This paper presents lessons learned from previous flood responses in developing countries, based on a structured review of the literature. It is intended for people working in relief and recovery operations who have to decide if, when and how to int
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ervene after a flood.
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This special issue on Newborn Health in Global Health Action is being launched to share the experience of how to scale up a cost-effective package of newborn care that involves families, community health workers and health facilities. The results of
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this community randomized trial, the Uganda Newborn Study (UNEST), show that home visits in pregnancy and soon after delivery resulted in improved breastfeeding practices, skin-to-skin care immediately after birth, delaying a baby’s first bath, and hygienic care of the baby’s umbilical cord among the poorest households with lowest access to care.
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The ‘Toolkit’ is targeted at practitioners responsible for implementing recovery programmes, their objective to provide a ‘how to’ guide on development, implementing and managing complex post-disaster recovery programmes.
Disaster Recovery
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Toolkit
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The report focuses on antibacterial resistance (ABR) in common bacterial pathogens. There is a major gap in knowledge about the magnitude of this problem. Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) threatens the effective revention and treatment of an ever-incr
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easing range of infections caused by bacteria, parasites, viruses and fungi. This WHO report, produced in collaboration with Member States and other partners, provides for the first time, as accurate a picture as is presently possible of the magnitude of AMR and the current state of surveillance globally. It examines the information on AMR, in particular antibacterial resistance (ABR), at country level worldwide.
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In this edition, medicines used in ICU, haemodialysis and chemotherapy unit has also been added under NEML. The medicines under disinfectants and antiseptics, intrauterine devices and barrier methods under contraceptives has been deleted and moved to medical supplies and equipment list.
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A section on traditional essential medicines list is also included at the end of the NEML
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WHO-SEARO in partnership with WHOCC AIIMS, UNICEF, UNFPA and USAID has prepared a training package for building capacity of healthcare teams in health facilities for continous quality improvement of maternal and newborn healthcare. The focus is on t
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he care of mothers and newborns at the time of child birth since a large proportion of maternal deaths, newborn deaths and stillbirths happen around that time.
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Cryptococcal disease is one of the most common opportunistic infections among people living with advanced HIV disease and is a major contributor to severe illness, morbidity, and mortality, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa.
These guidelines up
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date the recommendations that were first released in 2018 on diagnosing, preventing, and managing cryptococcal disease. In response to important new evidence that became available in 2021, these new guidelines strongly recommend a single high dose of liposomal amphotericin B as part of the preferred induction regimen for the treatment of cryptococcal meningitis in people living with HIV. This simplified regimen - a single high dose of liposomal amphotericin B paired with other standard medicines (flucytosine and fluconazole) - is as effective as the previous WHO standard of care, with the benefits of lower toxicity and fewer monitoring demands.
The objective of these guidelines is to provide updated, evidence-informed recommendations for treating adults, adolescents and children living with HIV who have cryptococcal disease. These guidelines are aimed at HIV programme managers, policymakers, national treatment advisory boards, implementing partners and health-care professionals providing care for people living with HIV in resource-limited settings with a high burden of cryptococcal disease.
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The study sought to understand the factors that facilitate women to adhere to treatment and return to health facilities for routine care from their own perspective. The researchers focused on Malawi, Uganda and Zambia, early adopters of the global guidance to provide lifelong treatment for pregnant
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women living with HIV (Option B+) and spoke to women living with HIV, healthcare workers and programme managers to discover which factors and practices show promise in supporting women to initiate and remain in care.
This study found that women living with HIV who access these services to prevent vertical transmission have a strong sense and understanding of what factors support their retention and how health facilities, the wider community and their friends and relations can best support them. This report shares their words to describe how it feels to walk in their shoes on the path of life long treatment.
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STUDY REPORT | This study of the impact of the Nepal earthquake of 25 April, 2015, aims to understand the impact factors leading to the exclusion of older people and persons with disabilities from humanitarian action, barriers to their inclusion, and the extent to which their skills and knowledge we
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re utilised to promote inclusive humanitarian action and, using this understanding, to formulate a set of recommendations for promoting inclusion. These recommendations will be used to sensitise the broader humanitarian community to the need for inclusive disaster risk management practices in future emergency responses which pay attention to factors such as gender, age, disability and ethnicity, and build upon the capacities of older people and persons with disabilities.
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DIAGNOSING PTSD IN CHILDHOOD | The following literature review addresses the developmental and domain-specific consequences of previous and current diagnostic criteria for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in pre-adolescent children. PTSD was introduced in 1980 to capture extreme responses follow
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ing a traumatic event. I analyze the evolution of the disorder’s diagnostic criteria toward a more developmentally conscious structure. I also examine instances in which these criteria lack developmental consistency: (1) preschool PTSD is the only diagnostic subtype despite the fact that childhood development also differentiates traumatic expressions in older children from adolescents and adults; and (2) many of the PTSD epidemiological data that have been reanalyzed under the most recent (DSM-5) typology only refer to adolescent and adult samples although many researchers have
demonstrated that developmental alterations to DSM-IV and DSM-IV-TR criteria produce significantly higher prevalence rates in children.
