Most shelters in the Caribbean are community centers, schools, or churches that are limited in size. The novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) distancing requirements subsequently reduced the number of persons a shelter can accommodate during the hur...ricane season. This document reinforces some measures to follow per international emergency shelter protocols factoring in conditions for spacing between beds/cots, recreation areas and ventilation according to The Sphere Handbook, FEMA, and Australian Red Cross. Physical distancing and hygienic standards were modified highlighting that ideal requirements are not always feasible; therefore, we may choose realistic recommendations for practical purposes and suspected cases of COVID-19.
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Key Considerations
This brief focuses on cross-border movement in Eastern and Southern Africa (ESA) and its implications for development of risk communication and community engagement (RCCE) strategies aimed at preventing transmission ...attribute-to-highlight medbox">of COVID-19 in the ESA region. Given the extensive risk of cross-border transmission of the virus and the imminent reopening of borders, such strategies are essential to containment efforts
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Group psychological help for adults impaired by distress in communities exposed to adversity
With this manual, the World Health Organization (WHO) is responding to requests from colleagues around the world for a group version of the manual Problem ...Management Plus (PM+), which was developed for adults impaired by distress in communities who are exposed to adversity. Aspects of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) have been changed to make them feasible in communities that do not have many specialists. To ensure maximum use, the intervention is developed in such a way that it can help people with depression, anxiety and stress, whether or not exposure to adversity has caused these problems. It can be applied to improve aspects of mental health and psychosocial well-being no matter how severe people’s problems are.
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Induced abortion is permitted in Burkina Faso only to save the life and protect the health of a
pregnant woman, or in cases of rape, incest, and severe fetal impairment. As a result, the vast
majo...rity of women who end unintended pregnancies do so in secrecy, out of fear of prosecution
and to avoid the social stigma that surrounds this practice. Most clandestine abortions are carried
out in unsafe conditions that jeopardize women’s health and sometimes their lives. This report
presents estimates of the number and rate of induced abortions that occurred in Burkina Faso in
2008 and 2012; reports levels of unintended pregnancy (the major reason that women seek
abortions in the first place); and describes some of the adverse consequences of unsafe abortion
for women, their families and society.
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MEDBOX Issue Brief no. 6
This issue brief gives you an overview of the most important documents on humanitarian aid and the WASH sector in MEDBOX
This document provides guidance on how to implement contact screening and chemoprophylaxis with single-dose rifampicin. The contents are logically ordered: counselling and obtaining consent, identification and listing of index case, listing ...ass="attribute-to-highlight medbox">of contacts, tracing of contacts, screening of contacts, administration of prophylactic drugs. Managerial aspects to undertake contact screeninig and chemoprophylaxis are also elaborated, including planning , training , supervision and drug management.
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The document presents an assessment developed by both institutions as a contribution to the prioritization of education in national response plans to the health emergency and future recovery strategies. "Countries have deployed various response and ...recovery plans in which education needs to be incorporated as a central element," the report says, "not only to ensure an education response, but to achieve an equitable, inclusive and sustainable recovery”.
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Overcoming barriers in low- and middle-income countries
For the first time, this year’s report includes information on hepatitis C diagnostics. With a focus on selected countries with diverse HCV epidemics, the report provides updates on the various dimensions ...medbox">of access to HCV diagnostics and pharmaceutical products, including product pricing, the regulatory environment and patent status, which together shape the national hepatitis response in different settings. It highlights key areas for action by ministries of health and other government decision-makers, pharmaceutical manufacturers and technical partners.
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Five years after a global commitment to Fast-Track the HIV response and end AIDS by 2030, the world is off track. A promise to build on the momentum created in the first decade of the twenty-first century by front-loading investment and accelerating... HIV service provision has been fulfilled by too few countries.
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This global guidance provided the framework for over 100 countries to develop their NDVPs. This updated (second) version supersedes the previous version published in 16 November 2020. New information has been added on the following areas:
the COVID-19 Partners Platform;
the use ...ass="attribute-to-highlight medbox">of COVID-19 simulation exercises to test deployment strategies;
the indemnity agreement and no-fault compensation programme for vaccines secured through the COVAX Facility in the Advance Market Commitment (AMC) eligible economies;
the availability and use of the WHO-UNICEF COVID-19 Vaccine Introduction and deployment Costing (CVIC) tool;
the COVAX Facility’s humanitarian buffer that enables allocation of vaccine to cover high-risk populations in humanitarian settings;
recommendations for vaccination of pregnant and lactating women;
supplementary information on infection prevention and control (IPC) measures to be used to deliver COVID-19 vaccines safely;
the WHO licensed COVID-19 vaccines product-specific information;
use of geospatial data and digital micro plans for equitable access and delivery of COVID-19 vaccines;
lessons learned from the development of NDVPs and early experiences in COVID-19 vaccine deployment in countries; and
updated additional resources at the end of each chapter.
