This research report offers community perceptions of COVID-19 from migrants, refugees, host communities and indigenous populations in nine countries in the Americas: Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Jamaica, Panama and Tri...nidad and Tobago.
It reveals the myriad impacts that COVID-19 has had, and continues to have, on vulnerable and hard-to-reach populations. And it offers hands-on recommendations around the impact and usefulness of health information; trust, awareness and access to vaccines; and the socio-economic impact of the pandemic.
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Rabies is a devastating and societally important zoonotic disease, which is transmitted principally to humans through the bite of infected dogs. This acute, progressive viral encephalitis has the highest case fatality of any infectious disease and kills tens of thousands of people annually, with chi...ldren and impoverished communities being affected disproportionately.
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According to WHO, infection prevention and control (IPC) is a scientific approach and practical solution designed to prevent harm caused by infection to patients and health workers. It is grounded in infectious diseases, epidemiology, social science... and health system strengthening. IPC occupies a unique position in the field of patient safety and quality universal health coverage since it is relevant to health workers and patients at every single health-care encounter. Poor WASH and IPC lead to health acquired infections, transmission of diseases from health facilities to communities and increased use of antibiotics and exacerbate outbreak and spread of infections- in this case- COVID- 19. On the contrary, effective IPC reduces hospital-acquired infections by at least 30% (WHO 2016).
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Which communities are most at risk of Monkeypox in the current outbreak and why? WHO’s Andy Seale explains how we can support the communities at risk in Science in 5.
Lessons and best practices in empowering pastoralist communities to prevent HIV infection and reduce the impact of AIDS in Ethiopia. Briefing Paper
Communities can play a critical role in suicide prevention. Facilitating community engagement in suicide prevention is an important task. The toolkit is a step-by-step guide for communities to engag...e in suicide prevention activities and have ownership of the process and keep efforts sustained. It is hoped that the pilot version will be used, after necessary adaptation, in many countries and contexts, so that the final product can be strengthened and become more effective and user-friendly.
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Communities affected by a disaster often lack basic water
and sanitation facilities. They are likely to be traumatized and
vulnerable to disease. Disruption of familiar practices or the
relocation to new environments can result in a deterioration...
in existing hygiene behaviours. This, in turn, will contribute to
an increased risk of disease transmission and epidemics. This
technical note explains why hygiene promotion is important in
emergencies and describes how to carry it out.
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PSYCHOLOGICAL HELP FOR ADULTS IN COMMUNITIES EXPOSED TO ADVERSITY
People-centered approaches that help communities maintain protective behaviours and follow guidelines set out by public health and government agencies are more important than ever. The evidence is c...lear, communities play a role in preventing and controlling epidemics and they are best able to take action and slow or stop the spread of disease when properly engaged and empowered. This toolbox in 2 parts offers best practice approaches to community engagement with families. Promoting individual and joint responsibilities for the safety of the family, this toolbox aims to bring families and households together to manage shared risks and agree to safe behaviours critical for their safety and the safety of their community.
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People-centered approaches that help communities maintain protective behaviours and follow guidelines set out by public health and government agencies are more important than ever. The evidence is c...lear, communities play a role in preventing and controlling epidemics and they are best able to take action and slow or stop the spread of disease when properly engaged and empowered. This toolbox in 2 parts offers best practice approaches to community engagement with families. Promoting individual and joint responsibilities for the safety of the family, this toolbox aims to bring families and households together to manage shared risks and agree to safe behaviours critical for their safety and the safety of their community.
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The United Nations Commission on Life-Saving Commodities (UNCLSC, 2012) defined 13 health products to end preventable deaths of woman and children. One of those 13 products is the neonatal resuscita...tor, is indispensable medical device to save newborns from asphyxia at birth. For the efficient use of neonatal resuscitation, training of healthcare professionals using neonatal resuscitation manikins is the most effective approach. Critical lifesaving trainings calls for the need of neonatal resuscitation manikins with the right features.
The purpose of the WHO Neonatal resuscitation manikin: technical specifications is to provide a minimum standard baseline to meet the increasing demand to procure good quality, affordable, accessible, and appropriate neonatal resuscitation manikins. Towards the development of this baseline, this document includes compilation of available scientific evidence from technical literature, international publications, expert reviews, and an industry survey which was conducted by WHO medical devices team.
