Internal displacement at all-time high after unprecedented year of crises
The total number of people living in internal displacement reached a record 55 million by the end of 2020. During a year marked by intense storms and persistent conflict, 40.5 million new displacements were triggered across... the world by disasters and violence, the highest annual figure recorded in a decade.
more
This publication provides recommendations for the management of critically ill adult patients with COVID-19 being treated in intensive care units (ICUs) in the Americas. These clinical practice guidelines provide evidence-informed recommendations for identifying markers and mortality risk factors in... critically ill patients, as well as infection control, sample collection, supportive care (respiratory and hemodynamic), pharmacological treatment, early rehabilitation, diagnostic imaging use, prevention of complications, and discharge requirements. The recommendations are for all health care staff caring for patients in emergency departments and ICUs. These guidelines are also intended for use by decisionmakers and government entities involved in the management of patients with COVID-19 in ICUs in the Region of the Americas.
more
Background paper 10
The Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response
May 2021
13 May 2021
To avoid a reversal of progress from the adverse impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, new knowledge and lessons from successful programmatic innovations are urgently needed to improve TB prevention and care. Experience can provide evidence for innovative approaches and strategies to mainta...in and scale up high-quality TB services. WHO therefore called for case studies on programmatic innovations that address emerging challenges in TB prevention and care during the pandemic in order to collect and disseminate the findings to the TB community. Between November 2020 and February 2021, a total of 23 case studies relevant to the call were accepted from 19 countries in the six regions of WHO. The lessons learnt from these country activities to ensure the continuity of essential services like TB care in the face of the crippling crisis may also inform strategies for minimizing the impact of future emerging pathogens on health services.
more
Emergencias 2021: 33: 42-58
Many critical questions remain about the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines in real-world settings. These questions can only be answered in post-introduction vaccine effectiveness studies.This guidance document outlines an approach to leverage existing surveillance systems for Severe Acute Respirato...ry Infection (SARI) to estimate COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness (VE) in preventing SARI associated with laboratory-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 using existing SARI surveillance systems. The approach uses the test-negative design to evaluate VE; cases are SARI patients who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, and controls are SARI patients who tested negative for SARS-CoV-2.
more