This document has been developed as a guide to allinstitutions producing health care waste in planning and implementation of interventions that will reduce mismanagement of hazardous waste in Zambia.The
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National Health-Care Waste Management Plan for 2015 to 2019 provides an overview of the situation analysis, the proposed activities and the health care facility waste generating processes in Zambia and presents options for minimizing health-care waste generation through source reduction. The hazardous wastes generated by health care facilities are a challenge in Zambia as handling, storage, transportation and final disposal leaves much to be desired.
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This National Health Policy has 5 objectives, namely
i. To strengthen the healthcare delivery system to be resilient
ii. To encourage the adoption of healthy lifestyles
iii. To improve the physic
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al environment
iv. To improve the socio-economic status of the population
v. To ensure sustainable financing for health
These objectives shall collectively ensure that there will be improved alignment, complementarity and synergies within and across all public sector ministries as well as with other stakeholders, towards achieving the national health goal.
The policy shall therefore ensure that MDAs and other identifiable organizations work within the principles of the Health-in-All Policy and the One-Health Policy frameworks (WHO), to achieve the desired healthy life status of people living in Ghana.
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This Guideline, the first for the country, draws from national health sector reforms and integration agenda as outlined in the key
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national strategic documents. The Guide applies lessons learnt from the SRH/HIV Linkages project and its scale-up; other national experiences and from regional and global evidence and guidance on high-impact interventions that promote sustainable, equitable and effective delivery of health services to achieve Universal Health coverage.
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The Rwandan Health Sector Research Policy (HSRP) policy defines the scope of research in the Rwandan he
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alth sector and presents the strategic principles to ensure that the research done in Rwandan health sector will be conducted in a more coordinated manner, promoting research for equity and social justice and to benefit the Rwandan community as well as the global community in general. The health sector research policy provides solutions to the challenges which have been identified in health research. It will support and improve Rwanda’s health research environment and create a space and framework in which health research will grow and support improved health outcomes in Rwanda. It gives a clear orientation for dissemination and use of results. For sustainability of health research in Rwanda, foreign researchers are called upon to collaborate with Rwandans with clear capacity building plans.
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The WHO country office for Ghana, began the year 2019 with a 4-day staff retreat at the Busua Beach Resort in the Western Region from 04 to 08 March 2019. The theme for the retreat was ‘Impacting the Health and Lives of the people of Ghana through
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the Triple Billion Goal”. The staff outlined priorities and strategies to strengthen WHO’s contribution to the national health agenda during the year. Working in collaboration with the Ministry of Health/Ghana Health Service and other allied health institutions and stakeholders, the WHO country office, provided support aimed at achieving its
mission which is attaining the highest level of health by the people in the country though its six operational areas which are (i) Communicable Diseases (ii) Non-Communicable Diseases, (iii) Promoting Health through the Life Course (iv), Health Systems, (v) Preparedness, Surveillance and Response (vi) Corporate services and enabling functions.
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Towards Sustainable Community Health and Social Welfare Services
Leaving No One Behind. This Operational Guideline for Community-Based Health Services (CBHS)
in line with the CBHS Policy Guideline
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map an integrated and coordinated
national approach to community-based health services in Tanzania. The
approach builds on and furthers national priorities for decentralization,
community empowerment and strengthened systems for expansion of
access to essential health services at the village level and below.
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Women and Health Initiative Working Paper No. 1. Women and Health Initiative
Improving maternal health in the context of the sub-Saharan African
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HIV epidemic requires greater understanding of the relationships between HIV disease and maternal morbidity and mortality, integrated and effective responses by the health system, and a social context which promotes quality care and encourages use of MCH and HIV services. Advancing the proposed research agenda will make an invaluable contribution by generating needed evidence for policy and practice that improves the maternal health of women who are living with HIV, as well as those who are not. Bringing together maternal health and HIV researchers, policy-makers and program implementers to reduce HIV-related maternal morbidity and mortality and improve the HIV response for women represents an opportunity and a challenge.
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Compared with other health areas, the mental health impacts of climate change have received less research attention. The literature on climate chan
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ge and mental health is growing rapidly but is characterised by several limitations and research gaps. In a field where the need for designing evidence-based adaptation strategies is urgent, and research gaps are vast, implementing a broad, all-encompassing research agenda will require some strategic focus.
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As a lower-middle-income country (LMIC), South Africa (SA) bears
the burden of maternal and neonatal mortality similar to other sub-
Saharan African countries. According to the Saving Mothers Report
2017/19, there has been a progressive and sustained reduction
in institutional maternal mortality
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(iMMR) in the past three triennia
(2010-2019), from 320 per 100,000 live births to 120 per 100,000 live
births.
According to the Rapid Mortality Survey, the country’s infant mortality
rate has declined from 29 deaths per 1000 live births in 2014 to 25
deaths per 1,000 live births in 2018. The institutional neonatal death
rate showed a slight decrease from 12,7 deaths per 1,000 live births in
2016 to the current level of 12 per 1,000 live births and has remained
static at this level for the past three years (saDHIS).
