Tuberculosis continues to represent a severe public health problem in the Region of the Americas, even more so in the case of indigenous peoples, whose TB incidence is much higher than that of the general population. To achieve tuberculosis control in these communities, it is necessary to respond t...o communities’ diverse needs from an intercultural perspective that allows the application of a holistic approach—from a standpoint of equality and mutual respect—and considers the value of their cultural practices. In the Region of the Americas, although there has been progress toward recognizing the need for an intercultural approach to health services, obstacles rooted in discrimination, racism, and the exclusion of indigenous peoples and other ethnic groups persist. To respond to this situation, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) prepared this guidance which––based on an intercultural approach in accordance with the priority lines of the current PAHO Policy on Ethnicity and Health and its practical development in the Region’s indigenous populations––represent a support tool for implementing the End TB Strategy. This publication integrates PAHO’s accumulated experience and best practices developed by its Member States in recent years, including discussions and experiences shared in regional meetings on the issue, and emphasizes innovation and social inclusion. This requires an urgent shift away from traditional paradigms, taking specific actions that gradually reduce TB incidence and moving toward effective multisectoral actions that have proven effective in quickly containing the epidemic. This publication integrates PAHO’s accumulated experience and best practices developed by its Member States in recent years, including discussions and experiences shared in regional meetings on the issue, and emphasizes innovation and social inclusion. This requires an urgent shift away from traditional paradigms, taking specific actions that gradually reduce TB incidence and moving toward effective multisectoral actions that have proven effective in quickly containing the epidemic.
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In 1964 medical mission was challenged and called to define its distinctiveness and its special role in the context of that particular time. The consultation "Tuebingen I" clearly stated: "The Christian church has a specific task in the field of health and healing"1, and developed a conce...pt of wholeness and of the role of the congregation in health provision. 50 years later, the question of the proprium of Christian health services is again a very important one. At a time when governments, international non-governmental organizations and other philanthropic organizations participate in health care, the question has to be asked: What is the specific contribution of a Christian health service or ministry of healing? At a time when chronic disease challenges not only rich but now also poor countries, when infections like Ebola that for years were hidden in Africa pose a threat to the global situation, Christians have to reflect on the question of the proprium of Christian health care.
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The Global Programme on Tuberculosis & Lung Health of the World Health Organization (WHO/GTB) is now combining all current recommendations into one overall set of consolidated guidelines on TB. The guidelines contain recommendations pertaining to all areas related to the programmatic management of T...B (e.g. screening, preventive treatment, diagnostics, patient support, and the treatment of drug-susceptible TB and DR-TB). The consolidated guidelines contain modules specific to each programmatic area.
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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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This first edition of our national neonatal care clinical guidelines is an initiative that aims to ensure that all the neonates in the Kingdom of Eswatini are offered standard, best quality of care and the best possible start in life. The guidelines have been formulated from various global sources a...nd tailored to the needs and health practises of the country. They are designed to serve as a guide to all healthcare providers in the country to provide standardized quality neonatal care.
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The National AIDS Control Council recognizes the growing, organized and progressive inter-faith religious voice in the spheres of governance and development in Kenya. Across the country, the Faith Sector has been involved in HIV prevention, treatment, care and support to programmes towards... the HIV response.On behalf of the board and the NACC family, I want to thank the Faith Sector Working Group (FSWG) and the Faith Religious Leaders for their contribution in HIV prevention by recognizing their comparative advantage in moulding behaviors among the various populations. We pride in your ability of being able to reach millions of Kenyans at any given time. This is the more reason why NACC wishes to sincerely thank you for working closely with us on the HIV response.We appreciate the Faith Sector support to the provision of HIV and health care services provision which has facilitated access to health services even in the remotest parts our country. The role played by the Religious Leaders in addressing stigma and discrimination as the greatest barrier to access of HIV and Health services by PLHIV and other vulnerable populations is well acknowledged.Finally, our gratitude goes to the theologians who participated in the development of the Faith Sector HIV messages booklet, which provides a tool to facilitate the Religious Leaders with knowledge to address the gaps in the HIV response among the congregants.
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This report reviews the current situation in relation to national capacity to address NCDs and the progress made at country level over the past decade. It highlights that, while progress is being made, there is still much work to be done to create the infrastructure, policies, surveillance and healt...h systems response that will allow NCDs and their contributing risk factors to be successfully contained and reversed.
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Replacement of Annex 2 of WHO Technical Report Series, No. 964... morbidity. These preparations are included in the WHO List of Essential Medicines and should be part of any primary health care package where snakebites occur. Currently, there is an urgent need to ensure availability of safe, effective and affordable antivenoms, particularly to those in developing countries and to improve the regulatory control over the manufacture, import and sale of antivenoms.>
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Viral hepatitis is defined as inflammation of the liver cells due to viral infection. The burden of liver disease in South Africa is mostly underestimated as viral hepatitis, in particular chronic infection, is a silent and neglected cause of morbidity and mortality. However, the burden of disease i...s likely substantial given the prevalence of chronic viral hepatitis. This burden is further compounded by the lack of screening and access to care and treatment as well as inadequate disease surveillance, human and financial resources.
