This paper was developed to support AMR coordination committees and others tasked with addressing AMR at country level to do just that. Drawing on the published literature and the operational experience and expertise of different LMICs, the paper points to six key strategies for success and offers a... series of practical tips and suggestions on how to implement each one.
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Infection Prevention and Control Programmes
January 2020
Updated on 6 APRIL 2020
There are serious concerns that the situation might escalate in the next weeks modelling the epi curve of other regions. The interlinkages between human mobility and the current pandemic of COVID-19 are well established, and while international flights have been suspended i...n the region, the porous borders on land and water crossings remain difficult to control.
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The Government of Malawi, in fulfilling its primary role of protecting the lives of its vulnerable citizens during disasters and reducing their exposure to risk through preparedness, led the development of a National Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Preparedness and Response Plan.
This guidance note developed by UNICEF is intended to help WASH staff in their preparedness and response to the current COVID-19 pandemic. It provides an overview of Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) and its intersection with water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), and how staff can help prevent ...infection and its spread in schools, whether through human-to-human or by touching surfaces contaminated with the virus. WASH services, including waste management and environmental cleaning, are all important for IPC. This brief is available in English, Spanish, and French here.
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Afghanistan has one of the largest populations per capita of persons with disabilities in the world. At least one in five Afghan households includes an adult or child with a serious physical, sensory, intellectual, or psychosocial disability. More than 40 years of war have left more than one million... Afghans with amputated limbs and other mobility, visual, or hearing disabilities. Many Afghans have psychosocial disabilities (mental health conditions) such as depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress, which are often a direct result of the protracted conflict. Other Afghans have pre-existing disabilities not directly related to the conflict, such as those caused by polio.
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The COVID-19 pandemic is having far reaching impacts, well beyond the health crisis and needs, with the most severe impacts experienced in the poorest countries and those most vulnerable to humanitarian crises including natural disasters, such as Nepal.
Masangane Case Study
The Vesper Society commissioned ARHAP to do research on the integrated Masangane HIV/AIDS programme affiliated with the Moravian Church in Eastern Cape, South Africa. Completed in 2006, this study aimed to understand the role of the religious health assets of the Masangane ART ...programme for public health, as a model for a replicable response to HIV/AIDS. A crucial aspect of this research involved teasing out what value is added to this programme by its faith-based nature. Field work for this case study consisted of more than 20 key informant interviews of various stakeholders: Masangane staff and management; church leaders; health seekers; donors and health providers. Health seekers also answered 77 questionnaires and were involved in two focus groups.
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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 paper aims to provide aid agencies with initial analysis and guidance to inform the design, implementation and adaptation of conflict-sensitive humanitarian and development responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. It presents a series of overarching considerations to take into account when determini...ng how to build a conflict-sensitive approach into COVID-19 response activities, before outlining some initial, sector-specific considerations. Recommendations are presented throughout.
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This guidance is intended to be used by programme managers following the decision to introduce human papillomavirus (HPV) virological testing as a screening assay in their national cervical cancer prevention and control programme. The guidance includes a step-by-step process to be followed after the... decision has been made to specifically introduce and/or scale-up HPV virological testing for screening, which would be followed up with adequate management within the context of cervical cancer prevention
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The purpose of this field guide is to provide comprehensive information on planning and implementing high-quality3 SIAs for injectable vaccines and highlight the opportunities to strengthen RI and surveillance. The guide uses measles–rubella SIAs as the main example throughout, but the informatio...n provided aims to be applicable to SIAs delivering any injectable vaccine. It can serve as a reference for the preparation of regional/national SIA field guides and materials.
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Technical Note
Recently, the approach to hazardous events has undergone a considerable shift, away from reactive activities focused on managing and responding to events and towards a more proactive process of emergency and disaster risk management (DRM). The ultimate goal of this shift in focus is ...to prevent new and reduce existing disaster risks, a process known as disaster risk reduction (DRR), while strengthening individual, community, societal and global resilience.
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TheoreticalMedicine 6 (1985), 281-294. 0167-9902/85.10
The World Health Organization (WHO) has identified mental health as an integral component of the COVID-19 response. Its rapid assessment of service delivery for mental, neurological and substance use (MNS) disorders during the COVID-19 pandemic, on which this report is based, is the first attempt to... measure the impact of the pandemic on such services at a global level. The data were collected through a web-based survey completed by mental health focal points at ministries of health between June and August 2020. The questionnaire covered the existence and funding of mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) plans, the presence and composition of MHPSS coordination platforms, the degree of continuation and causes of disruption of different MNS services, the approaches used to overcome these disruptions, and surveillance mechanisms and research on MNS data.
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Creating a common approach ro regulation, educational preparation and practice: future direction for nursing & midwifery development in the African Region
The Covid-19 pandemic has so far infected more than 30 million people in the world, having major impact on global health with collateral damage. In Mozambique, a public state of emergency was declared at the end of March 2020. This has limited people's movements and reduced public services, leading ...to a decrease in the number of people accessing health care facilities. An implementation research project, The Alert Community for a Prepared Hospital, has been promoting access to maternal and child health care, in Natikiri, Nampula, for the last four years. Nampula has the second highest incidence of Covid-19. The purpose of this study is to assess the impact of Covid-19 pandemic Government restrictions on access to maternal and child healthcare services. We compared health centres in Nampula city with healthcare centres in our research catchment area. We wanted to see if our previous research interventions have led to a more resilient response from the community.
METHODS: Mixed-methods research, descriptive, cross-sectional, retrospective, using a review of patient visit documentation. We compared maternal and child health care unit statistical indicators from March-May 2019 to the same time-period in 2020. We tested for significant changes in access to maternal and child health services, using KrushKall Wallis, One-way Anova and mean and standard deviation tests. We compared interviews with health professionals, traditional birth attendants and patients in the two areas. We gathered data from a comparable city health centre and the main city referral hospital. The Marrere health centre and Marrere General Hospital were the two Alert Community for a Prepared Hospital intervention sites.
RESULTS: Comparing 2019 quantitative maternal health services access indicators with those from 2020, showed decreases in most important indicators: family planning visits and elective C-sections dropped 28%; first antenatal visit occurring in the first trimester dropped 26%; hospital deliveries dropped a statistically significant 4% (p = 0.046), while home deliveries rose 74%; children vaccinated down 20%.
CONCLUSION: Our results demonstrated the negative collateral effects of Covid-19 pandemic Government restrictions, on access to maternal and child healthcare services, and highlighted the need to improve the health information system in Mozambique.
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