This document on logistics management information systems (LMIS) was developed to address the increasing need for harmonization and standardization of core indicators for managing medicines and health products for neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) at country level (i.e. for last-mile logistics). It... thereby responds to requests from Members States, pharmaceutical groups, financial donors and implementing partners for guidance from the World Health Organization (WHO) for a transparent, standardized reporting mechanism and key indicators for in-country logistics. More importantly, this document will also guide the last-mile logistics process and is relevant for the health workforce working at different levels of national health information systems. It can be adapted and used for any health products depending on the needs of the country or health programmes.
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Breastfeeding is a cornerstone of healthy infant nutrition, development and survival. It is critical for countries* to improve breastfeeding rates in order to achieve global targets for newborn and child health and survival, as well as economic growth and environmental sustainability
Effective surveillance and monitoring of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) and their risk factors are essential for informing evidence-based public health policies, addressing health inequities, and ensuring progress toward global and regional targets. By tracking trends in NCDs, their modifiable risk... factors such as tobacco use, unhealthy diets, physical inactivity, harmful use of alcohol, and air pollution, along with biological risk factors such as overweight and obesity, high blood pressure (hypertension), and elevated blood glucose (diabetes), policymakers can identify emerging threats, target vulnerable populations, allocating resources efficiently. Reliable data also enable countries to evaluate interventions, adjust policies, and strengthen health systems to reduce the burden of NCDs.
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Las enfermedades no transmisibles (ENT), entre las que se incluyen lasenfermedades cardiovasculares (ECV), el cáncer, las enfermedades respiratoriascrónicas (ERC) y la diabetes, son las principales causas de muerte y discapacidaden la Región de las Américas. En el 2021, las ENT ocasionaron 6 mil...lones de muertes, de las cuales el 38% fueron prematuras.
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Las enfermedades no transmisibles (ENT) (por ejemplo, las enfermedades cardiovasculares, el cáncer, la diabetes y las enfermedades respiratorias crónicas) y los problemas de salud mental (por ejemplo, la enfermedad de Alzheimer y las demencias relacionadas, la depresión, la ansiedad y los trastor...nos del espectro autista) son la principal causa mundial de enfermedades prevenibles, discapacidad y muerte. En este informe se examinan los riesgos que plantean las actuales tasas crecientes de ENT y problemas de salud mental en América del Sur, más allá de los riesgos para la salud, y se ponen de manifiesto sus considerables efectos negativos en el crecimiento económico. Se concibió un modelo analítico que proyecta los efectos macroeconómicos de las ENT y los problemas de salud mental durante el período 2020-2050 en 10 países de América del Sur: Argentina, Bolivia (Estado Plurinacional de), Brasil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Perú, Uruguay y Venezuela (República Bolivariana de). Los resultados revelan que el impacto macroeconómico de las ENT y los problemas de salud mental en América del Sur se traduce en déficits económicos importantes. En términos generales, la pérdida total de PIB en América del Sur asciende a US$ 7,3 billones (US$ internacionales del 2022) en el período 2020-2050, lo que equivale al 4% del PIB total de la región. Es decir, si se eliminaran estas enfermedades y problemas, el PIB anual sería cerca de un 4% mayor cada año durante 30 años
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The MEDBOX Annual Report provides an overview of the most important projects of the past year
A pesar de los avances, persisten importantes barreras para el diagnóstico y tratamiento oportunos de la malaria en las Américas, especialmente en zonas rurales y de difícil acceso. Para reducir la transmisión, es esencial ampliar el uso de pruebas de diagnóstico rápido y garantizar la disponi...bilidad gratuita de antimaláricos como bienes públicos. La OPS propone un marco estratégico para eliminar obstáculos, acelerar el inicio del tratamiento y contribuir a la eliminación de la enfermedad en la región.
