Benchmarking is a strategic process often used by businesses and institutes to standardize performance in relation to the best practices of their sector. The World Health Organization (WHO) and part
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ners have developed a tool with a list of benchmarks and corresponding suggested actions that can be applied to implement the International Health Regulations 2005 (IHR) and strengthen health emergency prevention, preparedness, response and resilience capacities.
The first edition of the benchmarks was published in 2019 to support countries in developing, implementing and documenting progress of national IHR or health security plans (e.g. national action plan for health security (NAPHS), national action plan for emerging infectious diseases, public health emergencies and health security and other country level plans for health emergencies). The tool has been updated to incorporate lessons from COVID-19 and other health emergencies, to align with the updated IHR monitoring & evaluation framework (IHR MEF) tools and the health systems for health security framework, and to support strengthening health emergency prevention, preparedness, response and resilience (HEPR) capacities and the Preparedness and Resilience for Emerging Threats (PRET) initiative.
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The Guidelines for drinking-water quality: small water supplies have been developed to address the needs and opportunities associated with small supplies to facilitate progressive improvement towards safe
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and sustainable drinking-water services for all. These Guidelines are based on the principal recommendation in the World Health Organization’s Guidelines for drinking-water quality, and they provide guidance on applying that recommendation to small water supplies in particular. These Guidelines aim to help governments and practitioners improve the safety of drinking-water delivered through small supplies.
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Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are a growing public health problem in Ghana and other African countries. Strokes and other CVDs have become a leading cause of death due to increasing risk factors su
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ch as hypertension. According to the Global Burden of Disease study (GBD), ischaemic heart disease was the fourth leading cause of death in Ghana in 2016. The prevalence of hyper-
tension, a major risk factor for CVDs, is increasing rapidly and ranges from 19% to 48%, according to the Ghana Health Service Annual Report, 2017, due to rising life expectancy and the increasing prevalence of contributing factors such as overweight/obesity. Early diagnosis and adequate management of the risk factors can reduce the fatal consequences of CVDs.
At the heart of improving risk assessment and management of CVDs are nationally approved guidelines, which facilitate standardisation of care approaches.
These guidelines developed by experts from all levels of health care and stakeholders capture all recommended approaches and necessary information for clinicians and other healthcare workers on CVDs. They also serve as a practical guide for assessing and managing the most important CVDs prevalent in Ghana and can be used at all levels of care namely health facilities without a doctor; with a general practitioner and with a physician specialist.
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The Global Action Plan on Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) calls for making AMR a core component of professional education and training. In 2018, the World Health Organization (WHO) published Competency framework for health workers’ education
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and training on AMR to ensure that academic institutions and regulatory agencies provided pre-service and in-service training to equip health workers with the adequate competencies to address AMR. This was followed by Health workers’ training and education on AMR: curricula guide, which outlines the learning objectives and expected outcomes of pre-service training of health workers to improve curricula. These tools were designed to strengthen the capacity of health workers in various settings to address the growing challenge of AMR.
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This research is one case in a study commissioned by the World Food Programme to investigate the participation of recipient community in the targeting and management of humanitarian food assistance in complex emergencies. The study involved a substa
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ntial desk review of existing documentation, and three weeks of field work in February and March 2008. The purpose of the study was to understand the ways in which participatory or community-based approaches to targeting have been attempted, within the definition of community-based targeting suggested by WFP. The study was not an evaluation of targeting methods, although some critical examination of targeting was necessary in order to understand the constraints on community participation.
Related resources
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A scale to measure (social) participation for use in rehabilitation, stigma reduction and social integration programmes
The report reviews progress with the task of planning and implementing measures necessary to secure a completely polio-free world. It also examines actions aimed at ensuring successful transfer of polio assets, innovations developed
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and lessons learned to countries’ public health programmes and other global health priorities
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A WHO Guideline for Emergency Risk Communication (ERC) policy and practice.
Recent public health emergencies, such as the Ebola virus disease outbreak in West Africa (2014–2015), the emergence of the Zika virus syndrome in 2015–2016
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and multi-country yellow fever outbreaks in Africa in 2016, have highlighted major challenges and gaps in how risk is communicated during epidemics and other health emergencies. The challenges include the rapid transformation in communications technology, including the near-universal penetration of mobile telephones, the widespread use and increasingly powerful influence of digital media which has had an impact on ‘traditional’ media (newspapers, radio and television), and major changes in how people access and trust health information. Important gaps include considerations of context – the social, economic, political and cultural factors influencing people’s perception of risk and their risk-reduction behaviours.
