This manual is designed primarily to assist managers of national malaria programmes and national reference laboratory responsible for quality assurance of malaria microscopy control. The information is also applicable to non-governmental organizations and funding agencies investing in quality manage...ment systems for malaria microscopy.
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The Strategic plan aims to ensure alignment of preparedness and readiness actions in the nine countries focusing on eight technical areas: strengthening multisectoral coordination; surveillance for early detection; laboratory diagnostic capacity; points of entry; rapid response teams; risk communica...tion, social mobilization and community engagement; case management and infection prevention and control (IPC) capacities; and, operations support and logistics. The purpose of the WHO Regional Strategic Plan is to ensure that the countries bordering the Democratic Republic of the Congo are prepared and ready to implement timely and effective risk mitigation, detection and response measures should there be any importation of EVD cases.
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India reported its 1st case of COVID-19 on 30th January, 2020. It was a travel related case from Wuhan, China. Since then (as on 29th March, 2020), 979 confirmed cases and 25 deaths have been reported from 27 States/UTs. Although there is no evidence to widespread community transmission, 20 existing... and 22 potential hotspots have been identified. The containment measures to break the cycle of transmission and clinical management of those affected would require large human resource (HR).
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The purpose of this document is to provide guidance on how quarantine and isolation can be achieved if there is a suspected or confirmed case in an overcrowded setting. It will focus on informal settlements and collective shelters, but the guidance can be applied in non-refugee settings as well, suc...h as detention centres and crowded neighborhoods. This guidance aims to support a coordinated and efficient response. It supports detailed planning at the regional level and is meant to be adapted to the local context. Households residing outside of these shelter types will be expected to follow the self-isolation circular provided by the MoPH. It is preferable, whenever feasible, that people are supported to remain in their homes. This guidance note will be continuously adapted as needed from the National level.
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This publication aims to provide updated guidance on the specific use of yellow fever laboratory assays in the context of surveillance to be used across the Global Yellow Fever Laboratory Network for disease surveillance. In the recent years, new commercial assays became available and are now recomm...ended for use by WHO and this publication will support national program on the use of compound laboratory assays as per the most recent recommended testing algorithms. This piece is aligned with the elimination effort set in the comprehensive global strategy to eliminate yellow fever epidemics (EYE) strategy 2017-2026 and where its advisory laboratory technical working group actively contributed to its development. The target audiences are policy-makers and health workers.
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As of 21 May 2020, 4.8 million confirmed cases of Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) have been reported globally. In South America, COVID-19 was first detected on 26 February 2020, when Brazil confirmed a case in São Paulo.
Prevention and Control of Covid-19 Transmission: Isolation and follow-up of suspected and/or confirmed cases and close contact tracing strategy
Hasta el 1 de abril, se han confirmado oficialmente 144 casos de COVID-19 en 19 territorios (17 estados, Distrito Capital y Territorio Insular Francisco de Miranda -Los Roques-), incluyendo 43 personas recuperadas y 3 personas fallecidas.
• El 25 de marzo, el Secretario General de las Naciones Un...idas lanzó el Plan de Respuesta Humanitaria Global para responder al COVID-19 en 53 países, incluida Venezuela.
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This document aims to provide guidance to healthcare facilities and healthcare providers in the European Union/European Economic Area (EU/EEA) and the United Kingdom (UK) on preparedness and infection prevention and control (IPC) measures for the management of possible and confirmed cases of COVID-1...9 in healthcare settings, including long-term care facilities (LTCFs). In addition, this document addresses the management of clinical diagnostic specimens at laboratories in the EU/EEA. This is the sixth update of the ECDC guidance on ‘Infection prevention and control and preparedness for COVID-19 in healthcare settings’, and replaces the document dated 6 October 2020.