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Al afrontar la amenaza común que supuso el coronavirus del síndrome respiratorio agudo severo de tipo 2 (SARS CoV 2), los países y las instituciones de todo el mundo se vieron rápidamente desbordados por la monumental tarea de responder a un problema que avanzaba rápidamente y que les obligó a... idear estructuras y alianzas ad hoc para ampliar las medidas de respuesta. En este sentido, el Grupo Independiente de Preparación y Respuesta frente a las Pandemias señaló:
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In this guide, the African Palliative Care Association (APCA) has put together evidence‑based information on the use of specific opioids commonly used in the management of moderate‑to‑severe pain to manage both cancer and non‑cancer pain. APCA hopes that this guide will be a useful tool i...n aiding health professionals at all levels of healthcare delivery to assess and manage pain using opioids. All opioids included in this guide are listed on the WHO model list of essential medicines but we remind readers that oral morphine is the standard opioid of choice for managing moderate‑to‑severe pain and we recommend that it should be made available at all times.
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On 13 August 2024, the Africa Centres for Disease Control (Africa CDC) declared the multi-country mpox outbreak a public health emergency of continental security, with strong recommendations to improve surveillance and vaccine deployment in all AU Member States. On 14 August 2024, the WHO Director-G...eneral declared mpox outbreak a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC).
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On 13 August 2024, the Africa Centres for Disease Control (Africa CDC) declared the multi-country mpox outbreak a public health emergency of continental security, with strong recommendations to improve surveillance and vaccine deployment in all AU Member States. On 14 August 2024, the WHO Director-G...eneral declared mpox outbreak a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC).
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En la tercera edición del RSI se recogen las enmiendas al anexo 7 adoptadas por la 67.ª Asamblea Mundial de la Salud en virtud de la resolución WHA67.13 (2014). Con arreglo al anexo 7, en su versión enmendada, la protección contra la fiebre amarilla conferida por la administración de una vacun...a aprobada y la validez del correspondiente certificado son para toda la vida de la persona vacunada y no solo para un periodo de 10 años, como antes.
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The global cholera statistics for 2024, showing an increase in both the number of people who fell sick and died from the disease.
Reported cholera cases rose by 5% and deaths by 50% in 2024 compared to 2023, with more than 6000 people dying from a disease that is both preventable and treatable. Whi...le these numbers are themselves alarming, they are underestimates of the true burden of cholera.
Weekly epidemiological record WER No 36, 2025, 100, 347–364
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20 YEARS OF STRATEGIC HIV AND PUBLIC HEALTH DATA . beThe completion of the 6th South African National HIV Prevalence, Incidence and Behaviour Survey (SABSSM) report, coincides with the celebration of 30 years of democracy in South Africa; and marks 20 years of conducting nationally representative ho...usehold-based surveys by the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC), its collaborators and donors. Since its inception in 2002, the SABSSM series has emerged as one of the HSRC’s leading scientific contributions to the country’s HIV and AIDS response (1), providing essential data to monitor the HIV epidemic, the impact of the HIV program in South Africa, and to inform strategies for epidemic control in the National Strategic Plan for HIV, TB and STIs (NSP), now in its fifth edition. Using scientific evidence from SABSSM and other key sources, the NSP guides the country’s response, under the leadership of the South African AIDS Council (SANAC) and the National Department of Health (NDoH), with focus on equitable access to biomedical interventions, addressing the structural and social behavioural drivers of the epidemic, and targeting populations disproportionately affected by HIV; such as, black Africans, key populations and adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) aged 15–24 years (2).
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On Global Handwashing Day, WHO and UNICEF have released the first-ever global Guidelines on Hand Hygiene in Community Settings to support governments and practitioners in promoting effective hand hygiene outside health care – across households, public spaces and institutions. Framing hand hygiene ...as a public good and a government responsibility, the Guidelines translate evidence into ready-to-adopt actions that enable sustainable access to effective hygiene services. This will reduce diarrhoeal disease, acute respiratory infections and other preventable illnesses, strengthening routine public health where people live, work, visit and study, and emergency preparedness, including outbreaks like cholera.
