In response to the COVID-19 outbreak, this guidance provides information on infection and prevention control (IPC) for older people, their friends and families, carers, and healthcare providers. Anyone who manages, works, volunteers or provides care at any type of facilities where older people recei...ve care at (long-term care facilities, non-acute care facilities, and home care services), should practice strict IPC to prevent and control COVID-19 outbreaks. It has been observed in different countries that older people have higher case-fatality rate compared to other age groups. Therefore, it is especially important to implement and follow IPC measures at facilities, homes, and other venues that older people frequent.
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Histoplasmosis is a disease caused by the fungus Histoplasma capsulatum. This disease is highly endemic in some regions of North America, Central America, and South America and is also reported in certain countries of Asia and Africa. It often affects people with impaired immunity, including people ...living with HIV, among whom the most frequent clinical presentation is disseminated histoplasmosis. The symptoms of disseminated histoplasmosis are non-specific and may be indistinguishable from those of other infectious diseases, especially disseminated tuberculosis (TB), thus complicating diagnosis and treatment. Histoplasmosis is one of the most frequent opportunistic infections caused by fungal pathogens among people living with HIV in the Americas and may be responsible for 5–15% of AIDS-related deaths every year in this Region. These guidelines aim to provide recommendations for the diagnosis, treatment, and management of disseminated histoplasmosis in persons living with HIV
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This guidance note on Syria is the first in a series of comprehensive Q&As, which aims to give practical guidance on how to comply with EU sanctions when providing humanitarian aid, in particular medical assistance, to fight the coronavirus pandemic. By clarifying the responsibilities and processes ...for the provision of this aid, this note should facilitate the task of humanitarian operators in Syria. It should speed up the channelling of equipment and assistance to fight the coronavirus pandemic in Syria. It is addressed to all actors involved in the supply of humanitarian aid, such as the competent authorities of EU Member States, which manage the implementation of EU sanctions, and public and private operators (donors, NGOs, banks and other actors involved in humanitarian activities), which must comply with EU sanctions when providing assistance.
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The COVID-19 pandemic has had an unprecedented impact on health care systems that, in many instances, worsened the already existing assistance gaps. When it comes to Latin America and Central America, this challenge adds to the consequences mass mobilizations have had in recent years, which have exc...eeded the national capacities to provide prompt assistance and social protection, particularly in the health care field. This pandemic has a direct impact on people on the move since the movement restriction policies and the lockdown and social distancing measures have reduced their ability to insert themselves into economic activities that were already precarious in many cases. Consequently, they have less access to food, housing, medicines and other essential consumer goods, and fewer possibilities of getting to their countries of destinati
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This document outlines minimum requirements of laboratory testing for COVID-19 and link laboratory testing with surveillance and contact tracing to guide the outbreak response by national health authorities using a reduced number of tests performed. The strategies are organized according to stages o...f transmission: (1) No cases reported or observed (Stage 0); (2) Imported cases (Stage 1); (3) Localized community transmission (Stage 2); (4) Large-scale community transmission (Stage 3). For each stage, the recommended approaches indicate which testing strategy to prioritize when there are severe limitations on laboratory testing. The document is based on the current epidemiology of COVID-19 and available molecular testing methods.
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This document accompanies the interim guidance on “Strengthening Preparedness for COVID-19 in cities and urban settings”. It provides local authorities, leaders and policy-makers in cities with a checklist tool to ensure that key areas have been covered. An excel version that local authorities m...ay wish to adapt to meet their needs is also available. It allows filtering by steps of action; suggested domains and responsible teams within local governments for each action; and phase(s) of the emergency management cycle.
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On Zero Discrimination Day and as part of the global movement for equality for women and girls, UNAIDS is highlighting seven areas where discrimination against women and girls persists, raising awareness and calling for change.
This document provides guidance to Member States in the WHO European Region that wish to conduct behavioural insights studies related to COVID-19. Studies can be used to monitor public knowledge, risk perceptions, behaviours and trust with the overall aim to inform national COVID-19 outbreak respons...e measures, including policies, interventions and communications.
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This document provides a decision-making framework for implementation of mass treatment interventions, active case-finding campaigns and population-based surveys for neglected tropical diseases in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. A two-step approach is proposed: a risk–benefit assessment, to ...decide if the planned activity should proceed; and an examination of a list of precautionary measures that should be applied with the aim of decreasing the risk of transmission of COVID-19 associated with the activity, and strengthening the capacity of the health system to manage any residual risk. This guidance note is intended to health authorities, NTD programme managers and their supporting partners.
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Global procurement for COVID-19 vaccines
The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases detected and reported in each country is influenced by
many factors including limited access and/or utilization of healthcare and COVID-19 testing, limited
surveillance, lack of knowledge amongst the population about when to seek testing, an asymptomatic pres...entation, and other unknown issues. This is true in all countries of the world, and not Africa specific, however there are factors unique to Africa which may also affect the way the virus behaves there. COVID-19 prevalence data are critical for planning effective mitigation strategies and understandingthe true impact of the disease and relevant intervention measures in Africa, which might be quite different from regions with a different population age distribution or risk factor profile.
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Health workers participating in pandemic response are exposed to many different occupational risks to health and safety. These include: COVID-19 infection, illness, and transmission to others; fatigue from working longer hours and heavy workload, insufficient sleep or rest, dehydration, and inadequa...te nutrition; musculoskeletal injury from handling of patients and heavy objects, prolonged work while using personal protective equipment which can cause heat stress, skin and mucosal damage; workplace violence and stigma, and a variety of mental health problems, emotional distress and occupational burn-out.
All health workers require knowledge and skills to protect themselves and others from the occupational risks they encounter, so that they can work safely and effectively. This course consists of five sections in response to these needs: Module 1: Infectious risks to health and safety
Module 2: Physical risks to health and safety
Module 3: Psychosocial risks to health and safety
Module 4: Basic occupational health and safety in health services.
This course is also available in the following languages: македонски - Português_ Spanish
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Shielding is a term used to describe the protection of individuals at high risk of severe COVID-19 illness by separating them from the general population.
Guide for clinical case management and infection prevention and control during ameasles outbreak. This guide has been developed to reduce the high morbidity and mortality seen in some of the current outbreaks of measles. This short guide outlines practical clinical care interventions and is derived ...from previously published WHO documents.
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This document is based on currently available scientific evidence on treatment for drug use disorders and sets out a framework for the implementation of the Standards, in line with principles of public health care. The Standards identify major components and features of effective systems for the tre...atment of drug use disorders. They describe treatment modalities and interventions to match the needs of people at different stages and severities of drug use disorders, in a manner consistent with the treatment of any chronic disease or health condition. The Standards are aspirational, and such, national or local treatment services or systems need not attempt to meet all the standards and recommendations made in this document all at once. However over time, progressive quality improvement, with ‘evidence-based and ethical practice’ as an objective, can and should be expected to achieve better organized, more effective and ethical systems and services for people with drug use disorders.
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The strategic framework gives guidance to public and private health facilities and health workers on compliance with standards relating to IPC practices. To further assist health facilities to implement the IPC strategic framework, this practical implementation manual has been developed in parallel ...to accompany the document.
These implementation strategies should be read in conjunction with the National Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) Strategic Framework (2020) to support an IPC programme at health facility level towards reducing healthcare-associated infections (HAI) and antimicrobial resistance (AMR). This manual is aligned with the World Health Organization (WHO) Core Component IPC programme recommendations and highlights the essentials for developing and improving IPC at health facility level in a systematic, stepwise manner for South Africa. It supports the Framework for the Prevention and Containment of AMR in South African Hospitals (2018).
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