Background paper 13
The Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response
May 2021
Bioethics - Medical, Ethical and Legal Perspectives
There’s evidence that implementing the four medical ethics principles may be challenging especially in low income country contexts with extreme resource scarcity and limited capacity to facilitate deliberations on the different ethical dilemmas.... These challenges can partly be explained by the social, economic, and political contexts in which the decisions are made, as well as the limited time, training and guidance to facilitate ethical decision making. Based on current literature, and using the example of bedside rationing; this chapter synthesizes the challenges clinicians face when operationalizing the four principle; identifying the opportunities to address them. We suggest that clinicians’ ability to implement the four principles are constrained by meso‐ and macro‐level decision making as well as their lack of training, explicit guidelines, and peer support. To ameliorate this situation, current efforts to strengthen the clinicians’ capacity to make ethical decisions should be complimented with developing of context relevant guidelines for ethical clinical decision making. The renewed global commitment to the sustainable development goals and universal healthcare coverage should be recognized as an opportunity to leverage resources and champion the integration of equity and justice as a core value in resource allocation at the bedside, meso-, macro- and global levels.
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The content of these guidelines goes beyond the technicalities of medical needs with additional insights into community empowerment, possible access to welfare and economic opportunities and similar issues. If these are adequately explored, the health and quality of life of people affected and their... families would be greatly restored.
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Consultancy to take forward the International Health Partnership
Ce glossaire actualisé sur le paludisme vise à améliorer la communication et la compréhension mutuelle au sein de la communauté scientifique, ainsi qu'avec les organismes de financement, les responsables de la santé publique chargés des programmes de lutte contre le paludisme et les décideur...s des pays où le paludisme est endémique.
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ecancer has just published a comprehensive set of guidelines for paediatric cancer surgery, applicable to low and high resource settings across the world. You can read the guidelines online
The guidelines have been developed by the International Society of Paediatric Surgical Oncology (IPSO) with... authors from both High Income Countries and Lower and Middle Income Countries, and have been further validated by experts in the respective fields with the aim of providing evidence-based information for surgeons who care for children with cancer.
These guidelines include information on the care and treatment of children with malignancies, including making a diagnosis, obtaining adequate venous access, performing a surgical resection for solid tumours (with staging and reconstruction), performing procedures for cancer prevention and its late effects, and managing complications of treatment; all with the goal of improving survival and quality of life.
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Kassa BMC Infectious Diseases (2018) 18:216 https://doi.org/10.1186/s12879-018-3126-5
New research published today shows that older, disabled and injured Syrian refugees are paying a double toll as a result of the conflict. The report, released by Handicap International and HelpAge International, provides new data showing how much these vulnerable refugees are struggling to meet thei...r specific needs
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This report found that while European Schools are paying increasing attention to inclusion, children with disabilities continued to face problems. They are rejected, pressured into changing schools, or are not provided with appropriate accommodations and support to allow them to learn and thrive in ...an inclusive environment.
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In recent decades, there have been concerted efforts to improve mental health services for youths alongside the challenges of rising healthcare costs and increasing demand for mental health needs. One important phenomenon is the shift from traditional clinic-based care to community based mental heal...th services to improve accessibility to services and provide patient-centred care. In this article, we discuss the child and adolescent community mental health efforts within the Asia-Pacific region.
Brain Sci.2017,7, 126; doi:10.3390/brainsci7100126
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Review
published: 12 August 2016 doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2016.00166
Frontiers in Public Health | www.frontiersin.org 1 August 2016 | Volume 4 | Article 166
This third booklet of the World Drug Report 2022 has a dual focus: opioids and cannabis.
The first chapter of the booklet provides an overview of opioids as a group of substances and their patterns of non-medical use at the global level. It also reviews the latest trends in the global supply of opi...ates and synthetic opioids and the availability of pharmaceutical opioids for medical consumption. Issues specific to regional patterns and trends in opioid markets are also analysed, including the opioid crisis in North America and in Africa and the Middle East. The chapter also includes a discussion of the potential impact, in the region and worldwide, of changes in opium poppy cultivation and opium production in Afghanistan. reireg
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PlosOne May 7, 2012 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0036735 ; Safe drinking water is critical for health. Household water treatment (HWT) has been recommended for improving access to potable water where existing sources are unsafe. Reports of low adherence to HWT may limit the usefulness of thi...s approach, however.
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Au cours des dix dernières années, de nombreuses catastrophes et crises majeures se sont succédé et ont impacté les vies de millions de gens partout dans le monde. Pour faire face à ces situations critiques, des équipes médicales d’urgence (EMU) nationales et internationales sont réguliè...rement détachées pour venir en aide aux populations sinistrées. Les
EMU sont des équipes de professionnels de soins de santé le plus souvent constituées de
médecins, infirmières, psychologues et autres pour apporter des soins cliniques, directement aux personnes touchées par ces catastrophes et ces conflits, et pour apporter leur soutien aux
systèmes de santé locaux. En accord avec le programme de Personnel de santé d’urgence pour la santé mondiale de l’Organisation mondiale de la Santé (OMS), tout professionnel de santé venant d’un pays étranger pour prodiguer des soins sur le lieu d’une catastrophe doit faire partie d’une équipe qualifiée, entraînée, pourvue de moyens matériels et financiers et qui fait preuve d’un minimum requis de niveau de pratique
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This action plan is intended for senior-level decision-makers in ministries of health, malaria
programme managers, entomologists, and epidemiologists working on malaria and other vectorborne diseases programmes. It is also intended for decision-makers and technical and advocacy
staff at other orga...nizations and stakeholders involved in public health, malaria control and
elimination, and urban and rural development.
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The Committee discussed the implications for preparedness for smallpox-like events reflected by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The Committee noted how quickly diagnostics and vaccines could be developed and deployed when resources and political will were abundant. This rapidity was also due to the f...act that the genetic sequence of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) had been shared worldwide. It was noted that in one country SARS-CoV-2 had been reconstructed in a laboratory from the viral genome sequence before the first case of COVID-19 had been reported, highlighting the benefits of synthetic biology technologies for accelerated development of diagnostics as well as the oft-described potential risks. Lessons learned about clinical care during the COVID-19 pandemic were also discussed.
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Mpox continues to affect people around the world. A new framework released today by WHO will guide health authorities, communities and other stakeholders in preventing and controlling mpox outbreaks, eliminating human-to-human transmission of the disease, and reducing spillover of the virus from ani...mals to humans.
Mpox is a viral illness caused by the monkeypox virus (MPXV). It can cause a painful rash, enlarged lymph nodes and fever. Most people fully recover, but some get very sick. The virus transmits from person to person through close, including sexual, contact. It also has animal reservoirs in east, central and west Africa, where spillovers from animals to humans can occasionally occur, sparking further outbreaks.
There are two different clades of the virus: clade I and clade II. Clade I outbreaks are deadlier than clade II outbreaks.
A major emergence of mpox linked to clade II began in 2017, and since 2022, has spread to all regions of the world. Between July 2022 and May 2023, the outbreak was declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. While that outbreak has largely subsided, cases and deaths continue to be reported today, illustrating that low-level transmission continues around the world.
Currently, there is also a major outbreak of clade I virus in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), where cases have been on the rise for decades. Since the beginning of the year, over 6500 cases and 345 deaths have been reported in the DRC. Almost half of these are among children under the age of 15 years.
The Strategic framework for enhancing prevention and control of mpox (2024–2027) provides a roadmap for health authorities, communities, and stakeholders worldwide to control mpox outbreaks in every context, advance mpox research and access to countermeasures, and to minimize zoonotic transmission.
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