This country cooperation strategy (CCS) outlines how the World Health Organization (WHO) will work with the Lao People’s Democratic Republic over... the next five years (2024–2028), supporting the implementation of the five-year health sector development plans and the Health Sector Reform Strategy 2021–2030 to attain the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030.
The Lao People’s Democratic Republic experienced substantial economic growth in the 30 years prior to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, contributing to reduced poverty and significant progress toward the SDGs. However, the COVID-19 pandemic brought this development to a halt. It was anticipated that the COVID-19 recovery and the tremendous population growth in recent years would provide opportunities for a shift toward more sustainable and inclusive development in the years ahead. In 2023, however, the contrary was the case. Rural residents, including many ethnic minorities, continued to face marginalization because of limited access to education, health care and economic opportunities.
Despite the challenges of COVID-19 and other disease outbreaks, the country has made significant improvements in health. Nonetheless, progress has been uneven and not everyone has benefited from these achievements. In the mountainous region, many people lack access to quality health care because of the unequal distribution of well-trained health-care workers. Preventable deaths due to poor-quality health care for children and newborns, infants and mothers remain a concern, as do communicable diseases such as sexually transmitted infections and tuberculosis. The increasing burden of noncommunicable diseases and the health impact of worsening climate change further heighten the need for strengthened and resilient health systems, which are at risk due to an underfunded health sector and weak economy.
This CCS aims to address remaining and future challenges as well as health needs while creating an impact that is sustainable. It identifies three strategic priorities and nine deliverables (Table 1) to support the attainment of the national vision of Health for all by all, as articulated in the 9th Health Sector Development Plan 2021–2025. It contributes to the country’s goals to achieve universal health coverage, graduate from least developed country status by 2026 and attain SDGs by 2030.
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This is a pre-deployment training, tailored specially to the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, offered to WHO personnel, consultants, and key partners. The...span> material covered in modules 1-4 is applicable and useful to frontline response workers, national and international. Only Module 5, which focuses on operational aspects - the code of conduct for international civil servants and human resources arrangements for WHO deployees, are specifically geared to all internationally recruited personnel and to WHO deployees respectively
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This document offers suggested risk communication actions in relation to Zika virus infection and other health issues linked to this disease. It is directed toward ministers ...o-highlight medbox">of health and other health sector actors who, with their national (multidisciplinary) teams for communication and social mobilization, will be able to adapt the provided information to the needs of their countries and audiences.
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The Global Campaign Against Epilepsy “Out of the Shadows”
A One Health Response. A Briefing Note
The strategy recommends that AU Member States should enhance, where feasible, existing COVID-19 surveillance to include:
Community-based surveillance to detect symptomatic cases early for tre...atment and to avert viral transmission;
Sentinel surveillance in high-risk populations to detect and track both presymptomatic and asymptomatic cases; and
Wastewater surveillance to monitor early environmental signs of virus transmission and identify communities where targeted interventions can be implemented to decrease transmission.
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This report provides an overview of the main findings of the 2019–2020 harmonised AMR monitori...ng in the main food-producing animal populations monitored, in carcase/meat samples and in humans. Where available, monitoring data obtained from pigs, calves, broilers, laying hens and turkeys, as well as from carcase/meat samples and humans were combined and compared at the EU level, with particular emphasis on multidrug resistance, complete susceptibility and combined resistance patterns to critically important antimicrobials, as well as Salmonella and E. coli isolates possessing ESBL-/AmpC-/carbapenemase phenotypes.
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Trachoma is an eye infection that for thousands of years caused many people to go blind across all continents. As the result ...-to-highlight medbox">of development and targeted interventions, trachoma is now limited to an estimated 57 countries, often affecting the poorest
populations of the world. Today, more than 2 million people are either blind or suffer from a very painful disability as the result of trachoma.
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The aim of these Guidelines is to provide a framework for the conservation and sustainable use <...span class="attribute-to-highlight medbox">of plants in medicine. To do this, the Guidelines describe the various tasks that should be carried out to ensure that where medicinal plants are taken from the wild, they are taken on a basis that is sustainable.
The Guidelines conform to the principles of Caring for the Earth, prepared in partnership by IUCN, UNEP and WWF. Caring for the Earth extends the message and scope of the World Conservation Strategy to an ethic of sustainable living, and explains how to integrate conservation with development. Its message is particularly relevant to the issue of medicinal plants, which in many parts of the world are being seriously depleted due to over-exploitation and loss of habitats, resulting in a lack of essential medicines and so reducing options for the future.
