WHO published the first COVID-19 Strategic Response and Preparedness Plan (SPRP) on 3 February, 2020. This report highlights the main points of progress that were made up to 30 June 2020 under ... class="attribute-to-highlight medbox">the three objectives outlined in the SPRP: scaling up international coordination and support; scaling up country preparedness and response by pillar; and accelerating research and innovation. The report also discusses some of the key challenges faced so far, and provides an update on the resource requirements for the next phase of WHO’s response as part of an unprecedented whole-of-UN approach to the pandemic.
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Best practice for hand hygiene requires the availability of clean water, soap, and single use disposable towels or alcohol based hand sanitiser with a concentration of 70%. Availability of these resources is not always assured. When resources for ha...nd hygiene are not available other materials need to be considered to prevent transmission of infection. This document provides community guidance on evidence-based alternative hand hygiene strategies in the absence of clean running water, soap or alcohol-based hand rub.
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What measures can we take to overcome the corona crisis, limit its consequences or use scarce resources efficiently? Every day we experience uncertainties and contradictions on these questions among scientists, health experts, politicians and in soc...iety. We must all strive for a broad consensus to overcome the global COVID-19 pandemic. With our publications IM FOKUS we want to stimulate discussion and promote opinion-forming: We write based on our experience of HIV work. We are not interested in COVID-19 to be equated with HIV, but to discuss which experiences from HIV work could be helpful in dealing with COVID-19. We do not intend to replace scientific papers, nor can we present the current state of knowledge comprehensively and conclusively.
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8 January 2021
Sequencing enabled the world to rapidly identify SARS-CoV-2 and develop diagnostic tests and other tools for outbreak management. Continued genome sequencing supports the monitoring ...of the disease’s spread and evolution of the virus. Accelerated integration of genome sequencing into the practices of the global health community is required if we want to be better prepared for the future threats. This document provides guidance for laboratories on maximizing the impact of SARS-CoV-2 sequencing now and other emerging pathogens in the future.
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22 December 2020
The COVID-19 vaccine safety guidance manual has been developed upon recommendation and guidance of GACVS members, as well as by experts incorporating current and available information critical to all stakeholders when COVID-19 vac...cines will be introduced.
For ease of use, the manual is available in a compiled form and in several separate modules that can be consulted individually. For each module, specific training material is also available to facilitate implementation.
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Prepared by the Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response for the WHO Executive Board, January 2021
“The world was not as prepa...red as it should have been, and it must do better,” concludes a WHO panel reviewing the pandemic response "
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28 Dec 2020. The main objective of these guidelines is to provide tools for staff working in the field of immunization to support effective communication between health personnel and ...tribute-to-highlight medbox">the general population, with the aim of strengthening, maintaining or recovering trust in vaccines and the immunization programs in the Region of the Americas.
Available in English, Spanish and Portuguese
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UNAIDS and the World Health Organization have published this updated guidance on ethical considerations in HIV prevention trials. The new guidance is the<.../span> result of a year-long process that saw more than 80 experts and members of the public give inputs and is published 21 years after the first edition appeared.
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A Situational Assessment and Five-YearAction Plan for the Africa CDC Strengthening Regional Public Health Institutions and Capacity for Surveillance and Response Program
Children in every country are struggling with the impact of COVID-19. An entire generation has had its education disrupted, from nurseries and pre-primaries to universities and apprenticeships
29 Dec 2021. Comprehensive slideset updated regularly to include the latest data and guidance on best practices for COVID-19 diagnosis and prevention of COVID-19 transmission.
Pharmaceutical regulators are at the forefront of ensuring that only safe and effective medicines are authorized and available in the market. This document builds on ...ght medbox">the recommendations in the above publication and has been prepared to specifically assist national medicines regulatory authorities to understand the nature and extent of oxytocin quality issues and to provide key technical information and quality requirements for oxytocin products in dossier assessments. Furthermore, this document also presents recommendations on other regulatory actions needed to ensure that only quality-assured oxytocin products are authorized and made available to women.
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This update of the Guidelines for poison control, entitled Guidelines for establishing a poison centre, reflects the development of the role of poi...son centres in public health and the sound management of chemicals, described in section 1, and the opportunities provided by new technology. Assessments carried out under the IHR show
continuing gaps in capacity for managing chemicals (2). In particular, many countries still lack access to poison
centre services (3). There is therefore demand for updated guidance.
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This document describes the ethical values that are most important to the nursing profession in Ontario. It also provides scenarios of ethical situations in which there is a conflict of values. Nurs...es are encouraged to use these scenarios for reflection and discussion. No solutions are offered because there is no one solution that is best in all situations. The behavioural directives are intended to help nurses work through ethical situations and provide information about the College of Nurses of Ontario’s (CNO’s) expectations for ethical conduct. These are taken into account when CNO Committees assess nurses’ practices. Nurses need to consider behavioural directives carefully when making decisions about ethical care as this process will strengthen their practice.
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Investment in all the drivers and facilitators of hand hygiene action in health care to ensure that it occurs at the point of care and other critical moments requires a multidisciplinary, multifacet...ed approach. WHO describes such an approach as a “multimodal improvement strategy” (MMIS) which is at the core of its implementation models for hand hygiene and infection prevention and control (IPC) programmes. The focus of this document is on the resource considerations for investing in hand hygiene improvement in health care (primary, secondary and tertiary) using the MMIS approach.
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This document shall serve as the most comprehensive set of guidelines on the safe management of waste generated from heath care activities in the c...ountry. It incorporates the requirements of all Philippine laws and regulations governing HCWM and is designed for the use of individuals, public and private establishments, and other entities involved in segregation, collection, handling, storage, treatment,and disposal of waste generated from heath care activities.
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3 March 2022
The WHO Therapeutics and COVID-19: living guideline contains the Organization’s most up-to-date recommendations for the use of ther...apeutics in the treatment of COVID-19. The latest version of this living guideline is available in pdf format (via the ‘Download’ button) and via an online platform, and is updated regularly as new evidence emerges.
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Guidelines for the Vaccination Scheme against
COVID 19: Booster Dose Health Personnel
Considerations on the implementation and adjustment of
public health and social measures in the context of
COVID-19
Interim guidance 14 June 2021
This policy brief explores the challenges faced in disaster risk governance in relation to the climate emergency.