The COVID-19 pandemic has been the biggest disaster in living memory, on almost any measure. More than 6.5 million people are confirmed to have died in less than three years, and ...ute-to-highlight medbox">the pandemic’s indirect impacts have touched the lives of virtually every community on the planet.
Our World Disasters Report 2022 focuses on the coronavirus pandemic and preparedness: both the ways preparedness ahead of COVID-19 was inadequate, and how the world can prepare more effectively for future public health emergencies.
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The World Heart Federation (WHF) Roadmap series covers a large range of cardiovascular conditions. These Roadmaps identify potential roadblocks and their solutions to improve the prevention, detecti...on and management of cardiovascular diseases and provide a generic global framework available for local adaptation. A first Roadmap on raised blood pressure was published in 2015. Since then, advances in hypertension have included the publication of new clinical guidelines (AHA/ACC; ESC; ESH/ISH); the launch of the WHO Global HEARTS Initiative in 2016 and the associated Resolve to Save Lives (RTSL) initiative in 2017; the inclusion of single-pill combinations on the WHO Essential
Medicines’ list as well as various advances in technology, in particular telemedicine and mobile health. Given the substantial benefit accrued from effective interventions in the management of hypertension and their potential for scalability in low and middle-income countries (LMICs), the WHF has now revisited and updated the ‘Roadmap for raised BP’ as ‘Roadmap for hypertension’
by incorporating new developments in science and policy. Even though cost-effective lifestyle and medical interventions to prevent and manage hypertension exist, uptake is still low, particularly in resource-poor areas. This Roadmap examined the roadblocks pertaining to both the demand side (demographic and socio-economic factors, knowledge and beliefs, social relations, norms, and
traditions) and the supply side (health systems resources and processes) along the patient pathway to propose a range of possible solutions to overcoming them. Those include the development of population-wide prevention and control programmes; the implementation of opportunistic screening and of out-of-office blood pressure measurements; the strengthening of primary care and a greater focus on task sharing and team-based care; the delivery of people-centred care and stronger patient and carer education; and the facilitation of adherence to treatment. All of the above are dependent upon the availability and effective distribution of good quality, evidencebased, inexpensive BP-lowering agents.
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The WHO Regional Office for Europe, the WHO Collaborating Centre on Culture and Health at the University of Exeter (United Kingdom) and ...="attribute-to-highlight medbox">the National Institute of Mental Health (Czechia) convened a workshop on culture and reform of mental health care in central and eastern Europe on 2–3 October 2017 in Klecany, Czechia. The aim of this workshop was to improve understanding of the key cultural aspects that impact and drive mental health-care reform in the central and eastern European region. This report outlines the key points and recommendations made by participants in relation to this objective.
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The WHO Quality Health Services: a planning guide focuses on actions required at the national, district and facility levels to enhance quality of health services, providing guidance on implementing ...key activities at each of these three levels. It highlights the need for a health systems approach to enhance quality of care, with a common understanding on the activities needed by all stakeholders. The guide articulates the key actions required to improve the quality of health services for the entire population. It recognizes that the path varies for each country, district and facility – stimulating the reader to consider multiple factors and entry points for action. This planning guide is for staff working at all levels of the health system (i.e. national, district and facility) who have a role in enhancing the quality of health services. It is also relevant to all stakeholders initiating and supporting action at facility, district and/or national levels both in the public and private sectors.
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The key areas covered are diagnosis, imaging, pathology, surgery, rehabilitation, palliative care and survivorship. It emphasizes a multi-disciplinary team approach which is paramount for quality cancer care. ...to-highlight medbox">The specific cancers covered are breast, central nervous system, gastrointestinal, gynecological, head and neck, hematological, Kaposi’s sarcoma, lung, prostate and pediatric cancers. They also complement the National Guidelines for Cancer Management in Kenya released in 2013.
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The Faster We Go, the Health We'll Be.
The report outlines five climate solutions that research shows will deliver immediate, often localized, hea...lth and equity benefits. Our focus is on the solutions that proactively advance both health and health equity, recognizing that some of us face greater health risks than others.
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The document emphasizes integrating environmental considerations into nutrition programs. It introduces a screening tool piloted across ten projects to identify environmental risks and opportunities, fostering sustainable practices in food systems. ...The tool promotes collaboration, co-learning, and actionable steps to align nutrition goals with environmental sustainability, ensuring long-term benefits for health and ecosystems.
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The report identifies major global gaps in WASH services: one third of health care facilities do not have what is needed to clean hands where care is provided; one in four facilities have no water services, and 10% have no sanitation services. This ...means that 1.8 billion people use facilities that lack basic water services and 800 million use facilities with no toilets. Across the world’s 47 least-developed countries, the problem is even greater: half of health care facilities lack basic water services. Furthermore, the extent of the problem remains hidden because major gaps in data persist, especially on environmental cleaning.
This report also describes the global and national responses to the 2019 World Health Assembly resolution on WASH in health care facilities. More than 70% of countries have conducted related situation analyses, 86% have updated and are implementing standards and 60% are working to incrementally improve infrastructure and operation and maintenance of WASH services. Case studies from 30 countries demonstrate that progress is being propelled by strong national leadership and coordination, use of data to direct resources and action, and the mutual benefits of empowering health workers and communities to develop solutions together.
