This rapid communication outlines the main outcomes of a WHO convened Guideline Development Group (GDG) meeting, held in May-June 2021 on the topic of the management of TB in children and adolescents. The rapid communication aims to inform staff from ministries of health and care providers across p...ublic and private sectors, technical partners and other stakeholders about the key findings, considerations and changes related to the diagnosis, treatment and care of TB for children and adolescents, in order to allow for planning at the country level ahead of the release of updated guidelines and an associated operational handbook. WHO will publish the guidelines and operational handbook in the coming months.
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The availability of water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services in health care facilities, especially in maternity and primary-care settings where they are often absent, supports core aspects of quality, equity and dignity for all people. This document describes an approach for conducting a nation...al situational analysis of water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) as a basis for improving quality of care. This document describes the process from the initial preparatory stages, including triggers for action, through data collection and analysis to the dissemination of results. Each element of the approach is described and possible limitations and mechanisms to mitigate these are explored.
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A practical manual presenting the specific knowledge, skills and practices that First Aiders should have to act safely and effectively when caring for people caught up in armed conflicts and other situations of violence, such as internal disturbances and tensions.
The WHO country office for Ghana, began the year 2019 with a 4-day staff retreat at the Busua Beach Resort in the Western Region from 04 to 08 March 2019. The theme for the retreat was ‘Impacting the Health and Lives of the people of Ghana through the Triple Billion Goal”. The staff outlined pri...orities and strategies to strengthen WHO’s contribution to the national health agenda during the year. Working in collaboration with the Ministry of Health/Ghana Health Service and other allied health institutions and stakeholders, the WHO country office, provided support aimed at achieving its
mission which is attaining the highest level of health by the people in the country though its six operational areas which are (i) Communicable Diseases (ii) Non-Communicable Diseases, (iii) Promoting Health through the Life Course (iv), Health Systems, (v) Preparedness, Surveillance and Response (vi) Corporate services and enabling functions.
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Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) as a serious public health threat was globally acknowledged by WHO in 2015, through the launch of the Global Action Plan (GAP). With a limited number of new antibiotics in the developmental pipeline, many countries are in the process of establishing strategies for anti...microbial stewardship (AMS). Within each country, different healthcare challenges have
contributed to AMR. This has also shaped individual AMS strategies and policies. In South Africa (SA), there is a high burden of infectious diseases, mainly of bacterial origin. In addition, SA also has the highest number of people living with
human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) globally. According to the 2019 statistics, there are approximately 7.97 million people living with HIV in SA. Together with this, SA has the fourth largest tuberculosis population globally.
Other important challenges include poverty, malnutrition, a high burden of non-communicable diseases, and a dire shortage of trained healthcare professionals (e.g. clinicians, pharmacists, and nurses).
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This report challenges policy-makers and political leaders to tackle fossil fuel production and consumption as a health control issue, in the same way that smoking has been reduced and regulated. Fossil fuel combustion is a major source of toxic air pollution that kills 7 million people every year, ...almost the same as the number of deaths caused by tobacco smoking.
In 2018, the World Health Organization (WHO) recognised air pollution as a major health risk factor. There is widespread public discussion about the effects of fossil fuel combustion and emissions on climate change… but what about the effect on our health? Climate change poses a threat not only to the health of the planet, but also to humans.
The case studies evaluated in this report offer examples of mechanisms that can be used to restrict the production and consumption of unhealthy commodities, so that the health, air pollution and climate communities can learn from one another, using shared approaches and language. These case studies show that the connection with health is a strong argument to support sustainable change.
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Addressing gaps and improving health system performance is simply not enough to prepare a health system to tackle the effects of the climate crisis. Climate change’s impact on the health and well-being of people globally is reaching catastrophic levels. As the earth continues to warm, tens of mill...ions of people are at increased risk from rapid and unpredictable spread of infectious diseases, heatwaves, water and food insecurity and scarcity, air pollution, poverty and homelessness. Health services are often regarded as a first line defense in preventing adverse health outcomes, especially from those caused by climate impacts
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Once identified as vulnerable, applicants enjoy specific rights and safeguards in the asylum process under EU law. Vulnerability should therefore trigger additional or tailored support to ensure that people have the necessary conditions to bring forward a claim for protection.
