-Saharan Africa; Northern Africa; Latin America and the Caribbean; Central, Eastern, South...-eastern & Southern Asia; Oceania; Latin America and the Caribbean; and Europe.
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Report of the WHO/Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Consultation. The Consultation was organized back-to-back with the first annual meeting of the International Coordinating Group of the BMGF-funded project for human and dog rabies elimination in developing countries, held at WHO headquarters, Geneva,... Switzerland, from 5 to 7 October 2009. This allowed the Consultation to benefit from the participation of the national coordinators and advisers of the BMGF-funded projects in the Philippines, South Africa (KwaZulu-Natal) and the United Republic of Tanzania
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Asthma is the most common chronic respiratory disease among school-going adolescents worldwide. However, the burden of severe asthma is highest in Sub-Saharan Africa. This study aimed to explore teachers’ perceptions of asthma care across six African countries. We conducted focus group discussions... (FGDs) using a semi-structured interview guide. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim and analysed thematically. FGDs were conducted in Kumasi(Ghana), Blantyre (Malawi), Lagos (Nigeria), Durban (South Africa), Kampala (Uganda), and Harare (Zimbabwe) between 01 November 2020 and 30 June 2021. We identified two key themes related to asthma care; barriers to asthma care and suggestions to improve the care of adolescents with asthma. Barriers reported by teachers included a lack of knowledge and skills among themselves, adolescents, and caregivers. In addition, some traditional beliefs of teachers on asthma exacerbated challenges with asthma care in schools. Regarding suggestions, most teachers identified a need for all-inclusive asthma training programmes for teachers, adolescents and caregivers, focusing on acute episodes and mitigating triggers. Utilising teachers with personal experiences with asthma to advocate and support these initiatives was suggested. Further suggestions included the need for annual screening to enable early identification of adolescents with asthma and clarify restrictions on teachers administering asthma medications. Teachers across African schools identify multiple barriers to asthma care. Structured school education programs and annual asthma screening are key to addressing some barriers to care.
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The 2014–2015 Ebola epidemic in western Africa was the longest and most deadly Ebola epidemic in history, resulting in 28,616 cases and 11,310 deaths in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone. The Ebola virus has been known since 1976, when two separate outbreaks were identified in the Democratic Repub...lic of Congo (then Zaire) and South Sudan (then Sudan). However, because all Ebola outbreaks prior to that in West Africa in 2014–2015 were relatively isolated and of short duration, little was known about how to best manage patients to improve survival, and there were no approved therapeutics or vaccines. When the World Heath Organization declared the 2014-2015 epidemic a public health emergency of international concern in August 2014, several teams began conducting formal clinical trials in the Ebola affected countries during the outbreak.
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DNA studies of Egyptian mummies shows evidence of the existence of Schistosomiasis about 5000 years ago. Schistosomiasis is increasing in prevalence, affecting nearly 10% of the world’s population and ranking second only to malaria as a cause of morbidity & mortality.
Schistosoma haematobium are... found in tropical Africa & part of southwest Asia.
Schistosoma mansoni are found in tropical Africa, part of southwest Asia, south America & Caribbean islands.
Schistosoma japonicum are found in parts of Japan, China, Philippines, India & part of southeast Asia.
Blood flukes are known as schistosomes because of the "split body" on the ventral side of the male, in which the female is held during insemination and egg laying.
Man is the definite host harbouring adult parasites, and fresh water snails are intermediate hosts.
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This year’s MPI results show that more than two-thirds of the multidimensionally poor—886 millionpeople—live in middle-income countries. A further 440 million live in low-income countries. In both groups, data show, simple national averagescan hide enormous inequality inpatterns of povertywith...in countries. For instance, in Uganda 55 percentof the population experience multidimensional poverty—similartotheaverage in Sub-Saharan Africa. But Kampala, the capital city, has an MPI rate of sixpercent, whileinthe Karamojaregion, the MPI soars to 96 percent—meaningthat partsof Ugandaspan the extremes of Sub-Saharan Africa.There is even inequality under the same roof. In South Asia, for example, almost a quarter ofchildren under five live in households where at least one child in the household is malnourished but at least one child is not.