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The Epidemic Preparedness and Response Plan for Cholera in Syria (November 2015) outlines strategies to prevent, detect, and manage cholera outbreaks in the country, where poor water and sanitation conditions, displacement, and damaged healthcare infrastructure increase the risk of disease spread. T...he plan aims to reduce morbidity and mortality through early detection, rapid response, and coordinated interventions. It is divided into four key phases: the Pre-Epidemic Phase, which includes risk assessment, resource mapping, stockpiling medical supplies, training health workers, and raising community awareness; the Alert Phase, which focuses on surveillance, laboratory confirmation, and mobilization of rapid response teams; the Epidemic Phase, which involves case management, infection control, environmental measures such as water chlorination and improved sanitation, and public awareness campaigns; and the Post-Epidemic Phase, which evaluates the response effectiveness and identifies lessons to improve future preparedness. The plan emphasizes multi-sectoral coordination, strengthening health surveillance, and ensuring timely intervention to control and prevent cholera outbreaks in vulnerable communities.
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Since late August 2022, cases of severe acute watery diarrhoea have been increasingly reported across Syria, concentrated
particularly along the Euphrates river. These were later confirmed to be cholera cases.3 Cholera is a disease caused by
bacteria that can be found in faeces, and spreads throug...h people consuming contaminated water or food. It causes severe
watery diarrhoea and vomiting which lead to dehydration. If treated immediately, less than 1% of cases result in patients
dying. However, if timely treatment is not available, cholera can lead to death within hours in 25 to 50% of cases. The
situation is critical in Syria as the local population is facing a severe water crisis due to drought, falling groundwater levels,
reduced flow in the Euphrates River, and reduced functionality of Alouk water station. REACH has been monitoring
developments in Northeast Syria through regular data collection cycles, remote sensing data, and rapid needs assessments
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ASLM in collaboration with the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, and in partnership with the Clinton Health Access Initiative, Amref and Last Mile Health present the Quality Assurance Framework for SARS-CoV-2 Antigen Rapid Testing for Diagnosis of COVID-19. This framework aims to pr...ovide general technical guidance to African Union Members States on the rollout, establishment, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of SARS-CoV-2 Ag RDT interventions so as to effectively and efficiently detect, control and minimise errors in the performance of COVID-19 laboratory testing processes. It describes the core components for quality assurance, resources mobilisation and advocacy for scale up, monitoring, evaluation, learning and accountability for SARS-CoV-2 implementation.
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This Rapid Advice Guideline updates the Interim Guidance on the “Assessment of infants with microcephaly in the context of Zika virus” published in February 2016 (WHO/ZIKV/MOC/16.3). The recommendations provides guidance on the screening, clinical assessment, neuroimaging, laboratory investigati...on and follow-up of children born to women living in areas of Zika virus transmission. The Guideline summarises the evidence base and rationale in support of the recommendations and expands the scope to address complications beyond microcephaly and what is now referred to as the congenital Zika virus syndrome
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The occurrence of a case of wild polio in a previously polio free area as presently in Syria, whether through importation, laboratory accident, or mutation of vaccine virus (VDPV), should be considered a public health emergency, that requires a rapid and high quality response as utmost priority
19 August 2022. A monkeypox case investigation form (CIF) has been designed as a tool for Member States and researchers to conduct in-depth epidemiological investigation of suspected, probable and confirmed cases of monkeypox. This form allows to collect data prospectively or retrospectively for bot...h cases and their contacts. The full form is meant to serve as a tool for in-country use and the data are not required to be reported to WHO.
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This guidance addresses rationale, risk-based scenarios, practical considerations prior to adoption of the self-testing products, quality assurance, safety and ethical considerations, and data management considerations for COVID-19 self-testing. The Africa CDC recommends the use of rapid antigen sel...f-testing within two key scenarios. The first includes testing for case identification within scenarios with a high risk of infection, including symptomatic cases and contacts of a confirmed case. The second scenario involves general screening within scenarios of low or unknown risk exposure allowing for self-care such as before gatherings with at-risk individuals and prior to participation in events involving members of different households. Within these scenarios, a positive test result indicates likelihood of current infection, while a negative test result indicates a lower risk of active infection, though it does not rule out infection altogether. All positive cases should be managed following the national COVID-19 management protocol of Member States.ssur
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Following review of evidence and advice from the Technical Advisory Group (TAG) on Tuberculosis (TB) Diagnostics and Laboratory Strengthening, the World Health Organization (WHO) announces that current WHO recommendations for the use of interferon-gamma release assays (IGRA) are also valid for Beij...ing Wantai’s TB-IGRA and Qiagen QuantiFERON-TB Gold Plus products. This expands the range of tests available to detect TB infection. Full details are provided in this WHO policy statement.
