30 January 2020
This document outlines the standard operating procedures for detection and response to case/s of suspected novel coronavirus disease (2019-nCoV) in South Africa. The content of this document should inform provincial preparedness plans.
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to threaten health and food systems around the world, the 2020 Global Nutrition Report calls on governments, businesses and civil society to step up efforts to address malnutrition in all its forms.
The following Emergency Response Plan for the COVID-19 pandemic seeks to set out activities that will be undertaken by humanitarian actors in Ukraine over the course of 2020 to respond to the public health impact of the epidemic – as well as the indirect, socio-economic impact on people’s well-b...eing, which will span across many areas. Given the extensive public exposure of the COVID-19 threat, the response will cover the whole of Ukraine, while providing a distinct focus on Donetska and Luhanska oblasts that have been ravaged by an armed conflict for the last six consecutive years. The planned COVID-19 response in the two conflict-affected oblasts will be treated as an annex to the current Humanitarian Response Plan for Ukraine
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Countries have shut down the economy to slow the spread of the coronavirus. Supermarket shelves remain stocked for now. But a protracted pandemic crisi s could quickly put a strai n on the f ood supply chains, a complex web of interactions involving farmers, agricultu...ral inputs, processing plants, shipping, retailers and more. The shipping industry is already reporting slowdowns because of port closures, and logistics hurd les could disrupt the supply chains in coming weeks.
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The spread of COVID-19 poses a challenge for emerging markets such as those in Africa and Latin America. While governments around the world are suffering from a shortage of ventilators, hospital beds, and personal protective equipment, availability of these items is already extremely limited in some... countries. In Africa, countries including Mali, Liberia, and Burkina Faso have only a few ventilators available to aid their populations, and there is also a lack of reliable oxygen supplies, ICUs, and healthcare workers to treat the sick. Additionally, many countries in Africa are already suffering from food insecurity and weak economies, which will worsen the long-term effects of coronavirus.
Keeping these factors in mind, GeoPoll conducted a remote study in 12 countries in sub-Saharan Africa on the effects coronavirus is already having on people throughout the region.
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- Interim guide: May 2020 update.
On the 25th of March, the GPEI circulated the first update of the interim guide to help ensure continuity of the programme’s operations in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as its support to the pandemic response while also ensuring the safety of its ...personnel and the communities it works with.
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For over a decade, Senegalese and international journalists, human rights advocates, and child protection experts have documented and denounced the ongoing exploitation, abuse and neglect of children living in many of Senegal’s traditional Quranic schools, or daaras. Thousands of these children, k...nown as talibés, continue to live in conditions of extreme squalor, deprived of adequate food and medical care.
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This policy paper underscores that, although children do not represent a high-risk group for direct COVID-19 fatality, the pandemic posts far-reaching secondary impacts that heighten risks to African children’s rights and wellbeing.
How to respond to, mitigate, and prevent risks to children’s protection and well-being is a profound, if unanswered, question. Practitioners agree that it is necessary to develop or strengthen protective factors at multiple levels, such as the family, community, and national levels.
The education sector forms an important part of the child protection response in refugee settings, and UNHCR’s Education Strategy (2012-16) reflects a focus on refugee education as a core component of UNHCR’s protection mandate. The right to education for all children also forms part of the Unit...ed Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. UNHCR’s Education Strategy promotes the importance of schools as safe learning environments, emphasises improving access to quality education for refugee children and maximises the protective benefits of participation in school. It advocates for the integration of refugee children into national education systems.
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The first case of COVID-19 was reported in Mozambique on 22 March 2020. As of 26 May, Mozambique had 194 confirmed cases of COVID-19, of which 168 were locally transmitted. The country’s capital, Maputo, and the province of Cabo Delgado are currently the epicentres of the outbreak in Mozambique, w...ith Pemba and Afungi registering more than 50 percent of the overall cases. Other provinces affected are Manica, Inhambane, Gaza, Tete and Sofala.
