Background: Achievement of high coverage of effective interventions and Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) 4 and 5A requires adequate financing. Many of the 68 priority countries in the Countdown to 2015 Initiative are dependent on official development assistance (ODA). We analysed aid flows for ma...ternal, newborn, and child health for 2007 and 2008 and updated previous estimates for 2003–06.
Methods: We manually coded and analysed the complete aid activities database of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development for 2007 and 2008 with methods that we previously developed to track ODA. By use of newly available data for donor disbursement and population estimates, we revised data for 2003–06. We analysed the degree to which donors target their ODA to recipients with the greatest maternal and child health needs and examined trends over the 6 years.
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Government spending on health from domestic sources is an important indicator of a government's commitment to the health of its people, and is essential for the sustainability of health programmes. We aimed to systematically analyse all data sources available for government spending on health in dev...eloping countries; describe trends in public financing of health; and test the extent to which they were related to changes in gross domestic product (GDP), government size, HIV prevalence, debt relief, and development assistance for health (DAH) to governmental and non-governmental sectors.
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Financing for malaria control has increased as part of international commitments to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). We aimed to identify the unmet financial needs that would be biologically and economically equitable and would increase the chances of reaching worldwide malaria-contr...ol ambitions.
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Marco Schäferhoff and colleagues critique funding estimates for the maternal and child health Millennium Development Goals, and make recommendations for improving the tracking of financing flows and estimating the costs of scaling up interventions for mothers and children.
Prevention of stroke and transient ischemic attack includes both conventional approaches to vascular risk factor management (blood pressure lowering, cholesterol reduction with statins, smoking cessation and antiplatelet therapy)
and more specific interventions, such as carotid revascularization or... anticoagulation for atrial fibrillation. The objective of this review is to discuss effective interventions for optimal primary and secondary stroke prevention.
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Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is often thought to be a problem of wealthy, industrialized nations. The term “cardiovascular disease” is used throughout the report to refer to cardiac disease, vascular diseases of the brain and kidney, and peripheral vascular disease. The report’s main focus is ...on the major contributors to global CVD mortality, coronary heart disease and stroke, and on the major modifiable risk factors for cardiovascular diseases. In fact, as the leading cause of death worldwide, CVD now has a major impact not only on developed nations but also on low and middle income countries, where it accounts for nearly 30 percent of all deaths. The terms “developed” and “high income countries” are used interchangeably throughout the report to refer to countries classified by the World Bank as high income economies. The terms “developing” and “low and middle income countries” are used interchangeably throughout the report to refer to countries classified by the World Bank as low, lower middle, and upper middle income economies. The increased prevalence of risk factors for CVD and related chronic diseases in developing countries, including tobacco use, unhealthy dietary changes, reduced physical activity, increasing blood lipids, and hypertension, reflects significant global changes in behavior and lifestyle. The term “chronic diseases” is used throughout the report to refer to CVD and the following related chronic diseases that share many common risk factors: diabetes, cancer, and chronic respiratory disease. These changes now threaten once-low-risk regions, a shift that is accelerated by industrialization, urbanization, and globalization. The potentially devastating effects of these trends are magnified by a deleterious economic impact on nations and households, where poverty can be both a contributing cause and a consequence of chronic diseases. The accelerating rates of unrecognized and inadequately addressed CVD and related chronic diseases in both men and women in low and middle income countries are cause for immediate action.
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The article outlines the prioritized research agenda for the prevention and control of chronic respiratory diseases (CRDs) as part of the World Health Organization's (WHO) action plan on noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) from 2008 to 2013. It highlights the significant global impact of CRDs, including... asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and other related conditions, particularly in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). The document stresses the need for effective prevention strategies and better surveillance, as well as enhanced healthcare infrastructure and resources in LMICs. It calls for research into CRD risk factors, effective interventions, and integrated care approaches that align with broader NCD prevention programs. The article emphasizes the importance of public health initiatives and cross-sector collaborations to reduce the disease burden and improve patient outcomes.
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Manual:
Know How to Use Your Asthma Inhaler.
Using a metered dose inhaler (inhaler in mouth).
First Global Patient Safety Challenge Clean Care is Safer Care
The WHO Guidelines on Hand Hygiene in Health Care provide health-care workers (HCWs), hospital administrators and health authorities with a thorough review of evidence on hand hygiene in health care and specific recommendations to impro...ve practices and reduce transmission of pathogenic microorganisms to patients and HCWs. The present Guidelines are intended to be implemented in any situation in which health care is delivered either to a patient or to a specific group in a population. Therefore, this concept applies to all settings where health care is permanently or occasionally performed, such as home care by birth attendants.
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These guidelines deal specifically with water, sanitation and hygiene, and are designed to be used in schools in low-cost settings in low- and medium-resource countries to:
• assess prevailing situations and plan for required improvements;
• develop and reach essential safety standards as a f...irst goal; and
• support the development and application of national policies.
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Over the past few decades and throughout the world, the landscape of adolescent health has been altered dramatically. Currently, the total population of adolescents between the ages of 10 and 19 years is 1.2 billion – the largest generation of young people in history. The vast majority of adolesce...nts (85%) live in developing countries where, in many areas, they make up more than a third of the population. They face a variety of different experiences given the diverse political, economic, social and cultural realities within their communities. Although, for many, adolescence is a period of learning and building confidence in a nurturing environment, for others it is a period of heightened risk and complex challenges.
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The power relations around global decisions which shape population health can be changed through new alliances and information flows. The Democratising Global Health Governance Initiative, of which WHO Watch is a project, is designed to contribute to improved population health (and health equity) th...rough new alliances and information flows.
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An ALNAP Guide. Pilot Version.
This pilot guide is intended to help evaluation managers to commission and oversee, and team leaders to conduct, RTEs of humanitarian operational responses. Drawing on a synthesis of existing good practices, it sets out a flexible approach that can be adapted to a var...iety of contexts. While it concentrates on the particular problems posed by RTEs undertaken within a few months of the start of an emergency response, it addresses how such RTEs can also feed into on-going operations. While the guide focuses on RTEs, some of the advice applies to all evaluations.
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In the mid-1980s, recognizing the limitations of traditional training and that the knowledge and skills acquired are not necessarily applied back in the workplace, MSH developed the Monitoring‐Training-Planning (MTP) approach to assist the Ecuadorian Ministry of Health to implement its Child Survi...val Program. Using the MTP approach, staff me
mbers learn to mobilize their own resources and to improve, incrementally, the management of medicines and other pharmaceuticals at their own facility.
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• provide scientific information on the safety, efficacy, and quality control/ quality assurance of widely used medicinal plants, in order to facilitate their appropriate use in Member States;
• provide models to assist Member States in developing their own mono- graphs or formularies for these... or other herbal medicines; and
• facilitate information exchange among Member States.
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A Global Campaign Against Epilepsy Demonstration Project