This is the seventeenth annual publication of the Global Hunger Index (GHI), a report jointly published by Concern Worldwide and Welthungerhilfe.
The 2022 Global Hunger Index (GHI) brings us face to face with a grim reality. The toxic cocktail of conflict, climate change, and the COVID-19 pandemi...c had already left millions exposed to food price shocks and vulnerable to further crises. Now the conflict in Ukraine—with its knock-on effects on global supplies of and prices for food, fertilizer, and fuel—is turning a crisis into a catastrophe.
But the speed and severity of the global food crisis reflects the fact that millions of people were already living on the precarious edge of hunger—a legacy of past failures to build more just, sustainable, and resilient food systems. This year’s report therefore focuses on food systems transformation and local governance.
According to the 2022 GHI, Hunger is at alarming levels in 5 countries—Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Madagascar, and Yemen— and is provisionally considered *alarming *in 4 additional countries— Burundi, Somalia, South Sudan, and Syria. In a further 35 countries, hunger is considered serious, based on 2022 GHI scores and provisional designations.
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This document compiles the recommendations made by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) to help professionals in charge of vector control programs in Latin America and the Caribbean at the national, subnational, and local level update their knowledge in... order to make evidence-based decisions on the most appropriate control measures for each specific situation. IVM can be used for surveillance and control or for elimination of VBDs and can help reduce the development of insecticide resistance through the rational use of these products. This document provides instructions for fulfillment of the 2008 PAHO mandate set forth in CD 48/13 (Integrated Vector Management).
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This research paper uses the Health Resources and services Availability Mapping System (HeRAMS) database to develop two composite indices – one for health centres and one for hospitals – in order to analyse and assess the health facilities’ performance across time and to evaluate the di...sparities among regions in the Syrian Arab Republic. The indices will provide an evidence-based tool for the main actors in the health sector to identify gaps, to intervene accordingly and to assess the impact of their interventions on the health system. The process of constructing the indices includes description and selection of variables, application of normalization techniques and weighting methods, and sensitivity analysis.
A literature review, analysis of the scope of the HeRAMS database, analysis of the crisis situation, data limitation and expert consultations were the main aspects of the construction process of the indices.
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2nd edition. The 2018 Roadmap incorporates an additional critical population: adolescents. Despite making up 1 in 6 of the world’s people, adolescents have been largely overlooked as global momentum to address TB has grown. Spanning the ages of 10–19 years, adolescents are both at risk of TB and... represent an important population for TB control. They often present with infectious TB and frequently have multiple contacts in congregate settings, such as schools and other educational institutions. Nevertheless, few countries capture TB data in suitably age-disaggregated ways to allow full understanding of its impact in this group and even fewer provide the adolescent-friendly services our young people need to access diagnosis and care.
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VADEMECUM | This Vademecum is intended to provide a benchmark for aid workers—whether working in the field or at a strategic level—in particular concerning the formulation and implementation of programmes of prevention or response to humanitarian crises. It is not solely a theoretical document b...ecause, in addition to guiding principles, it also provides concrete examples of how to ensure protection of the rights of people with disabilities, including in terms of humanitarian aid. This Vademecum has been drafted in adherence to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which has been in force since 2006 and which reaffirms the importance of protecting the safety of people with disabilities in dangerous situations.
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Der Klimawandel verschärft die Treiber für Migration und Flucht
Zu den ohnehin bestehenden Gründen, die Menschen zum Verlassen ihrer Heimat zwingen, kommt der Klimawandel verschärfend hinzu. Schätzungen zur Rolle des Klimawandels sind wegen der Komplexität des Zusammenspiels verschiedener Mig...rations- oder Fluchtursachen äußerst schwierig. Die Vorhersagen über das mögliche Ausmaß von Migration infolge des Klimawandels gehen daher weit auseinander – bis zum Jahr 2050 könnten zwischen 25 und 700 Millionen Menschen davon betroffen sein (micle 2012).
