Throughout the region, heavy rains that intensified in late April have resulted in excessive flooding, affecting more than half a million people; damaging infrastructure and livelihoods and caused over 370 deaths. Although the rains have also brought relief to some areas that have been affected by t...he worst drought in decades, namely; parts of Ethiopia, Puntland, Somaliland and a number of countries in southern Africa, the food security situation in these areas is not expected to significantly improve, due to the scale and intensity of the El Nino-induced drought that has already depleted coping mechanisms.
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Results
Recommendations• NGOs should provide MHPSS services with a focus on empowerment and self-reliance
• Introduce interventions focusing on pain mechanisms, coping strategies and physical resilience
• Implement livelihood programmes
• Increase service accessibility and outreach activ...ities
• Provide support groups for people who have lost a close family member
• Highlight the importance of supervision and training
• Ensure high quality service provisions by applying relevant outcome measures and to further contribute to the evidence base for MHPSS
• Diversify MHPSS activities to different target groups, including men and women, and address the needs of elderly and individuals with disabilities
This study provides evidence of a large gap between the need of MHPSS among Syrian refugees and provided services. Of the 1082 respondents in this study, 62% expressed that they needed assistance to deal with physical pain and distress. Almost 80% reported being in pain, of which 27% were in severe or very severe pain. Additionally, 55% suffer from distress and 56% rate their own health as fair or poor. Even among the 18-25-yearolds, the prevalence of reporting their overall health as fair was 30.7%. For functionality levels, 28.5% felt severely or extremely emotionally affected by their health problems, and more than 20% had serious difficulties in doing day-to-day work. On the other hand, the majority (72-74%) had no problems in maintaining friendships and participating in community activities
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A study set out to investigate the factors affecting the prevalence of the practice among cross-border communities in East Africa and the Horn of Africa and the extent to which people cross borders to practise or undergo FGM and the effects of the practice on the women and girls in those communities.... Changes were found in social norms in the cross-border communities investigated, indicating that the practice of female genital mutilation (FGM) can be eradicated. Effective interventions to end FGM need to be tailored to communities’ belief systems if they are to be “owned” by and mobilize the communities to change their culture. This report summarises the findings.
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This document provides interim guidance for effective risk communication around Zika virus transmission and potential complications. A causal relationship between Zika virus infection and these potential complications has not yet been proven. In this uncertainty, effective communication strategies s...hould be implemented to enable people to take the best informed decisions about protecting themselves, their families and communities. This interim guidance is intended to be used by risk and health communication managers, staff and volunteers at global, regional or country level; communications professionals; anthropologists; sociologists; healthcare providers;hospital administrators; community leaders; programme managers;
and policymakers.
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Glaucoma is a leading cause of irreversible blindness globally. In Malawi, glaucoma accounts for 15.8% of the blindness among people aged 50 years and above. Blindness from glaucoma is preventable with early detection and timely treatment. However, glaucoma management remains a challenge to eye care... providers due to its asymptomatic progression.
These guidelines inform eye care providers about the requirements for early detection of glaucoma, and the appropriate assessment and management of glaucoma patients. The guidelines also demonstrate the need for ophthalmologists to work with secondary-level eye care providers. With
glaucoma being a permanently blinding condition, it is vital to ensure that all eye care providers are adequately equipped with skills and resources for the early detection and management of glaucoma.
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In 2023, the World Health Organization was responding to 72 health emergencies, including 19 grade-3 emergencies which required the highest level of activation, reaching millions of people. The annual report on WHO’s response to health emergencies in 2023 outlines the increasingly critical role of... WHO at global, regional and country levels, and across the key elements of effective emergency response, including emergency coordination and planning, operational and logistic support, and community engagement and protection. The huge scale and complexities of health emergencies in the 21st century require a strategic shift towards not only meeting the immediate needs of vulnerable communities, but also building community and health system resilience to all hazards – a challenge that both WHO and its partners must continue to meet.
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High prices, hard-to-access human insulin, few insulin producers, and weak health systems are just some of the barriers that people with diabetes face a century after insulin was discovered, WHO notes in a new report
Between 1992 and 2012, disasters caused more than 1.3 million deaths, affected more than 4.4 billion people and led to US$ 2 trillion in economic damages and losses around the world. This Disaster Risk Management Strategy explains how the Agency for Technical Cooperation and Development (ACTED) anti...cipates disasters and advocates for more upstream consideration of their occurrence. There are sections on community based disaster risk management and ecosystem based disaster resilience, as well as a look to the future
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An informative free course to help spread valuable information about this disease. This free course will help to inform people about Ebola virus and the controls required to contain the disease.
Traumatic experiences arising from flight from war zones can lead to distressing symptoms, which impair everyday life. The symptoms often subside with time but sometimes persist. People exhibiting symptoms resulting from trauma should seek medical help.
