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 agencie...s tackle the crisis in low and middle-income countries where handwashing facilities are urgently needed 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.
more
A multisectoral approach to prevent anemia will save lives and improve the wellbeing of mothers, infants, and children
Myanmar has made significant progress in its disaster management policies, plans, and procedures since 2008, when Cyclone Nargis impacted the country leaving devastation in its aftermath. The Government of Myanmar (GoM) has modified the government s...tructure and created new authorities and plans to improve the effectiveness of disaster management at all levels. While this progress is encouraging and shows the determination of the government to make necessary adjustments, the resources to implement the policy changes have been slower to develop. Myanmar has made significant progress in its disaster management policies, plans, and procedures since 2008, when Cyclone Nargis impacted the country leaving devastation in its aftermath. The Government of Myanmar (GoM) has modified the government structure and created new authorities and plans to improve the effectiveness of disaster management at all levels. While this progress is encouraging and shows the determination of the government to make necessary adjustments, the resources to implement the policy changes have been slower to develop.
more
Ghana's attempt to regulate health care waste management started in 2002 with the development of guidelines on health care waste manage-ment by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). In 2006, the Ghana Health Service (GHS) also developed the Health Care Waste Management Policy ...bute-to-highlight medbox">and Guidelines as a single document.
Although awareness on Health Care Waste Management (HCWM) has improved in recent years, there is the need for a systematic approach to improve on effective segregation, safe collection, and storage, as well as ultimate treatment before disposal.
This guideline seeks to ensure that HCW is managed effectively in compliance with existing International Conventions that Ghana is a signatory to, national laws and regulations, and others to be passed in future.
Recommendations for better management of HCW in the nation's health care facilities have been presented in this document. Also, standard operating procedures (SOPs) have been developed to provide
guidance to various levels of the health facilities.
more
Taenia saginata is a zoonotic tapeworm that is of economic importance in countries where cattle are kept. The parasite is transmitted from human tapeworm carriers (taeniosis) to bovines (cysticercosis) by excretion of eggs or proglottids containing eggs into the environment via the stool. Bovines ca...n then ingest the eggs through contaminated feed or water. After ingestion, the eggs hatch and release oncospheres in the small intestines, where the oncospheres penetrate the intestinal wall to reach the blood circulation. This distributes them throughout the body, but primarily to muscle tissue, where they develop into cysticerci. For humans to become infected with T. saginata, raw or undercooked bovine meat or offal containing infective cysts must be consumed. Bovine cysticercosis has been associated with various environmental factors related to water sources, such as animals having access to surface water, flooding of pastures and proximity to wastewater sources.
more
This report details the nutrition situation in Namibia. It provides information on what needs to be done! The situation calls for a consorted action. Nutrition is everyone’s business.The establishment of the National Alliance for Improved Nutritio...n (NAFIN) is a positive response to this urgency. NAFIN is a multi-sectoral and multi-stakeholder association, not for gain.
more
Strengthening resilient agricultural livelihoods
Level 3 responses are activated in the most complex and challenging humanitarian emergencies, when the highest level of mobilization is required across the humanitarian system. Even before the confli...ct escalated, the country suffered high levels of poverty, food insecurity, undernutrition and malnutrition, water shortages and land degradation. Yemenis are also facing armed conflict, displacement, risk of famine and disease outbreaks.
more
The desired impact of the OH JPA is a world better able to prevent, predict, detect and
respond to health threats and improve the health of humans..., animals, plants and the
environment while contributing to sustainable development. The OH JPA aims to work
towards this vision in the following way:
• Provide a framework for action and propose a set of activities the four organizations
can offer together to advance and sustainably scale up One Health.
• Provide upstream policy and legislative advice and technical assistance, to help
set national targets and priorities across the sectors for the development and
implementation of One Health legislation, initiatives and programmes.
• Take stock of existing cross-sectoral global and regional initiatives around One
Health, identify and advise on synergies and overlaps, and support coordination.
• Mobilize and make better use of resources across sectors, disciplines and
stakeholders.
• The OH JPA is guided by a theory of change and makes use of One Health principles
to strengthen collaboration, communication, capacity building and coordination
more
A recent survey of the literature and experience identified five broad actions that development institutions and governments, as well as their partners an...d stakeholders, can take to improve disability-inclusive disaster risk management. Those five actions are:
- Include persons with disabilities as valued stakeholders in disaster risk management activities
- Help remove barriers to the full participation of persons with disabilities
- Increase awareness among governments and their partners of the safety and security needs of persons with disabilities
- Collect data that is disaggregated by disability
- Ensure that new construction, rehabilitation and reconstruction are accessible to persons with disabilities
more
Needs assessment is essential for programme planning, monitoring and evaluation, and accountability, however needs assessment is still a critical weakness of humanitarian response. Organisations nee...d to improve how they do assessments. The Assessment Capacities Project (ACAPS) and the Emergency Capacity Building Project (ECB) have produced this guide to fill the gap that existed for a practical resource that pulls together the main lessons learned from various initiatives and experiences.
