The Trends and Developments report presents a top-level overview of the drug phenomenon in Europe, covering drug supply, use and public health problems as well as drug policy and responses. Together... with the online Statistical Bulletin and 30 Country Drug Reports, it makes up the 2019 European Drug Report package.
Available in different languages: http://www.emcdda.europa.eu/publications/edr/trends-developments/2019_en
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The purpose of this work is to estimate potential COVID-19 case burdens in each African nation considering various social distancing interventions. Given current trends ...hlight medbox">in case burden, the model estimates the potential resource needs that would be needed under different scenarios. The model is for planning purposes and is based on current understanding and the most up-to-date assumptions. Results reported here are not forecasts but scenarios that may unfold given the assumptions about social-distancing and population health.
You can download scenarios for North Africa; Middle Africa; West Africa, East Africa and South Africa
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Violence Against Women and HIV/AIDS Prevention and Treatment
Putting Asia’s HIV response back on track
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 restrictions 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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The TB section of the toolkit presents selected (a) programmatic output and (b) outcome and impact indicators for TB. In addition to recommended monitoring programs and measuring the outcomes and impact of TB programs, indicators for the strengtheni...ng of health systems, strengthening of community systems and some indicators that measure quality of services are also included.
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The 2011-2012 National Annual Report on HIV program presents the progress in implementing the strategies and activities articulated in the National... Strategic Plan on HIV and AIDS 2009-2012, commonly referred to as the HIV NSP.
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2014
Addendum to meeting report: Regional consultation on HIV epidemiologic information in Latin America and the Caribbean
This fourth progress report November 2020 of the Global HIV Prevention Coalition reviews the progress in the 28 focus countries and complements the three previous progress reports. This report descr...ibes key developments in 2019–2020, identifies challenges and opportunities (including those associated with the COVID-19 pandemic) and outlines priorities for the years ahead. It is divided into two main sections.
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25 February 2021
This technical guidance is a living document that builds on guidelines and reports of the UNAIDS Joint Programme. The definitions contained herein are working definitions that are subject to change. Updates will also be added further to the work of the multistakeholder Task Team on... community-led AIDS responses that was recently established by the UNAIDS Executive Director and the UNAIDS Joint Programme, and which will conclude its task in December 2021.
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HIV testing programmes need to ensure that all clients who test for HIV are provided with correct diagnoses. The accuracy of HIV testing is critica...l to prevent misdiagnosis, as the consequences of giving an incorrect test result can be serious for clients, HIV testing services, HIV programmes and public health.
With the evolution of global HIV epidemiology, HIV testing approaches must also evolve to maintain accuracy and efficiency in population-level diagnosis. Reports suggest that misdiagnosis of HIV status may occur when suboptimal testing algorithms and out-of-date testing strategies are used. As a result of changing epidemiology and declining HIV positivity in testing, WHO recommends all countries use a standard three-test strategy to ensure a PPV of at least 99%, minimizing false-positive misdiagnosis. The WHO-recommended HIV testing strategy, along with quality assurance measures such as retesting to verify a positive diagnosis prior to initiation of HIV treatment, is cost-effective as it prevents misdiagnosis and unnecessary initiation of costly lifelong treatment.
This implementation guide provides practical advice on switching to a three-test strategy and instituting other measures that can help national HIV programmes deliver high-quality, accurate HIV testing services and ensure that misdiagnosis is minimized.
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The National Guidelines for HIV-1 Viral Load Laboratory Testing support plans to scale up viral load (VL) testing to reach the 90-90-90 targets in India. This phased scale-up includes the setup of 7...0 additional VL testing laboratories nationally. These guidelines include laboratory design considerations, a summary of VL technologies, and specimen collection and handling as well as transportation and storage guidance. Quality control and quality assurance requirements are described as well as laboratory safety issues. The guidelines also describe the VL laboratory network to be developed with supply chain management issues and commodities described. Annexes include laboratory registers and reporting forms.
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Strategic communication is used to raise awareness of issues among specific target populations. It aims to provide timely, evidence-based, authoritative information and guidance needed for public health action. Proper implementation of strategic communication leads t...o sustained behaviour change and is essential in overcoming barriers to access to services or generating demand for such services.
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1 July 2021; Report shows big COVID-19-related HIV prevention programme service disruptions, but highlights that HIV service innovations and adaptations are possible.
A synthesis report on programm...e disruptions and adaptations during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020
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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 ma...ny personal, social and structural barriers to access, 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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INTRODUCTION: The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted health systems around the world. The objectives of this study are to estimate the overall effect of the pandemic on essential health service use and outcomes in Mexico, describe observed and predicte...d trends in services over 24 months, and to estimate the number of visits lost through December 2020.
METHODS: We used health information system data for January 2019 to December 2020 from the Mexican Institute of Social Security (IMSS), which provides health services for more than half of Mexico's population-65 million people. Our analysis includes nine indicators of service use and three outcome indicators for reproductive, maternal and child health and non-communicable disease services. We used an interrupted time series design and linear generalised estimating equation models to estimate the change in service use and outcomes from April to December 2020. Estimates were expressed using average marginal effects on the risk ratio scale.
RESULTS: The study found that across nine health services, an estimated 8.74 million patient visits were lost in Mexico. This included a decline of over two thirds for breast and cervical cancer screenings (79% and 68%, respectively), over half for sick child visits and female contraceptive services, approximately one-third for childhood vaccinations, diabetes, hypertension and antenatal care consultations, and a decline of 10% for deliveries performed at IMSS. In terms of patient outcomes, the proportion of patients with diabetes and hypertension with controlled conditions declined by 22% and 17%, respectively. Caesarean section rate did not change.
CONCLUSION: Significant disruptions in health services show that the pandemic has strained the resilience of the Mexican health system and calls for urgent efforts to resume essential services and plan for catching up on missed preventive care even as the COVID-19 crisis continues in Mexico.
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These guidelines provide new and updated recommendations on the use of point-of-care testing in children under 18 months of age and point-of-care tests to monitor treatment in people living with ...an class="attribute-to-highlight medbox">HIV; the treatment monitoring algorithm; and timing of antiretroviral therapy (ART) among people living with HIV who are being treated for tuberculosis.
New recommendations launched today outline key new actions that countries can take to improve the delivery of HIV testing, treatment and care services by providing greater options for differentiated approaches such as, supporting HIV treatment start in the community, ensuring that children are diagnosed and treated early, and that viral load treatment monitoring is more accessible, focused and triggers clinical action
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With this study, we estimated the burden of serious fungal infections for the general healthy population and for those at risk, including those infected with HIV, patients with asthma, as well as those under intensive care. We also highlight from s...tudies in progress of high incidences of histoplasmosis, CM and Pneumocystis jirovecii in adult HIV-infected patients.
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USAID Senegal and Health in Africa (HIA) initiative of the World Bank Group engaged the Strengthening Health Outcomes through the Private Sector (SHOPS) project to conduct an assessment of the private health sector ...t medbox">in Senegal. The assessment’s primary focus is family planning, and its secondary focus is maternal, neonatal and child health (MNCH), HIV and AIDS, malaria, and nutrition.
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The intended purpose of this compendium is to provide program managers, organizations, and policy makers with a menu of indicators to better “know their HIV epidemic/know their response” from a gender perspective. The indicators ...ribute-to-highlight medbox">in the compendium are all either part of existing indicators used in studies or by countries or have been adapted from existing indicators to address the intersection of gender and HIV. The indicators can be measured through existing data collection and information systems (e.g. routine program monitoring, surveys) in most country contexts, though some may require special studies or research.
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