The Transformation Agenda (TA) ushered in an ambitious reform process intended to transform the World Health Organization (WHO) into an organization that is proactive, results-driven, accountable and which meets stakeholder expectations, towards transforming and improving public health services in t...he African Region. It aimed to achieve a WHO that is pro-results, which optimally and creatively targets technical work as well as make operations more responsive, with greater effectiveness in both communications and partnerships. The Africa Region has been the epicentre of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) epidemic and it’s one of the leading causes of disease and death on the continent. The WHO, with partners, has worked tirelessly for many years to control the threat and reduce the negative impact of the disease. Since the early 2000s, significant progress has been made in the global fight against the scourge of HIV. However, the WCA subregion was falling concerningly behind ESA on several key indicators of progress. In 2016, the WHO joined UNAIDS, UNICEF and other partners in a call for a strong and urgent response to support WCA countries to develop catch-up plans to triple and fast-track ART coverage, to enable the region to catch up with ESA by the end of 2020. Implementation of a widespread test-and-treat strategy, coupled with the scale-up of differentiated service delivery (DSD) and mobilization of requisite funding, accelerated WCA’s progress towards this goal. The HIV treatment catch-up and fast-track plan has achieved its target of seeing the West and Central African region (WCA) catch up with the Eastern and Southern African region’s (ESA) antiretroviral coverage rate of 78% in 2021, albeit later than the 2020 target time frame. A 33% improvement was achieved in WCA, against 21% in ESA, between 2015–2020. WCA achieved a significant 42% increase, compared to ESA’s 23%, between 2015 and 2021, to see WCA draw level with ESA at 78%. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) alone, progress of up to 47% was observed between 2015 and 2020, for example. In addition, 1.6 million more People Living with HIV (PLHIV) were enrolled on antiretroviral treatment (ART) between 2015 and 2020.
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The Leishmaniasis East Africa Platform (LEAP) was established to support the generation of scientific evidence for the development and distribution of new treatments for leishmaniasis in Eastern Africa...an>.
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Background: Donor countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and United Arab Emirates (UAE) have been among the largest donors in the world. However, little is known about their contributions for health. In t...his study, we addressed this gap by estimating the amount of development assistance for health (DAH) contributed by MENA country donors from 2000 to 2017. Methods: We tracked DAH provided and received by the MENA region leveraging publicly available development assistance data in the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) database of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), government agency reports and financial statements from key international development agencies. We generated estimates of DAH provided by the three largest donor countries in the MENA region (UAE, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia) and compared contributions to their relative gross domestic product (GDP) and government spending; We captured DAH contributions by other MENA country governments (Egypt, Iran, Qatar, Turkey, etc.) disbursed through multilateral agencies. Additionally, we compared DAH contributed from and provided to the MENA region.
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Introduction Pharmacovigilance (PV) systems to monitor drug and vaccine safety are often inadequate in sub-Saharan
Africa. In Malawi, a PV enhancement initiative was introduced to address major barriers to PV.
Objective The objective of this initi...ative was to improve reporting of adverse events (AEs) by strengthening passive safety
surveillance via PV training and mentoring of local PV stakeholders and healthcare providers (HCPs) at their own healthcare
facilities (HCFs).
Methods An 18-month PV training and mentoring programme was implemented in collaboration with national stakeholders,
and in partnership with the Ministry of Health, GSK and PATH. Two-day training was provided to Expanded Programme on
Immunisation coordinators, identified as responsible for AE reporting, and four National Regulatory Authority representa-
tives. Abridged PV training and mentoring were provided regularly to HCPs. Support was given in upgrading the national
PV system. Key performance indicators included the number of AEs reported, transmission of AE forms, completeness of
reports, serious AEs reported and timeliness of recording into VigiFlow.
Results In 18 months, 443 HCPs at 61 HCFs were trained. The number of reported AEs increased from 22 (January 2000 to
October 2016) to 228 (November 2016 to May 2018), enabling Malawi to become a member of the World Health Organization
Programme for International Drug Monitoring. Most (98%) AE report forms contained mandatory information on reporter,
event, patient and product, but under 1% were transmitted to the national PV office within 48 h.
Conclusion Regular PV training and mentoring of HCPs were effective in enhancing passive safety surveillance in Malawi,
but the transmission of reports to the national PV centre requires further improvement.
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This papers argues that climate change is the greatest threat to children's care in the region
This video is of a community performance from a theatre play, called 'In Control' South Africa. Our international group of respiratory health researchers found that young people with asthma can feel stigmatised or misunderstood. We therefore develop...ed ths play together with a UK young people's theatre (Tramshed) and a local theatre group (Assitej).
The play is about a teenage girl with asthma, who struggles with different perceptions and prejudices people have of her condition. This play has been developed as part of a wider research project across sub-Saharan Africa, called ACACIA (Achieving Control of Asthma in Children in Africa).
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Women, girls and marginalized groups who are largely dependent on natural resources for livelihoods are among the hardest hit by extreme weather patterns. These weather patterns limit their access to food, water, shelter, education and access to essential health services, including those that addres...s sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), gender-based violence (GBV) and preventing harmful practices such as child marriage and female genital mutilation.
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12 January 2021
The COVID-19 vaccines under development or approved by regulators are believed to be safe for most people, including people living with HIV.
Lancet Oncol 2013; 14: e158–67
Series: Cancer Control in Africa 3
Global Heart, March 2014, Vol. 9 No.1
Sub-Saharan Africa has the world’s youngest populations. The pattern of cardiovascular disease (CVD) is distinctly different from other regions, with a lower proportion of causes stemming from atherosclerosis..., and a younger average age at CVD death. Sub-Saharan Africa has the world’s lowest ischaemic heart disease death rates, but stroke death rates are similar to those in Western, High Income countries
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CDC course for volunteers going to Africa. Please find out mor infos on the CDC website
Free access from the website http://www.nejm.org/doi/pdf/10.1056/NEJMoa1411100. Please open the link and download the pdf-file
The New England Journal of Medicine has a perspective on Ebola Virus Disease in West Africa — Clinical Manifestations and Management, written by authors who have cared for more than 700 patients with EVD between August 23 and October 4, 2014, in t...he largest Ebola treatment unit in Monrovia, Liberia (Free Access) NEJm, November 5, 2014DOI: 10.1056/NEJMp1413084
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doi: 10.7861/clinmedicine.15-1-54
Clin Med February 1, 2015 vol. 15 no. 1 54-57
This Making It Work multi-stakeholder initiative documents good practice for inclusive employment of people with disabilities, in order to promote effective implementation Article 27 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in seven West ...">African countries. “The objective was to make recommendations for public and private employers, microfinance institutions, governments and their partners in order that they become agents of change and commit themselves to inclusive policies promoting access to decent jobs for people with disabilities in West Africa” - See more at: http://www.asksource.info/node/70240#sthash.yBjlgAds.dpuf
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WHO Guideline. Since 2010, countries in the meningitis belt have started to introduce a new serogroup A meningococcal conjugate vaccine conferring individual protection and herd immunity. Following the successful roll-out of this vaccine, epidemics due to Neisseria meningitidis serogroup A (NmA) are... disappearing, but other serogroups (e.g. NmW, NmX and NmC) still cause epidemics, albeit at a lower frequency and of a smaller size. Due to these changes, WHO organized the review of the evidence to provide recommendations for epidemic control, related to operational thresholds for investigation and response to outbreaks, the use of rapid diagnostic tests, antibiotic regimens in epidemics, and prophylaxis for household contacts of cases
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