Despite clear benefits, 1.7 billion people still lacked basic hand hygiene services at home in 2024, including 611 million with no facility at all. Meeting the 2030 target will require accelerated progress – about a doubling in the global rate, and much faster in specific settings (up to 11-fold in least-developed countries and 8-fold in fragile contexts). Hand hygiene remains one of the most cost-effective health investments, reducing diarrhoea by 30% and acute respiratory infections by 17%, with large, measurable gains for population health.
“Clean hands save lives, but results at scale require policy, financing and accountability,” said Dr Ruediger Krech, Director a.i, Department of Environment, Climate Change, One Health & Migration at the World Health Organization. “These Guidelines help countries move beyond fragmented projects to government-led systems that make soap, water, and conditions conducive to everyday hand hygiene the norm.”
“Children and young people pay the highest price when basic hygiene is out of reach,” said Cecilia Scharp, Director, Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Team, Programme Group, UNICEF. “These Guidelines provide practical steps to ensure facilities are accessible when they need to be – in homes, schools, markets, and transport hubs – so every child can learn, play and thrive with dignity.”
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Addressing TB comorbidities and risk factors is central to the World Health Organization (WHO) End TB Strategy. These guidelines consolidate the latest WHO recommendations on TB and key comorbidities. The guidelines are a living document and will include dedicated sections for each key TB comorbidit...y or health-related risk factor. The first edition focused on HIV-associated TB, updating the WHO policy on collaborative TB/HIV activities. This second edition expands on the previous edition and consolidates new and existing recommendations on interventions to address undernutrition in people with TB, to provide food assistance to households of people with TB in food-insecure settings, and to screen for TB among those who are undernourished or food insecure.
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PHSM are vital in reducing the risk and scale of infectious disease transmission and lowering hospitalization and deaths. Examples include contact tracing, quarantine and isolation, mask use, ventilation, school or workplace measures, mobility restrictions and travel requirements.
While these mea...sures are essential, decision-making on PHSM becomes particularly complex during rapidly evolving health emergencies, with incomplete information and under significant public and political pressure, especially when the pathogen is novel or poorly understood. In such contexts, guidance needs to be agile and responsive, developed and adapted based on emerging evidence and shifting epidemiological patterns. Decision-makers are frequently confronted with difficult trade-offs, having to balance measures that are:
─ effective but socially disruptive;
─ cost-effective but logistically burdensome;
─ beneficial for public health but economically disruptive; or
─ practical but inequitable or unethical
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This plan, approved by the Organization’s 62nd Directing Council, was shaped by extensive consultations with countries and stakeholders, and commits to transformative health outcomes over the next six years, tackling noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), mental health, health security, fragmented healt...h systems and services, and the elimination of communicable diseases, amongst others.
“The COVID-19 pandemic taught us that the Region of the Americas is stronger when we work together,” said Dr. Jarbas Barbosa, PAHO Director. “This Strategic Plan harnesses our collective strength to build resilient health systems, reduce disease burden, and improve health and well-being for all across the Americas.”
The plan builds on lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic, which exposed gaps in health systems while highlighting the power of joint action. It targets measurable impacts in countries, such as reducing maternal mortality, reversing rising suicide rates, and eliminating diseases like leprosy and Chagas.
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Current HIV/AIDS Reports (2022) 19:358–374. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11904-022-00615-z.
MINDSPACE is an acronym developed by the UK's behavioural insights team to summarise nine key influences on human behaviour: Messenger, Incentives, Norms, Default, Salience, Priming, Affect, Commitment, and E...go. These effects have been used in various settings to design interventions that encourage positive behaviours. Currently, over 200 institutionalised behavioural insight teams exist internationally, which may draw upon the MINDSPACE framework to inform policy and improve public services.
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HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES COMMUNICATIONS | (2022)9:295 | https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-022-01312-3 .
Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), particularly Southern and East Africa, has the highest AIDS deaths
and HIV-infected people in the world. Even though considerable effort has been made over
the yea...rs to study HIV transmission risk behaviours of different population groups in SSA,
there is little evidence of studies that have looked at pooled effects of associated HIV risk
factors among men, particularly in Southern Africa.
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