A Situational Assessment and Five-YearAction Plan for the Africa CDC Strengthening Regional Public Health Institutions and Capacity ...tribute-to-highlight medbox">for Surveillance and Response Program
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The framework sets out a response to current mental health challenges arising from the negative impact that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on population mental health and well-being. The EFAMH provides a coherent basis ...ight medbox">for intensified efforts to mainstream, promote and safeguard mental well-being as an integral element of COVID-19 response and recovery; to counter the stigma and discrimination associated with mental health conditions;
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Towards ending tuberculosis and multidrug-resistant tuberculosis.
The Interim Guidance for Risk Communication and Community Engagement (RCCE) outlines recommendations, considerations and methods to raise awareness..., manage risk perception, maintain trust and proactively support people at risk to make informed decisions to protect themselves and others from monkeypox. The guidance includes recommendations on identifying and communicating with affected populations and key audiences and avoiding stigma in communications outreach. It also includes key messages about symptoms of monkeypox, transmission, prevention measures, and communicating about uncertainty. This document also provides RCCE guidance for managers and planners of gatherings and events, where close physical contact may create an environment conducive for the transmission of monkeypox. Additionally, this document includes a compendium of recommendations for RCCE methods and resources to support the monkeypox response.
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Despite the significant role of vector control in national leishmaniasis control programmes, the programmatic community perceives vector control as... the weakest component of leishmaniasis control strategies in terms of resources, scientific evidence of the usefulness of interventions and capacity for quality-assured implementation. Therefore, the main objective of this manual is to provide practical tools, techniques and procedures to strengthen sand fly control and surveillance in order to improve implementation of leishmaniasis control programmes. The manual provides a rationale for programme managers in different geographical regions on the types of vector control interventions to be used in different epidemiological and environmental settings and also how to measure their impact.
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This report is part of the gender and noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) initiative launched by the WHO Regional Office for Europe, which aims to stre...ngthen the response to NCDs through a gender approach. It is part of a series of country profiles and a synthesis report. The country profile of Ukraine presents a gender analysis of the WHO STEPwise survey (STEPS) data to support international commitments to reducing the burden of NCDs with evidence and knowledge exchange. A gender analysis of STEPS NCD risk-factor survey data describes how risk factors for chronic diseases differ between and among men and women by exploring and tracking the direction and magnitude of trends in risk factors and accessing services by sociodemographic variables. Important differences hide even in sex-disaggregated data that need to be unpacked through sociodemographic characteristics, because men and women are not homogenous groups. The report also recognizes gaps in evidence and calls for further analysis of the impact of gender-based inequalities.
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Socioeconomic status is associated with differences in risk factors for cardiovascular disease incidence and outcomes, including mortality. However..., it is unclear whether the associations between cardiovascular disease and common measures of socioeconomic status—wealth and education—differ among high-income, middle-income, and low-income countries, and, if so, why these differences exist. We explored the association between education and household wealth and cardiovascular disease and mortality to assess which marker is the stronger predictor of outcomes, and examined whether any differences in cardiovascular disease by socioeconomic status parallel differences in risk factor levels or differences in management.
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This document aims to provide interim guidance for microbiology and virology experts, other laboratory professionals, laboratory managers, infectious dise...ase programme managers, public health professionals and other stakeholders that provide primary, confirmatory or advanced testing for SARS-CoV-2, including genomic sequencing, or are involved in making decisions on establishing or scaling up capability and capacity to detect and characterize circulating SARS-CoV-2 variants.
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This European compendium was produced to provide operational examples of the new nursing and midwifery roles and new service delivery models curren...tly being employed across the Region. The case studies directly relate to the priority areas in Health 2020 and exemplify the types of activities needed to fully implement the objectives within the Strategic Directions framework.
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A framework for action provides a guide for those involved in the development of the multisectoral action plan. It starts with a wide-ranging vision and...span>, through a series of increasingly specific intentions, brings into focus actions with measurable outcomes that can be taken to achieve that vision.
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Pathogen genomic surveillance has become a priority for public health systems in recent years. Genomic sequencing is increasingly being used to characterize pathogens and monitor important public he...alth priorities (e.g. poliovirus, influenza virus, Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Vibrio cholerae, antimicrobial resistance (AMR)). The decrease in cost and time of sequencing and the exponential development of bioinformatic pipelines have played a critical role in integrating pathogen genomics into routine public health surveillance. The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has highlighted the role that sequencing plays in the surveillance of infectious diseases. Sequencing facilitates earlier detection, more accurate investigation of outbreaks, closer real-time monitoring of pathogen evolution and tailored development and evaluation of interventions to inform local to global public health decision-making and action. However, there remains a need to coordinate efforts, leverage and link existing surveillance and laboratory networks and capabilities, and systematically integrate genetic sequence data (GSD) with clinical and epidemiological data to strengthen its utility.
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The goal of the global outbreak response for monkeypox is to stop human-to-human transmission of monkeypox, with a priority focus on communities at high risk of exposure which may differ according to context, ...ox">and to effectively use strong public health measures to prevent onward spread of the disease. Judicious use of vaccines can support this response. This interim guidance, developed with the advice and support of the Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) Working Group on smallpox and monkeypox vaccines, provides the first WHO recommendations on vaccines and immunization for monkeypox. Key points follow.
