This technical brief was developed by the UNFPA Global Ageing Network to complement the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs' (UN DESA) Issue Brief: Older Persons and COVID-19, which emphasized the humanitarian imperative of addressing older persons' specific needs within preparedness and re...sponse to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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The report “Dementia: a public health priority” has been jointly developed by WHO and Alzheimer's Disease International. The purpose of this report is to raise awareness of dementia as a public health priority, to articulate a public health approach and to advocate for action at international a...nd national levels.
Dementia is a syndrome that affects memory, thinking, behaviour and ability to perform everyday activities. The number of people living with dementia worldwide is currently estimated at 35.6 million. This number will double by 2030 and more than triple by 2050. Dementia is overwhelming not only for the people who have it, but also for their caregivers and families. There is lack of awareness and understanding of dementia in most countries, resulting in stigmatization, barriers to diagnosis and care, and impacting caregivers, families and societies physically, psychologically and economically.
Available Languages: Chinese, English, Japanese, Russian and Spanish
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This resource pack was developed for the country offices of the World Health Organization and national Public Health institutions, as an overview of the key information needed for advising their Member States in response to questions raised on human health due to influenza outbreaks or detections in... animals. It assembles the available information from WHO, FAO and WOAH, on recommendations and guidelines on influenza that might be relevant to a country experiencing detections or outbreaks of influenza in animals or facing suspicion of human infections with animal-origin influenza viruses. This resource pack updates the information provided in the Summary of Key Information Practical to Countries Experiencing Outbreaks of A(H5N1) and Other Subtypes of Avian Influenza, published in 2016. Additionally, the scope of this current document was broadened to address the risks to public health from all animal influenza viruses, not only avian influenza. Links to existing resources were updated and new resources were added where available.
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Benchmarking is a strategic process often used by businesses and institutes to standardize performance in relation to the best practices of their sector. The World Health Organization (WHO) and partners have developed a tool with a list of benchmarks and corresponding suggested actions that can be a...pplied to implement the International Health Regulations 2005 (IHR) and strengthen health emergency prevention, preparedness, response and resilience capacities.
The first edition of the benchmarks was published in 2019 to support countries in developing, implementing and documenting progress of national IHR or health security plans (e.g. national action plan for health security (NAPHS), national action plan for emerging infectious diseases, public health emergencies and health security and other country level plans for health emergencies). The tool has been updated to incorporate lessons from COVID-19 and other health emergencies, to align with the updated IHR monitoring & evaluation framework (IHR MEF) tools and the health systems for health security framework, and to support strengthening health emergency prevention, preparedness, response and resilience (HEPR) capacities and the Preparedness and Resilience for Emerging Threats (PRET) initiative.
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The study was designed to understand the attitudes of parents of children with intellectual disabilities, with regard to the management of problematic behaviour of their children, and to identify whether the mothers or the fathers had more positive attitudes.
The compendium provides guidance on low-cost handwashing facilities that can be widely used in low and middle-income countries. We hope that this can be shared extensively as governments and agencies tackle the crisis in low and middle-income countries where handwashing facilities are urgently neede...d in households, communities, schools and healthcare facilities.
The compendium includes information and further reading on: handwashing facilities – including facilities that are accessible for all, environmental cues to reinforce handwashing behaviours, physical distancing hygiene promotion.
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Malaria is a prevalent cause of febrile illnesses in areas with high transmission, and its clinical presentation overlaps with initial signs of Ebola disease. For this reason, the effectiveness of the Ebola response in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone can be optimized through the deployment of targe...ted measures to reduce the number of fever cases due to malaria
WHO recommends specific adaptations in the diagnosis of malaria and in LLIN distribution in countries heavily affected by the Ebola outbreak and mass drug administration using artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs) in areas where transmission of both Ebola and malaria is high and access to malaria treatment is very low.
