The compendium provides guidance on low-cost handwashing facilities that can be widely used in low and middle-income countries. We hope that this can be shared extensively as governments and agencies tackle the crisis in low and middle-income countries where handwashing facilities are urgently neede
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d in households, communities, schools and healthcare facilities.
The compendium includes information and further reading on: handwashing facilities – including facilities that are accessible for all, environmental cues to reinforce handwashing behaviours, physical distancing hygiene promotion.
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To support the achievement of health equity in the Region, the regional inter-agency movement Every Woman Every Child Latin America and the Caribbean (EWEC-LAC) advocates for and supports the use of equity and evidence-based policies, strategies and interventions to accelerate equitable progress in
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the health of women, children and adolescents. Although progress has been made, great inequities persist. Women from the LAC region’s poorest countries are almost four times more likely to die due to complications during childbirth than those living in the wealthiest countries. Through the years, several tools, instruments and methods (TIMs) have been developed by global, regional and country partners that can be used to conduct systematic equity-based analyses and/or re-designs of health systems, programs, strategies and interventions. The main purpose of this document is to present an overview of existing TIMs that can be used by policymakers, program managers, development partners, nongovernmental organizations, academia and civil society partners to strengthen systematic identification, analysis and responding to social inequities in the health of women, children and adolescents in LAC. The TIMs included were identified through a systematic search process
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The World Health Organization and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria are part of a group of agencies working together to accelerate progress towards the health-related SDGs through the Global Action Plan for Healthy Lives and Well-being for All. Understanding patterns of inequal
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ities in these diseases is essential for taking strategic, evidence-informed action to realize our shared vision of ending the epidemics of HIV, TB and malaria.
This report presents the first comprehensive analysis of the magnitude and patterns of socioeconomic, demographic and geographic inequalities in disease burden and access to services for prevention and treatment.
The results confirm there have been improvements in service coverage and decreased disease burden at the national level over the past decade. But they also reveal an uncomfortable reality: unfair inequalities between population subgroups within countries are widespread and have remained largely unchanged over the past decade. For some disease indicators, inequalities are even worsening.
Moreover, the report points to the persistent lack of available data to fully understand inequality patterns in HIV, TB and malaria. Collecting data to improve the monitoring of inequalities in these diseases is vital to develop targeted responses for impact.
There are, encouragingly, isolated successes in reducing inequities. Change is possible when deliberate action is taken to reach disadvantaged populations.
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The World Climate and Security Report (WCSR) 2021 from the Expert Group of the International
Military Council on Climate and Security is a global assessment of the security dimensions of a changing
climate and effective means to address them. It is intended to inform timely climate and security po
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and action, and builds upon the analysis in the first WCSR, released in February 2020.
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The World Climate and Security Report (WCSR) 2021 from the Expert Group of the International Military Council on Climate and Security is a global assessment of the security dimensions of a changing climate and effective means to address them. It is intended to inform timely climate and security poli
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cy and action, and builds upon the analysis in the first WCSR, released in February 2020.
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n 2015, Member States of the United Nations adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its accompanying Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), with the third goal of the agenda focusing on health – good health and well-being. This has the attainment of universal health coverage (UHC) a
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s its umbrella target. Since then, the WHO Regional Office for Africa has been supporting countries plan, and monitor progress towards this goal. This report represents an analysis of the evidence so far countries are making towards this goal, and includes the effect COVID-19 has had on its attainment so far. It also makes recommendations on how countries can prioritize their health actions post COVID-19, in a manner that allows acceleration of progress towards UHC.
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In the last 5 years, the conflict in South Sudan has displaced 4 million people and placed 7 million in need of humanitarian assistance.
This report commissioned by Plan International draws on research conducted with girls and members of their families and communities in multiple sites in South
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Sudan and Uganda.
It explores how adolescent girls within two age brackets (aged 10-14 and 15-19) understand and respond to the unique impact their country’s crisis has upon them.
It seeks to amplify their voices and their perceptions of the crisis and presents their views on how the humanitarian sector might respond.
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UNICEF analysis indicates that:
- Investments that increase access to high-impact health and nutrition interventions by poor groups have saved almost twice as many lives as equivalent investments in non-poor groups.
- Access to high-impact
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health and nutrition interventions has improved rapidly among poor groups in recent years, leading to substantial improvements in equity.
- During the period studied, absolute reductions in under-five mortality rates associated with improvements in intervention coverage were three times faster among poor groups than non-poor groups.
- Because birth rates were higher among the poor, the reduction in the under-five mortality rate translated into 4.2 times more lives saved for every 1 million people. Indeed, of the 1.1 million lives saved across the 51 countries during the final year studied for each country, nearly 85 per cent were among the poor.
- Intensified focus on equity-enhancing policies and investments can help countries achieve the Sustainable Development Goal newborn and child mortality targets (SDG3.2).
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The report – the first of its kind – shows how the pandemic has driven up food insecurity and increased vulnerability among migrants, families reliant on remittances and communities forced from their homes by conflict, violence and disasters.
The two UN agencies warn the social and economic
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toll of the pandemic could be devastating and call on the world to prevent it by stepping up support in response to immediate and rising humanitarian needs, addressing the socioeconomic impacts of the crisis and ensuring that the most vulnerable are not forgotten.
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Myocardial infarctions are generally clinically classified into ST elevation MI (STEMI) and non-ST elevation MI (NSTEMI), based on changes in ECG. When blood flow to a part of the heart stops or the heart is injured and fails to receive enough oxygen required for its adequate functioning the conditi
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on is termed as STEMI or the ‘heart-attack’ in laymen language. Patients with elevated cardiac troponin levels but negative CK-MB who were formerly diagnosed with unstable angina or minor myocardial injury are now reclassified as non-ST-segment elevation Myocardial Infarction (non-STEMI) even in the absence of diagnostic changes.
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A Public Health EOC (PHEOC) serves as a hub for coordinating the preparation for, response to, and recovery from public health emergencies. The preparation includes planning, such as risk and resource mapping, development of plans and procedures, an
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d training and exercising. The response includes all activities related to investigation, response and recovery. The PHEOC also serves as a hub for coordinating resources and information to support response actions during a public health emergency and enhances communication and collaboration among relevant stakeholders.
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A year ago, the second Special Session of the World Health Assembly (WHASS) unanimously agreed to start a diplomatic process for a new binding instrument aimed at ensuring the international community is better prepared for the next health emergencies. The establishment of an Intergovernmental Negoti
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ating Body (INB) at the WHO paved the terrain for a proper negotiation, which has started to unfold. The INB will be releasing the “conceptual zero draft” of the treaty text in early December 2022.
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