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Mpox is an emerging zoonotic disease caused by the mpox virus, a member of the Orthopoxvirus genus closely related to the variola virus that causes smallpox. Mpox was first discovered in 1958 when outbreaks of a pox-like disease occurred in monkeys kept for research. The first human case was recorde...d in 1970 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) during a period of intensified effort to eliminate smallpox and since then the infection has been reported in a number of African countries. Mpox can spread in humans through close contact, usually skin-to-skin contact, including sexual contact, with an infected person or animal, as well as with materials contaminated with the virus such as clothing, beddings and towels, and respiratory droplets in prolonged face to face contact. People remain infectious from the onset of symptoms until all the lesions have scabbed and healed. The virus may spread from infected animals through handling infected meat or through bites or scratches. Diagnosis is confirmed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing of material from a lesion for the virus’s DNA. Two separate clades of the mpox virus are currently circulating in Africa: Clade I, which includes subclades Ia and Ib, and Clade II, comprising subclades IIa and IIb. Clade Ia and Clade Ib have been associated with ongoing human-to-human transmission and are presently responsible for outbreaks in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), while Clade Ib is also contributing to outbreaks in Burundi and other countries.
In 2022‒2023 mpox caused a global outbreak in over 110 countries, most of which had no previous history of the disease, primarily driven by human-to-human transmission of clade II through sexual contact. In just over a year, over 90,000 cases and 150 deaths were reported to the WHO. For the second time since 2022, mpox has been declared a global health emergency as the virus spreads rapidly across the African continent. On 13 Aug 2024, Africa CDC declared the ongoing mpox outbreak a Public Health Emergency of Continental Security (PHECS), marking the first such declaration by the agency since its inception in 2017.7 This declaration empowered the Africa CDC to lead and coordinate responses to the mpox outbreak across affected African countries. On August 14, 2024, the WHO declared the resurgence of mpox a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) emphasizing the need for coordinated international response.
As of August 2024, Mpox has expanded beyond its traditional endemic regions, with new cases reported in countries including Sweden, Thailand, the Philippines, and Pakistan. Sweden has confirmed its first case of Clade 1 variant, which has been rapidly spreading in Africa, particularly in DRC. The emergence of this new variant raises concerns about its potential for higher lethality and transmission rates outside Africa.
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Interim guidance, 6 October 2021
Direct detection of SARS-CoV-2 viral proteins (antigens) in nasal swabs and other respiratory secretions using lateral flow immunoassays (also known as rapid diagnostic tests, RDTs) offers a faster and less expensive method to test for SARS-CoV-2 than the reference ...method, nucleic acid amplification tests (NAATs). This interim guidance offers recommendations on the priority uses of antigen-detecting rapid diagnostic tests (Ag-RDTs) in specific populations and settings, including (i) for primary case detection in symptomatic individuals suspected to be infected and asymptomatic individuals at high risk of COVID-19, (ii) for contact tracing, (iii) during outbreak investigations and (iv) to monitor trends of disease incidence in communities. Ag-RDTs meeting minimum performance requirements can be used outside of clinical and laboratory settings, including in communities, by trained operators in accordance with instructions. The guidance additionally provides recommendations on implementation, product selection and storage.
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This document offers guidance to Member States in the African region on the key steps used to conduct contact tracing related to the COVID-19 response. It is to be used by national and local health authorities in the implementation of tracing of contacts of probable and confirmed COVID-19 cases.