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While much progress has been achieved over the past year, the Region of the Americas has stubbornly remained the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic. PAHO is launching its 2021 COVID-19 Response Strategy and Donor Appeal to continue supporting Latin American and Caribbean countries and territories i...n their fight against COVID-19. This document outlines PAHO’s regional strategy for the year 2021 to sustain and scale-up the response to COVID‑19 pandemic in the Americas, suppress the community transmission of the virus and mitigate the longer-term health impact of the pandemic.
US$ 239 million is needed to support critical response efforts in the Americas between 1 January and 31 December 2021
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This paper is an initial compilation of the promising practices on risk communication and community engagement that have developed in Europe during the COVID pandemic, in complementarity to the UNHCR’s Practical Recommendations and Good Practice to Address Protection Concerns in the Context of the... COVID-19 Pandemic.It seeks to document and share such practices, but also to inspire new initiatives, foster exchange, and further develop a community of practice within the region.
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In the USA, Catholic Social Teaching is commonly called “the church’s best keptsecret”. And, indeed, did the church’s Social Teaching on the other side of the Atlantic never enjoy the political and societal importance attributed to it in many European countries for such a long time including..., and above all, Germany. Entire generations of Catholic politicians, social scientists, trade unionists andentrepreneurs were shaped by the Social Teachings of their Church in thesecountries, and this moulding has influenced their way of acting to a great extent. This influence can be clearly traced in the socio-economic realm where Catholic SocialTeaching has contributed fundamentally to the rise of what we today – in a cleardividing line to the boundless capitalism of the Anglo-American brand – call theSocial Market Economy.
accessed July 2020
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CST Assembly Notes. This assembly has been prepared by Missio, Pope Francis’ official charity for overseas mission. Mission simply means, being sent out to deliver God’s love to others through our actions and words. When we look at the world around us, it’s clear that there’s a great need fo...r God’s mercy and love. We can feel overwhelmed by news of terrible violence, unfairness, suffering.
accessed July 2019
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Aligned to the Lancet Migration Global Statement to include migrants and refugees incountries’response to COVID-19, this update focuses on Mexico’s challenges and opportunities to build an inclusive response that is based on a contextualized adaptation of there commendations published by th...e Lancet Migration. A critical component for this analysis is the recognition of migration as a social determinant of health, which acts as a major risk factor for populations subjected to violence, trauma and forced exile while in the face of a global pandemic.
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Over nine years of protracted and violent conflict in Syria has decimated its health system,killed an estimated 586,000 people and forcibly displaced more than half the 22 million pre-war population from their homes. As of June 2020, a total of 6.2 million Syrians (of whom 40% are children) are inte...rnally displaced (IDPs) and 5.5 million are refugees. Over half of Syria’s population (11.7 million) are in-need of humanitarian aid across the whole of Syria
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In most contexts, the social stigma surrounding mental health issues exists because of cultural norms and a lack of understanding of mental health’s complexities and realities, resulting in isolation, increased vulnerability, and lack of support for people with mental health problems.
This stig...ma has been exacerbated during COVID-19, as more people may need mental health or psycho-social support but cannot access it due to the cessation of in-person services and limited remote care option
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Bull World Health Organ 2020;98:773–780
Universal health coverage (UHC) depends on a strong primary health-care
system. To be successful, primary health care must be expanded at community and household levels as much of the world’s population still lacks access to health facilities for basic... services. Abundant evidence shows that community-based interventions are effective for improving health-care utilization and outcomes when integrated with facility-based services. Community involvement is the cornerstone of local, equitable and integrated primary health care.
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The WHO country office for Ghana, began the year 2019 with a 4-day staff retreat at the Busua Beach Resort in the Western Region from 04 to 08 March 2019. The theme for the retreat was ‘Impacting the Health and Lives of the people of Ghana through the Triple Billion Goal”. The staff outlined pri...orities and strategies to strengthen WHO’s contribution to the national health agenda during the year. Working in collaboration with the Ministry of Health/Ghana Health Service and other allied health institutions and stakeholders, the WHO country office, provided support aimed at achieving its
mission which is attaining the highest level of health by the people in the country though its six operational areas which are (i) Communicable Diseases (ii) Non-Communicable Diseases, (iii) Promoting Health through the Life Course (iv), Health Systems, (v) Preparedness, Surveillance and Response (vi) Corporate services and enabling functions.
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