Available in different languages
This brief focuses on disability rights in the ASEAN countries, namely Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao People’s Democratic
Republic (PDR), Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Viet Nam.
The Interim Guidance for Risk Communication and Community Engagement (RCCE) outlines recommendations, considerations and methods to raise awareness, manage risk perception, maintain trust and proactively support people at risk to make informed decisions to protect themselves and others from monkeypo...x. The guidance includes recommendations on identifying and communicating with affected populations and key audiences and avoiding stigma in communications outreach. It also includes key messages about symptoms of monkeypox, transmission, prevention measures, and communicating about uncertainty. This document also provides RCCE guidance for managers and planners of gatherings and events, where close physical contact may create an environment conducive for the transmission of monkeypox. Additionally, this document includes a compendium of recommendations for RCCE methods and resources to support the monkeypox response.
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Chagas disease, also known as American trypanosomiasis, is a potentially life-threatening illness caused by the protozoan parasite Trypanosoma cruzi. About 6–7 million people worldwide are estimated to be infected with T. cruzi. The disease is found mainly in endemic areas of 21 continental Lati...n American countries, where it has been mostly transmitted to humans and other mammals by contact with faeces or urine of triatomine bugs (vector-borne), known as kissing bugs, among many other popular names, depending on the geographical area.
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The European Commission allocated an emergency aid package of €3.5 million on 19/03. The funding will be used to provide logistical support to reach affected people, emergency shelter, hygiene, sanitation, and health care. Out of the aid package, based on needs, €2 million will be provided in Mo...zambique, €1 million in Malawi and €0.5 million in Zimbabwe.
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Adapted from the 'Disability Task Force', this checklist provides useful guidelines about general protection and inclusion principles for people with disabilites or injuries in emergency situations. The following topics are highlighted: health, food and nutrition; water, sanitation and hygiene; prot...ection; psychosocial support; reconstruction and shelter; livelihoods; and education. This checklist would be useful for practitioners interested in the protection and inclusion of people with disabilities in emergency situations
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The COVID-19 pandemic is challenging health systems across the world. Rapidly increasing demand for care of people with COVID-19 is compounded by fear, misinformation and limitations on the movement of people and supplies that disrupt the delivery of frontline health care for all people...
This g...uidance addresses the specific role of community-based health care in the pandemic context and outlines the adaptations needed to keep people safe, maintain continuity of essential services and ensure an effective response to COVID-19. It is intended for decision-makers and managers at the national and subnational levels and complements a range of other guidance, including that on priority public health interventions, facility-based care, and risk communication and community engagement in the setting of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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A Technical Brief for Breakthrough ACTION Field Teams
Social media can be used to collect and address rumors or popular beliefs among target audiences, share evidence-based and timely health information, receive instant feedback on materials, conduct remote trainings, promote awareness of a project..., its mission and events, and more. As increased numbers of people search online for health information, social media platforms are leading the lightning-speed spread of both dangerous coronavirus misinformation and the correct life-saving measures individuals, families, and communities can take to reduce their risk. Public health programs must have a proactive presence in these information-sharing spaces to provide access to trusted and accurate information.
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Trachoma is the leading infectious cause of blindness worldwide. It is caused by an obligate intracellular bacterium called Chlamydia trachomatis. The infection is transmitted by direct or indirect transfer of eye and nose discharges of infected people, particularly young children who harbour the pr...incipal reservoir of infection. These discharges can be spread by particular species of flies.
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The ongoing war in Ukraine has made it difficult to access to vital health-care services and supplies, particularly for people living close to conflict zones. These challenges include limited access to medications and pharmacies as well as concerns over the affordability of medicines in areas deemed... high- or very high-risk due to ongoing hostilities. To address this issue, the WHO Country Office in Ukraine has launched an initiative to distribute OTC health-care kits to people living in these high-risk areas.
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Atherosclerotic lower-extremity peripheral artery disease (PAD) is increasingly recognized as an important cause of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality that affects more than 230 million people worldwide. Traditional cardiovascular risk factors, including advanced age, smoking, and diabetes, are ...strongly linked to an increase risk of PAD. Although PAD has been historically underappreciated compared to coronary artery disease and stroke, greater attention on PAD in recent years has led to important new epidemiologic insights in the areas of thrombosis, inflammation, dyslipidemia, and microvascular disease. In addition, the concept of polyvascular disease, or clinically-evident atherosclerosis in multiple arterial beds, is increasingly identified as a particularly malignant cardiovascular disease worthy of special clinical attention and further study. It is noteworthy that PAD may increase the risk of adverse outcomes in similar or even greater magnitude than coronary disease or stroke. In this review, we highlight important new advances in the epidemiology of PAD with a particular focus on polyvascular disease, emerging biomarkers, and differential risk pathways for PAD compared to other atherosclerotic diseases.
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