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While there has been real progress in addressing the burden of disease in the WHO African region, the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the link between health, economics and security, as the region... saw decades of progress threatened, including positive trends in decreasing inequality. In the African Region the momentum towards achieving the 2030 SDG disease burden reduction targets (SDG targets 3.3, 3.4 and 3B) has stalled.
The COVID-19 pandemic was also a major threat to gains made, such as the eradication of polio in the region, declared in 2020; reduced numbers of new HIV infections in 2021 compared to 2010; and passing the 2020 milestone of the End TB Strategy, with a 22% reduction in new cases compared with 2015. However, the pandemic also disrupted essential health services in 92% of countries globally, 22.7 million children missed basic immunization, there was an increase in malaria and TB, and global deaths from TB rose for the first time since 2015.
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This Strategic Response Plan for the measles emergency in the WHO European Region (SRP) articulates the overall status of measles resurgence in the WHO Eu...ropean Region and the priority actions needed to ensure an effective response to interrupt transmission, save lives and reverse the regional trend in case numbers.
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The context of the Ebola epidemic presented extreme challenges for Oxfam, as it did for many organisations. At the onset of the epidemic, there was a general lack of understanding of the ...="attribute-to-highlight medbox">disease and how to respond to it effectively and safely. A pervasive and persistent climate of fear, coupled with changing predictions about the likely evolution of the epidemic, influenced analysis and response at all levels. There was strong pressure to treat the epidemic as a medical emergency requiring a medical response – organised through topdown processes – rather than standard humanitarian coordination
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Not long ago, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the discovery of Chagas disease, several campaigns denounced the scant progress has been made in diffrent spheres- medical, scientific and p...olitcal- but major challanges still remain. This is an appropriate time to celebrate what has been achieved and to take the next step.
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There has been no systematic comparison of how the policy response to past infectious disease outbreaks and epidemics was funded. This study aims to collate ...x">and analyse funding for the Ebola epidemic and Zika outbreak between 2014 and 2019 in order to understand the shortcomings in funding reporting and suggest improvements. Methods: Data were collected via a literature review and analysis of financial reporting databases, including both amounts donated and received. Funding information from three financial databases was analysed: Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation’s Development Assistance for Health database, the Georgetown Infectious Disease Atlas and the United Nations Financial Tracking Service. A systematic literature search strategy was devised and applied to seven databases: MEDLINE, EMBASE, HMIC, Global Health, Scopus, Web of Science and EconLit. Funding information was extracted from articles meeting the eligibility criteria and measures were taken to avoid double counting. Funding was collated, then amounts and purposes were compared within, and between, data sources.
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Mosquito-borne diseases are expanding their range, and re-emerging in areas where they had subsided for decades. The extent to which climate change... influences the transmission suitability and population at risk of mosquito-borne diseases across different altitudes and population densities has not been investigated. The aim of this study was to quantify the extent to which climate change will influence the length of the transmission season and estimate the population at risk of mosquito-borne diseases in the future, given different population densities across an altitudinal gradient.
The Lancet Planetary Health Volume 5, ISSUE 7, e404-e414, July 01, 2021
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Against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, health is receiving unprecedented public and political attention. Yet the fact that climate change also presents us with a health crisis deserves further recognition. From more deaths due to heat stress... to increased transmission of infectious diseases, climate change affects the social and environmental determinants of health in ways that are profound and far-reaching. The fundamental interdependency of human health and the health of the environment is encapsulated in the concept of planetary health, a scientific field and social movement that has been gaining force since the 2015 publication of the Rockefeller Foundation-Lancet Commission report “Safeguarding human health in the Anthropocene epoch”.
We see an urgent need for strategic communication to raise awareness of climate-health synergies in order to overcome the misperception that climate and health are two independent agendas. The fragmented and sector-focused nature of thinking and action remains a significant barrier to integrating health considerations into climate planning and project development. Inevitably, collaboration across sectors requires a community of practice. Despite recent efforts focused on the climate-health nexus, much work remains to be done to translate scientific findings for policymakers, mobilise climate financing resources in support of health co-benefits, and promote genderjust solutions within climate change projects.
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The purpose of the WHO Manual for the Public Health Management of Chemical Incidents is to provide a comprehensive overview of the principles and roles of public health in the management of chemical... incidents and emergencies. While this information is provided for each phase of the emergency cycle, including prevention, planning and preparedness, detection and alert, response and recovery, it is recognized that the management of chemical incidents and emergencies requires a multi-disciplinary and multi-sectoral approach and that the health sector may play an influencing, complementary or a leadership role at various stages of the management process. The target audience includes public health and environmental professionals, as well as any other person involved in the management of chemical incidents.
WHO and all those involved in the development of the publication hope that the publication will have wide application, especially in developing countries and countries with economies in transition, and that in the future the health sector will be better prepared to acknowledge and fulfill its roles and responsibilities in the management of chemical incidents and emergencies, thereby contributing to the prevention and mitigation of their health consequences.
The publication is also available in French: http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/246117/9789242598148-fre.pdf?sequence=1 and in Spanish: http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/246118/9789243598147-spa.pdf?sequence=1
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