Vanquishing violence and vulnerability in humanitarian settings
Background paper for the joint African Union–UNAIDS (in capacity of serving
Chair of
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H6) high-level side event at the 73rd United Nations General Assembly,
24 September 2018, at UNHQ, Conference Room 3
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This technical report contains the results from the FEEDcities Project – Eastern Europe and Central Asia, a cross-sectional survey of the local urban food environment conducted in Chișinău, Repu
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blic of Moldova between June and August 2016. It characterizes the vending sites, the food offered and the nutritional composition of both industrial and homemade street foods. It also describes the nutritional composition of foods sold in supermarkets and fast-food outlets.
The study was conducted within a bilateral partnership between the World Health Organization and the Institute of Public Health of the University of Porto, in collaboration with the Faculty of Medicine, the Faculty of Nutrition and Food Sciences and the Faculty of Pharmacy of the University of Porto (WHO registration 2015/591370 and 2017/698514). The study was funded through a voluntary contribution of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation.
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Experiences from Indonesia, Kenya, Uganda and Ukraine
Peru celebrates 200 years of independence in 2021. Over this period of independent life, and despite the turbulent socio-political scenarios, from
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internal armed conflict to economic crisis to political instability over the last 40 years, Peru has experienced major changes on its epidemiological and population health profile. Major advancements in maternal and child health as well as in communicable diseases have been achieved in recent decades, and today
Peru faces an increasing burden of non-communicable diseases including mental health conditions. In terms of the configuration of the public health system, Peru has also strived to secure country-wide optimal health care, struggling in particular to improve primary health care and intercultural services.
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Int J Hyg Environ Health. 2019 Jun; 222(5): 765–777. doi: 10.1016/j.ijheh.2019.05.004;
To develop updated estimates in response to new exposure and exposure-response data
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of the
burden of diarrhoea, respiratory infections, malnutrition, schistosomiasis, malaria, soil-transmitted helminth
infections and trachoma from exposure to inadequate drinking-water, sanitation and hygiene behaviours
(WASH) with a focus on low- and middle-income countries.
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The roadmap describes the actions needed to
achieve the three development goals for TB
vaccines set by the WHO:
1. A safe, effective and affordable TB vaccine
for adolescents and adults.
2. An
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affordable TB vaccine for neonates and
infants with improved safety and efficacy.
3. A therapeutic vaccine to improve TB
treatment outcomes
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Background:Neonatal mortality accounts for 43% of global under-five deaths and is decreasing more slowly than maternal or child mortality. Donor funding has increased for maternal, newborn,
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and child health (MNCH), but no analysis to date has disaggregated aid for newborns. We evaluated if and how aid flows for newborn care can be tracked, examined changes in the last decade, and considered methodological implications for tracking funding for specific population groups or diseases. MethodsandFindings:We critically reviewed and categorised previous analyses of aid to specific populations, diseases, or types of activities. We then developed and refined key terms related to newborn survival in seven languages and searched titles and descriptions of donor disbursement records in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s Creditor Reporting System database, 2002–2010. We compared results with the Countdown to 2015 database of aid for MNCH (2003–2008) and the search strategy used by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation. Prior to 2005, key terms related to newborns were rare in disbursement records but their frequency increased markedly thereafter. Only two mentions were found of ‘‘stillbirth’’ and only nine references were found to ‘‘fetus’’ in any spelling variant or language
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INTRODUCTION: The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted health systems around the world. The objectives of this study are to estimate the overall effect of
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the pandemic on essential health service use and outcomes in Mexico, describe observed and predicted trends in services over 24 months, and to estimate the number of visits lost through December 2020.
METHODS: We used health information system data for January 2019 to December 2020 from the Mexican Institute of Social Security (IMSS), which provides health services for more than half of Mexico's population-65 million people. Our analysis includes nine indicators of service use and three outcome indicators for reproductive, maternal and child health and non-communicable disease services. We used an interrupted time series design and linear generalised estimating equation models to estimate the change in service use and outcomes from April to December 2020. Estimates were expressed using average marginal effects on the risk ratio scale.
