The Lancet Regional Health - Americas 2022;00: 100248 Published online xxx https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lana.2022.100248.
The Lancet Countdown report, discuss the overlapping social, climate and health challenges in Latin America ...te-to-highlight medbox">and the Caribbean, and urge multisectoral and political action to transform these challenges into opportunities through adaptation and mitigation measures that place peoples’ health and wellbeing at the centre of public policies. Latin American and Caribbean governments are called upon to promote climate-resilient health care systems with adaptation plans that are tailored to guarantee quality access to care for all in this viewpoint.
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Throughout the Americas, populations are aging and the Region is undergoing a rapid demographic transition. The aging index, which reflects the size of the older age groups per 100 compared to children under age 15, clearly demonstrates the increase... in people aged 60 and older. Compared to global trends, the Region of the Americas will have a larger number of people aged 60 and older than children under 15 by 2030, which is approximately 25 years before the global average. The COVID-19 pandemic has presented an unparalleled health crisis around the world. The impact on older persons and those with underlying health conditions has highlighted the challenges of addressing the needs of older populations during a public health emergency. Given this demographic transition it is essential to think about preparedness of systems and services to address this population’s needs, including an increase in emergency planning and protection of older populations.
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A module from the suite of health service capacity assessments in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, Interim Guidance 20 October 2020.
This self-assessment tool is designed for acute health-care facilities (i.e. tertiary and secondary) but can b...e modified for the use in long-term care facilities, to help identify, prioritize and address the gaps in infection prevention and control (IPC) capacity in managing their response to COVID-19. The tool should be used by IPC professionals and/or those responsible for disaster planning or outbreak management in the facility (such as the response to the COVID-19 outbreak) at the start of the improvement process. A sample workplan template is provided to address gaps identified and record required actions.
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Looking forward, the 2019-2020 Regional Refugee Response Plan (RRRP) for the DRC situation aims at addressing the needs of new arrivals of Congolese refugees in the region, ...-highlight medbox">and those in protracted situations. By supporting livelihoods opportunities and through a resilience-based approach, refugees will be able to contribute to the development of their host countries, and of their country of origin upon their return. Given the limited capacity of host communities to support the impact of massive numbers of refugees, the response strategy will also address the needs of local populations, strengthening peaceful co-existence and building social cohesion.
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Across the Western Pacific Region COVID-19 is placing enormous strain on health and economic systems apart from direct threats to personal health safety and livelihood the pandemic also has signific...ant implications on mental health and psychosocial well being adversity is an established risk factor for mental health problems thus the impact of COVID-19 on mental health is expected to be large diverse and far reaching mental health and psychosocial support mhpss are essential components of a public health response to COVID-19 this guidance note provides 10 activities that may be integrated in national COVID-19 response and mitigation plans
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These guidelines provide a recommendation on iodine thyroid blocking (ITB), via oral administration of stable iodine, as an urgent protective action in responding to a nuclear accident. This recommendation aims to support emergency planners, policy ...makers, public health specialists, clinicians and other relevant stakeholders, in order to strengthen public health preparedness for radiation emergencies in WHO Member States as required by the International Health Regulations (IHR) and in line with the international safety standards (GSR Part 7). The scope of the guidelines is confined to public health aspects of planning and implementation of ITB before and during a radiation emergency, such as dosage and timing of ITB administration, adverse effects of stable iodine, its packaging, storage, and distribution.
These guidelines supersede the 1999 WHO Guidelines for Iodine Prophylaxis following Nuclear Accidents.
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Disability inclusive shelter programming enables persons with disabilities to contribute more to their communities, participate more in consultations and decision-making, and facilitate their own pr...otection. The key concepts include: Disability inclusive shelter programming is both a process and an outcome. By engaging persons with disabilities in the process, we will also improve the outcomes for persons with disabilities.
The disability community has the slogan “Nothing about us without us,” reminding that we should include and work with persons with disabilities and their representative groups rather than plan or make decisions on their behalf. Persons with disabilities should be engaged throughout shelter programme planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation.
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3rd edition. In 2001, Uganda adapted the Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response (IDSR) developed by World Health Organization (WHO) for member states in African region. The Ministry of Health ...has been implementing the IDSR strategy since then with success across the country. This strategy provides the opportunity for rational use of resources and maximises investments in health surveillance systems. The 3rd edition IDSR guidelines incorporates lessons learnt from previous
epidemics, new frameworks like the Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA), One Health, Disaster Risk Management (DRM), the WHO regional strategy for health security and emergencies, and the rising non-communicable diseases, and aims to strengthen implementation of IHR (2005) core surveillance and response capacities. These guidelines have been adapted to reflect national priorities, policies and public health structures; and shall be used in conjunction with other similar
guidelines/strategies or initiatives.