The National Guidelines for the Management of Viral Hepatitis were developed, with the purpose to:
inform healthcare workers in the public and private sectors about the disease, its epidemiology in South Africa and current methods of diagnosis and therapy
strengthen the healthcare response to viral hepatitis
empower communicable diseases workers and stakeholders to make informed decisions regarding appropriate and cost effective interventions
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More than 700 000 people lose their life to suicide every year. A core foundation of suicide prevention is the timely registration and regular monitoring of suicide and self-harm. Surveillance data can be used to show important progress towards reaching global targets, such as reducing the suicide r...ate by one third by 2030 as articulated in the UN SDGs and in the WHO Mental Health Action Plan 2013-2030. However, there are considerable discrepancies in the quality of data on suicide and self-harm globally. The aim of this training manual is to equip fieldworkers and supervisors with the skills to collect and manage data on suicide and self-harm in the community via key informants, health-care facilities and police records. In doing so, the value and overall goal is to strengthen the surveillance of suicide and self-harm in communities, particularly in LMICs and hard-to-reach communities where CRVS systems are weak or absent.
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This compendium represents a curated, pragmatic and non-prescriptive collection of tools and resources to support the implementation of interventions to improve quality of care in such contexts. Relevant tools and resources are listed under five areas: Ensuring access and basic infrastructure for qu...ality; shaping the system environment; reducing harm; improving clinical care; and engaging and empowering patients, families and communities.
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The purpose of this manual is to provide guidance on how to implement Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) recommendations for malaria elimination at the local level. It is a streamlined, more operational version of the Manual for Stratifying Malaria Risk and Elimination of Foci, aimed primarily ...at operational teams working in the field. The content has been prioritized and the steps of the process organized to facilitate greater understanding by local teams. Adjustments have also been made to underscore its versatility for all malaria transmission scenarios in the Region of the Americas.
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Children with disabilities are particularly vulnerable in humanitarian settings, yet they are often not able to access the services and protection they need. While multiple factors create these barriers, a major cause is how data about children with disabilities is collected and mapped. Data collect...ion processes often exclude or underrepresent the views of children with disabilities and thier caretakers. When the experiences of children with disabilities and their caretakers are not defined and collected, they become excluded from mainstreamed protective services, which are meant to serve all children. Children with disabilities also do not get the specialised interventions they need.
This guidance note explores how to use qualitative methods to create more robust assessment processes to ensure more effective programming and services for children with disabilities. This note provides promising practices for engaging with children with disabilities and includes sample tools that can be tailored to fit the needs of a particular assessment process. The note also explores the importance of thoughtful cross-sectoral responses so that children with disabilities, and their families, are carefully considered in areas like water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH), education, health, and nutrition, and therefore receive the holistic support they need and deserve.
This note is intended for a broad audience of relevant child protection actors, including practitioners, coordination groups, researchers, and donors. The information is not limited to one type of humanitarian setting, geographic region, or culture. As a result, the practices and guidance should be adapted to each specific context, ideally in partnership with well-informed local actors, such as representatives from local organisations for persons with disabilities.
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For biological agents, the publication covers 11 bacteria,
fungi and viruses listed by states parties to the Biological
Weapons Convention in declarations of past offensive
research and development programmes, or considered of
special concern for possible use in terrorism. All of these
agents c...an cause natural disease in humans, though with
markedly different frequency.
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Q7: What is the effectiveness, safety and role of pharmacological and non-pharmacological interventions, within non- specialist health care for children with a diagnosis of Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)?
The overall goal of surveillance, case investigation and contact tracing in this context is to stop human-to-human transmission to control the outbreak. The key objectives of surveillance and case investigation are to rapidly identify cases and clusters in order to provide optimal clinical care; to ...isolate cases to prevent further transmission; to identify, manage and follow up contacts to recognize early signs of infection; to protect frontline health workers; to identify risk groups; and to tailor effective control and prevention measures.
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A Guide to the Application of the WHO Multimodal Hand HygieneImprovement Strategy and the “My Five Moments for Hand Hygiene”Αpproach
Anaemia is a serious global public health problem that particularly affects young children, menstruating adolescent girls and women, and pregnant and postpartum women. It is a condition in which the number of red blood cells or the haemoglobin concentration within them is lower than normal, affectin...g the blood’s ability to carry oxygen to the body’s tissues.
To reliably monitor the prevalence of anaemia at a population level, it is vital to measure the haemoglobin concentration in an accurate and precise way. In large-scale surveys, however, haemoglobin is most commonly measured using single-drop capillary blood specimens in point-of-care devices. Emerging evidence suggests that the use of single-drop capillary blood can introduce random and/or systematic errors, which may lead to inaccurate estimates, complicating effective anaemia programming.
This technical brief describes the current best practices for haemoglobin measurement, providing guidance to help plan or implement field surveys to assess anaemia at a population level. Continuing work to review emerging evidence is led by members of the WHO-UNICEF Technical Expert Advisory group on nutrition Monitoring (TEAM).
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This leaflet provides support and advice for adults who are recovering from COVID-19. It can be used by individuals after hospitalization from the illness and those in the community who did not need hospitalization. The leaflet can complement care received from health care professionals. This is the... second edition of the leaflet that was originally published mid 2020 that includes updates to sections and new topics, encompassing what we have learnt about the condition and recovery in the last year. The leaflet was written by rehabilitation professionals in consultation with people recovering from COVID-19. Although references are not shown for ease of reading, the advice is evidence-based. There is still much we don’t know about post-COVID-19 recovery, and evidence is fast emerging.
Available in different languages
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The new review paper, The Impacts of Climate Change on Health, identifies the extent to which increasing emissions, extreme weather and temperatures elevate health risks, from infectious disease to malnutrition, and assesses the associated health burden. It concludes that the health burden will exce...ed the level of demand that health systems are prepared for.
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