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OCHA Policy Brief on Gendered Drivers, Risks and Impacts of Food Insecurity in the Sahel and the Horn of Africa

UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (2023) CC

It is widely understood that the food insecurity crisis in the Sahel and the Horn of Africa is one of the world’s fastest growing and most neglected crises. It lacks sufficient global focus, resou... more

Home visits versus fixed-site care by community health workers and child survival: a cluster-randomized trial, Mali

World Health Organisation (WHO) (2024) C_WHO

Despite recent global declines, under-five mortality remains high in many of the poorest countries. Barriers to timely quality care, including user fees, distance to facilities and the availabilit... more

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A guidance document for medical teams responding to health emergencies in armed conflicts and other insecure environments

World Health Organisation (WHO) (2023) C_WHO

Medical care for people caught up in armed conflict and other insecure environments saves lives and alleviates suffering. It is one of the most immediate ... high priority needs of an affected population and is often the first type of response activated and/or requested by authorities and affected communities. Medical teams working in armed conflict and other insecure environments frequently face serious threats to their security and safety, challenges to patient access, and at times limited acceptance by affected communities in which they work and parties to the conflict. Such difficulties are likely to increase (6) and thereby creating a critical need to establish contact and trust with all sides in conflicts and in other insecure environments to ensure operational continuity. This trust can best be achieved when all sides perceive the medical teams to be neutral, impartial, and independent, and specifically not aiding (or being perceived to aid) any one party to achieve a military, political or economic advantage. For medical teams that are deploying increasingly closer to the frontlines, the implications of and consequences for both staff and patients of teams not being fully prepared, and/or not fully comprehending the context in which they work, can be severe. Medical response can easily be hindered or compromised by intentional or unintentional acts and the behaviour and conduct of the teams themselves more

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Managing Sexual Violence against Aid Workers: prevention, preparedness, response and aftercare

European Interagency Security Forum (2019) C1

Managing Sexual Violence against Aid Workers aims to support aid agencies in preventing, being prepared for and responding to incidents of sexual violence against their staff. It is intended as a good practice guide to help strengthen existing proce... more

Interagency List of Priority Medical Devices for Essential Interventions for Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn and Child Health

World Health Organization WHO (2017) C_WHO

The objective of this project was to list the medical devices required to provide the essential reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health interventions defined by existing WHO guidelines and ... more

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A Roadmap to combat postpartum haemorrhage between 2023 and 2030

World Health Organization WHO (2023) C_WHO

WHO today released its first roadmap to tackle postpartum haemorrhage (PPH) – defined as excessive bleeding after childbirth - which affects millions of women annually and is the world’s leading cause of maternal deaths. Despite being prevent...able and treatable, PPH results in around 70 000 deaths every year. For those who survive, it can cause disabilities and psychological trauma that last for years. “Severe bleeding in childbirth is one of the most common causes of maternal mortality, yet it is highly preventable and treatable,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General. “This new roadmap charts a path forward to a world in which more women have a safe birth and a healthy future with their families.” The Roadmap aims to help countries address stark differences in survival outcomes from PPH, which reflect major inequities in access to essential health services. Over 85% of deaths from PPH happen in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Risk factors include anaemia, placental abnormalities, and other complications in pregnancy such as infections and pre-eclampsia. Many risk factors can be managed if there is quality antenatal care, including access to ultrasound, alongside effective monitoring in the hours after birth. If bleeding starts, it also needs to be detected and treated extremely quickly. Too often, however, health facilities lack necessary healthcare workers or resources, including lifesaving commodities such as oxytocin, tranexamic acid or blood for transfusions. “Addressing postpartum haemorrhage needs a multipronged approach focusing on both prevention and response - preventing risk factors and providing immediate access to treatments when needed - alongside broader efforts to strengthen women’s rights,” said Dr Pascale Allotey, WHO Director for Sexual and Reproductive Health and HRP, the UN’s special programme on research development and training in human reproduction. “Every woman, no matter where she lives, should have access to timely, high quality maternity care, with trained health workers, essential equipment and shelves stocked with appropriate and effective commodities – this is crucial for treating postpartum bleeding and reducing maternal deaths.” more

Priority medical devices list for the COVID-19 response and associated technical specifications (Arab Version)
recommended

World Health Organization WHO (2021) C_WHO

23 February 2021 This document describes the medical devices required for the clinical management of COVID-19, selected and prioritized according to the latest available evidence and interim guidel... more

