This article is part four in a series of explainers on vaccine development and distribution.
Part one focused on how vaccines work to protect our bodies from disease-carrying germs.
Part two focused on the ingredients in a vaccine and the three clinical trial phases.
Part three focused on the ste...ps from completing the clinical trial phases through to distribution.
This document outlines the different types of vaccines.
Available in English, French, Spanisch, Arabic, Chinese and Russian
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Road safety is an issue that does not receive anywhere near the attention it deserves – and it really is one
of our great opportunities to save lives around the world
Female genital mutilation is a harmful traditional practice that violates girls’ right to health
and overall well-being. Most research cites social acceptance, marriageability, community
belonging, proof of virginity, curbing promiscuity, hygiene, and religion as motivations for the
practice. I...t is generally assumed that individual attitudes of parents and other family mem-
bers have an impact on decisions related to the cutting of girls, and that such attitudes are
influenced by social norms. The aim of this study is to understand how parental attitudes
towards the practice of female genital mutilation influence decision making related to the cut-
ting of girls.
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Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs), including mental disorders, currently pose one of the biggest threats to health and development globally, particularly in low and middle income countries2. It is predicted that unless proven interventions are rapidly implemented in countries, in the short to medium ...term, health care costs will increase exponentially and severe negative consequences will ensue not only to individuals and families but to whole societies and economies. NCDs are already a major burden in South Africa, but without added rigorous and timely action the health and development consequences may well become catastrophic. Immediate and additional, high quality, evidence based and focussed interventions are needed to promote health, prevent disease and provide more effective and equitable care and treatment for people living with NCDs at all levels of the health system. The problem is further compounded by the rising global prevalence of multi-morbidity (defined as the coexistence of two or more chronic diseases in one individual).
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The GAP articulates five objectives for tackling AMR, and sets out the tasks required to achieve them, highlighting
roles and responsibilities for country governments, the One Health Tripartite organizations (FAO, OIE and WHO) and other national and international partners. To ensure that all stakeh...olders assume their roles and responsibilities, and to assess whether they are collectively effecting the necessary change in AMR, the implementation of the GAP needs to be routinely monitored and evaluated. To that end, the Tripartite organizations co-developed a monitoring and evaluation (M&E) framework for the GAP, as outlined in this document
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In recognition of the growing problem of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), its increasing threat to human, animal and plant health, and the need for a One Health approach to address this issue, the 39th Session of the Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC) agreed it was important for the food safety comm...unity to play its part and re-established the ad hoc Codex Intergovernmental Task Force on Antimicrobial Resistance (TFAMR) ). The objectives of the Task Force were
to revise the current Codex Code of Practice to Minimise and Contain Antimicrobial Resistance and to develop new guidance on surveillance programmes relevant to foodborne AMR.
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The issue of Antimicrobial resistance has become one of the most substantial health issues, prompting the World Health Assembly (WHA) to urge Member States to finalise tailor made national action plans by May 2017, aligning them with objectives of the Global Action Plan (GAP). These cover awareness,... surveillance and research, hygiene infection prevention & control, optimal use of antimicrobial medicines and economic case for sustainable investment. Indonesia, by virtue of its geographical terrain and complex interactions with diverse stakeholders, indicates a higher burden of AMR. Most of the country’s data currently relies on local studies conducted by labs and universities. To get a more accurate estimate of the situation, one has to rely on results from the Regional Resistance Surveillance Programme. By undertaking such measure, Indonesia would acquire data to detect AMR trends at a national level.
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The global emergence of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is posing a threat to human health. Putting resources into the containment of AMR – including surveillance – is one of the highest-yield investments a country can make to mitigate its impact. In 2015, WHO launched the Global Antimicrobial Re...sistance Surveillance System (GLASS), the first global collaborative effort to foster AMR surveillance in bacteria causing acute infections. As of December 2018, 71 countries are enrolled in GLASS. The aim of this report is to document participation efforts and outcomes across these countries, and highlight differences and constraints identified to date. This report follows on from the first GLASS Report – Early implementation 2016-17, published in January 2018, and drawing on data from GLASS first data call in 2017.
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The report reveals that good IPC programmes can reduce health care infections by 70 %. oday, out of every 100 patients in acute-care hospitals, seven patients in high-income countries and 15 patients in low- and middle-income countries will acquire at least one health care-associated infection (HAI)... during their hospital stay. On average, 1 in every 10 affected patients will die from their HAI.
People in intensive care and newborns are particularly at risk. And the report reveals that approximately one in four hospital-treated sepsis cases and almost half of all cases of sepsis with organ dysfunction treated in adult intensive-care units are health care-associated.