Working towards the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) of reducing maternal mortality to below 70 per 100 000 live births and neonatal mortality to 12 deaths per 1000 live births, South Africa aims to reduce institutional maternal mortality, neonatal mortality and stillbirths by 50% by 2030.
This Maternal, Perinatal and Neonatal Health Policy provides a
framework for the delivery of quality, comprehensive, and integrated
MNH services and will guide the development and review of guidelines
and related MNH interventions, including strengthening of the service
delivery platform, governance, leadership and accountability for
the provision of quality MNH services, development of advocacy
messages, and guiding civil society priorities and community
initiatives. The policy will also guide the development and review of
academic curricula and the setting of research priorities.
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Objectives: This paper reviews the mental health policies that have been implemented in Chile in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the international context of countries' responses. Even before the start of the pandemic, there were significant b
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arriers to access mental health services in Chile, coupled with a scenario of nationwide social unrest and protests that questioned the legitimacy of public institutions; now the rapidly worsening outbreaks of COVID-19 are exacerbating the pre-existing mental health crisis.
Methods: We conducted a bibliometric and content analysis of the Chilean mental health public policies implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic and then compared these policies with international experiences and emerging scientific evidence on the mental health impact of pandemics.
Results: Our analysis of the policies identifies five crucial points of action developed in Chile: (i) an established framework to address mental health in emergency and disaster situations; (ii) a timely COVID-19 Mental Health Action Plan; (iii) inclusion of mental health in the public health agenda; (iv) development of a presidential strategy during the pandemic for comprehensive mental health and well-being; and (v) emerging research assessing the mental health implications of COVID-19.
Conclusions: In Chile, the public policy responses to address the mental health consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic has been characterized by the coordinated implementation of mental health plans, ranging from a health sectoral initiative to inter-agency and intersectoral efforts. However, it is imperative that increased funding is allocated to mental health, and efforts should be made to promote the participation of people with lived experiences and communities in the design and implementation of the proposed actions. This aspect could be of key importance to social peace and community recovery after the pandemic.
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From 2000 to 2010, Rwanda implemented comprehensive health sector reforms to strengthen the public health system, with the aim of reducing maternal and newborn deaths in line with Millennium Develop
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ment Goal 5, among many other improvements in national health. Based on a systematic review of the literature, national policy documents and three Demographic & Health Surveys (2000, 2005 and 2010), this paper describes the reforms and the policies they were based on, and provides data on the extent of Rwanda’s progress in expanding the coverage of four key women’s health services. Progress took place in 2000–2005 and became more rapid after 2006, mostly in rural areas, when the national facility-based childbirth policy, performance-based financing, and community-based health insurance were scaled up. Between 2006 and 2010, the following increases in coverage took place as compared to 2000–2005, particularly in rural areas, where most poor women live: births with skilled attendance (77% increase vs. 26%), institutional delivery (146% increase vs. 8%), and contraceptive prevalence (351% increase vs. 150%). The primary factors in these improvements were increases in the health workforce and their skills, performance-based financing, community-based health insurance, and better leadership and governance. Further research is needed to determine the impact of these changes on health outcomes in women and children.
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The Newborn Situational Analysis reports of 2009 and 2011, as well as the “Bottleneck analysis on neonatal health” of 2013, culminated in the Nigeria launch of “Call to action on Newborn health
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” at the first National Newborn Health Conference in 2014. This call to action provided the framework for the development of the Nigeria Every Newborn Action
Plan (NiENAP). The NiENAP lays out a vision to end preventable stillbirths and newborn deaths by accelerating progress and scaling up evidence- based high-impact and cost effective interventions. The plan is guided by the principles of country-leadership, integration, accountability, equity, human rights, innovation and research. This blue print outlines our commitment as government and stakeholders to repositioning newborn health as we implement approaches that impact on the lives of newborns for improved health outcome.
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The threat posed by antimicrobial resistance (AMR) to public health as well as global health security has been reiterated in umerous World Health A
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ssembly (WHA) resolutions. AMR is also prioritized under the Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA), and India is one of the contributing countries. The Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (MoHFW) identified AMR as one of the top 10 priorities for the ministry’s collaborative work with WHO. The National Health Policy 2017 identifies antimicrobial resistance as a problem and calls for effective action to address it. An international conference on AMR – “Combating Antimicrobial Resistance: A
Public Health Challenge and Priority”, was jointly organized by the Government of India and World Health Organization (WHO) in February 2016, which was attended by more than 350 participants. The Hon’ble Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, and the Hon’ble Union Minister for Health, Shri J.P. Nadda have reiterated government’s commitment to tackle AMR.
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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
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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 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
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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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A systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019. The Lancet Vol.399 Issue 10341 p.2129-2154
Human resources for health (HRH) include a range of occupations that aim to promote or improve human
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health. The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the WHO Health Workforce 2030 strategy have drawn attention to the importance of HRH for achieving policy priorities such as universal health coverage (UHC). Although previous research has found substantial global disparities in HRH, the absence of comparable cross-national estimates of existing workforces has hindered efforts to quantify workforce requirements to meet health system goals. We aimed to use comparable and standardised data sources to estimate HRH densities globally, and to examine the relationship between a subset of HRH cadres and UHC effective coverage performance.
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