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Effectiveness of community health worker training programmes for cardiovascular disease management in low-income and middle-income countries: a systematic review

Abdel-All, M; Putica, B.; Praveen, D. et al. BMJ Open (2017) CC

Introduction Community health workers (CHWs) are increasingly being tasked to prevent and manage cardiovascular disease (CVD) and its risk factors in underserved populations in low-income ... middle-income countries (LMICs); however, little is known about the required training necessary for them to accomplish their role. This review aimed to evaluate the training of CHWs for the prevention and management of CVD and its risk factors in LMICs. Methods A search strategy was developed in line with Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines, and five electronic databases (Medline, Global Health, ERIC, EMBASE and CINAHL) were searched to identify peer-reviewed studies published until December 2016 on the training of CHWs for prevention or control of CVD and its risk factors in LMICs. Study characteristics were extracted using a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet and quality assessed using Effective Public Health Practice Project’s Quality Assessment Tool. The search, data extraction and quality assessment were performed independently by two researchers. Results The search generated 928 articles of which 8 were included in the review. One study was a randomised controlled trial, while the remaining were before–after intervention studies. The training methods included classroom lectures, interactive lessons, e-learning and online support and group discussions or a mix of two or more. All the studies showed improved knowledge level post-training, and two studies demonstrated knowledge retention 6 months after the intervention. Conclusion The results of the eight included studies suggest that CHWs can be trained effectively for CVD prevention and management. However, the effectiveness of CHW trainings would likely vary depending on context given the differences between studies (eg, CHW demographics, settings and training programmes) and the weak quality of six of the eight studies. Well-conducted mixed-methods studies are needed to provide reliable evidence about the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of training programmes for CHWs. more

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Best Practices for Engaging Community-Based Child Protection Mechanisms and Establishing Synergies with the Education Sector: Learning from Protracted Refugee Settings in Uganda and Rwanda

Child Protection in Crisis Save the Children (2013) CC

The education sector forms an important part of the child protection response in refugee settings, and UNHCR’s Education Strategy (2012-16) reflects a focus on refugee education as a core component of UNHCR’s protection mandate. The right to edu... more

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The Practical Approach to Care Kit (PACK) guide: developing a clinical decision support tool to simplify, standardise and strengthen primary health care delivery

Cornick, Picken, Wattrus et al. BMJ Global Health Journal (2018) CC

For the primary health worker in a low/middle-income country (LMIC) setting, delivering quality primary care is challenging. This is often complicated by clinical guidance that is out of date, inconsistent ... informed by evidence from high-income countries that ignores LMIC resource constraints and burden of disease. The Knowledge Translation Unit (KTU) of the University of Cape Town Lung Institute has developed, implemented and evaluated a health systems intervention in South Africa, and localised it to Botswana, Nigeria, Ethiopia and Brazil, that simplifies and standardises the care delivered by primary health workers while strengthening the system in which they work. At the core of this intervention, called Practical Approach to Care Kit (PACK), is a clinical decision support tool, the PACK guide. This paper describes the development of the guide over an 18-year period and explains the design features that have addressed what the patient, the clinician and the health system need from clinical guidance, and have made it, in the words of a South African primary care nurse, ‘A tool for every day for every patient’. It describes the lessons learnt during the development process that the KTU now applies to further development, maintenance and in-country localisation of the guide: develop clinical decision support in context first, involve local stakeholders in all stages, leverage others’ evidence databases to remain up to date and ensure content development, updating and localisation articulate with implementation. more

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Management of a cholera epidemic - Practical guide for doctors, nurses, laboratory technicians, medical auxiliaries, water and sanitation specialists and logisticians
recommended