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National Child Traumatic Stress Network National Center for PTSD | The field of school safety and emergency management has evolved significantly over the past decade. Tragically, acts of violence, natural disasters, and terrorist attacks have taught us many lessons. We also know that other types of ...emergencies can impact schools, including medical emergencies, transportation accidents, sports injuries, peer victimization, public health emergencies, and the sudden death of a member of the school community. We now recognize the need for school emergency management plans that are up-to-date and take an “all-hazards” approach with clear communication channels and procedures that effectively reunite parents and caregivers with students. We have also learned that preparing school administrators, teachers, and school partnering agencies before a critical event is crucial for effective response, the value of ongoing training and emergency exercises, and that having intervention models that address the public health, mental health, and psychosocial needs of students and staff is essential to a safe school environment and the resumption of learning.
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This study looks at commitments made at the World Humanitarian Summit (WHS) under the Grand Bargain and provides an overview of good practices on localisation approaches, provides a number of case studies from the regional response and makes recommendations on how to further strengthen leadership an...d participation of national and local actors within the response to the Syria crisis.
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This strategy defines the World Health Organization (WHO) vision and framework for supporting Member States to accelerate the development, implementation and monitoring of their National Action Plan for Health Security (NAPHS) from 2022 to 2026. The National Action Plan for Health Security (NAPHS) ...are critical to ensure national capacities in health emergency prevention, preparedness, response and recovery are planned, built, strengthened and sustained in order to achieve national, regional and global health security and therefore keep the world safe, serve the vulnerable and promote health.
The strategy promotes, where existing, the use of existing national action plans for health security and not necessary the creation of an additional unique plan. This will avoid duplication and ensure maximum efficiency in domestic resourcing and operationalization efficiency while harnessing external buy-in to support national health priorities.
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This guide provides a comprehensive overview of essential information related to immunization, including technical information about vaccines, a review of immunization program management best practices, guidance on the delivery of immunization services, monitoring and evaluation, disease surveillanc...e, and the role of behavior change.
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The purpose of this guide is to offer recommendations for improving the implementation of non‑pharmacological public health measures during the COVID-19 response and compliance with these measures by population groups in situations of vulnerability. This requires determining the main barriers to i...mplementing these measures so that we can identify the groups and territories most affected during the different phases of the pandemic. With this objective in mind––and within the framework of an equity, human rights, and diversity approach––, policies, strategies, and interventions to accompany the implementation and flexibilization of the measures are recommended to ensure that no one is left behind.
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The preparedness strengthening team deployed to Ghana focused on specific objectives in order to assist the country in becoming as operationally prepared as possible to detect, investigate and report potential EVD cases effectively and safely and to mount an effective response to prevent a larger o...utbreak. To accomplish this goal, the team conducted “scoping” activities, stakeholder meetings, site visits and a “table-top” simulation exercise to determine what systems were in place and what aspects of preparedness could be strengthened.
It is organized in 10 components of the WHO consolidated checklist for EVD preparedness: 1) planning and coordination; 2) epidemiological and laboratory surveillance; 3) rapid response teams; 4) contact tracing; 5) points of entry; 6) laboratory; 7) case management; 8) infection prevention and control; 9) social mobilization and risk communication; 10) budget.
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Commissioned by Plan International the report draws on data from research conducted in Bangladesh in April 2018. It explores how adolescent girls within two age brackets (10-14 and 15-19) understand the unique impact the crisis has upon them, and how they have responded to the challenges they face.<...br>
Despite the numbers of adolescent girls affected so profoundly by the ongoing Rohingya crisis, and of course, by many crises around the world, it is rare that either their own communities or the humanitarian sector at large pay much attention to them. This research is an attempt to rectify that: to acknowledge that girls and young women do have rights and that their ideas are worth listening to and acting upon.
Among the many learnings, we discovered that girls feel isolated. They have settled among strangers, and parents worry about their safety, keeping them even more trapped inside their new, makeshift homes.
75% of girls interviewed said they have no ability to make decisions about their own lives.
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