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22nd edition
The purpose of the SAHR has always been to analyse and assess progress and challenges in key areas of the health system, and to propose recommendations for improvement. We are pleased to continue this tradition in the 2019 edition, which presents
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a unique collection of perspectives on the key challenges in implementing universal health coverage (UHC) in South Africa, as analysed by experts in various fields.
Each of the 20 chapters deals with aspects of the UHC journey, dedicated towards an equitable and inclusive national health system that leaves no-one behind. While some authors describe the fundamental changes and practical considerations required to reconfigure the country's health system, others have reflected on specific programmatic areas and have made recommendations from a National Health Insurance (NHI)/UHC lens.
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Au Burkina Faso, les personnes vivant avec le VIH (PvVIH) ont régulièrement recours à des substances naturelles pour traiter certaines infections opportunistes. C’est ainsi que le suc des feuilles fraîches de Mitracarpus scaber Zucc. ex Schult
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. & Schult. f. (Rubiaceae) et de Senna alata (L.) Roxb. (Fabaceae) sont utilisés comme antimycosiques. En ce qui concerne le zona et les poussées herpétiques, les feuilles fraîches de Phyllanthus amarus Schumach. & Thonn. (Euphorbiaceae), la sève de Mangifera indica L. (Anacardiaceae), le gel de Aloe buettneri Berger (Liliaceae) et la galle de Guiera senegalensis J.F. Gmel. (Combretaceae), sont les drogues végétales les plus utilisées. Des substances naturelles sont également recommandées par les tradipraticiens de santé pour la récupération immunologique et nutritionnelle, le traitement précoce de l’infection à VIH et la réduction des effets secondaires des traitements ARV (antirétroviral). Il s’agit respectivement pour les plus importantes d’entre elles, des feuilles de Moringa oleifera Lam. (Moringaceae), de la pulpe du fruit de Detarium microcarpum Guill. & Perr. (Fabaceae), de la spiruline et du pollen issu de la ruche.
Les substances naturelles pouvant avoir une interaction avec les traitements conventionnels et plus particulièrement avec les médicaments ARV, les plantes contenant des tanins catéchiques, des dérivés 1,8 hydroxyanthracéniques laxatifs et des molécules hépatotropes ou inductrices enzymatiques, sont classées à risque, et leur utilisation par les PvVIH est étroitement surveillée.
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The infectious disease burden in India is among the highest in the world. A large amount of antibiot-ics are consumed in fighting infections, some of them saving lives, but every use adding to antibiotic resistance in bacteria. Antibiotic use i
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s increasing steadily (table 1), particularly certain antibiotic classes (beta-lactam antibacterials), most notably in the more prosperous states. Resistance follows in lock-step.
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BUKO Pharma-Kampagne has investigated the causes and consequences of antibiotic resistance in India, South Africa, Tanzania and Germany. Together with our partners we collected data and did interviews with numerous stakeholders. The outcome is presented in
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a brochure that is now available in English
Resistant bacteria are spreading worldwide. In collaboration with partners in India, Tanzania, South Africa and Germany, we have investigated the causes and consequences of this spread.2 This Pharma-Brief Special presents the results. It examines the risks for humans, animals and the environment. It focuses on local problems and approaches, international interactions and the re-sponsibility of doctors, farmers and consumers.
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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 populatio
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n 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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In the context of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic response, WHO identifies young people as a priority target audience with specific concerns, experiences and behaviours. This policy brief provides relevant insights from behavioural evide
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nce and a set of behavioural considerations for those promoting COVID-19 preventive behaviours among young people. Designers of programmes and initiatives targeting youth may find it helpful to refer to the youth-specific barriers and drivers identified in this policy brief and to prioritize these for testing when planning initiatives targeted at young people.
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Access to medical personal protective equipment (PPE) is essential for routine healthcare delivery, and a critical tool for containing outbreaks, as well as preventing and responding to pandemics. It is one of our most effective tools against COVID-
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19, and an undervalued tool more generally in infection control.
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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
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a standalone reference manual, but is intended to be used in conjunction 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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this Service Delivery brief provides evidence-based strategies that can help support drug shops and pharmacies in providing a wider variety of family planning methods and information. Evidence shows that with training and support, pharmacy and drug
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shop staff can facilitate the use of a broad range of modern contraception, especially in areas where the unmet need is high, access to family planning services is poor, and health worker shortages and other barriers prevent women, men, and youth from accessing family planning services
Availabe in English, French, Spanish and Portuguese
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24 Nov. 2021
Action against gender-based violence being pushed to the outlying margins of the global COVID-19 response
A new Oxfam report shows an undeniable increase in gender-based violence (GBV) during the COVID-19 pandemic around the world t
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o which too many governments and donors are not doing enough to tackle.
The report, The Ignored Pandemic: The Dual Crisis of Gender-Based Violence and COVID-19, showed the number of calls made by survivors to domestic violence hotlines in ten countries during the first months of lockdown. The data reveals a 25 – 111 percentage surge; in Argentina (25%), Colombia (79%), Tunisia (43%), China (50%), Somalia (50%), South Africa (69%), UK (25%), Cyprus (39%), Italy (73%) and the largest increase in Malaysia where calls surged by over 111%.
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