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Health in All Policies: A Guide for State and Local Governments was created by the Public Health Institute, the California Department of Public Health, and the American Public Health Association in response to growing interest in using collaborativ...e approaches to improve population health by embedding health considerations into decision-making processes across a broad array of sectors. The Guide draws heavily on the experiences of the California Health in All Policies Task Force and incorporates information from the published and gray literature and interviews with people across the country.
The guide was developed through funding from the American Public Health Association and The California Endowment.
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UNICEF's 2021 World AIDS Day report provides global and regional statistical updates on children, adolescents and pregnant women. It further provides a brief history of the HIV epidemic and response for children together with a series ...ttribute-to-highlight medbox">of human interest stories that shine light on inequalities faced by children and adolescents, especially in HIV treatment and prevention services.
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This document aims to encourage countries to develop and implement policies to maintain and strengthen IPC programmes and measures in health care facilities in the context of the current ongoing transmission ...x">of the SARS-CoV-2, with recognition that epidemiological trends may vary and the risk of transmission of other pathogens.
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Adapting community-led approaches . Three out of 10 people in urban areas do not use improved sanitation facilities, and one out of 10 people are forced to practise open defecation. Still higher pro...portions do not have access to safely managed sanitation facilities, where the fecal sludge
is contained and either left in situ or safely emptied, transported, and delivered to a treatment plant.
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Infectious disease outbreaks and epidemics are increasing in frequency, scale and impact. Health care facilities can amplify the transmission of emerging infectious diseases or multidrug-resistant organisms (MDRO) within their settings and communiti...es. Therefore, evidence-based infection prevention and control (IPC) measures in health care facilities are critical for preventing and containing outbreaks, while still delivering safe, effective and quality health care. This toolkit is intended to support IPC improvements for outbreak management in all such facilities, both public and private throughout the health system. Specifically, this document systematically describes a framework of overarching principles to approach the preparedness, readiness and response outbreak management phases. The document also provides a toolkit of resource links to guide specific actions for each infectious disease and/or MDRO outbreak management phase at any health facility. This document is specifically tailored to an audience of stakeholders who establish and monitor health care facility-level IPC programs including: IPC focal points, epidemiologists, public health experts, outbreak response incident managers, facility-level IPC committee(s), safety and quality leads and managers, and other facility level IPC stakeholders.
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The World Health Organization (WHO) recognizes the challenges countries face for maintaining their COVID-19 response while addressing competing public health challenges, conflicts, climate change and economic crises.
It remains critical for national programmes to continue to offer testing for COVI...D-19 in line with three main objectives: reduce morbidity and mortality through linkage to prompt care and treatment, reduce onward transmission and track the evolution of the epidemic and the virus
itself.
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Cities are uniquely positioned to understand local needs and respond rapidly to changing conditions to safeguard health. These changes require strong city leadership to implement multisectoral, health-relevant policies and public services that engage communities. The response to malaria must be an i...ntegral part of such policies and processes.
This framework supports the control and elimination of malaria in urban environments. It provides guidance for city leaders, health programmes and urban planners as they respond to the challenges of rapid urbanization in a targeted way. For each urban context, the strategic use of data can inform effective, tailored responses and help build resilience against the threat of malaria and other vector-borne diseases.
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The Pandemic Influenza Preparedness (PIP) Framework is a World Health Assembly resolution adopted unanimously by all Member States in 2011. It brings together Member States, industry, other stakeholders and WHO to implement a global approach to pandemic influenza preparedness and response. The Frame...work includes a benefit-sharing mechanism called the Partnership Contribution (PC). The PC is collected as an annual cash contribution from influenza vaccine, diagnostic, and pharmaceutical manufacturers that use the WHO Global Influenza Surveillance and Response System (GISRS). Funds are allocated for: (a) pandemic preparedness capacity building; (b) response activities during the time of an influenza pandemic; and (c) PIP Secretariat for the management and implementation of the Framework.
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Joint EUAA, IOM and OECD report provides new insights on displacement from and within Ukraine
The European Union Agency for Asylum (EUAA), the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) have published a Joint Report on profil...es, experiences, and aspirations of forcibly displaced people by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The Joint Report provides an in-depth study of the scale of displacement to EU countries and people seeking protection there, by building on initial findings derived from a June EUAA-OECD Survey.
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This brief advocacy document highlights the burden, risks and prevention of injuries and violence, which took the lives of 4.4 million people in 2019 and constitute 8% ...light medbox">of all deaths. Among the injury-related causes of death include road traffic crashes, drowning, falls, burns, poisoning and violence against oneself or others. For people age 5-29 years, three of the top five causes of death are injury-related, including road traffic injuries, homicide, and suicide. Injuries and violence are not evenly distributed across or within countries – some people are more vulnerable than others depending on the conditions in which they are born, grow, work, live and age; in general, being young, male and of low socioeconomic status all increase the risk of injury. This document, aimed at public health professionals; injury prevention researchers, practitioners and advocates; and donors, draws attention to specific strategies based on sound scientific evidence that are effective and cost-effective at preventing injuries and violence; it is critical that these strategies are more widely implemented.
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