Schistosoma haematobium is a parasitic digenetic trematode responsible for schistosomiasis (also known as bilharzia). The disease is caused by penetration of the skin by the parasite, spread by intermediate host molluscs in stagnant waters, and can be treated by administration of praziquantel. Schis...tosomiasis is considered to be an important but neglected tropical disease.
more
Issue Brief 31: Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) can occur when viruses, bacteria, parasites and fungi change over time. There is no longer a response to medicines, and the infection treatment gets really difficult which increases the risk of a disesase spread, which can lead to severe health problems.... AMR is an increasing threat to global public health worldwide that requires cross-sectional and cross-disciplinary action. It is present in every country and is spurred by several human-made factors, including over- and/or inadequate use of antibiotics, poor hygiene and infection prevention control, and excessive usage of antibiotics outside the health care sector e.g. in life stock production.
more
Female Genital Schistosomiasis (FGS) is a gynaecological disease caused by Schistosoma haematobium, a parasitic worm that is acquired by skin contact with freshwater contaminated by schistosome cerceriae. Communities in which the infection is most endemic have limited access to clean water and healt...hcare services. Up to 150 million adolescent girls and women are estimated to be at risk of FGS and about 16–56 milion womens are living with FGS, with the majority of these in sub-Saharan Africa. The variability of these estimates points to the fact that this neglected tropical disease is not well studied and frequently not prioritized by local, regional, and global health policy makers.
more
Full Perscribing information on Fexinidazole Tablet for oral use
INDICATIONS AND USAGE
Fexinidazole Tablets are indicated for the treatment of both the first-stage (hemolymphatic) and second-stage (meningoencephalitic) human African trypanosomiasis (HAT) due to Trypanosoma brucei gambiense in pati...ents 6 years of age and older and weighing at least 20 kg.
Limitations of Use
Due to the decreased efficacy observed in patients with severe second stage HAT (cerebrospinal fluid white blood cell count (CSF-WBC) >100 cells/μL) due to T. brucei gambiense disease, Fexinidazole Tablets should only be used in these patients if there are no other available treatment options [see Warnings and Precautions (5.1)]
more
In one of his final essays, statesman and former United Nations secretary general Kofi Annan said, ‘Snakebite is the most important tropical disease you’ve never heard of’. Mr. Annan firmly believed that victims of snakebite envenoming should be recognised and afforded greater efforts at impro...ved prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation. During the last years of his life, he advocated strongly for the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the global community to give greater priority to this disease of poverty and its victims.
more
For the past years, Haiti has been engulfed in a socioeconomic, political, and humanitarian crisis that has reached critical levels since mid-September 2022 with the intensification of gang violence and social unrest. The widespread insecurity and
political instability have drastically affected the... country’s access to essential goods and services, including food, water, and health. The current fuel supply crisis has affected the water and electricity supply to the population, health centers, and hospitals. Due to problems of insecurity and violence, patients and health personnel have difficulty accessing hospitals and health services.
In parallel, the public health system and international partners face limited response capacity due to reduced international personnel in Haiti, logistics issues, and difficulties in importing supplies. Indeed insecurity, roadblocks, and lockdowns are affecting the importation of internationally procured goods, which may slow the arrival of essential lifesaving supplies to support cholera response efforts. This scenario is particularly problematic, as cholera recently resurfaced in early October.
Armed gangs now control over 60% of the metropolitan area of Port-au-Prince, affecting at least 1.5 million people, and have expanded their influence outside of the capital city, interrupting vital humanitarian programs in most of the national territory,
including COVID-19 vaccination campaigns.
more
For the global community to be able to achieve ambitious targets relating to the prevention and treatment of HIV, viral hepatitis and sexually transmitted infections (STIs), multiple types of medicines must be widely accessible to all affected populations in all countries.
The purpose of this rep...ort is to provide forecasts of future demand for medicines used in the fields of HIV, viral hepatitis and STIs. This report jointly presents medicines forecasts across three disease areas in recognition of the benefits of addressing HIV, viral hepatitis and STIs in a coordinated manner.
more
Medical devices are used for the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of illness and diseases and for rehabilitation. WHO developed guidance on medical device donation in 2011, which has been now reviewed, with new evidence, new references on considerations for medical device solicitation and provisi...on, risks associated with inappropriate donations, the responsibilities of donors and recipient, and the steps they should follow before, during and after a donation. It includes three sections: description of major problems that may be faced during the donation process, listing of best practices for donors and recipients and addressing situations requiring special attention. It also has three annexes for further reading: the criteria for the acceptability of a donation, literature review on donations of medical devices between 2010 and 2023 and a flyer. This document is intended to improve the quality of medical devices donations, including medical equipment, single-use medical devices and in-vitro diagnostics, to provide maximum benefit to all stakeholders. The considerations can be used to develop institutional or national policies and regulations for medical devices donations. This document is intended for use by any organization, expert or practitioner involved in the donation, procurement, management of medical devices, including health workers, biomedical engineers, health managers, policymakers, donors, nongovernmental organizations and academic institutions.
