Universal health coverage and the Sustainable Development Goals in the WHO African Region
Cervical cancer continues to be a significant public health problem and a major cause of premature mortality among women, disproportionately affecting the socioeconomically disadvantaged population in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). In the... absence of implementing the known evidence-based, cost-effective interventions, the number of deaths per year is projected to reach approximately 416 000 globally in 2035. It was estimated in 2020 that 32% of incident cervical cancer cases and 34% of cervical cancer deaths in the world occurred in the 11 Member States of the WHO South-East Asia (SEA) Region. In 2020, 190 874 new cases and 116 015 deaths were estimated due to cervical cancer, which is the third commonest cancer in the Region
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The aim of these Guidelines is to provide a framework for the conservation and sustainable use 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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First report of a demonstration project
Made under Section 5 (c) of the Tanzania Food, Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 2003 | Second Edition
Maldives has made significant strides in the area of infectious disease prevention and control. This is exemplified by elimination of malaria from ...Maldives in 2015 and successes in TB control. In addition, Maldives is a front runner in infectious disease prevention through successful water, sanitation, hygiene and vaccination campaigns and coverage. However, given the limited evidence that exists with respect to the occurrence of resistant organisms in the nation, it is hard to estimate the exact antimicrobial resistance (AMR) scenario. Also, it becomes difficult to compare the current situation with other countries in the region. Moreover, limited evidence exists on the trends of use of antimicrobial agents (AMA) in Maldives. Although, recent prescription audits have indicated overuse of antibiotics, especially for common conditions such as flu, cough and fever.
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“2022 was an eventful year for the WHO Country Office in Ghana,” says Dr Francis Kasolo, WHO Representative to Ghana.
In 2022, WHO Ghana col...laborated with partners to deliver interventions in support of the Government of Ghana's health sector agenda to ensure healthy lives for all towards achieving Universal Health Coverage. This 2022 annual report highlights some of the achievements that were chalked in our efforts to help promote the health and wellbeing of Ghanaians
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The COVID-19 pandemic has affected everyone, including key populations at higher risk of HIV. And the gains made against other infectious diseases, including HIV, are at risk of being reversed as a ...result of disruptions caused by COVID-19. This is the background to a new report published by FHI 360, in collaboration with UNAIDS, which gives advice on how to minimize the impacts of COVID-19 on key populations.
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UN, international agencies and experts released a groundbreaking report demanding immediate, coordinated and ambitious action to avert a potentially disastrous drug-resistance crisis.
If no action is taken - warns the UN Ad hoc Interagency Coordinating Group on Antimicrobial Resistance ...="attribute-to-highlight medbox">who released the report – drug-resistant diseases could cause 10 million deaths each year by 2050 and damage to the economy as catastrophic as the 2008-2009 global financial crisis. By 2030, antimicrobial resistance could force up to 24 million people into extreme poverty.
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National AIDS and STI Control Program
It has been over a year since Kenya identified the first case of COVID-19 in the country. The Government formed the National COVID-19 task force, which supported the country's response through multi-sectoral technical working groups on testing, case... management, risk communication and community engagement among others. An earlier version of the COVID case management guideline was released in April 2020 and capacity building of health care workers on diagnosis and treatment of COVID-19 was quickly carried out, even as counties prepared themselves by setting up isolation centres and supplies
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A global shortage of an estimated 18 million health workers is anticipated by 2030, a record 130 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance, and there is the global threat ...tribute-to-highlight medbox">of pandemics such as COVID-19. At least 400 million people worldwide lack access to the most essential health services, and every year 100 million people are plunged into poverty because they have to pay for healthcare out of their own pockets. There is, therefore, an urgent need to find innovative strategies that go beyond the conventional health-sector response.
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The global burden of disease associated with air pollution exposure exacts a massive toll on human health worldwide: exposure to air pollution is estimated to cause millions of deaths and lost years... of healthy life annually. The burden of disease attributable to air pollution is now estimated to be on a par with other major global health risks such as unhealthy diet and tobacco smoking, and air pollution is now recognized as the single biggest environmental threat to human health.
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Member States have requested WHO policy guidance on how to facilitate the implementation of national AMS activities in an integrated and programmatic approach. This policy guidance responds to that ...demand from Member States and is anchored in public health guiding principles in the human health sector. It aims to provide a set of evidence-based and pragmatic recommendations to drive comprehensive and integrated AMS activities under the purview of a central national coordination unit, National AMR steering or coordinating committees or other equivalent national authorities.
Available in English, French, Spanish, Russian, Arabic, Chinese
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Update of the Mental Health Gap Action Programme
(mhGAP) Guideline for Mental, Neurological and Substance use Disorders May 2015
This 2011 update of Guidelines for the programmatic management of drug-resistant tuberculosis is intended as a tool for use by public health professionals working in response
to the Sixty-second Wo...rld Health Assembly’s resolution on prevention and control of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis and extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis.
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The World Health Organization (WHO) has recommended a universal antiretroviral therapy (ART) for all HIVinfected children before the age of two since 2010, but this implies an early identification <...span class="attribute-to-highlight medbox">of these infants. We described the Prevention of Mother-to-Child HIV Transmission (PMTCT) cascade, the staffing and the quality of infrastructures in pediatric HIV care facilities, in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
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The aim of this guidance is to enhance the capacity of health care facilities to protect and improve the health of their target communities in an u...nstable and changing climate; and to empower health care facilities to be environmentally sustainable, by optimizing the use of resources and minimizing the release of waste into the environment. Climate resilient and environmentally sustainable health care facilities contribute to high quality of care and accessibility of services, and by helping reduce facility costs also ensure better affordability. They are, therefore, an important component of universal health coverage (UHC).
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The purpose of this publication is to to provide a practical, stepwise approach to the implementation of the national action plans on AMR within th...e human health sector; and to provide a process and collation of existing WHO tools to prioritize, cost, implement, monitor and evaluate national action plan activities. The target audience of the publication are national/subnational stakeholders working on AMR within the human health sector. This includes national health authorities, national multi-sectoral coordination groups, senior technical experts and policymakers involved in implementing AMR activities at all levels of the health system, and implementation partners to accelerate sustainable implementation and monitoring and evaluation of national action plans on AMR.
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PlosOne January 20, 2021
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0241899
Antibiotic fixed dose combinations (FDCs) can have clinical advantages such as improving effectiveness and adherence to therapy. However, high use ...hlight medbox">of potentially inappropriate FDCs has been reported, with implications for antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and toxicity.
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