Snakebite envenoming constitutes a serious medical condition that primarily affects residents of rural communities in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and New Guinea. It is an occupational, environmental, and domestic health hazard that exacerbates the already impoverished state of these communities. Co...nservative estimates indicate that, worldwide, more than 5 million people suffer snakebite every year, leading to 25,000–125,000 deaths, while an estimated 400,000 people are left with permanent disabilities.
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Global actions to reduce antimicrobial resistance (AMR) include optimising the use of antimicrobial medicines in human and animal health. In countries with weak healthcare regulation, this requires a greater understanding of the drivers of antibiotic use from the perspective of providers and consume...rs. In Bangladesh, there is limited research on household decision-making and healthcare seeking in relation to antibiotic use and consumption for humans and livestock. Knowledge is similarly lacking on factors influencing the supply and demand for antibiotics among qualified and unqualified healthcare providers. The aim of this study is to conduct integrated research on household decision-making for healthcare and antibiotic use, as well as the awareness, behaviours and priorities of healthcare providers and sellers of antibiotics to translate into policy development and implementation
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While working with survivors and victims of domestic abuse, we have learned that
many people who have experienced abuse or trauma in their lives also experience mental health issues as a direct effect of what they have been through. This is why Chayn has created a Mental Health Toolkit available fo...r download by NGOs who support vulnerable individuals of all situations and circumstances
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Vol. 5, No. 3 - 2011 | The Quarterly provides summaries of the best available research evidence on a variety of children’s mental health topics, prepared using systematic review and synthesis methods adapted from the Cochrane Collaboration and Evidence-Based Mental Health. Our goal is to improve ...outcomes for children by informing policy and practice. The BC Ministry of Children and Family Development funds the Quarterly.
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This Technical Brief focuses on appraising and prioritising options for climate resilience with a view to informing water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) programme and project design.
This Technical Brief:
- provides a simple scorecard/checklist approach to use as a starting point for appr...aising and prioritising options, and as an awareness-raising activity - covers all aspects of WASH
- has a predominantly rural focus, to align with the rest of the Strategic Framework and Technical Briefs
- focuses on current and near future options over the next 15–20 years, which fits in with WASH programming timescales and development
- includes WASH examples to show how the approach can be applied.
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Policy Guidance Brief 1
• Climate change has already challenged the agriculture sector in Myanmar by afecting rice yields and livestock production, while disasters such as foods and cyclones have caused massive destruction in rural areas.
• Without adaptation, the long-term consequenc...es of climate change will likely include reduced productivity and huge economic losses, food insecurity, poverty and migration.
• According to the Climate Change Action Plan for the Agriculture, Fisheries and Livestock sector, by 2030 Myanmar should achieve climate-resilient productivity and promote climate-smart responses to support food security and livelihood strategies while also introducing resource-efficient and lowcarbon practices.
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With sustained economic growth in many parts of the developing world, an increasing number of countries are transitioning away from the most subsidized development finance as they exceed income and other qualification requirements. Cross-country evidence suggests that Development Assistance Committe...e (DAC) donors view the crossing over of the World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA) eligibility threshold to signal that a country needs less aid, with subsequent reductions in both IDA and other donors’ concessional funding. Within the health sector, it is particularly important to understand the implications of these status changes for children under five years of age since improving early childhood health is critical to fostering health and social and economic development. Therefore, we examine the implications of the IDA transition by measuring the extent t which World Bank commitments—including both IDA and IBRD—are directed to infant and child health needs in Nigeria. Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) models were used in a difference-indifferences (DID) strategy to compare World Bank IBRD/IDA lending before and after the crossover to regions with varying initial levels of under-five and infant need.
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DHS Further Analysis Reports No. 108 - This report examines levels, trends, and inequalities in maternal health in Rwanda from 2010 to 2014-15 among women age 15-49 with a recent birth. The analysis uses Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) data for 15 key indicators of maternal health: 6 for antenat...al care, 3 for delivery, 1 for postnatal care, and 5 for barriers to accessing medical care. Levels and trends in these indicators were analyzed overall and by three background characteristics: women’s education, household wealth quintile, and region.
