Development finance institutions owned by European governments and the World Bank Group are spending hundreds of millions of dollars on expensive for-profit hospitals in the Global South that block patients from getting care, or bankrupt them, with ...some even imprisoning patients who cannot afford their bills. At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, some of these same hospitals denied entry to patients suffering from the virus or sold intensive care beds at eyewatering prices to the highest bidder. These development institutions have woefully inadequate safeguards, invest via a complex web of tax-avoiding financial intermediaries, and offer little to zero evidence on the impacts their investments are having. Oxfam is calling on rich-country governments and the World Bank Group to immediately halt their spending on for-profit private healthcare, and for an urgent independent investigation to be conducted into all active and historic investments.
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Chronic respiratory diseases, such as asthma and
chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, kill more than
four million people every year and affect hundreds
of millions more. These diseases erode the health
and well-being of the patients and have a... negative
impact on families and societies. Women and
children are particularly vulnerable, especially those
in low and middle income countries, where they are
exposed on a daily basis to indoor air pollution from
solid fuels for cooking and heating. In high income
countries, tobacco is the most important risk factor
for chronic respiratory diseases, and in some of
these countries, tobacco use among women and
young people is still increasing.
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Only 8,730 asylum applications were registered in the EU+ in April, the lowest since at least 2008, and a massive 87% decrease from pre-COVID-19 levels in January and February.
The European Asylum Support Office (EASO) has released a special report which shows that the COVID-19 related travel restr...ictions and national health measures which were imposed during the past few months led to a dramatic cut in asylum applications in Europe.
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UNICEF Annual Report 2017 - Burkina Faso
- Healthcare policy for children
- Food insecurity
- Community health strategy
- National child protection system
etc.
German HIV Practice Collection: Publications in this Collection describe programmes supported by German Development Cooperation that have been assessed as “promising or good practice” by an editorial board of experts from German development organizatio...ns and by two international peer reviewers with renowned expertise in the particular field.
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Masangane Case Study
The Vesper Society commissioned ARHAP to do research on the integrated Masangane HIV/AIDS programme affiliated with the Moravian Church in Eastern Cape, South Africa. Completed in 2006, this study aimed to understand the role o...f the religious health assets of the Masangane ART programme for public health, as a model for a replicable response to HIV/AIDS. A crucial aspect of this research involved teasing out what value is added to this programme by its faith-based nature. Field work for this case study consisted of more than 20 key informant interviews of various stakeholders: Masangane staff and management; church leaders; health seekers; donors and health providers. Health seekers also answered 77 questionnaires and were involved in two focus groups.
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Section One
summarizes UNHCR’s mandate of international protecdtion and the aim and principles of emergency
response;
Section Two
deals with emergency management;
Section Three
covers the vital sectors and problem areas in refugee emergencies, including ...dbox">health, food, sanitation
and water, as well as key field activities underpinning the operations such as logistics, community
services and registration. The chapters in this section start with a summary so that readers, who
might not need the full level of detail in each of these chapters, can understand the basic principles of
the subject quickly;
Section Four
gives guidance on the support to field operations, primarily administration and staffing;
The Appendices
include a “Toolbox” which gathers, in one location, the standards, indicators and useful references
used throughout the handbook;
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PNAS | March 4, 2014 | vol. 111 | no. 9
Malaria is an important disease that has a global distribution and significant health burden. The spatial limits of its distribution and seasonal activity are sensitive to climate factors, as well as the loca...l capacity to control the disease. Malaria is also one of the few health outcomes that has been modeled by more than one research group and can therefore facilitate the first model intercomparison for health impacts under a future with climate change. We used bias-corrected temperature and rainfall simulations from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 climate models to compare the metrics of five statistical and dynamical malaria impact models for three future time periods (2030s, 2050s, and 2080s). We evaluated three malaria outcome metrics at global and regional levels: climate suitability, additional population at risk and additional person-months at risk across the model outputs. The malaria projections were based on five different global climate models, each run under four emission scenarios (Representative Concentration Pathways, RCPs) and a single population projection. We also investigated the modeling uncertainty associated with future projections of populations at risk for malaria owing to climate change. Our findings show an overall global net increase in climate suitability and a net increase in the population at risk, but with large uncertainties. The model outputs indicate a net increase in the annual person-months at risk when comparing from RCP2.6 to RCP8.5 from the 2050s to the 2080s. The malaria outcome metrics were highly sensitive to the choice of malaria impact model, especially over the epidemic fringes of the malaria distribution.
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In February 2014, there was an outbreak of the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) in Guinea, which has spread to Liberia, Mali, Nigeria, Senegal and Sierra Leone causing untold hardship and hundreds of deaths in these countries. As of 6 March 2015, a total of 24,282 cases, and 9,976 deaths, which were attrib...uted to the EVD, had been recorded across the most affected countries of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), an outbreak of the EVD was also reported, but is considered of a different origin than that which has affected West Africa.