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With eleven years left to achieve the ambitious goals of the 2030 Agenda, how close are OECD countries to reaching the SDGs? And how is our understanding constrained by targets and indicators that still cannot be measured? The OECD Measuring Distance to the SDG Targets Study aims to help member coun...tries assess where they stand now and to identify the areas where additional effort is required in order to achieve the goals. It also sets out the statistical agenda – showing how much we do not yet know, and how this might impact both the achievement of the SDGs, and decisions about what to prioritise across this vast agenda. The methodology underlying the Study also provides a way for OECD countries to understand their SDG achievements and challenges in a comparative context.
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Tuberculosis (TB) is the deadliest infectious disease in most low- and middle-income countries, claiming more than 4,000 lives each day. The unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic has seriously impacted people with pre-existing health conditions. People with TB are usually more vulnerable to other infectio...ns, including the novel coronavirus, due to pre-existing lung damage. They are also at higher risk of developing complications from COVID-19.
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Bangladesh has been going through incremental trend of GDP growth rates for a long time. The GDP is the key aspect to measure the economic growth of a country. But the current world wide pandemic due to the COVID-19 hardly affects the world’s economy as well as Bangladesh. The present... lockdown make the wheel of the industries uncertain. The main source of the GDP of this country is ready made garment sector which has been shut down since mid of March 2020. Already 20 billion of cancellation of foreign order makes the situation worse. Also, the foreign remittance has been decline dramatically due to the loss of jobs of Bangladeshi workers in foreign countries. The overall economic situation declines in this country due to the COVID-19 which has huge impact on the health care system especially in maternal and child health. In this paper, the economic situation of Bangladesh before and during the COVID-19 has been shown. Also, how the COVID-19 would affect the condition
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Main Points
The delivery of humanitarian assistance is expected to slow down significantly over the next seven to ten days in anticipation of the electoral process and limited availability of transport and security assets.
The percentage of extremely food-insecure people who have recei...ved food assistance increased to 65 per cent, as 520,000 people of the targeted 806,000 have now been reached.
Health partners have expressed concern over growing evidence of a spike in cases of severe acute malnutrition in hard-to-reach areas in the Sud region.
Cholera response partners are optimistic that the vaccination campaign of 8 to 15 November will contribute to reducing transmission in Sud and rand’Anse and the risk of a future outbreak
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Despite being a curable and preventable disease, tuberculosis (TB) remains as one of the major challenges for health systems, globally. Every year, TB affects more than 10 million people and kills more than 1.4 million people. WHO’s Digital Health for the End TB Strategy – an Agenda for Action o...utlines a conceptual framework in which advantageously positioned digital health solutions are matched to the most urgent needs of TB programmes. Video-supported treatment is a component of one of the four core functions of this framework, the Patient Care domain, and primarily supports the first pillar of the End TB Strategy. This quick guide provides information on the solutions available for asynchronous modes of video communication and how these can be of use to TB programmes.
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Burkina Faso remains one of the poorest countries in the world, with 44.5% of the population living below the poverty line. To promote the rights of persons with disabilities, the country has adopted almost all of the relevant initiatives and international legal texts on the rights of persons with d...isabilities including the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) that was ratified in 2009. The country has also adopted a National Strategy for the Protection and Promotion of Persons with Disabilities (SN-3PH, 2012), based on, amongst other approaches, Community Based Rehabilitation (CBR), promoted by the WHO and LIGHT FOR THE WORLD. Following on from the 2011-2015 country strategy that enabled LIGHT FOR THE WORLD to contribute strongly to the national dialogue on disability, the present strategy 2016-2020 aims to strengthen our achievements in order to work towards an inclusive society in which persons with disabilities fully enjoy their rights.
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