The WHO estimates that 19 million children aged 15 years or younger are visually impaired. Of these, 1.4 million are irreversibly blind and need visual rehabilitation interventions for full psychological and personal development. The remainder have visual problems that could be prevented or treated.... Identifying children with visual problems early in life so that they can benefit from medical and optical interventions remains a key challenge for most child eye health programmes. Reports from various low-and middle-income countries indicate that the age of children undergoing operation for cataract is frequently too high to achieve maximum benefit.
more
FIND and Standard Diagnostics (SD) have developed a lateral flow rapid diagnostic test (RDT) to screen for
T.b. gambiense HAT that is cheap and easy to use. The tests are packed individually and are stable at 40°C for
up to 25 months; they are performed on fresh blood obtained from a finger prick..., and no instrument or electricity is required. The RDT detects host antibodies to infection in populations that are at risk, or in suspect individuals. Positive cases are subjected to further confirmatory methods to identify HAT patients.
more
Hand hygiene is vital for safe health care delivery, yet practices at the point of care remain suboptimal worldwide. A comprehensive research agenda is therefore necessary to improve our understanding of factors influencing hand hygiene behaviour and to strengthen appropriate interventions. This age...nda will provide insightful ideas for researchers to focus their projects and funding proposals and will direct donors towards the areas of hand hygiene evidence that require urgent support and innovation. It will also guide decision-makers and stakeholders at the national and international level and support country efforts in updating and strengthening hand hygiene promotion programmes. Global collaboration and investment in hand hygiene research remain essential to promote safe and effective care worldwide.
more
Geneva, 22 May 2023 – Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance today published a roadmap* outlining critical actions needed to ensure supply of oral cholera vaccine (OCV) is able to meet growing demand from countries. Released against a backdrop of a recent wave of cholera outbreaks around the world, the roadma...p forecasts the short-, mid- and long-term outlook for global cholera vaccine supply. Developed in consultation with a range of key Alliance partners, including WHO, UNICEF, the Global Taskforce for Cholera Control (GTFCC), and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), it describes how these organizations, manufacturers and countries can work together towards ensuring global OCV supply can support largescale preventive vaccination by 2026.
more
UNFPA has been implementing programming for women and girls through Women Friendly Health Spaces (WFHSs), which provide access to critical services, information and support. The WFHS is providing: psychosocial counseling services; awareness raising sessions on PSS in the community; and life skills &... vocational training opportunities. The WFHS also facilitates referral to other services including Psychosocial Counseling Centers (PSCCs).
The aim of this guidance note is to provide an overview of approaches on how to successfully integrate adolescent and youth (A&Y) programming into the WFHSs. UNFPA activities for women’s and girl’s protection in health facilities aim to protect women and girls including child marriage. Given that vulnerable women and girls in Afghanistan continue to access health facilities, particularly for reproductive health and maternal health services, it is crucial to provide support for survivors in the same location to improve access to essential psychosocial and protection support for women and girls. To support the integration of A&Y in the WFHS programming each WFHS will be supported by two full time Youth Educators. A female Youth Educator who will be working within the WFHS and a male Youth Educator who will be working in the community. The role of the Youth educators is to increase A&Y awareness and knowledge on living healthy lifestyles and ensuring a referral system to services in existing facilities.
more
The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in a double shock - health and economic. As of March 1, 2021, COVID-19 has cost more than 2.5 million lives and triggered an economic recession surpassing any economic downturn since World War II.
Part I of this paper explores the impact of this current macro-fisc...al outlook on the three primary sources of health spending. Drawing on experiences from previous economic crises, scenario analyses suggest a fall in government per capita spending on health in 2021 and 2022 unless governments make bold choices to increase the share of health in general government spending.
Part II of the paper discusses policy options to meet the spending needs in health. These options encompass strategies to make fiscal adjustments work and channel funds where they are most needed, as well as policies to stabilize the balance sheets of social health insurance (SHI) schemes. The paper explains how the health sector can play an active role in expanding fiscal space, contributing to tax reforms, most importantly pro-health taxes, and mobilizing and absorbing external financing, including debt relief.
more
The Disaster Recovery Framework (DRF) Guide for the Health Sector provides guidance on how to implement a comprehensive, integrated, and structured approach to disaster recovery. Its overarching goal is to minimize the impact of the disaster on communities and help countries to recover quickly and e...ffectively from disasters, in coordination with key stakeholders.
The DRF Guide for the Health Sector is adapted from the generic DRF Guide, and draws on the Implementation Guide For Health Systems Recovery in Emergencies, the Health Emergency and Disaster Risk Management Framework as well as the Disaster Recovery Guidance Series. The guide also makes links with multi-sectoral, government-led recovery planning processes such as the Post-Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNA), and it supports the implementation of the HDPN.
more
Three full years have passed since the launch of the road
map for neglected tropical diseases 2021–2030. Data on
progress begin to provide insights into the prospects of
attaining the 2030 targets.
In the mid-1980s, recognizing the limitations of traditional training and that the knowledge and skills acquired are not necessarily applied back in the workplace, MSH developed the Monitoring‐Training-Planning (MTP) approach to assist the Ecuadorian Ministry of Health to implement its Child Survi...val Program. Using the MTP approach, staff me
mbers learn to mobilize their own resources and to improve, incrementally, the management of medicines and other pharmaceuticals at their own facility.
more
This report provides an update on the key facets of HIV treatment access, including the latest HIV treatment guidelines from World Health Organization (WHO), an overview on pricing for first-line, second-line, and salvage regimens, and a summary of the opportunities for – and threats to – expand...ing access to affordable antiretroviral therapy (ART).
The report is supplemented by 11 drug profiles that contain more detailed information on pricing trends and patent barriers for key antiretroviral drugs and fixed-dose combinations. Also included is an annex of conditions that define eligibility for reduced prices from 15 pharmaceutical companies.
more
Recommended actions and international and national level
Documentation of Best Practices and Bottlenecks to Program Implementation in Senegal
SUMMARY REPORT
Accessed at March 2014
Lancet 2013; 381: 1405–16
Series: Childhood Pneumonia and Diarrhoea no.1
Patient Safety tutorial 325
A Training Curriculum for Multidisciplinary Healthcare Teams. This innovative training package aims to empower multidisciplinary health workers to have the confidence and skills to provide comprehensive, youth-friendly HIV services that support adolescents’ healthy development, psychosocial well b...eing, retention, adherence, sexual and reproductive health, and eventual transition to adult HIV services.
more
The curriculum, which complements the national pediatric ART training, was finalized in 2011 and was subsequently implemented nationally. The training curriculum includes a 15-module Trainer Manual, a Participant Manual, and accompanying PowerPoint slides.