Médecins Sans Frontières MFS (2023) CC

Cholera is a transmissible diarrhoeal infection caused by Vibrio cholerae. Endemic and/or epidemic in over 40 countries (mainly in Africa and Asia), cholera continues to be a major global public hea...lth issue. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that the number of cases reported worldwide represents in reality only 5 to 10% of actual cases. This guide is intended for medical and non-medical staff responding to a cholera outbreak. It attempts to provide concrete answers to the questions and problems faced by staff, based on the recommendations of reference organisations, such as WHO and UNICEF, as well as Médecins Sans Frontières’ experience in the field. It is divided into 8 chapters. Chapter 1, Cholera overview, outlines the epidemiological and clinical features of cholera. Chapter 2, Outbreak investigation, explains the method and stages of a field investigation, from the alert to implementation of initial activities. Chapter 3, Cholera control measures, details measures and tools to prevent and/or control cholera transmission and mortality in populations affected, or at risk of being affected, by an epidemic (curative care, prevention means and health promotion activities). Chapter 4, Strategies for epidemic response, addresses the roll-out strategies of the measures described in Chapter 3 which depend on context (e.g. urban, rural, endemic, non-endemic setting, etc.), resources and particular constraints. Chapter 5, Cholera case management, details the different stages of cholera treatment, from diagnosis through to cure. Chapter 6, Setting up cholera treatment facilities, focuses on the installation of treatment facilities that vary in size and complexity according to operational requirements (treatment centres and units and oral rehydration points). Chapter 7, Organisation of cholera treatment facilities, describes the organisation of these specialized facilities in terms of human resources, supply, water, hygiene and sanitation, etc. Chapter 8, Monitoring and evaluation, presents the key data to be collected and analysed during an epidemic to facilitate a tailored response and evaluate its quality and effectiveness. The guide includes various practical tools in the appendices to facilitate activities (e.g. water quality tests, job descriptions, documents, etc.). Moreover, the toolbox also contains additional tools in editable formats (individual patient file, cholera case register, pictograms). Despite all efforts, it is possible that certain errors may have been overlooked in this guide. Please inform the authors of any errors detected. To ensure that this guide continues to evolve while remaining adapted to field realities, please send any comments or suggestions. more

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Recommendations for Establishing a National Maternal Near-miss Surveillance System in Latin America and the Caribbean

Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) (2022) C_WHO

Maternal mortality has fallen significantly in recent years, especially in countries that have emphasized the prevention of its main causes, such as hemorrhagic and infectious complications and hype... more

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Basics of Alzheimer's disease

Alzheimer's Association Alzheimer's Association (2016) C2

What it is and what you can do Rev. Oct16 770-10-0003

Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for (JDW/NRH)

Quality Assurance and Standardization Division (QASD) Ministry of Health Bhutan (2011) CC

This standard Operating procedure (SOP) for JDWNRH is intended to describe and address various important areas like admission procedure, on call process of the doctors, interdepartmental consultation, patient discharge process ... verity of other areas which was so far solely based on verbal instruction in the workplace by the seniors which very often led to mishaps and other associate problems. This SOP, though not comprehensive, would serve as a guidebook for newly recruited health staff as well as a reference book for existing health professionals in JDWNRH while delivering health care services more

Mauritius National Action Plan on Antimicrobial Resistance 2017-2021

Ministry of Health and Quality of Life Mauritius (2017) C2

Antimicrobial resistance has become a serious public health threat for effective treatment of an ever increasing range of infections caused by bacteria, parasites, viruses and fungi. When infections can no longer be treated by first-line antibiotics... more

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Practice Parameter on Disaster Preparedness

Pfefferbaum, B., Shaw, J.A. & American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP) Committee on Quality Issues (CQI) American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP) (2013) CC

AACAP OFFICIAL ACTION | This Practice Parameter identifies best approaches to the assessment and management of children and adolescents across all phases of a disaster. Delivered within a disaster s... more

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Certified African Regional professionals: Level 1 Biological Waste Management

Africa Center for Disease Control and Prevention (2023) CC

The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) Biosafety and Biosecurity Initiative was launched by the Africa CDC in April 2019 with the aim of strengthening the African Union (... more

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Certified African Regional professionals: Level 1 Biorisk Management

Africa Center for Disease Control and Prevention (2023) CC

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Falls in older people

National Institute for Health Care and Excellence NICE (2015) C2

This quality standard covers prevention of falls and assessment after a fall in older people (aged 65 and over) who are living in the community or ... more

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Handbook for a School-based Risk Reduction Initiative

International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) (2015) C1

This handbook presents basic content and tips for implementing a school-based risk reduction programme. It is organised into five modules: its importance; approach and process; activities to benefit... more

Priority medical devices list for the COVID-19 response and associated technical specifications (Arab Version) recommended

Management of a cholera epidemic - Practical guide for doctors, nurses, laboratory technicians, medical auxiliaries, water and sanitation specialists and logisticians recommended

Priority medical devices list for the COVID-19 response and associated technical specifications (Arab Version)
recommended

Management of a cholera epidemic - Practical guide for doctors, nurses, laboratory technicians, medical auxiliaries, water and sanitation specialists and logisticians
recommended