There is also inequality among the poor. Findings of the2019 global MPI paint a detailed picture of the many differences in how-and how deeply -people experience poverty. Deprivationsamong the poor varyenormously: in general, higher MPI valuesgo hand in hand with greater variationin the intensity of poverty. Results also show that children suffer poverty more intensely than adults and are more likely to be deprived in all 10 of the MPI indicators, lackingessentialssuch as clean water, sanitation, adequate nutrition or primary education
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March - June 2018
Myanmar introduced Child Death Surveillance and Response (CDSR) in 2015 as an initiative to reduce child (under-5) mortality, an initiative that will contribute to the country’s efforts to meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). Technical Guidelines for CDSR were devel...oped in 2015 followed by the development of Training Package in 2016. An Implementation Plan was made in 2016; and this led to all townships implementing CDSR in early 2017. After one year of implementation an assessment was carried out in early 2018.
The assessment was conducted in 3 region/states – Ayeyarwaddy, Magway, Shan South, with information gathered from the state/region, district, township and basic health unit levels. In addition a caretaker interview was conducted to see health-seeking behavior. In addition to these three regions/states, information was also gathered from three other regions/states but only at the region/state level – Mandalay, Yangon, Kachin.
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WHO today released its first roadmap to tackle postpartum haemorrhage (PPH) – defined as excessive bleeding after childbirth - which affects millions of women annually and is the world’s leading cause of maternal deaths.
Despite being preventable and treatable, PPH results in around 70 000 de...aths every year. For those who survive, it can cause disabilities and psychological trauma that last for years.
“Severe bleeding in childbirth is one of the most common causes of maternal mortality, yet it is highly preventable and treatable,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General. “This new roadmap charts a path forward to a world in which more women have a safe birth and a healthy future with their families.”
The Roadmap aims to help countries address stark differences in survival outcomes from PPH, which reflect major inequities in access to essential health services. Over 85% of deaths from PPH happen in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Risk factors include anaemia, placental abnormalities, and other complications in pregnancy such as infections and pre-eclampsia.
Many risk factors can be managed if there is quality antenatal care, including access to ultrasound, alongside effective monitoring in the hours after birth. If bleeding starts, it also needs to be detected and treated extremely quickly. Too often, however, health facilities lack necessary healthcare workers or resources, including lifesaving commodities such as oxytocin, tranexamic acid or blood for transfusions.
“Addressing postpartum haemorrhage needs a multipronged approach focusing on both prevention and response - preventing risk factors and providing immediate access to treatments when needed - alongside broader efforts to strengthen women’s rights,” said Dr Pascale Allotey, WHO Director for Sexual and Reproductive Health and HRP, the UN’s special programme on research development and training in human reproduction. “Every woman, no matter where she lives, should have access to timely, high quality maternity care, with trained health workers, essential equipment and shelves stocked with appropriate and effective commodities – this is crucial for treating postpartum bleeding and reducing maternal deaths.”
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EVALUATION REPORT | The purpose of the evaluation is to strengthen child protection programming in the context of emergencies by assessing UNICEF’s performance and drawing lessons and recommendations that will influence ongoing and future programmes, in both preparedness and response. Apart from g...lobal and regional interviews and desk reviews, the evaluation is grounded in a solid base of evidence from four indepth case studies of recent emergency responses, in Colombia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Pakistan and South Sudan, as well as extensive research covering eight additional countries.
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The Member States of the Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO)
that appear in the tables below have used the assessment instrument for mental health systems (WHOAIMS)
(1), as have Anguilla, the British Virgin Islands, Montserrat, and Turks and Caicos, all British
O...verseas Territories. For the purpose of this report, the countries and territories were grouped into three subregions, as follows:
Central America, Mexico, and the Latin Caribbean, the non-Latin Caribbean, and South America. The tables
also indicate the year each national WHO-AIMS report was published.
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According to the United Nations, Yemen has been the "Worst humanitarian crisis in the world," for the past two years. Despite the Hudaydah Agreement signed in December 2018, the fighting continued in many areas of the country, such as Hajjah in the north, Al Dhale' e in the south and Hudaydah along ...the west coast. Within a year, another 400,000 Yemenis were forced to flee their homes, eventually adding up to one-eighth of the entire Yemeni population who had become displaced at least once, over the last five years.
In 2019, unprecedented heavy rain and flooding from May onwards caused catastrophic damage to homes and the families’ livelihoods, adding to their misery. Thousands of families who had already lost their home due to the fighting had yet again, their temporary shelters, beddings and essential kitchen supplies, destroyed.
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