Antibiotic stewardship refers to coordinated efforts and activities that seek to measure and improve use of antibiotics. Implementation of ASPs has demonstrated positive public health and clinical impacts including reducing costs, lengths of hospita
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l stays, and the burden of antibiotic resistance while maintaining or improving patient outcomes. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released the Core Elements of Hospital Antibiotic Stewardship Programs in 2014, which outlines essential components for ASPs in hospitals and provides practical guidance for implementing a robust ASPin an acute care facility. Variations to the Core Elements have been developed to deal with the particular challenges in small, rural or critical access hospitals in the United States and in outpatient facilities and nursing homes.
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This guidance document is based on research of social media activity related to antibiotic use at EU level, as well as on a survey of the social media activities of EAAD partner organisations, mostly EU umbrella organisations of patients and health
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professionals. The research showed that there is already some social media activity on prudent antibiotic use and that a few potential influencers are emerging. Similarly, the survey of the EU-wide partners of EAAD showed that respondents are becoming active on social media platforms.
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Policy Brief 2 June 2020
The COVID-19 pandemic is a health and human crisis threatening the food security and nutrition of millions of people around the world. Hundreds of millions of people were already suffering from hunger and malnutrition befor
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e the virus hit and, unless immediate action is taken, we could see a global food emergency. In the longer term, the combined effects of COVID-19 itself, as well as corresponding mitigation measures and the emerging global recession could, without large-scale coordinated action, disrupt the functioning of food systems. Such disruption can result in consequences for health and nutrition of a severity and scale unseen for more than half a century.
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This report reviews the latest evidence on what works to reduce HIV-related stigma and discrimination through key programmes to reduce stigma and discrimination and increase access to justice in the six settings of focus for the Global Partnership. It includes guidance for
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national governments and key stakeholders on how stigma and discrimination harm; how the stigmatization process operates and how we can stop it; key principles of stigma- and discrimination-reduction efforts; an overview of common intervention approaches; recommendations based on the latest evidence for reducing HIV-related stigma and discrimination in the six settings; and an overview of considerations for monitoring the success of the programmatic interventions recommended for each setting.
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The growing understanding of how sequence information can contribute to improved public health is driving global investments in sequencing facilities and programmes. The falling cost and complexity of generating GSD provides opportunities for expand
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ing sequencing capacity; however, challenges to widespread implementation remain. This document provides policy-makers and stakeholders with guidance on how to maximize the public health benefit of SARS-CoV-2 genomic sequencing activities in the short and long term as the pandemic continues to unfold. Practical considerations for the implementation of a virus genomic sequencing programme and an overview of the public health objectives of genomic sequencing are covered. This guidance focuses on SARS-CoV-2 but is applicable to other pathogens of public health concern.
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The report shows that older people are not getting the healthcare treatments they desperately need. The COVID-19 response has disrupted services for non-communicable diseases such as cancer and diabetes, communicable diseases such as malaria, and much-needed services for mental
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health. Combined with a loss of income, many older people are unable to get the medicines they need.
A Summary is available in Russian and Arabic
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The primary audience of this report with the compendium of resources are youth engagement practitioners in the Red Cross Red Crescent National Societies as well as technical experts and policy makers across the humanitarian landscape that thrive for
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meaningful interventions with and for children, adolescents, and young adults experiencing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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This guidance addresses rationale, risk-based scenarios, practical considerations prior to adoption of the self-testing products, quality assurance, safety and ethical considerations, and data management considerations for COVID-19 self-testing. The Africa CDC recommends the use of rapid antigen sel
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f-testing within two key scenarios. The first includes testing for case identification within scenarios with a high risk of infection, including symptomatic cases and contacts of a confirmed case. The second scenario involves general screening within scenarios of low or unknown risk exposure allowing for self-care such as before gatherings with at-risk individuals and prior to participation in events involving members of different households. Within these scenarios, a positive test result indicates likelihood of current infection, while a negative test result indicates a lower risk of active infection, though it does not rule out infection altogether. All positive cases should be managed following the national COVID-19 management protocol of Member States.ssur
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The indicators and questions in this document are designed for use by national AIDS programmes and partners to assess the state of a country’s HIV and AIDS response, and to measure progress towards achieving
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national HIV targets. Countries are encouraged to integrate these indicators and questions into their ongoing monitoring efforts and to report comprehensive national data through the Global AIDS Monitoring (GAM) process. In this way they will contribute to improving understanding of the global response to the HIV epidemic, including progress that has been made towards achieving the commitments and global targets set out in the new United Nations Political Declaration on HIV and AIDS: Ending Inequalities and Getting on Track to End AIDS by 2030, adopted in June 2021, and the linked Sustainable Development Goals.
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This report analyses the intersection of HIV, COVID-19 and public debt in developing countries. The collision between COVID-19 and a crippling debt crisis have reversed decades of progress - putting present and future investments in health and HIV a
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t risk. Pragmatic options to address the pandemic triad are proposed.