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When terrible things happen in our communities, countries and the world, we want to reach out a helping hand to those who are affected. This guide covers
psychological first aid which involves humane, supportive and practical help to fellow human ...beings suffering serious crisis events. It is written for people in a position to help others who have experienced an extremely distressing event. It gives a framework for supporting people in ways that respect their dignity, culture and abilities. Despite its name, psychological first aid covers both social and psychological support.
Available in various languages: http://www.who.int/mental_health/publications/guide_field_workers/en/
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Infographic
Disease: Infection is widespread in poor communities, 221 million people affected worldwide...
Affected Populations: Women, Children...
Prevention and Control: WHO recommends praziquantel for treatment of all forms of schistosomiasis......
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A guide to increasing coverage and equity in all communities in the African Region
Expanded Programs on Immunization (EPI) is responsible for vaccines and vaccination to control, eliminate and eradicate vaccine preventable diseases (VPDs). Havi...ng strong immunization systems to deliver vaccines to those who need them most will play a significant role in achieving the health, equity and economic objectives of several global development goals.
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Emergency Preparedness for the Health Sector: Challenges and Way Forward. Expert Consultation.
Preparedness is nowadays defined as an integrated set of long term multi-sectoral activities. One key objective is to contribute to the achievement of an... increasing level of readiness within the MOH and the communities to mitigate, to cope with, to respond to and to recover from any emergency situation
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Step-by-step risk management guidance for drinking-water supplies in small communities.
Individual psychological help for adults impaired by distress in communities exposed to adversity.
The manual describes a scalable psychological intervention called Problem Management Plus (PM+) for adults impaired by distress in ...bute-to-highlight medbox">communities who are exposed to adversity. Aspects of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) have been changed to make them feasible in communities that do not have many specialists. To ensure maximum use, the intervention is developed in such a way that it can help people with depression, anxiety and stress, whether or not exposure to adversity has caused these problems. It can be applied to improve aspects of mental health and psychosocial well-being no matter how severe people’s problems are.
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Group psychological help for adults impaired by distress in communities exposed to adversity
With this manual, the World Health Organization (WHO) is responding to requests from colleagues around t...he world for a group version of the manual Problem Management Plus (PM+), which was developed for adults impaired by distress in communities who are exposed to adversity. Aspects of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) have been changed to make them feasible in communities that do not have many specialists. To ensure maximum use, the intervention is developed in such a way that it can help people with depression, anxiety and stress, whether or not exposure to adversity has caused these problems. It can be applied to improve aspects of mental health and psychosocial well-being no matter how severe people’s problems are.
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Tackling COVID-19 misinformation. Ensuring communities have access to lifesaving public health information from trusted sources and are not misled by misinformation is essential to ending the COVID...-19 pandemic.
In an effort to empower doctors and nurses – some of the most effective and trusted messengers of public health information – to actively address COVID-19 misinformation and build vaccine confidence globally, the WHO welcomes this social media toolkit for healthcare practitioners, developed by the Government of the United Kingdom.
This toolkit aims to provide healthcare workers with the tools, skills and content needed to effectively share authentic and reliable information online. Centered around three core vaccine confidence messages, Vaccine Safety, Vaccine Development and Vaccine Reducing Risk of Sickness; this toolkit sets out three approaches: creating your own posts, posting the images and videos provided in the toolkit, or resharing vaccine information from trusted sources.
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The DCPs are a series of disease specific datasheets that list the critical commodities and the technical specifications for each commodity per disease. The DCPs inform Member States and operational partners of commodity requirements and potential g...aps in the health emergency supply chain. From an operational readiness perspective, the DCPs provide the basis for a globalized stockpile system, response planning, technical guidance and supply market assessments.
Initially, the DCPs consist of 11 infectious diseases; Ebola virus, Marburg virus, cholera, Lassa fever, pandemic influenza, MERS-COV, SARS, meningococcal meningitis, yellow fever, Shigellosis, and typhoid fever.
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