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The report notes that the number of people in need of one or more assistive products is likely to rise to 3.5 billion by 2050, due to populations ageing and ...x">the prevalence of noncommunicable diseases rising across the world. The report also highlights the vast gap in access between low- and high-income countries. An analysis of 35 countries reveals that access varies from 3% in poorer nations to 90% in wealthy countries.
Affordability is a major barrier to access, the report notes. Around two thirds of people with assistive products reported out-of-pocket payments for them. Others reported relying on family and friends to financially support their needs.
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The article focuses on "The State of the World’s Children 2023" report published by UNICEF. It highlights ...box">the critical role of vaccines in saving lives and the challenges in global immunization efforts, especially for marginalized and underserved children. The report emphasizes the impact of COVID-19 on routine immunization, leaving millions of children unprotected from preventable diseases. It calls for urgent measures to restore and improve vaccination coverage, ensure equity in vaccine access, strengthen primary healthcare systems, and build trust in vaccines. The report also advocates for innovations and sustainable funding to achieve immunization for every child.
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The approach is in line with two of the five objectives outlined in the Every Newborn Action Plan (ENAP): Strategic Objective 2 – Improve ...lass="attribute-to-highlight medbox">the quality of maternal and newborn care; and Strategic Objective 5 – Count every newborn through measurement, programme-tracking and accountability to generate data for decision-making and action.
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The substantial burden of death and disability that results from interpersonal violence, road traffic injuries, unintentional injuries, occupational health risks, air pollution, climate change, and inadequate water and sanitation falls disproportion...ally on low- and middle-income countries. Injury Prevention and Environmental Health addresses the risk factors and presents updated data on the burden, as well as economic analyses of platforms and packages for delivering cost-effective and feasible interventions in these settings. The volume's contributors demonstrate that implementation of a range of prevention strategies-presented in an essential package of interventions and policies-could achieve a convergence in death and disability rates that would avert more than 7.5 million deaths a year
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The Newborn Situational Analysis reports of 2009 and 2011, as well as the “Bottleneck analysis on neonatal health” of 2013, culminated in the N...igeria launch of “Call to action on Newborn health” at the first National Newborn Health Conference in 2014. This call to action provided the framework for the development of the Nigeria Every Newborn Action
Plan (NiENAP). The NiENAP lays out a vision to end preventable stillbirths and newborn deaths by accelerating progress and scaling up evidence- based high-impact and cost effective interventions. The plan is guided by the principles of country-leadership, integration, accountability, equity, human rights, innovation and research. This blue print outlines our commitment as government and stakeholders to repositioning newborn health as we implement approaches that impact on the lives of newborns for improved health outcome.
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The purpose of the landscape analysis is ultimately to facilitate improved engagement of private providers, thereby contributing to universal access to quality and affordable TB care and ...="attribute-to-highlight medbox">the end of the TB epidemic. It focuses on the role of private for-profit providers and on specific challenges and experiences in engaging them for TB prevention and care.
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Q1: What are the effective maternal mental health interventions to prevent developmental problems in early infancy?
The growing challenges for people in low and middle-income countries to access new medicines.
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The purpose of this manual is to provide a resource for training to increase understanding of Health in All Policies (HiAP) by health and other professionals. It is anticipated that the... material in this manual will form the basis of two- or three-day workshops, which will:
• Build capacity to promote, implement and evaluate HiAP;
• Encourage engagement and collaboration across sectors;
• Facilitate the exchange of experiences and lessons learned;
• Promote regional and global collaboration on HiAP; and
• Promote dissemination of skills to develop training courses for trainers.
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Guidelines.
The guidelines set out essential actions that humanitarian actors must take in order to effectively identify and respond to the needs and rights of persons with disabilities who are mos...t at risk of being left behind in humanitarian settings.
The recommended actions in each chapter place persons with disabilities at the centre of humanitarian action, both as actors and as members of affected populations. They are specific to persons with disabilities and to the context of humanitarian action and build on existing and more general standards and guidelines.
These are the first humanitarian guidelines to be developed with and by persons with disabilities and their representative organizations in association with traditional humanitarian stakeholders. Based on the outcomes of a comprehensive global and regional multi-stakeholder consultation process, they are designed to promote the implementation of quality humanitarian programmes in all contexts and across all regions, and to establish and increase both the inclusion of persons with disabilities and their meaningful participation in all decisions that concern them.
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In the current absence of vaccine for COVID-19, public health response target breaking the chain of infection by focusing on the mode of transmissi...on. This paper summarizes current evidence-base around the transmission dynamics, pathogenic, and clinical features of COVID-19, to critically identify if there are any gaps in the current IPC guidelines.
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The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated and added yet another layer of vulnerability to an already dire web of vulnerabilities of girls in the African continent, which constitute about 49% of ...ass="attribute-to-highlight medbox">the total child population. Critically, gender equality and girls’ multidimensional vulnerability have been accentuated to an unprecedented level. The pandemic has triggered major concerns about the potential reversal of the strides achieved over the years towards gender equality and human development in Africa.
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