Histoplasmosis is a disease caused by the fungus Histoplasma capsulatum. This disease is highly endemic in some regions of North America, Central America, and South America and is also reported in certain countries of Asia and Africa. It often affects people with impaired immunity, including people ...living with HIV, among whom the most frequent clinical presentation is disseminated histoplasmosis. The symptoms of disseminated histoplasmosis are non-specific and may be indistinguishable from those of other infectious diseases, especially disseminated tuberculosis (TB), thus complicating diagnosis and treatment. Histoplasmosis is one of the most frequent opportunistic infections caused by fungal pathogens among people living with HIV in the Americas and may be responsible for 5–15% of AIDS-related deaths every year in this Region. These guidelines aim to provide recommendations for the diagnosis, treatment, and management of disseminated histoplasmosis in persons living with HIV
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Updated 20 Nov. 2020
Countries can use this checklist of hospital governance, structures, plans and protocols to rapidly determine the current capacities of hospitals to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic and to identify gaps and major areas that require investment and action for the development of h...ospital readiness improvement plans. The tool can be used periodically to monitor hospital emergency operational readiness capacity development
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Just about everyone has experienced the joy that a healthy newborn child brings to parents, families and communities. But the arrival of a newborn who is small or sick often results in immediate worry and sadness. When the infant is at high risk of death or disability, these concerns can be a tremen...dous additional burden.
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This manual summarizes key issues related to the safety of NTD medicines and their administration, with a focus on essential medicines used in mass drug administration (MDA), also called preventive chemotherapy. It can be used as a standalone reference manual, but is intended to be used in conjuncti...on with the accompanying training modules, which provide practical instruction, and the aide-mémoires. Versions of the aide-mémoires and training modules are available respectively for both (i) programme managers and district-level health officials and (ii) community drug distributors and community health workers
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10 May 2021
This scientific brief replaces the WHO Scientific Brief entitled “’Immunity passports’ in the context of COVID-19”, published 24 April 2020.
This update is focused on what is currently understood about SARS-CoV-2 immunity from natural infection. More information about considera...tions on vaccine certificates or “passports” will be covered in an update of WHO interim guidance, as requested by the COVID-19 emergency committee.
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Myanmar, as a country going through rapid socio-political transition and institutional development also suffers with a high burden of infectious disease. An ongoing challenge has been to effectively reach its 51 million population, most of whom battle tuberculosis, acute respiratory infections, diar...rhoea and malaria including amongst under-five children.
Limited research data on the occurrence of resistant organisms in the nation have, makes it hard to estimate the exact antimicrobial resistance (AMR) scenario. Limited peer reviewed evidence indicates significant divergence from the average resistance trends in APAC region. Nevertheless, several key steps by Government of Myanmar have been instrumental in paving the way for the country to join other nations in the South East Asia Region to speed up its plan on addressing the AMR crisis. Combating antimicrobial resistance would, however, require highest political commitment, multi-sectoral coordination, sustained investment and technical assistance.
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13 July 2021
The module provides an overview of factors to consider when monitoring the safety of COVID-19 vaccines administered to pregnant and breastfeeding women. It describes how national routine AEFI surveillance should be adapted to cater for this specific group of population using both pass...ive and active surveillance methods. Specific considerations and limitations of each method are provided as well as tools for implementation.
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However, very little is known about the trend of the quality of life over
time in untreated PLWHA compared to treated patients.
Exploring quality of life trends in treated and untreated
patients will help the health care system develop adapted
strategies to better manage the PLWHA in low-income
...
countries.
This study aimed to assess the quality of life of persons
living with HIV in Burkina Faso, in their routine followup and its change over time.
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WHO guidelines on the pharmacological treatment of persisting pain in children with medical illnesses
Breastfeeding is the cornerstone of infant and young child survival, nutrition and development and maternal health. The World Health Organization recommends exclusive breastfeeding for the first 6 months of life, followed by continued breastfeeding with appropriate complementary foods for up to 2 ye...ars and beyond.1 Early and uninterrupted skin-toskin contact, rooming-in2 and kangaroo mother care3 also significantly improve neonatal survival and reduce morbidity and are recommended by WHO.
