The annually published Global Climate Risk Index analyses to what extent countries have been affected by the impacts of weather-related loss events (storms, floods, heat waves etc.).
Results from studies evaluating the effectiveness of focused psychosocial support interventions in children exposed to traumatic events in humanitarian settings in low-income and middle-income countries have been inconsistent, showing varying results by setting and subgroup (eg, age or gender). We a...imed to assess the effectiveness of these interventions, and to explore which children are likely to benefit most.
Lancet Glob Health 2018; 6: e390–400
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The GHS Index is intended to be a key resource in the face of increasing risks of high-consequence and globally catastrophic biological events and in light of major gaps in international financing for preparedness. These risks are magnified by a rapidly changing and interconnected world; increasing ...political instability; urbanization; climate change; and rapid technology advances that make it easier, cheaper, and faster to create and engineer pathogens.
Key findings from the study of 195 countries:
• Out of a possible 100 points, the average GHS Index score across 195 countries was 40.2.
• The majority of high- and middle-income countries do not score above 50.
• Action is urgently needed to improve countries’ readiness for high-consequence infectious disease outbreaks.
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16 Days of Activism against gender-based violence campaign ended on 10 December. A series of events organized by UNHCR and other agencies operating in the Rohingya response increased attention on issues in particular affecting women and girls: The Refugee Relief an...d Repatriation Commisisoner and camp authorities strongly collaborated with the agencies to
demonstate Bangladesh’s commitment to ending gender-based violence for refugees
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Cardiovascular disease (CVD) describes a group of conditions that affect your heart or blood vessels. Cardiovascular events like heart attacks and strokes are very serious.
This field action guide focuses on the first psychosocial assessment to be conducted just after a calamity strikes or just after a major event in an ongoing armed conflict. While it is necessary to update that initial assessment as the emergency situation evolves through the different phases of reco...very (briefly outlined in the “phase chart”), this mini book is meant to guide the formation of a team to assess the psychosocial as well as physical needs of children, their families and the communities and then the recommendations the team makes for ensuing support.
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Staying safe in spite of a disaster. What can you do for your safety in the event of a disaster?
In spring 2013, after weeks of rain, whole areas of southern, eastern and northern Germany were beset by catastrophic floods. Settlements vanished in th...e floods up to the roofs of the houses, tens of thousands of emergency personnel and volunteers struggled against the water with sandbags. Villages and parts of towns had to be evacuated, and the citizens were only able to take the essentials with them.
Disasters are part of life. Almost every day, we can read about disasters and largescale emergencies in a variety of media and see the images of destruction and suffering. These are not just major disasters which affect large areas for a long time. Local torrential rain, a severe storm, an electric power breakdown resulting from such a storm, or a house fire can trigger a very personal disaster for each individual, each family, which has to be overcome. Take the time to contemplate your personal emergency planning.
This brochure aims to help you to develop your personal preparedness plan.
The brochure is also available in different languages: https://www.bbk.bund.de/DE/Service/Publikationen/Broschürenfaltblätter/Ratgeber_node.html
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Communities in snakebite endemic countries need to be properly educated on what to do in the event of a snakebite and what steps to take to lessen one from happening. These comprehensive prevention videos in multiple languages are resources YOU can share with school children, agricultural workers, h...omemakers. Help spread these important videos right on down to the people and regions affected.
Minutes to Die released snakebite prevention videos in 12 languages made for sharing and aimed at community health workers in Africa and India, produced by the Lillian Lincoln Foundation, along with the WHO, MSF, and a host of other NGOs.
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When we presented our analysis of Germany’s role in
global health in 2017 at an event in Berlin, Richard
Horton, the Editor-in-Chief of The Lancet, asked only
half-jokingly whether we could expect Germany to finally
shrug off the habitus of the “reluctant leader” and “step
up”. Back t...hen, the entire team of authors were hesitant
to use the term leadership as a broad label. We decided to
highlight areas where leadership could be observed, but
refrained from using it in the title of our previous study.
7 years later, after a devastating global pandemic, notable
political changes in Germany, and amid a substantially
changed global health landscape, we aim to analyse
Germany’s role in global health once more.
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Research Article | Aim: This study aimed to find the most common stressors facing the adolescents in the Gaza Strip, to explore the types and severity of the traumatic experiences, and to estimate the prevalence rate of post-traumatic events.
J Trauma Crit Care 2017 Volume 1 Issue 2 pp-25-33
A chemical release may not always be immediately apparent given the fact that many agents are odourless and colourless, and some cause no immediately noticeable effects or symptoms. Be alert to the possible presence of a chemical.
