WHO, in partnership with the International Society for Prosthetics and Orthotics (ISPO) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), has published global standards for prosthe
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tics and orthotics. Its aim is to ensure that prosthetics and orthotics services are people-centred and responsive to every individual’s personal and environmental needs. The standards advocate for the integration of prosthetics and orthotics services into health services, under universal health coverage. Implementation of these standards will support countries to fulfil their obligations under the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and towards the Sustainable Development Goals, in particular Goal 3: Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages.
The standards provide guidance on the development of national policies, plans and programmes for prosthetics and orthotics services of the highest standard. The standards are divided into two documents: the standards and an implementation manual. Both documents cover four areas of the health system:
policy (governance, financing and information);
products (prostheses and orthoses);
personnel (workforce);
and provision of services.
The Standards have been developed through consultation with experts from around the globe via a steering group, development group and external review group.
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Disease Control Priorities, 3rdEdition: Volume 4.
Mental, neurological, and substance use disorders are common, highly disabling, and associated
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with significant premature mortality. The impact of these disorders on the social and economic well-beingof individuals, families, and societies is large, growing, and underestimated
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The approach is in line with two of the five objectives outlined in the Every Newborn Action Plan (ENAP): Strategic Objective 2 – Improve the quality of maternal and newborn care; and Strategic Ob
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jective 5 – Count every newborn through measurement, programme-tracking and accountability to generate data for decision-making and action.
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The application of digital health technology is growing at a rapid rate in Africa, with the goals of improving the delivery of healthcare services and more effectively reaching out to remote and und
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erserved communities. The lack of enabling guidelines and standards across the continent, on the other hand, makes it difficult to share data in a meaningful way across the continent.
Considering this, Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) established a task force of 24 members to provide expertise and guidance in the development of AU HIE guidelines and standards. Members of the task force were subject matter experts working in Africa and internationally on the collection, analysis, and exchange of health information. Some of these experts had been involved in previous consultations on defining Africa CDC’s health information systems strategy. A chairperson, co-chairperson, and secretary were elected to engage the task force members in different technical working groups.
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This publication provides a practical tool to support countries in strengthening surveillance of WASH in schools. The findings will inform the development of supportive regulations and improvement planning to safeguard children’s health, well-bein
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g, dignity and cognitive performance. The tool also enables countries to use the data collected to facilitate policy dialogue and inform international reporting, including on progress towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goal targets related to WASH in schools.
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The ICF Practical Manual provides information on how to use ICF. Anyone interested in learning more about use of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability
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and Health (ICF, WHO 2001) may benefit from reading this Practical Manual. The ICF is presently used in many different contexts and for many different purposes around the world. It can be used as a tool for statistical, research, clinical, social policy, or educational purposes and applied, not only in the health sector, but also in sectors such as insurance, social security, labour, education, economics, policy or legislation development, and the environment. People interested in functioning and disability and seeking ways to apply the ICF should find the contents of this Practical Manual helpful. The Practical Manual provides a range of information on how to apply ICF in various situations. It is built on the acquired expertise, knowledge and judgement of users in their respective areas of work, and is designed to be used alongside the ICF itself, which remains the primary reference.
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The TB section of the toolkit presents selected (a) programmatic output and (b) outcome and impact indicators for TB. In addition to recommended monitoring programs
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and measuring the outcomes and impact of TB programs, indicators for the strengthening of health systems, strengthening of community systems and some indicators that measure quality of services are also included.
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Exposure draft for comment October 2013
DHS Methodological Report No. 20
This study used Service Provision Assessment (SPA) and Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) data from Haiti, Malawi,
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and Tanzania to compare traditionally used additive methods with a data reduction method—principal component analysis (PCA).
We scored the quality of health facilities with three approaches (simple additive, weighted additive, and PCA) for two constructs: quality of services, with only facilities-level data, and quality of care, which incorporates observation and client data. We ranked facilities as high, medium, or low quality based on their scores. Our results indicated that the rankings change with the scoring methodology. There was more consistency in the rankings of facilities by the simple additive and PCA methods than the weighted additive and PCA-based rankings. This may be due to the low factor loadings and little variance explained by the first component in the PCA. We aggregated facility scores to their respective DHS clusters (Haiti, Malawi) or regions (Tanzania) and geographically linked them to women interviewed in DHS surveys to test associations between the use of family planning services and the quality environment, as measured with each index.
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These guidelines are applicable to all biomedical, social and behavioural science research for health conducted in India involving human participants, their biological material and data.
The purpos
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e of such research should be: i. directed towards enhancing knowledge about the human condition while maintaining sensitivity to the Indian cultural, social and natural environment; ii. conducted under conditions such that no person or persons become mere means for the betterment of others and that human beings who are participating in any biomedical and/or health research or scientific experimentation are dealt with in a manner conducive to and consistent with their dignity and well-being, under conditions of professional fair treatment and transparency; and iii. subjected to a regime of evaluation at all stages of the research, such as design, conduct and reporting of the results thereof.
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Advocacy, communication and social mobilization for TB control
Assessment of the quality of institutional care for adults with psychosocial and intellectual disabilities in the WHO European Region.
The specific objectives of the project were to address gaps in knowledge about the number
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and characteristics of such long-term institutions and to identify deficiencies in current care standards through the lens of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. This publication examines and rates the quality of care and protection of human rights in selected institutions in over 20 countries in the Region using the WHO QualityRights toolkit. It identifies steps to take to continue progress toward deinstitutionalization and to ensure respect for the rights of people with psychosocial and intellectual disabilities.
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The aim of the Annual Inspection Report is to present findings of public sector health establishments inspected by the OHSC to monitor compliance with the National Core Standards (NCS) during the 2016/2017 financial year in South Africa.
The NCS define fundamentals for quality of care based on six
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dimensions of quality: Acceptability,Safety, Reliability, Equity, Accessibility, and Efficiency.
The NCS structured assessment tools were used to collect data during inspections across the seven domains namely: Patient Rights; Patient Safety, Clinical Governance and Clinical Care; Clinical Support Services; Public Health; Leadership and Governance; Operational Management and Facilities and Infrastructure. A total of 851 routine inspections were conducted with 201 of these facilities re-inspected. Inspection data was captured on District Health Information System (DHIS) data entry forms and exported for analysis to Statistical Analysis Software (SAS) version 9.4.
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