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Community Based Rehabilitation for Children with Disabilities: Good Practices and Lessons from Save the Children Norway Ethiopia Programme Intervention
Program Implementation Manual (PIM)
The Save One Million Lives Program for Results (SOML PforR) is a Federal Government of Nigeria maternal and child health program, supported by the World Bank, which provides incentives based on achievement of
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results (health outcomes) and helps to drive institutional processes needed to achieve these results.
This Program Implementation Manual provides a description of the program and operational guidelines for effective implementation. The Manual contains guidelines and procedures relating to disbursements and fund flows, institutional arrangements, financial management as well as monitoring and evaluation, while providing clear definition of the roles and responsibilities of all stakeholders.
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The Republic of the Union of Myanmar is at a historic moment, with a new civilian government assuming power in 2016. The country graduated to lower-middle-income status in 2015, and has made significant progress in reducing poverty, improving food s
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ecurity and addressing malnutrition.
The remaining challenges to food and nutrition security and achievement of Sustainable Development Goal 2 targets include continued population displacements resulting from conflict, vulnerability to extreme weather events, poverty, limited social protection coverage, high malnutrition and persistent gender inequalities.
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A comprehensive summary of mental health research, providing a unique handbook of key facts and figures, covering all key areas of mental health
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is one of the most complex and long-standing humanitarian crises in Africa. By the end of 2020, some 940,421 Congolese refugees and asylum seekers were hos
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ted across the African continent. Ongoing conflicts in eastern DRC, as well as intercommunal violence, continue to cause forced displacement within the DRC and into neighbouring countries, along with tragic loss of human life and destruction of communities.
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Over the last decade, there have been numerous disasters and major emergencies that have profoundly impacted the lives of millions of people worldwide. To support these crises, national and internat
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ional emergency medical teams (EMTs) are often deployed to assist disaster affected populations. EMTs are teams of healthcare professionals composed most frequently of doctors, nurses, psychologists and others to provide direct clinical care to people affected by disasters and conflicts and to support local health systems. In agreement with the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Global Health Emergency Health Workforce programme, any health professional coming from another country to practice health care in a disaster setting must be part of a team that is qualified, trained, equipped, resourced, and meets minimum acceptable standards to practice.
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Guidelines for Good Clinical Laboratory Practices (GCLP) outlines the principles and procedures to be followed by medical laboratories involved in clinical research and/or patient care so as to prov
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ide quality data which can be used for health research and patient treatment. As the use of laboratory tests (often expensive) are increasingly becoming a part of medical diagnosis and research, generation of quality data would be a cost-effective and ethically sound strategy.
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This publication aims to provide examples of better palliative care practices for older people to help those involved in planning and supporting care-oriented services most appropriately and
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effectively. Examples have been identifi ed from literature searches and from an international call for examples through various organizations, including the European Association of Palliative Care and the European Union Geriatric Medicine Society. Some examples consider how to improve aspects within the whole health system; specifi c smaller examples consider how to improve palliative care education, support in the community, in hospitals or for specifi c groups of people, such as people in nursing homes and people with dementia and their families. Some examples await rigorous evaluation of effectiveness, and more research is needed in this fi eld, especially the cost–effectiveness and generalizability of these initiatives.
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Contributions in International Seminars 1988 -2008
Intercultural Pastoral Care and Counselling, no. 20
This paper is Oxfam’s essential guide for WASH staff and partners. It describes the processes and standards that Oxfam WASH programmes should follow if they are to be carried out effectively, cons
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istently and in a way which treats affected communities with respect.
All WASH staff members are expected to understand and follow these Minimum Requirements. However, it is recognised that in acute emergencies it is preferable to start work on the basics immediately, and build up a comprehensive, quality programme in the following days and weeks. There will, therefore, be some programmes in which certain individual requirements are not appropriate or relevant; in such cases staff members responsible should be able to justify why she/he did things differently, or how the minimum requirement was achieved over time.
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Camps is intended to help address the absence of public and standardized training resources for those seeking to use high resolution satellite imagery in support of refugee/IDP assistance operations. Students, general audiences,
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and volunteers studying and analyzing satellite imagery of displaced population camps may find this training resource beneficial.
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Solomon Islands pharmacy staff have developed an essential medicines supplies list. It was a collaborative effort involving a lot of staff taking the pictures and putting it all together. The list was launched as an initiative to improve the availab
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ility of medical stock within the country
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