The interactive report calls for ramped-up investment in health infrastructure worldwide to address yawning resource gaps in vaccine research, development, and manufacturing capacity.
Key findings:
• The pandemic pushed an additional 31 million... people into “dire poverty” and backpedaled progress toward eliminating poverty by 4 years
• Global rates for routine childhood vaccinations, such as malaria, fell last year by 7%, to levels not seen since 2005.
You can find a lot of excellent information and graphics
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Background: Foreign aid continues to play an essential role in health sector development in low-resource countries, particularly in terms of providing a vital portion of their health expenditures. However, the relationship between foreign aid alloca...tion and malaria policy formulation and/or implementation among state aid recipients remains unknown.
Methods: Publicly available data were collected with the country as observational unit to set up the conceptual framework. The quality and strength of relationships between socioeconomic, environmental and institutional parameters were estimated by Pearson and polychoric correlations. A correlation matrix was explored by factor analysis.
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Background: Community health worker (CHW) programmes are a valuable component of primary care in resource-poor settings. The evidence supporting their effectiveness generally shows improvements in disease-specific outcomes relative to the absence of... a CHW programme. In this study, we evaluated expanding an existing HIV and tuberculosis (TB) disease-specific CHW programme into a polyvalent, household-based model that subsequently included non-communicable diseases (NCDs), malnutrition and TB screening, as well as family planning and antenatal care (ANC).
Methods: We conducted a stepped-wedge cluster randomised controlled trial in Neno District, Malawi. Six clusters of approximately 20 000 residents were formed from the catchment areas of 11 healthcare facilities. The intervention roll-out was staggered every 3 months over 18 months, with CHWs receiving a 5-day foundational training for their new tasks and assigned 20–40 households for monthly (or more frequent) visits.
Findings: The intervention resulted in a decrease of approximately 20% in the rate of patients defaulting from chronic NCD care each month (−0.8 percentage points (pp) (95% credible interval: −2.5 to 0.5)) while maintaining the already low default rates for HIV patients (0.0 pp, 95% CI: −0.6 to 0.5). First trimester ANC attendance increased by approximately 30% (6.5pp (−0.3, 15.8)) and paediatric malnutrition case finding declined by 10% (−0.6 per 1000 (95% CI −2.5 to 0.8)). There were no changes in TB programme outcomes, potentially due to data challenges.
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Guidelines on care, treatment and support for women living with HIV/AIDS and their children in resource-constrained settings
A public health emergency operations centre (EOC) is a central location for coordinating operational information and resources for strategic management of pugencies and events. EOCs provide communication and information tools and services blic healt...h emer-
and a management system during a response to an emergency or event. This report lays out components and characteristics of an emergency operations plan, providing a suggested structure for plans and procedures. The planning process, and that of coducting a hazard analysis or needs assessment, are also discussed as key steps
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The scale of West Africa’s Ebola epidemic has been attributed to the weak health systems of affected countries,
their lack of resources, the mobility of communities and their inexperience in dealing with Ebola. This briefing for African Affairs a...rgues that these explanations lack important context. The briefing examines responses to the outbreak and offers a different set of explanations, rooted in the history of the region and the political economy of global health and development. To move past technical discussions of “weak” health systems, it highlights how structural violence has contributed to the epidemic. As part of this, local people – their beliefs, concerns and priorities – have been marginalised. Both the crisis response and post-Ebola ‘reconstruction’ will be strengthened by acknowledgment of its long term structural underpinnings and from a more collaborative inclusion of local people.
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This form includes quesitons to help evaluate the services provided, human resources, infrastructure, equipment, drugs and infection prevention at basic emergency obstetric care (BEmOC) sites.
Part of the Malawi Maternal and Neonatal Health Toolkit...
Accessed 12 Febr. 2015
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Summary of lessons learned
Self-imposed quarantine has proved less problematic.
The timely and reliable delivery of resources (e.g. food/water) and expertise (e.g. contact tracing/safe and dignified burials) is essential to ensure cooperat...ion and deter quarantine violation.
The communities’ understanding of the benefits of quarantine and its role in stopping the outbreak is essential.
Coercion is counterproductive.
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The report provides a global knowledge base on suicide and suicide attempts as well as actionable steps for countries based on their current resources and context to move forward in suicide prevention.
The NACS User’s Guide is a series of modules that provide program managers and implementers with a package of essential information and resources. These modules are living documents and will be updated as appropriate when new evidence, guidelines,... or field experience emerges. Additional modules are slated to be released on such topics as nutrition support, monitoring and reporting, tools, and service implementation. Readers are invited to submit comments and suggestions for improving or updating the guidance.
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Languages learning site which focuses on grammar and vocabulary. A useful resources that you might enjoy for free such as: lessons, grammar tips, vocabulary, phrases, language tools, and audio files to download. This website offers more than 100 la...nguages.
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The strategy focuses on mobilizing and coordinating partners, experts and resources to help countries enhance surveillance of the Zika virus and disorders that could be linked to it, improve vector control, effectively communicate risks, guidance an...d protection measures, provide medical care to those affected and fast-track research and development of vaccines, diagnostics and therapeutics
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Last revised 2015.
Original Word document on: http://www.epnetwork.org/Resources/Standard%20Operating%20Procedure/Cleaning_SOP.doc
Last revised 2015.
Original Word document on: http://www.epnetwork.org/Resources/Standard%20Operating%20Procedure/Controlled%20substances%20dispensing%20record_Form.doc
Last revised 2015.
Original Word document on: http://www.epnetwork.org/Resources/Standard%20Operating%20Procedure/Determinants%20of%20damaged%20or%20poor%20quality%20supplies_SOP.doc
Last revised 2015.
Original Word document on: http://www.epnetwork.org/Resources/Standard%20Operating%20Procedure/Forecasting%20and%20budgeting%20spread%20sheet_Form.doc
Last revised 2015.
Original Word document on: http://www.epnetwork.org/Resources/Standard%20Operating%20Procedure/Gantt%20Chart_Form.doc
Last revised 2015.
Original Word document on: http://www.epnetwork.org/Resources/Standard%20Operating%20Procedure/Goods%20Received%20Note_Form.doc
Last revised 2015.
Original Word document on: http://www.epnetwork.org/Resources/Standard%20Operating%20Procedure/Handling%20receiving%20discrepancies_SOP.doc
Last revised 2015.
Original Word document on: http://www.epnetwork.org/Resources/Standard%20Operating%20Procedure/Key%20register_Form.doc