Since the Alma Ata Declaration in 1978, community health volunteers (CHVs) have been at the forefront, providing health services, especially to und...erserved communities, in low-income countries. However, consolidation of CHVs position within formal health systems has proved to be complex and continues to challenge countries, as they devise strategies to strengthen primary healthcare. Malawi’s community health strategy, launched in 2017, is a novel attempt to harmonise the multiple health
service structures at the community level and strengthen service delivery through a team-based approach. The core community health team (CHT) consists of health surveillance assistants (HSAs), clinicians, environmental health officers and CHVs. This paper reviews Malawi’s strategy, with particular focus on the interface between HSAs, volunteers in community-based programmes and
the community health team. Our analysis identified key challenges that may impede the strategy’s implementation:
(1) inadequate training, imbalance of skill sets within CHTs and unclear job descriptions for CHVs; (2) proposed community-level interventions require expansion of pre-existing roles for most CHT members; and (3) district authorities may face challenges meeting financial obligations and filling community-level positions. For effective implementation, attention and further deliberation is needed on the appropriate forms of CHV support, CHT composition with possibilities of co-opting trained CHVs
from existing volunteer programmes into CHTs, review of CHT competencies and workload, strengthening coordination and communication across all community actors, and financing mechanisms. Policy support through the development of an addendum to the strategy, outlining opportunities for task-shifting between CHT members, CHVs’ expected duties and interactions with paid CHT personnel is recommended.
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This guidance document is designed to ensure that the process of iteratively managing the health risks of climate change is integrated into the overall National Adaptation Planning (NAP) process, in...cluding through assessing risks; identifying, prioritizing, and implementing adaptation options; and monitoring and evaluating the adaptation process.
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This document provides information for WHO Member States, particularly low-income and middle-income countries, to strengthen preparedness and response plans with regard to the social and mental ...n class="attribute-to-highlight medbox">health consequences of biological and chemical attacks.
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AMR is one of the Key priority of the global health security agenda action package, as well as it is one of the commitments of Ministry of Public Health...span> Afghanistan to combat AMR. In Afghanistan because of war and some other political issues the borders of the country are not well secured and well controlled therefore control of smuggling of medicine is a big challenge in front of the rational use of medicine. Lack of knowledge (professionals and public), poor economic state, conflict of war, presence of remote areas and etc…. are the other main challenges for this to won the battle of combating AMR.
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Irresponsible pharmaceutical companies fuel the proliferation of superbugs through supply chain pollution, the European Public Health Alliance (EPHA) reports. The advocacy group uncovered lapses suc...h as dirty production and inadequate waste disposal in the production of antimicrobials in China and India, which supplies most of the antimicrobials consumed in Europe. In a briefing detailing the pollution, the EPHA urges major purchasers of antibiotics to blacklist irresponsible pharmaceutical companies, demand that the industry clean up its supply chain, introduce greater transparency on the origin of antibiotics, and review and revise procurement policies from an ethics perspective.
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The COVID-19 pandemic has affected job satisfaction among healthcare workers; yet this has not been empirically examined in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). We addressed this gap by examining job satisfaction and associated factors among ...bute-to-highlight medbox">healthcare workers in Ghana and Kenya during the COVID-19 pandemic. We conducted a cross-sectional study with healthcare workers (N = 1012). The two phased data collection included: (1) survey data collected in Ghana from April 17 to May 31, 2020, and (2) survey data collected in Ghana and Kenya from November 9, 2020, to March 8, 2021. We utilized a quantitative measure of job satisfaction, as well as validated psychosocial measures of perceived preparedness, stress, and burnout; and conducted descriptive, bivariable, and multivariable analysis using ordered logistic regression. We found high levels of job dissatisfaction (38.1%), low perceived preparedness (62.2%), stress (70.5%), and burnout (69.4%) among providers. High perceived preparedness was positively associated with higher job satisfaction (adjusted proportional odds ratio (APOR) = 2.83, CI [1.66,4.84]); while high stress and burnout were associated with lower job satisfaction (APOR = 0.18, CI [0.09,0.37] and APOR = 0.38, CI [0.252,0.583] for high stress and burnout respectively). Other factors positively associated with job satisfaction included prior job satisfaction, perceived appreciation from management, and perceived communication from management. Fear of infection was negatively associated with job satisfaction. The COVID-19 pandemic has negatively impacted job satisfaction among healthcare workers. Inadequate preparedness, stress, and burnout are significant contributing factors. Given the already strained healthcare system and low morale among healthcare workers in SSA, efforts are needed to increase preparedness, better manage stress and burnout, and improve job satisfaction, especially during the pandemic.
