Evidence from Low and Middle Income Countries
Every Newborn: an action plan to end preventable deaths is a roadmap for change. It takes forward the Global Strategy for Women’s and Children’s Health by focusing specific attention on newborn health and identifying actions for improving their survival, health and development.
Birth defect has been an emerging major cause of child mortality in the region. Scarcity of the birth defects information hampers policy decisions and control measures at national level. In order to create evidence for action for birth defects prevention in the region, WHO-SEARO in collaboration wit...h CDC, USA has developed and launched a regional electronic database on birth defects. This surveillance database allows data collection on newborn health, birth defects and stillbirths cases and provides real time information at hospitals and national level.
Training of the hospital health staffs and data managers in the birth defects surveillance network; at regional, national and at hospital levels is recognized as essential for expansion of this database and to assure quality of data. A two days training module for hospital based birth defects surveillance was developed using a guide for operation and facilitator guide.
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Background
Low- and middle-income countries now experience the highest prevalence and mortality rates of cardiovascular disease.
Main text
While improving the availability and delivery of proven, effective therapies will no doubt mitigate this burden, we posit that studies evaluating cardiovasc...ular disease risk factors, management strategies and service delivery, in diverse settings and diverse populations, are equally critical to improving outcomes in low- and middle-income countries. Focusing on examples drawn from four cardiovascular diseases — coronary artery disease, stroke, diabetes and kidney disease — we argue that ethnicity, culture and context matter in determining the risk factors for disease as well as the comparative effectiveness of medications and other interventions, particularly diet and lifestyle interventions.
Conclusion
We believe that a host of cohort studies and randomized control trials currently being conducted or planned in low- and middle-income countries, focusing on previously understudied race/ethnic groups, have the potential to increase knowledge about the cause(s) and management of cardiovascular diseases across the world.
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The document "Chronic Respiratory Diseases: A Handbook for Pharmacists" outlines the significant role pharmacists play in managing asthma and COPD, emphasizing patient education, disease prevention, medication management, and promoting healthy lifestyles. It highlights the importance of pharmacists ...in supporting early detection, adherence to treatment, smoking cessation, and interprofessional collaboration to enhance respiratory care and outcomes.
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Scant data exists on the prevalence of violence against children worldwide. However, available information, including the United Nations Secretary-General’s Study on Violence against Children, shows that violence against children is a global problem. This desktop study aims to glean from published... and grey literature the extent of sexual violence and exploitation against children in Lesotho. The goal of this study is to better understand the government of Lesotho's national response efforts to reduce violence against children.
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The objectives of these WHO guidelines are to provide updated evidence- based recommendations for the treatment of persons with hepatitis C infection using, where possible, all DAA-only combinations. The guidelines also provide recommendations on the preferred regimens based on a patient’s HCV gen...otype and clinical history, and assess the appropriateness of continued use of certain medicines. This document also includes existing recommendations on screening for HCV infection and care of persons infected with HCV that were first issued in 2014
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High salt consumption is an important determinant of high blood pressure and reducing it would improve health outcomes by lowering cardiovascular disease and therefore death rates. Reducing salt intake has been identified as one of the most effective public health measures and is one of the leading ...targets at global, regional and national levels to reduce the burden of noncommunicable diseases. The purpose of the Dietary Salt Intake Survey in the Republic of Moldova was to establish current baseline average consumption of salt (sodium), potassium and iodine through 24-hour urinary excretion testing among a random sample of the adult population (aged 18–69 years), and to assess the knowledge, attitudes, practices and behaviour around dietary salt in order to enable more efficient planning and the implementation of an effective salt-reduction strategy in the Republic of Moldova.
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Disabled children: a legal handbook is an authoritative yet accessible guide to the legal rights of disabled children and their families in England and Wales. The handbook aims to empower disabled children and their families through a greater understanding of their rights and entitlements. It is es...sential reading for the families of disabled children, their advocates and lawyers, voluntary and statutory sector advisers, commissioners, managers and lawyers working for public authorities, education, social and health care professionals, students and academics.
Each chapter has been adapted into a PDF for you to download for free
https://councilfordisabledchildren.org.uk/help-resources/resources/disabled-children-legal-handbook-2nd-edition
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During the implementation of the National Strategic Plan 2009–2012 on HIV and AIDS, Rwanda has continued its progress towards universal access to HIV and AIDS services. The new HIV and AIDS National Strategic Plan July 2013–June 2018 (thereafter referred to as ‘the NSP’) presented here is se...t on pursuing the same objective, with inspiration from the global targets of “zero new HIV infections, zero HIV-related deaths and zero stigma and discrimination due to HIV”.
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The 2019 edition treating data for 2018 marks sustained international efforts dedicated to reporting on, analysing and understanding the year-to-year variations and long-term trends of a changing climate.
Climate change is increasing the risks of injuries, diseases, and deaths globally. However, the association between ambient temperature and renal diseases has not been fully characterized. This study aimed to quantify the risk and attributable burden for hospitalizations of renal diseases related to... ambient temperature.
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Energy use in the home is a vital and ubiquitous feature of human society. Energy
is used for a wide variety of purposes, including cooking, space heating, light-
ing, small-scale income generation, various household tasks, and entertainment.
Data on asthma aetiology in Africa are scarce. We investigated the risk factors for asthma among schoolchildren (5–17 years) in urban Uganda. We conducted a case-control study, among 555 cases and 1115 controls. Asthma was diagnosed by study clinicians. The main risk factors for asthma were tertia...ry education for fathers (adjusted OR (95% CI); 2.32 (1.71–3.16)) and mothers (1.85 (1.38–2.48)); area of residence at birth, with children born in a small town or in the city having an increased asthma risk compared to schoolchildren born in rural areas (2.16 (1.60–2.92)) and (2.79 (1.79–4.35)), respectively; father’s and mother’s history of asthma; children’s own allergic conditions; atopy; and cooking on gas/electricity. In conclusion, asthma was associated with a strong rural-town-city risk gradient, higher parental socio-economic status and urbanicity. This work provides the basis for future studies to identify specific environmental/lifestyle factors responsible for increasing asthma risk among children in urban areas in LMICs.
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The report provides a global knowledge base on suicide and suicide attempts as well as actionable steps for countries based on their current resources and context to move forward in suicide prevention.
Infant Psychiatry
Chapter B.1
Early Maltreatment and exposure to violence
Reporting on Climate Change and Sustainable Development in Asia and the Pacific: A Handbook for Journalists.
UNESCO Series on Journalism education.
It explores the essential aspects of climate change, including its injustices to vulnerable communities, especially women and girls and least develope...d countries, and provides examples of best practices and stories of hope unique to the region. It can be used as a resource for journalists to understand the science of climate change, as well as helping journalists to improve their reporting of the environmental, social, economic, political, technological and other angles of the story
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