External quality assessment (EQA) is an important component of quality systems for blood transfusion services. Establishing external ...ttribute-to-highlight medbox">quality assessment programmes for screening of donated blood for transfusion-transmissible infections (TTI): implementation guide aims to support WHO member States in establishing and operating EQA programmes for screening donated blood for TTI. The guides has been designed for use by national health authorities and EQA organizing institutions in the development of EQA programme. It will also give participating laboratories an insight into the organization of EQA programmes for TTI screening and an understanding of the benefits of participation.
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At its 48th session of Codex Committee on Food Hygiene (CCFH), the Committee noted the importance of water quality and safety in food production an...d processing. CCFH requested the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
(FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) to provide guidance for those scenarios where the use of “clean water” (i.e. water that does not compromise the safety of the food in the context of its use) was indicated in Codex texts and on
where it is appropriate to use “clean water”. In particular, guidance was sought for the use of irrigation water and “clean” seawater and on the safe reuse of processing water.
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DHS Methodological Report No. 20
This study used Service Provision Assessment (SPA) and Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) data from Haiti, Malawi, 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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This report found that many people with disabilities enter institutions as children and remain there for their entire lives. Most of these institutions visited by Human Rights Watch researchers did not provide for more than people’s basic needs, s...uch as food and hygiene, with scarce contact with the community and little opportunity for personal development. Some residents are tied to their beds and given sedatives to control them.
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Background paper prepared for theEducation for All Global Monitoring Report 2012 Youth and skills: Putting education to work
2012/ED/EFA/MRT/PI/15
During fresh fruit and vegetables (FFV) production, water is used for a variety of purposes. Even the water was conventionally treated and disinfected, it may still potentially contain human pathogens, albeit at low concentrations. A risk assessment..., appropriate to the national or local production context, should be conducted to assess the potential risks associated with a specific water source or supply in order to devise the appropriate risk mitigation strategies.
Since the 48th session of Codex Committee on Food Hygiene (CCFH) noted the importance of water safety and quality in food production and processing, FAO and WHO has undertaken the work on this subject. This report describes the output of the third in a series of meetings, which examined appropriate and fit-for-purpose microbiological criteria for water used with fresh fruit and vegetables. The advice herein will support decision making when applying the concept of fit-for-purpose water for use in the pre- and post-harvest production of fresh fruit and vegetables.
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A total of 18 laboratories from 13 countries participated in the four rounds of EQA: 10 laboratories from eight African endemic countries, four of ...which participated in all four rounds and three in three rounds. The overall results showed that the median performance of these laboratories improved over the four rounds. However, the proportion of laboratories reporting false–positive cases remains high and indicates a problem of specificity probably due to contamination. The proportion of laboratories reporting both false–positive and false–negative results raises the issue of the quality of the data reported by WHO in Africa as well as the results of the studies carried out in these different laboratories in various countries.
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Adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) remain disproportionately affected by HIV in Eastern and Southern Africa (ESA), with 26 per cent of new infections attributed to this population. AGYW face many personal, social and structural barriers to acce...ss, uptake and use of traditional HIV prevention methods. Oral Pre-exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) is proven to be highly effective as an additional prevention choice for reducing the risk of HIV acquisition, including for AGYW. Successful uptake and adherence to PrEP is critical in its effectiveness as an HIV prevention method, however, the current demand for PrEP by AGYW is low with suboptimal adherence.
Within the ESA region, there is currently great impetus to address these challenges and scale up PrEP for AGYW. A critical aspect of this is to leverage the learnings and evidence from implementation of how to improve the demand and quality of PrEP programming for this population. Improving the Quality of Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis Implementation for Adolescent Girls and Young Women in Eastern and Southern Africa examines the current efforts in the region to accelerate and scale up evidence-based PrEP delivery platforms. The implementation brief provides current knowledge and builds on WHO guidance to provide key considerations for implementation, including driving demand and improving quality, as well as focus on wider combination prevention and integration agendas.
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When setting national drinking-water quality regulations and standards, many countries consider the WHO Guidelines for drinking-water quality</I> (GDWQ). To better understand the extent to which ...the GDWQ are used and reflected in these standards, this global review summarizes information from 104 countries and territories on values specified in national drinking-water quality standards for aesthetic, chemical, microbiological and radiological parameters.
The information provided will support regulatory agencies and other key stakeholders to access and compare data when setting or revising national drinking-water quality regulations and standards.
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Healthy maternal nutrition, exclusive breastfeeding, and optimal infant and young child nutrition are critical for appropriate growth and development, as well as reducing the risk of developing noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), for both mothers and c...hildren. On 7–8 November 2018 the WHO Regional Office for Europe convened an international conference of key stakeholders to discuss good practices and share experiences on these important issues.
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School health programmes are the most cost-effective way to influence health behaviours in young people. The purpose of this two-part handbook is to support schools as they seek to implement interventions in order to reduce the main m...odifiable risk behaviours for noncommunicable diseases. This Practical application handbook provides advice to schools on providing young people with the knowledge, attitudes, beliefs and life skills necessary for making informed decisions, and creating a healthy school environment that can reduce the risk of NCDs
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Health systems in Latin America face many challenges in controlling the increasing burden of diabetes. Digital health interventions are a promise for the provision of care, especially in developing ...countries where mobile technology has a high penetration. This study evaluated the effectiveness of the implementation of a Diabetes Program (DP) that included digital health interventions to improve the quality of care of persons with type 2 Diabetes (T2DM) in a vulnerable population attending the public primary care network.
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Vatican lays out 20 points for a universal and fair destination of vaccines, for a fairer and healthier world
Fully functioning water, sanitation, hygiene (WASH) and health care waste management services are a critical aspect of infection prevention and control (IPC) practices, and ensuring patient safety and qual...ity of care. Such services are also essential for creating an environment that supports the dignity and human rights of all care seekers, especially mothers, newborns, children and care providers.
WASH and waste services are also critical for preventing and effectively responding to disease outbreaks. The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed gaps in these basic services (Box 1). These gaps threaten the safety of patients and caregivers, and have environmental consequences, especially as a result of large increases in plastic health care waste. In short, WASH is a critical foundation for improving quality across the health system (1).
Many facilities lack plans and budgets for WASH, which has impacts on IPC. This lack of services, and of systems to improve them, compromises the ability to provide safe and quality care, and places health care providers and those seeking care at substantial risk of infection and loss of dignity. Unhygienic health care facilities without drinking water or functional toilets are also a disincentive to seeking care and undermine staff morale – these factors can have a critical impact on controlling infectious disease outbreaks.
Climate change and its impacts on WASH and health services, gender-specific needs, and equity in service provision and management all require rigorous attention, adaptable tools and regular monitoring.
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2nd edition
WASH FIT is a risk-based, continuous improvement framework with a set of tools for undertaking water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) improvements as part of wider ...to-highlight medbox">quality improvements in health care facilities. It is aimed at small primary, and in some instances secondary, health care facilities in low and middle income countries.
An app, for front line data collection is also available in the Android Google Play store or as a web app
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