Corrigendum 23 June 2020
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2016 data
The report was coordinated by Anastasia Pharris and Annemarie Stengaard.
Report review and production support were provided by Andrew J. Amato-Gauci, Mike Catchpole, Denis Coulombier, Masoud Dara, Nedret Emiroglu, Rachel Katterl, Shahin Khasiyev, Valentina Lazdina, Teymur Noori, Marc... Rondy, Chantal Quintin, Phillip Zucs.
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A manual for health care providers.
This manual provides expert guidance on the laboratory techniques and procedures used in the diagnosis of Buruli ulcer, a disease caused by Mycobacterium ulcerans. Aimed at laboratory technicians and scientists working on this disease, the manual details the exac...t procedures to follow when performing a range of diagnostic tests. Recommended procedures, intended for use throughout the health system, are presented at levels appropriate for peripheral, district and central services and in accordance with the varying resources, skills and equipment typically found in countries where Buruli ulcer is endemic.
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Q2: For people with dementia, does memantine, when compared to placebo/comparator, produce benefits/harm in the specified outcomes in non-specialist health settings?
Rabies is entirely preventable, and vaccines, medicines, tools and technologies have long been available to prevent people from dying of dog-mediated rabies. Nevertheless, rabies still kills about 60 000 people a year, of whom over 40% are children under 15, mainly in rural areas of economically dis...advantaged countries in Africa and Asia. Of all human cases, up to 99% are acquired from the bite of an infected dog.
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This document updates the earlier version published in April 2020. In recent weeks, information on the potential use of chloroquine or hydroxychloroquine for the treatment of people with COVID-19 has been disseminated in academic journals and public media. Although there are now ongoing clinical tri...als testing the efficacy and safety of several medicines for COVID-19, as of the date of this document, there is a lack of quality evidence to demonstrate chloroquine and/or hydroxychloroquine are effective in the treatment of COVID-19. Evidence is recently emerging via small studies with sub-optimal methodologies that are conflicting.
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This document provides the specifications for major pesticide application equipment used for control of vectors of diseases. The specification guidelines contained herein are intended to assist national authorities and other public health users in selecting equipment of assured quality for applicati...on of pesticides for vector control.
The test methods described herein are intended to assess whether the equipment will function for a minimum of three years with appropriate routine maintenance according to the manufacturer’s label instructions. Manufacturers shall be requested to provide warranty against manufacturing defects with guaranteed after-sales service on the equipment, any certification required by national authorities regarding materials used in the construction of the equipment, and results of tests that have been carried out for compliance with national or international specifications.
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The 5 years plan to scale up HIV Testing and Counselling Services in Malawi 2006-2010
This document provides guidance for countries on how to implement activities to achieve the interruption of yaws transmission. It is intended for use by national yaws eradication programmes, partners involved in the implementation of yaws eradication activities and WHO technical staff who provide te...chnical support to countries in the eradication of yaws.
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Policy Note #4: Myanmar Health Systems in Transition Policy Notes Series
Protecting people from financial hardship when they fall ill is one of the two key elements of universal health coverage (UHC). In practice, this means that the majority of health care costs have to be met from government ...revenues so that services are provided free or with a small affordable co-payment. The alternative is to rely on pre-payment through some form of insurance, where risks are pooled across all contributors.
The challenge in Myanmar is that at present neither approach is functioning. Government spending is too low to meet people’s health needs and the proportion of the population covered by insurance is negligible. As a result, families face a stark choice in the event of serious illness: either defer treatment and face the consequences, or incur what can amount to catastrophic expenses and a downward spiral of disinvestment and poverty.
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15 July 2021. This report describes the demographics, clinical presentation, clinical outcomes, and risk factors among people living with HIV (PLHIV) who have been hospitalized for suspected or confirmed COVID-19.
The specific objectives of the analysis were to:
describe the clinical char...acteristics and outcomes of PLHIV hospitalized for COVID-19
assess whether PLHIV hospitalized with COVID-19 were at increased risk of presenting with severe or critical illness at admission and were at increased risk of in-hospital death compared to individuals not infected with HIV
assess risk factors associated with severe or critical illness at hospital admission and of in-hospital death among PLHIV hospitalized for COVID-19.
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