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In 2014, the World Heart Federation (WHF) launched
an initiative to develop a series of Roadmaps [1e6]. Their
aim is to identify potential roadblocks on the pathway to
effective prevention, detection, and management of cardiovascular disease (CVD), along with evidence-based
solutions to overcome
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them. The resulting documents
provide a framework to translate strategic intent into action
on integrating epidemiology, population, and cardiovascular outcome trial data into national plans for optimal
CVD management.
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PEPFAR Malawi’s Country Operational Plan 2022 (COP22) embodies joint priorities from national and subnational dialogues building on the 2020-2025 National Strategic Plan for HIV/AIDS. The interage
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ncy team has developed a person-centered, district-tailored and Malawi Population-Based HIV Impact Assessment (MPHIA)-informed strategy through extensive engagement with Government of Malawi (GoM) and Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) to sustain HIV epidemic control. At the end of COP21, PEPFAR Malawi was commended for contributing to reaching epidemic control in strong collaboration with GoM and stakeholders including the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (Global Fund). This includes enrollment of 88% of recipients of care on three or more months of antiretroviral treatment (ART), better outcomes for Malawian children through remarkable efforts in Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC) programming and progress made towards reaching men with more intentional and focused programming.
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This Technical Brief focuses on current principles and approaches to Moderate Acute Malnutrition (MAM) management, highlighting key constraints, gaps in knowledge and areas still lacking consensus. It is intended to inform ongoing debates among practitioners,
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national partners, donors and analysts on what information and evidence on best practices are currently available, where the gaps are, and priorities for going forward.
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This report provides an update on the key facets of HIV treatment access, including the latest HIV treatment guidelines from World Health Organization (WHO), an overview on pricing for first-line, second-line, and salvage regimens, and a summary of
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the opportunities for – and threats to – expanding access to affordable antiretroviral therapy (ART).
The report is supplemented by 11 drug profiles that contain more detailed information on pricing trends and patent barriers for key antiretroviral drugs and fixed-dose combinations. Also included is an annex of conditions that define eligibility for reduced prices from 15 pharmaceutical companies.
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This regional advocacy strategy on HIV and AIDS, tuberculosis (TB) and sexually transmitted infetions (STIs) is intended for use by Southern African Development Community (SADC) Member States at a national level. This is an overall advocacy strategy
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highlighting the most important issues relating to HIV and AIDS, TB and STIs in the Southern African region. It provides a broad advocacy framework for each of the issues identied, along with key targets, messages, and interventions
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Ending Cholera—A Global Roadmap to 2030 operationalises the new global strategy for cholera control at the country level and provides a concrete path toward a world in which cholera is no longer a threat to public health
This document provides a systematic approach in developing a coordinated, standardized, reliable, efficient, cost-effective, and sustainable specimen transport and referral system to support IVHD and VL testing networks. This document provides technical and programmatic recommendations on the approp
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riate specimen storage and transportation of specimens for HIV VL and IVHD testing. Along with the national guidelines for specimen storage and transport, these standards should provide guidance on the creation or improvement of specimen referral networks and specimen transport systems. In addition, standard operating procedures (SOPs) targeting drivers and persons responsible for packing of specimens and results return are included in this document.
No publication year indicated in the document.
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The development of water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) in schools guidelines for TimorLeste is a landmark moment in our quest to make every school child-friendly – a place where every child can learn, play and grow with pride and dignity. The overarching goal is to improve
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health, boost education achievement and promote gender equity in our schools.
The guidelines set clear levels of acceptable standards for water supply, provision of sanitation facilities and hygiene promotion in schools and provide a common framework and policy direction for all sub-sector actors. Therefore, all implementing agencies, managers, planners, architects, water and sanitation technicians, teaching staff, school directors, school boards, district WASH committees, local authorities and other relevant bodies should consult these guidelines, when making implementation plans.
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The Indonesian government has reformed its laws, policies, and institutions to better manage disaster risk since the significant 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami. The Government of Indonesia now has contingency plans for every disaster-prone city which identifies its vulnerabilities, outlines the relief re
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sponse, and builds overall preparedness. In 2007, the government introduced a disaster management bill that incorporated disaster management prevention into disaster management response. In 2008, Indonesia created the National Disaster Management Agency (Badan Nasional Penanggulangan Bencana, BNPB). The new shift led to the strengthening of the country’s disaster management agency, and the addition of district branches and representatives. Despite the progress made, more work is needed at the local level as well as integration of disaster risk reduction in government departments.11 Under Indonesia’s 2007 Disaster Management law, provincial and district administrations are mandated to head disaster management during a crisis.
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Antibiotics and other antimicrobial agents are invaluable life savers, particularly in resource-limited countries where infectious diseases are abundant. Both uncomplicated and severe infections are potentially curable as long as the aetiological agents are susceptible to the
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antimicrobial drugs. The rapid rate with which antimicrobial agents are becoming ineffective due to resistance acquired as a result of unchecked overuse and misuse threatens to undo the benefit of controlling infections. The evidence for resistant microorganisms, many times to more than a single antimicrobial agent, has been observed globally. In Tanzania, there is evidence in the form of few scattered studies conducted in different parts of the country in a multitude of settings including health care facilities, the community, domesticated animals and wild animals
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