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Towards the Elimination of Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV and keeping mothers Alive. 2012-2015
Brazilian media and science communicators must understand the main characteristics of misinformation in social media about COVID-19, so that they can develop attractive, up-to-date and evidence-based content that helps ...light medbox">to increase health literacy and counteract the spread of false information.
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Antibiotic resistance is no longer a concern for the distant future but is a pressing issue, both globally and in Nepal. As part of global effort to preserve the effectiveness of antibiotics, the Global Antibiotic Resistance P...artnership (GARP)-Nepal was established to document the current state of antibiotic access, use and resistance in the country, and to identify policies and actions that could set a course for antibiotic sustainability.
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Mobile vaccination teams visiting long-term care homes will have an important role in providing vaccination coverage for some of the most vulnerable population sub-groups. However, based on the experiences of German mobile diagnostic teams during the first COVID-19 pandemic w...ave, the deployment of mobile vaccination teams to care homes for older adults and people with disabilities is expected to raise various ethical challenges.
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Draft May 2011
The first ever nursing and midwifery services policy document in the history of MoPH was developed with the following aims:
1. Create a positive environment for Nursing and Midwifery Policy and Practice
2. Promote education, training and career development for nurses an...d midwives.
3. Contribute to the strengthening of health systems and services
4. Monitor the development of nursing and midwifery professions and ensure their quality
5. Streamline Nursing and Midwifery Workforce Management
6. Develop Partnerships for Nursing and Midwifery Services
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This report recounts the experiences of 27 physicians and other health workers in Syria (all but two of them Syrian) who struggle to provide trauma care and ...x">health services to a population under assault.
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The infectious disease burden in India is among the highest in the world. A large amount of antibiot-ics are consumed in fighting infections, some of them saving lives, but every use adding to antibiotic resistance in bacteria. Antibiotic use i...s increasing steadily (table 1), particularly certain antibiotic classes (beta-lactam antibacterials), most notably in the more prosperous states. Resistance follows in lock-step.
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The prevalence of chronic non-communicable diseases such as diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and cancers has been on the increase in Kenya in the recent past. This has been occasioned by changes in social and demographic situation in the country. The life expectancy... in the country is improving, while the country is developing at a rapid pace. This has resulted in people living more years and at the time adopting lifestyles that have negative impacts on their health. This increase in diabetes and other non-communicable diseases has given rise to a double burden of communicable and non-communicable diseases in Kenya
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This presentation presents the issues we confront in deciding how to communicate to the public that COVID-19 vaccine recommendations reflect the st...ate of scientific knowledge.
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Guidance for addressing a global infodemic and fostering demand for immunization
December 2020
Misinformation threatens the success of vaccination programs across the world. This guide aims to help organizations ... medbox">to address the global infodemic through the development of strategic and well-coordinated national action plans to rapidly counter vaccine misinformation and build demand for vaccination that are informed by social listening.
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The Government of Malawi, in fulfilling its primary role of protecting the lives of its vulnerable citizens during disasters and reducing their exposure to risk through preparedness, led the development of a National Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) P...reparedness and Response Plan.
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The strategic framework gives guidance to public and private health facilities and health worker...s on compliance with standards relating to IPC practices. To further assist health facilities to implement the IPC strategic framework, this practical implementation manual has been developed in parallel to accompany the document.
These implementation strategies should be read in conjunction with the National Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) Strategic Framework (2020) to support an IPC programme at health facility level towards reducing healthcare-associated infections (HAI) and antimicrobial resistance (AMR). This manual is aligned with the World Health Organization (WHO) Core Component IPC programme recommendations and highlights the essentials for developing and improving IPC at health facility level in a systematic, stepwise manner for South Africa. It supports the Framework for the Prevention and Containment of AMR in South African Hospitals (2018).
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Initial public health responses to control the pandemic focused on promoting protective behaviors among the general population, including frequent ...hand washing, physical distancing and the use of face masks in public spaces However, many saw these only as interim measures to reduce the spread of the virus and hopes for a return to a sense of ‘ rested on the development of a safe and effective vaccine.
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