Overall, the 3rd edition technical guidelines will incorporate the following:
• Strengthening Indicator Based Surveillance
• Strengthening Event Based Surveillance
• Improving community-based disease surveillance
• Improving Cross Border Surveillance and response
• Scaling up e-IDSR implementation
• Improving reporting and information sharing platforms
• Improved data sharing across sectors
• Tailoring IDSR to Emergency or Disaster contexts
The 3rd edition guidelines are intended for use as:
• A general reference for surveillance activities across all levels
• A set of definitions for thresholds that trigger some action for response
• A stand-alone reference for level-specific guidelines on surveillance and response
• A resource for developing training, supervision and evaluation of surveillance activities
• A guide for improving early detection and preparedness for outbreak response.
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The report finds that, as of 3 November, in 87 countries with age-disaggregated data, children and adolescents under 20 years of age accounted for 1 in 9 of COVID-19 infections, or 11 per cent of the 25.7 million infections reported by these countri...es. More reliable, age-disaggregated data on infection, deaths and testing is needed to better understand how the crisis impacts the most vulnerable children and guide the response
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Preparedness planning is essential in order to respond effectively to outbreaks, including single case occurrences of highconsequence infectious diseases (HCID), such as the importation of a viral h...aemorrhagic fever (VHF) case
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This strategy, produced by IFRC, UNICEF and WHO, provides an overview of RCCE coordination approach and priorities across the different phases of the COVID-19 ...box">preparedness and response
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The following checklist can help hospitals assess and improve their preparedness for responding to a community-wide outbreak of COVID-19. Each hospital will need to adapt this checklist to meet its ...unique needs and circumstances. This checklist should be used as one of several tools for evaluating current plans or in developing a comprehensive COVID-19 preparedness plan.
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Core Knowledge for Emergency Preparedness and Response
Guidance | Preparedness - Response and early recovery - Recovery and reconstruction
COVID‑19 strategic preparedness and response
Annual and medium-term budget preparation processes are the platforms through which specific plans are transformed into actual resource allocation decisions. The aim of this Process Guide is to supp...ort key stakeholders involved in these processes (such as the Cabinet, Ministries of Finance and Health, the Parliament, citizens, media, and civil society organizations) to reorient budgetary arrangements in order to facilitate the ability of national governments to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic by delivering, therapeutics, diagnostics, and vaccine services to their populations. Reorienting budgetary arrangements positions governments to sustain the capacity to mitigate and respond to COVID-19 while concurrently delivering other essential health services and working towards Universal Health Coverage (UHC). The reorientation process is an opportunity to better align budgetary arrangements to sustain systemic capacity to prevent emerging health threats over the short, medium, and long terms.
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This guidance note developed by UNICEF helps WASH staff in their preparedness and response to the current COVID-19 pandemic. It provides an overvie...w of Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) and its intersection with water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH). It also provides key actions that staff can implement to help prevent infection and its spread in health-care facilities: from human to human, among health care workers and patients, through droplets, and by touching surfaces contaminated with the virus. WASH, including waste management and environmental cleaning, is essential for IPC
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Adaptation and roll-out of Epidemic Control for Volunteers’ (ECV) Toolkit and Training Manual in Myanmar
The ECV Toolkit ensures that volunteers have the proper training ...e-to-highlight medbox">and essential communication tools (among other materials) before they are engaged in outbreak and epidemic response in their communities. It is known that in the middle of an outbreak or epidemic, volunteers have limited time to remember everything they have learned during trainings, or to develop effective response – the ECV Toolkit is therefore designed as a set of practical, easy-to-follow tools to be easily picked up and followed.
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This guidance note developed by UNICEF is intended to help WASH staff in their preparedness and response to the current COVID-19 pandemic. It provi...des an overview of Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) and its intersection with water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), and how staff can help prevent infection and its spread in schools, whether through human-to-human or by touching surfaces contaminated with the virus. WASH services, including waste management and environmental cleaning, are all important for IPC. This brief is available in English, Spanish, and French here.
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Food and nutrition security in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is subject to the relentless impact of conflict, epidemics and climate events that have persisted in the country for decades, furt...her compounded by the global COVID-19 pandemic. Lack of infrastructure and investment in agriculture, health and human capital development combine to impede progress towards the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals 2 and 17. While there are several legal instruments and policies that promote food and nutrition security, poor coordination, weak national capacity and exponential population growth present serious obstacles to the achievement of zero hunger. Political instability and siloed sectoral responses to humanitarian and development needs have also affected results to date.
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