Arabic version available: http://www.who.int/environmental_health_e...mergencies/deliberate_events/warning_signs_May2017_ar.pdf
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Factsheet on PTSD | Most of us have had frightening experiences. Often we think about them long after the event. For some people, these distressing thoughts or images persist, as well as other symptoms such as a strong sense of threat, feeling emotionally numb, and irritability. If these reactions o...ccur frequently, last at least a month, and interfere with daily functioning, the person may be suffering from PTSD.
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Continuing a worrying decade-long rising trend, the number of people forced to flee due to persecution, conflict, violence, human rights violations and events seriously disturbing public order climbed to 89.3 million by the end of 2021. This is more than double the 42.7 million people who remained f...orcibly displaced at the end of 2012 and represents a sharp 8 per cent increase of almost 7 million people in the span of just 12 months. As a result, above one per cent of the world’s population – or 1 in 88 people – were forcibly displaced at the end of 2021. This compares with 1 in 167 at the end of 2012. During 2021, some 1.7 million people crossed international borders seeking protection and 14.4 million new displacements within their countries were reported. This is a dramatic increase from the combined 11.2 million a year earlier.
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This publication provides guidance on reducing disability and premature deaths from coronary heart disease, cerebrovascular disease and peripheral vascular disease in people at high risk, who have not yet experienced a cardiovascular event.
Objectives and scope of the document
This document was developed to provide recommended management strategies for problems and disorders that are specifically related to the occurrence of a major stressful event. The recommended strategies will form the basis of a new module to be added to the WHO ...(2010) mhGAP Intervention Guide for use in non-specialized specialized health-care settings.
The scope of the problems covered by these guidelines is:
symptoms of acute stress in the first month after a potentially traumatic event, with the following subtypes:
- symptoms of acute traumatic stress (intrusion, avoidance and hyperarousal) in the first month after a potentially traumatic event;
- symptoms of dissociative (conversion) disorders in the first month after a potentially traumatic event;
- non-organic (secondary) enuresis in the first month after a potentially traumatic event (in children);
- hyperventilation in the first month after a potentially traumatic event;
- insomnia in the first month after a potentially traumatic event;
posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD);
bereavement in the absence of a mental disorder.
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Climate change is a verified, global phenomenon, but its consequences will not be evenly distributed. Developing countries and small island nations will be the most affected. Countries will experience more frequent extreme weather events and resulting changes in water quality and availability, incre...ased contamination of air, and food security problems. Health impact due to climate change include diarrhoeal diseases, vector-borne diseases, heat stress, malnutrition, deaths and injuries due to extreme weather events and mental stress.
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Climate changes lead to disasters and all of us must be prepared to support others as well as ourselves during such difficult times. Extreme weather events such as floods, wildfires, storms, or heat waves are stressful and the advice offered in the new one-pager reminds the general public of what th...ey can do to support their families, friends, neighbors, and community.
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DIAGNOSING PTSD IN CHILDHOOD | The following literature review addresses the developmental and domain-specific consequences of previous and current diagnostic criteria for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in pre-adolescent children. PTSD was introduced in 1980 to capture extreme responses follow...ing a traumatic event. I analyze the evolution of the disorder’s diagnostic criteria toward a more developmentally conscious structure. I also examine instances in which these criteria lack developmental consistency: (1) preschool PTSD is the only diagnostic subtype despite the fact that childhood development also differentiates traumatic expressions in older children from adolescents and adults; and (2) many of the PTSD epidemiological data that have been reanalyzed under the most recent (DSM-5) typology only refer to adolescent and adult samples although many researchers have
demonstrated that developmental alterations to DSM-IV and DSM-IV-TR criteria produce significantly higher prevalence rates in children.
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The* Facilitator manual on community-based psychosocial support *and the* Volunteers manual on community-based psychosocial support* provides resources for trainers and participants in key aspects of psychosocial support, including understanding the impact of crisis events, supportive communication,... protection issues and self-care.
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Climate change is one of the most urgent challenges for people and ecosystems worldwide. The recently published sixth Assessment Report (AR6) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) stresses the occurrence of widespread adverse impacts of climate change. Increased frequency and inten...sity of extreme weather events, as well as slow-onset processes cause enormous losses and damages to human and natural systems. Marginalized groups and people in vulnerable situations are often disproportionally affected. While the impacts of climate change already become more tangible and threatening, action for addressing them remains insufficient. Adaptation to climate change is, thus, becoming a necessity for governments, companies, and private citizens.
To provide practical and scientifically sound guidance on how to conduct vulnerability assessments, GIZ published its Vulnerability Sourcebook in 2014. The Vulnerability Sourcebook was used in over twenty different GIZ partner countries and provides a step-by-step guidance for designing and implementing a vulnerability assessment. It is also one of the methodological foundations for the ISO 14091:2021 standard on vulnerability, impacts and risk assessment for climate change adaptation.
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