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The aim of the present paper is to review capacity building in public health nutrition (PHN), the need for which has been stressed for many years by a range of academics, national and international organisations. Although great strides have been made worldwide in the science of nutrition, there rema...in many problems of undernutrition and increasingly of obesity and related chronic diseases. The main emphasis in capacity building has been on the nutrition and health workforce, but the causes of these health problems are multifactorial and require collaboration across sectors in their solution. This means that PHN capacity building has to go beyond basic nutrition and beyond the immediate health workforce to policy makers in other sectors. The present paper provides examples of capacity building activities by various organisations, including universities, industry and international agencies. Examples of web-based courses are given including an introduction to the e-Nutrition Academy. The scope is international but with a special focus on Africa. In conclusion, there remains a great need for capacity building in PHN but the advent of the internet has revolutionised the possibilities.
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“We must not forget that no matter where we are or how old we are, we can all work for life and take action.” Francisco Vera, 15, UNICEF Child Advocate
The Young Climate Activists toolkit was created by advocates of all ages who, like you, are deeply concerned about our planet's future. Havin...g faced numerous challenges in advocacy and action, our aim is to provide clear, concise and easily understandable information about global, regional and national climate action. This will equip you for meaningful and informed participation. The toolkit booklets are designed to be read sequentially to build a comprehensive understanding of each topic, though they can also be consulted independently based on your needs.
This is the global volume of the Young Climate Activists Toolkit and is designed to complement the regional toolkits for Latin America and the Caribbean, and the Middle East and North Africa Region.
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nContraception and Reproductive Medicine (2017) 2:26 DOI 10.1186/s40834-017-0053-6
Young women in Burkina Faso and Mali are increasingly using modern contraceptives for family planning; however, the LAPM contraceptive prevalence rate remains low. Our analysis indicates that social norms around idea...l family size for both men and women continue to drive young women’s choices around family planning and impede use of LAPMs. To increase modern contraceptive use and curb fertility rates, local governments and development organizations should focus on women’s empowerment and include male partners.
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I examine the effectiveness of donors in targeting the highest burden of malaria in the Democratic Republic of Congo when health information structure is fragmented. I exploit local variations in the burden of malaria induced by mining activities as well as financial and epidemiological data from he...alth facilities to estimate how local aid is matching local health needs. Using a regression discontinuity design, I find significant but quantitatively small variations in aid to health facilities located within mining areas. Comparing local aid with the additional cost of treatment and prevention associated with the increased risk of malaria transmission, I find suggestive evidence that local populations with the highest burden of the disease receive a proportionately lower share of aid compared to neighbouring areas with reduced exposure to malaria infection. The evidence of disparities in the allocation of aid for malaria supports the view that donors may have inaccurate information about local population needs.
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How should humanitarian organisations prepare and respond to COVID-19 in humanitarian settings in low- and middle-income countries?
This Rapid Learning Review outlines 14 actions, insights and ideas for humanitarian actors to consider in their COVID-19 responses. It summarises and synthesises the... best available knowledge and guidance for developing a health response to COVID-19 in low- and middle-income settings as at April 2020
The paper, supported by the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Mark Lowcock, will be updated throughout 2020 to reflect emerging knowledge and evidence on the most effective approaches to respond to the COVID-19 Pandemic.
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https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0002439
South Sudan has a high burden – among the highest in sub-Saharan Africa – of neglected tropical diseases (NTDs). This adversely affects the health and social and economic well-being of people in the country. The prevention, control and eventual elim...ination of many NTDs depend heavily on improved access to water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) and, once there is access, on sound sanitation and hygiene practices. This is especially the case in NTD endemic communities.
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Reference Guide Version 2. Revised. The Nutrition Program Design Assistant is a tool to help organizations design the nutrition component of their community-based maternal and child health, food security, or other development program. The tool focuses on prevention and also provides guidance on recu...perative approaches that are needed when there is a high prevalence of acute malnutrition
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Since the discovery of insulin nearly 100 years ago, advances in diabetes treatments and therapies have transformed the lives of people
with diabetes (PwD), notably reducing the daily burden of its management.