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The Core Elements of Outpatient Antibiotic Stewardship provides a framework for antibiotic stewardship ...for outpatient clinicians and facilities that routinely provide antibiotic treatment. This report augments existing guidance for other clinical settings. In 2014 and 2015, respectively, CDC released the Core Elements of Hospital Antibiotic Stewardship Programs and the Core Elements of Antibiotic Stewardship for Nursing Homes. Antibiotic stewardship is the effort to measure and improve how antibiotics are prescribed by clinicians and used by patients. Improving antibiotic prescribing involves implementing effective strategies to modify prescribing practices to align them with evidence-based recommendations for diagnosis and management.
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The "Stories from the field" document by the WHO Regional Office for ...ighlight medbox">the Eastern Mediterranean shares effective strategies from the Eastern Mediterranean Region for addressing noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) and mental health challenges, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic. It highlights regional success stories in mitigating NCDs and mental health conditions through innovative, country-specific interventions. The report emphasizes multisectoral collaboration, community engagement, and resilience in public health responses. It aims to inspire further action and knowledge-sharing to enhance health outcomes in challenging settings across the region.
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This brief focuses specifically on the Grand Nord (Great North): the Beni and Lubero territories of northern North Kivu that are ...bute-to-highlight medbox">the epicentre of the outbreak. Further participatory enquiry should be undertaken with the affected populations, but given ongoing transmission, conveying key considerations and immediate recommendations have been prioritised.
This brief is based on a rapid review of existing published and grey literature, professional ethnographic research in DRC, personal communication with administrative and health officials and practitioners in the country, and experience of previous Ebola outbreaks.
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In many of Myanmar’s contested regions, healthcare services are provided through two parallel governance systems – by the government’s Minist...ry of Health, and by providers linked to ethnic armed organizations. Building upon efforts to build trust between these two actors following ceasefires signed in 2011 and 2012, the new National League for Democracy-led government offers an unprecedented opportunity to increase cooperation between these systems and to ensure health services reach Myanmar’s most vulnerable populations.
The report provides an overview of existing health service arrangements in these areas, from both the Ministry of Health and from ethnic and community-based health organizations. It then unpacks the concept of “convergence”, highlighting key opportunities and policy recommendations for both government and non-government actors.
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Revised and expanded version of the Guidelines
In case of resistance to rifampicin, fluoroquinolones become the preferred category of second-li...ne drugs. Unfortunately, quinolone-resistant strains of Mycobacterium leprae have also been reported in several countries, probably due to the extensive use of quinolones for treating several types of infections. Clofazimine resistance is still rare but this antimicrobial cannot be given alone
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The mandate of the National Tuberculosis Control Programme is to provide leadership and stewards...hip to accelerate intense and coordinated efforts to reduce the adult TB burden of 290 per 100,000 population recently established in the 2013 National TB Prevalence Survey. Other key challenges are low TB case notification, unacceptably high TB death rates, low antiretroviral therapy (ART) coverage among TB/HIV patients and low drug-resistant notification and treatment.
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5 Nov. 2020
The policy brief provides a concise summary of information and considerations to ensure optimal management of influenza during ...lass="attribute-to-highlight medbox">the COVID-19 pandemic. It includes a list of technical guidance and other resources to assist policy makers with monitoring the situation, preventing seasonal influenza, reducing severe complications and mortality, protecting specific populations and communicating to and engaging with the public.
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In 2017, $37.4 billion of development assistance was provided to low- and middleincome countries to maintain or improve health. This amount is down... slightly compared to 2016, and since 2010, development assistance for health (DAH) has grown at an annualized rate of 1.0%. While global development assistance for health has seemingly leveled off, global health spending continues to climb, outpacing economic growth in many countries. Total health spending for 2015, the most recent year for which data are available, was estimated to be $9.7 trillion (95% uncertainty interval: 9.7–9.8)*, up 4.7% (3.9–5.6) from the prior year, and accounted for 10% of the world’s total economy. With some sources of health spending growing and other types remaining steady, and with major variations in spending from country to country, it is more important than ever to understand where resources for health come from, where they go, and how they align with health needs. This information is critical for planning and is a necessary catalyst for change as we aim to close the gap on the unfinished agenda of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and move forward toward universal health coverage (UHC) in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) era.
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WHO has a unique combination of technical public health and scientific expertise, and a global operational footprint, with field offices ...s="attribute-to-highlight medbox">in more than 150 countries. In 2020, this global, technical, and operational reach meant WHO was able to support countries around the world in every aspect of COVID-19 public health response, from surveillance and laboratory testing to maintaining essential health services in the most vulnerable and fragile contexts.
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