more
To improve survival and quality of life among the 2.5 million children living with HIV, a comprehensive package of prevention, care and treatment is required. This package should include management of infections such as pneumonia, diarrhoea, malaria and ear infections, as well as common opportunisti...c infections and HIV-related co-morbidities. WHO is developing a series of guidelines on each of these conditions, following the GRADE approach. The document on the management of pneumonia and diarrhoea in HIV-infected infants and children is the first of this series. The recommendations are similar to those for non infected children, but they cover specific aspects related to HIV infection.
more
Replacement of Annex 2 of WHO Technical Report Series, No. 964... morbidity. These preparations are included in the WHO List of Essential Medicines and should be part of any primary health care package where snakebites occur. Currently, there is an urgent need to ensure availability of safe, effective and affordable antivenoms, particularly to those in developing countries and to improve the regulatory control over the manufacture, import and sale of antivenoms.>
more
The major areas of focus for the plan will be:
- Social mobilization and community empowerment (health promotion & education for disease prevention);
- Promotion of access to safe water, good sanitation and hygiene;
- Surveillance and laboratory confirmation of outbreaks;
- Prom...pt case management and infection control;
- Complementary use of oral cholera vaccine (OCV) for cholera endemic communities; and
- Coordination and stewardship between and for all actors.
- Monitoring, supervision, evaluation and operation research to ensure continued improvement in service delivery.
more
Sectors in which Priority Adaptation Projects should be implemented first include:
- 1) Agriculture, Early Warning Systems and Forest (First Priority Level Sectors). This is followed by:
- 2) Public Health and Water Resources (Second Priority Level Sectors);
- 3) Coastal Zone (Thir...d Priority Level Sector); and
- 4) Energy and Industry, and Biodiversity (Fourth Priority Level Sectors).
more
In order to better understand the contributing factors of undernutrition in LIFT program areas and the links between child nutritional status and independent variables of programmatic importance to LIFT (such as income, livelihoods, food security, and water, sanitation and hygiene [WASH]), LEARN com...missioned a secondary analysis of nutrition-related data from the 2013 LIFT Household Survey. The purpose of this report is to present the findings of this analysis.
more
The WHO/UNICEF JMP report, WASH in Health Care Facilities, is the first comprehensive global assessment of water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) in health care facilities. It also finds that 1 in 5 health care facilities has no sanitation service*, impacting 1.5 billion people. The report further rev...eals that many health centres lack basic facilities for hand hygiene and safe segregation and disposal of health care waste.
more
The Ministry of Health together with its partners realizes that efficient and effective
delivery of clinical care is highly dependent on the availability of appropriately
upgraded environment, which is in well facilitated space. Such facilities and utilities
should always be properly designed, bu...ilt, and maintained, so as to ensure efficient
treatment in clean and safe from infection.
The main challenges in achieving this include the lack of, appropriate holistic and
futuristic management plans, human resource for facility/utility management and
maintenance, adequate budget funds for renovation/maintenance activities at all
levels which means daily and long-term of facility maintenance plans and executions.
It is hoped that the guidelines will help to standardise
design of medical facilities and utilities country wide and result in efficient and
effective establishment of these life-saving function
more
• Clashes continued between the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), the Syrian Arab Army (SAA), and Turkish backed forces, concentrated around the M4 highway and Tal Tamer district in Al-Hasakeh. Further displacement was reported.
• Several civilian casualties occurred due to improvised explosive ...devices (IEDs) in Afrin, Quamishli, and along the Tell Abiad-Ras al-Ain corridor. On 16 November, a car bomb in Al Bab, Aleppo reportedly killed 14 people and injured 27, including civilians.
• On 13 November, Alouk water station was repaired following reconnection of the Debarseyah supply line, again restoring water to 460,000 people in Al-Hasakeh city and surrounding areas
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 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
Climate change is a verified, global phenomenon, but its consequences will not be evenly distributed. Developing countries and small island nations will be the most affected. Countries will experience more frequent extreme weather events and resulting changes in water quality and availability, incre...ased contamination of air, and food security problems. Health impact due to climate change include diarrhoeal diseases, vector-borne diseases, heat stress, malnutrition, deaths and injuries due to extreme weather events and mental stress.
more
The present book deals not only with emergency response, but also with measures designed to reduce the impact of disasters on environmental health infrastructure, such as water supply and sanitation facilities. It also aims to strengthen the ability of people to withstand the disruption of their acc...ustomed infrastructure and systems for environmental health (e.g. shelter, water supply, sanitation, vector control etc.) and to recover rapidly.
more
These include taking proactive measures to ensure that people, particularly people in vulnerable groups, can access HIV treatment and prevention services, designating and supporting essential workers, including community-led organizations, and implementing measures to prevent and address gender-base...d violence.
more