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The ECDC Communicable Disease Threats Report (CDTR) is a weekly bulletin for epidemiolgists and health professionals on active public health threats. This issue covers the period 7-13 August 2016 ...and includes updates on Zika virus, yellow fever in Angola, polio, MERS CoV and West Nile virus.
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The ECDC Communicable Disease Threats Report (CDTR) is a weekly bulletin for epidemiologists and health professionals on active public health threats. This issue covers the period 5-11 November 2017... and includes updates on measles, rubella, chikungunya, West Nile virus, Plague, monkeypox, legionnaires's disease, influenza and Marburg virus disease.
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This revised and fully updated edition of the
International technical guidance on sexuality education
benefits from a new review of the current evidence, and reaffirms the position of sexuality education within a framework of human rights and gender equality. It promotes structured learning about... sex and relationships in a manner that is positive, affirming, and centered on the best interest of the young person. By outlining the essential components of effective sexuality education programmes, the Guidance enables national authorities to design comprehensive curricula that will have a positive impact on young people’s health and well-being.
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Robust clinical research capacity in low- and middle-income countries is key to stemming the spread of epidemics, according to a new report from the International Vaccines Task Force (IVTF). The report lays out how to develop the political support, financing and coordination required to build this c...apacity as a crucial component of global epidemic preparedness. The IVTF was convened by the World Bank Group (WBG) and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) in October 2017.
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R4D conducted a thorough desk review and qualitative fiscal space analysis, 19 interviews about financing for the three diseases and the extent of alignment between public financial management systems and health policy objectives, and a validation w...orkshop with government officials.
Tanzania’s disease response faces a triple transition challenge: replacing donor funding, closing the resource gap that would exist even with donor funding, and more efficiently delivering on disease response objectives.
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Surveys are needed to guide trachoma control efforts in Mozambique, with WHO guidelines for intervention based on the prevalence of trachomatous inflammation–follicular (TF) in children aged 1–9 years and the prevalence of trichiasis in adults aged 15 years and above. We conducted surveys to com...plete the map of trachoma prevalence in Mozambique, concluding that it still represents a significant public health problem in many areas of Mozambique.
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PLOS ONE | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0185526 September 28, 2017
Global Health and Tropical Medicine, GHTM, Instituto de Higiene e Medicina Tropical, IHMT, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, UNL, Lisboa, Portugal
Open Journal of Epidemiology, 2018, 8, 226-241
Abstract
Introduction: Road traffic accidents (RTAs) are a major public health issue
in developing countries, where roads tend to be built haphazardly and accidents
take a heavy toll on victims—...including leaving them disabled. This
study seeks to identify those factors that cause RTA victims to become disabled
as a result of their injuries. Methods: This retrospective community-
based study looked at RTA victims treated in five public and faith-based
hospitals in Benin. Disability was evaluated using the Washington Group on
Disabilities Statistics questionnaire. The independent variables were related to
the victim’s socio-demographic traits, the circumstances of the accident, and
post-crash response mechanisms. The proportions were compared using the
chi-squared test, with a threshold of 5%. Results: The prevalence of disability
among road traffic accident victims is 9.59% (CI 95%: 6.86% - 13.20%). The
occurrence of disability is associated with age (p = 0.002), occupational group
(p = 0.0077), the mode of transport used to transfer the victim (p < 0.001)
and the location of the injuries (p = 0.0035). The study also found that people
fail to make sufficient use of post-crash response mechanisms. Conclusion:
Public policy-makers should therefore focus on stepping up interventions to
get more people using both protective equipment and post-crash response services.
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Thirty years ago, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Convention on the Rights of the Child at a moment of rapid global change marked by the end of apartheid, the fall of the Berlin Wall and the birth of the World Wide Web. These develop...ments and more brought momentous and lasting evolution, as well as a sense of renewal and hope for future generations. In a reflection of that hopeful spirit, the Convention has since become the most widely ratified human rights treaty in history.
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In 2018: 54% of new HIV infections were among key populations and their sexual partners, 40% decrease in new HIV infections since the peak in 1997, 37.9 million people living with HIV in the world, 1 700 000 children living with HIV (under 15 years)
Pakistan Global Antibiotic Resistance Partnership (GARP) was formed in the wake of international and national efforts for AMR curtailment. A group of experts from microbiology, infectious diseases and veterinary medicine formed a core group at the organizational meet...ing of GARP in Kathmandu, Nepal in July 2016. In the meeting, this core group was expanded to include other members from different sectors with the selection of the Chair and co-chairs. These were asked to serve on a voluntary basis, in their own individual capacities, with no personal gains, or gains to the institutions to which they are affiliated. The first phase of GARP took place from 2009 to 2011 and involved four countries: India, Kenya, South Africa and Vietnam. Phase one culminated in the 1st Global Forum on Bacterial Infections, held in October 2011 in New Delhi, India. In 2012, phase two of GARP was initiated with the addition of working groups in Mozambique, Tanzania, Nepal and Uganda. Phase three has added Bangladesh, Lao PDR, Nigeria, Pakistan and Zimbabwe to the network to date.
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