Newer technologies, including those driven by artificial intelligence, have the potentia...l to further improve the quality of life of PwD and help
identify and diagnose people at risk of developing Type 2 diabetes and diabetes-related complications early. However, medical and technological advances alone are not enough to fix the diabetes challenge. It is also critical to acknowledge the complexity and the seriousness of diabetes, its impact on the quality of life and well-being of over 32 million PwD in the EU and the financial burden it represents for health systems and society at large.
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This is the ninth paper in our series, “Community Health Workers at the Dawn of a New Era”. Community health workers (CHWs) are in an intermediary position between the health system and the community. While this position provides CHWs with a good platform to improve community health, a major cha...llenge in large-scale CHW programmes is the need for CHWs to establish and maintain benefcial relationships with both sets of actors, who may have diferent expectations and needs. This paper focuses on the quality of CHW relationships with actors at the local level of the national health system and with communities.
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Antimicrobial resistant (AMR) organisms are increasing globally, threatening to render existing treatments ineffective against many infectious diseases. In Africa, AMR has already been documented to be a problem for HIV and the pathogens that cause malaria, tuberculosis, typhoid, cholera, meningitis..., gonorrhea, and dysentery. Recognizing the urgent need for action, the World Health Assembly adopted the Global Action Plan on Antimicrobial Resistance in May 2015. In accordance with the Global Action Plan and to meet needs specific to Africa, Africa CDC will establish the Anti-Microbial Resistance Surveillance Network (AMRSNET). AMRSNET is a network of public health institutions and leaders from human and animal health sectors who will collaborate to measure, prevent, and mitigate harms from AMR organisms.
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Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2018, 15(12), 2626; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15122626
Climate change is increasing risks to human health and to the health systems that seek to protect the safety and well-being of populations. Health authorities require information about current associatio...ns between health outcomes and weather or climate, vulnerable populations, projections of future risks and adaptation opportunities in order to reduce exposures, empower individuals to take needed protective actions and build climate-resilient health systems. An increasing number of health authorities from local to national levels seek this information by conducting climate change and health vulnerability and adaptation assessments. While assessments can provide valuable information to plan for climate change impacts, the results of many studies are not helping to build the global evidence-base of knowledge in this area. They are also often not integrated into adaptation decision making, sometimes because the health sector is not involved in climate change policy making processes at the national level. Significant barriers related to data accessibility, a limited number of climate and health models, uncertainty in climate projections, and a lack of funding and expertise, particularly in developing countries, challenge health authority efforts to conduct rigorous assessments and apply the findings. This paper examines the evolution of climate change and health vulnerability and adaptation assessments, including guidance developed for such projects, the number of assessments that have been conducted globally and implementation of the findings to support health adaptation action. Greater capacity building that facilitates assessments from local to national scales will support collaborative efforts to protect health from current climate hazards and future climate change. Health sector officials will benefit from additional resources and partnership opportunities to ensure that evidence about climate change impacts on health is effectively translated into needed actions to build health resilience.
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Healthy communities rely on well-functioning ecosystems. They provide clean air, fresh water, medicines and food security. They also limit disease and stabilize the climate. But biodiversity loss is happening at unprecedented rates, impacting human health worldwide, according to a new state of knowl...edge review of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and WHO.
The report synthesizes the available information on the most important inter-linkages between biodiversity, ecosystem stability, and epidemic infectious diseases such as the Ebola virus; and the connection between biodiversity, nutritional diversity and health. It also covers the potential benefits of closer partnerships between conservation and health, from improved surveillance of infectious diseases in wildlife and human populations, to promoting access to green spaces to promote physical activity and mental health. It also highlights the many areas in which further research is needed.
The Joint report hopes to provide a useful reference for the Sustainable Development Goals and post-2015 development agenda, which represents an unique opportunity to promote integrated approaches to biodiversity and health by highlighting that biodiversity contributes to human well-being, and highlighting that biodiversity needs protection for development to be sustainable.
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