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The Global guidance framework for the responsible use of the life sciences: mitigating biorisks and governing dual-use research (the framework) aims to provide values and principles, tools and mechanisms to support Member States and key stakeholders to mitigate and prevent biorisks and govern dual-u...se research.
The framework adopts the One health approach and focuses on the role that responsible life sciences research can play in preventing and mitigating risks caused by accidents, inadvertent or deliberate misuse with the intention to cause harm to humans, nonhuman animals, plants and agriculture, and the environment.
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The AMR Multi-Stakeholder Partnership Platform aims to catalyse a global movement for action against antimicrobial resistance (AMR) by fostering cooperation between a diverse range of stakeholders at all levels across the One Health spectrum. It seeks to ensure a healthier, more sustainable and resi...lient present and future in which antimicrobials are preserved as critical lifesaving medicines accessible to everyone.
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6 July 2021. The “WHO consolidated guidelines on tuberculosis. Module 3: Diagnosis - Rapid diagnostics for tuberculosis detection 2021 update” is the latest document replacing the one issued in 2020. Three new nucleic acid amplification test (NAAT) classes are endorsed by WHO and included in the... latest consolidated guideline
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Global HIV control funding falls short of need. To maximize health outcomes, it is critical that national governments sustain reasonable commitments, and that international donor assistance be distributed according to country needs and funding gaps. We develop a country classification framework in t...erms of actual versus expected national domestic funding, considering resource needs and donor financing. With UNAIDS and World Bank data, we examine domestic and donor HIV program funding in relation to need in 84 low- and middle-income countries. We estimate expected domestic contributions per person living with HIV (PLWH) as a function of per capita income, relative size of the health sector, and per capita foreign debt service.
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Emergency Preparedness for the Health Sector: Challenges and Way Forward. Expert Consultation.
Preparedness is nowadays defined as an integrated set of long term multi-sectoral activities. One key objective is to contribute to the achievement of an increasing level of readiness within the MOH and t...he communities to mitigate, to cope with, to respond to and to recover from any emergency situation
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WHO’s Ambition and Action in Nutrition 2016-2025 is anchored in the six global targets for improving maternal, infant and young child nutrition and the global diet-related NCD targets.
In support of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, particularly SDG2 and SDG3, and in concert w...ith the 2016-2025 UN Decade of Action on Nutrition, WHO’s Ambition and Action in Nutrition 2016-2025 aims for “A world free from all forms of malnutrition where all people achieve health and well-being”. It defines the unique value of WHO for advancing nutrition: the provision of leadership, guidance and monitoring and proposes a theory of change. Finally, following a set of guiding principles, it proposes priority actions for WHO, the delivery model and a clear allocation of roles across the Organization.
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Water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) are critical in the prevention and care for all of the 17 neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) scheduled for intensified control or elimination by 2020.
Provision of safe water, sanitation and hygiene is one of the five key interventions within the global NTD ...roadmap. Yet to date, the WASH component of the strategy has received little attention and the potential to link efforts on WASH and NTDs has been largely untapped.
Focused efforts on WASH are urgently needed if the global NTD roadmap targets are to be met. This is especially needed for NTDs where transmission is most closely linked to poor WASH conditions such as soil-transmitted helminthiasis, schistosomiasis, trachoma and lymphatic filariasis.
This strategy aims to mobilise WASH and NTD actors to work together towards the roadmap targets.
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The Ministry of Health conducted STEPS surveys on adult risk factors surveillance in Myanmar in 2003, 2009 and 2014. Amongst these three surveys, the 2014 one is the most comprehensive, providing an analysis of all States and Regions within Myanmar through not only questionnaires and physical measur...ements – STEPs 1 and 2 of the survey – but also with data obtained through biochemical measurements (STEP 3).
The STEPS survey was initiated by the Ministry of Health in December 2014 with the technical support of WHO Headquarters, regional and country offices.
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This block contains a wide variety of disorders that differ in severity (from uncomplicated intoxication and harmful use to obvious psychotic disorders and dementia), but that are all attributable to the use of one or more psychoactive substances (which may or may not have been medically prescribed)
In 2015, WHO proposed the use of the Robson classification (also known as the 10-group classification) as a global standard for assessing, monitoring and comparing caesarean section rates both within healthcare facilities and between them. The system classifies all women into one of 10 categories t...hat are mutually exclusive and, as a set, totally comprehensive. The categories are based on 5 basic obstetric characteristics that are routinely collected in all maternities (parity, number of foetuses, previous caesarean section, onset of labour, gestational age, and fetal presentation).
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Q2: In individuals with psychotic disorders (including schizophrenia), is the use of two or more antipsychotic medications concurrently more effective and safer than the use of one antipsychotic only?