Weekly Epidemiological Record. This report summarizes application of the SAFE strategy against trachoma during 2023. It includes estimates of the global population at risk of trachoma blindness based on district-by-district data submitted to WHO by national programmes. Summarizing the epidemiologica...l situation in this way is inherently complex because, for any district, up to 3 serial estimates of prevalence may be valid at different times during a calendar year.
more
26 March 2021
If you have already had COVID-19 do you still need both doses of the vaccine? Do these vaccines protect you against infection? Do they protect us against variants? WHO’s Dr Katherine O’Brien answers these questions in Science in 5 this week.
If you have the choice of more than one vaccine and are wondering which one to take and how to assess the risk of side effects, this episode of Science in 5 with WHO’s Dr Katherine O’Brien is for you.
Policy brief.
HIV self-testing (HIVST) is a convenient and confidential option for HIV testing. In 2016 WHO recommended HIVST as a safe, accurate and effective way to reach people who may not test otherwise, including people from key populations, men and young people. Lay users can perform HIVST r...eliably and accurately and achieve performance comparable to that of trained health-care workers.
Globally, many countries have developed HIVST policies, and implementation is growing rapidly. This policy brief highlights new guidance to optimize HIVST implementation, including effective service delivery models, linkage to care and support tools.
more
The leishmaniases are a group of diseases caused by Leishmania spp., which occur in cutaneous, mucocutaneous and visceral forms. They are neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), which disproportionately affect marginalized populations who have limited access to health care. HIV co-infected patients with... Leishmania infection are highly infectious to sandflies, and an increase in the coinfection rate in an endemic area is likely to increase the effective infective reservoir.
more
How far apart should the doses of vaccines be? What if I miss my second dose? Can I get two doses from two different manufacturers? How was safety of vaccines ensured? WHO’s Chief Scientist, Dr Soumya Swaminathan explains in Science in 5.
Licensed pharmaceutical products (marketing authorization) should be manufactured only by licensed manufacturers (holders of a manufacturing authorization) whose activities are regularly inspected by competent national authorities. This guide to GMP shall be used as a standard to justify GMP status,... which constitutes one of the elements of the WHO Certification Scheme on the quality of pharmaceutical products moving in international commerce, through the assessment of applications for manufacturing authorizations and as a basis for the inspection of manufacturing facilities. It may also be used as training material for government medicines inspectors, as well as for production, QC and QA personnel in the industry
more
How concerned should we be about the new variants of SARS CoV 2 which cause COVID-19? Is it unusual for viruses to change and mutate? Do vaccines protect against these variants and what can you do to protect yourself? WHO’s Chief Scientist Dr Soumya Swaminathan explains in Science in 5
Why are experts concerned about COVID-19 and antibiotics? And what can you do about it? Learn about antibiotics and COVID-19 from WHO’s Dr Hanan Balkhy in Science in 5