more
The five hepatitis viruses have different epidemiological profiles, and their impact, duration, and transmission route also vary. The most common transmission routes contributing to the spread of he...patitis are exposure to infected blood via blood transfusion or unsafe injection practices, consumption of contaminated food and drinking water, and transmission from mother to child during pregnancy and delivery. Also, unsafe injection practices, including the use of unsterile needles and syringes, serve as a major pathway for the spread of hepatitis B and C, and reducing transmission of both diseases requires addressing these practices.
more
During the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic, the world’s economy slowed. Yet, the global annual average particulate pollution (PM2.5) was largely unchanged from 2019 levels. At the same time, growing evidence shows air pollution—even when experienced at very low levels—hurts human health. T...his recently led the World Health Organization (WHO) to revise its guideline for what it considers a safe level of exposure of particulate pollution, bringing most of the world—97.3 percent of the global population—into the unsafe zone. The AQLI finds that particulate air pollution takes 2.2 years off global average life expectancy, or a combined 17 billion life-years, relative to a world that met the WHO guideline. This impact on life expectancy is comparable to that of smoking, more than three times that of alcohol use and unsafe water, six times that of HIV/AIDS, and 89 times that of conflict and terrorism.
more
Poor quality health services are holding back progress on improving health in countries at all income levels.
Today, inaccurate diagnosis, medication errors, inappropriate or unnecessary treatment, inadequate or unsafe clinical facilities or practices, or providers who lack adequate training ...pan class="attribute-to-highlight medbox">and expertise prevail in all countries.
The situation is worst in low and middle-income countries where 10 percent of hospitalized patients can expect to acquire an infection during their stay, as compared to seven percent in high income countries. This is despite hospital acquired infections being easily avoided through better hygiene, improved infection control practices and appropriate use of antimicrobials.. At the same time, one in ten patients is harmed during medical treatment in high income countries.
more
In an effort to improve the capabilities and accountability of humanitarian and economic practitioners, the SEEP (Small Enterprise Education ...class="attribute-to-highlight medbox">and Promotion) Network's Minimum Economic Recovery Standards focus on minimum industry standards for facilitating economic recovery in crisis situations.
The handbook sets out strategies and interventions designed to improve income, cash flow, asset management, and growth among crisis-affected households and enterprises. These include financial services, productive assets, employment, and enterprise development. It emphasizes encouraging the re-start of enterprises and livelihoods strategies, and improving market productivity and governance
more
SITUATION ANALYSIS
• In Syria, nine years into the crisis, access to sucient quantities of safe water remains limited, with increased water quality assurances ...medbox">and support to water systems rehabilitation, operation and maintenance unconditionally needed.
• There is a need to maintain the provision of adequate WASH services and supplies for IDPs especially in the northeast and northwest, and to promote transition to more sustainable solutions while acknowledging that more emphasis on IDPs in collective centers and open areas is also needed.
more
This guidance is intended to be one stop shop to improve the quality and effectiveness of health interventions in emergency, to respond to the most frequent scenarios ...ight medbox">and conditions.
The main document contains the most common elements to be found in emergencies. As much as possible they are one page tables on one topic each with the key elements that ensure quality in column 2 of the table. Column 1 is about key information. Column 3 contains suggested indicators and column 4 helps decision making. This is a document to consult as needed, not really to read from front to last page
more
Arsenic contaminated tube well water was first detected in Bangladesh in early 1990s. The arsenic comes from naturally arsenic-rich material delivered by the region's river systems, deposited over many years to make up the land of Bangladesh. Arseni...c contamination is not caused by tube wells, or by irrigation or application of fertilizers.
Today, although 98 per cent of the population uses an improved drinking water source the safe water coverage of Bangladesh is 86 per cent because of arsenic contamination.
more
The ERP approach seeks to improve effectiveness by reducing both time and effort, enhancing predictability through establishing predefined roles, responsibilities ... medbox">and coordination mechanisms. The Emergency Response Preparedness Plan (ERPP) has four main components: i) Risk Assessment, ii) Minimum Preparedness Actions, iii) Standard Operating Procedures (SOP), and iv) Contingency Plans for the initial emergency response. Besides these four elements, the preparedness package also includes the updated Multi-Sector Initial Rapid Assessment (MIRA) methodology, the Scenario Plan for a cyclone in Ayeyawaddy as well as the key documents for cash transfer programming in new emergencies.
more
Under the theme Equity at the Heart of Health, this Plan seeks to catalyze efforts in Member States to reduce inequities in health within and between countries and territories in order to ...s="attribute-to-highlight medbox">improve health outcomes. The Plan identifies specific actions to tackle health inequality, including those recommended by the Commission on Equity and Health Inequalities in the Americas, with guidance from the High-level Commission for Universal Health. Four cross-cutting themes are central to this Plan’s approach to addressing the determinants of health: equity, gender, ethnicity, and human rights
more
Barbados currently has a rudimentary framework and capacity to address the issue of antimicrobial resistance. There however needs to be coordination of efforts and improvement in areas where gaps ha...ve been identified.Actions required include improved antibiotic stewardship in healthcare settings, prevention of the spread of drug-resistant organisms//bacteria, elimination of the use of medically-important antibiotics for growth promotion in food animals, and expanded surveillance for drug-resistant bacteria in humans and animals.
The National Action Plan will provide the roadmap to guide Barbados in the effort to address the urgent and serious threat of AMR and will be organized around three goals for collaborative action.
more