RESULTS: The study found that across nine health services, an estimated 8.74 million patient visits were lost in Mexico. This included a decline of over two thirds for breast and cervical cancer screenings (79% and 68%, respectively), over half for sick child visits and female contraceptive services, approximately one-third for childhood vaccinations, diabetes, hypertension and antenatal care consultations, and a decline of 10% for deliveries performed at IMSS. In terms of patient outcomes, the proportion of patients with diabetes and hypertension with controlled conditions declined by 22% and 17%, respectively. Caesarean section rate did not change.
CONCLUSION: Significant disruptions in health services show that the pandemic has strained the resilience of the Mexican health system and calls for urgent efforts to resume essential services and plan for catching up on missed preventive care even as the COVID-19 crisis continues in Mexico.
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Four initiatives have estimated the value of aid for reproductive, maternal, newborn, and child health
(RMNCH): Countdown to 2015, the
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Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), the Muskoka Initiative, and
the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) policy marker. We aimed to compare the
estimates, trends, and methodologies of these initiatives and make recommendations for future aid tracking.
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This toolkit is designed to help you plan and implement a Patient Navigation program with the best chance of reducing health disparities
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and improving health outcomes for your patients. It contains evidence-based and experience-based examples, case studies, practical tools, and resources to help you:
1. Establish an evidence-based patient navigation program tailored to reduce barriers for your patients
2. Incorporate best practices to enhance current patient navigation programs or services
3. Implement a patient navigation model to address any targeted medical condition
where disparities exist
4. Hire, prepare, supervise, support and retain effective Patient Navigators
5. Navigate patients who experience health disparities
6. Evaluate patient navigation programs with the aim of continuous quality
improvement
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The Global Status Report on Noncommunicable Diseases (NCDs) 2014 by the World Health Organization outlines the global impact of NCDs, including cardiovascular diseases, cancer, diabetes,
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and chronic respiratory diseases, which are responsible for a significant portion of global mortality, particularly in low- and middle-income countries.
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The world has been turned on its head by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. This has provided a stark wakeup call on the severe under-financing of health systems around the world. It
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has laid bare the inequalities and limitations in the capacities of countries at all levels of development to prevent major health crises or respond to them. But it doesn’t have to be this way.
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The combined effects from ambient (outdoor) air pollution and indoor (household, in particular) air pollution cause approximately 7 million premature deaths every year, largely as a result of increa
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sed mortality from stroke, IHD, COPD, lung cancer and acute respiratory infections (1). Air pollution can occur in both the outdoor and indoor environments. Cook-stoves in homes, motor vehicles, industrial facilities and forest fires are common sources of air pollution. Air pollutants with the strongest evidence for adverse health outcomes include particulate matter (PM; both PM 2.5 (i.e. particles with an aerodynamic diameter
equal to or less than 2.5 μm) and PM10 (i.e. particles with an aerodynamic diameter equal to or less than 10 μm), ozone (O 3), nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ), sulfur dioxide (SO 2 ) and carbon monoxide (CO). Air pollution is however composed of many more pollutants (1).
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PLoS ONE 11(1): e0144662. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0144662
There has been no systematic comparison of how the policy response to past infectious disease outbreaks and epidemics was funded. This study aims to collate
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and analyse funding for the Ebola epidemic and Zika outbreak between 2014 and 2019 in order to understand the shortcomings in funding reporting and suggest improvements. Methods: Data were collected via a literature review and analysis of financial reporting databases, including both amounts donated and received. Funding information from three financial databases was analysed: Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation’s Development Assistance for Health database, the Georgetown Infectious Disease Atlas and the United Nations Financial Tracking Service. A systematic literature search strategy was devised and applied to seven databases: MEDLINE, EMBASE, HMIC, Global Health, Scopus, Web of Science and EconLit. Funding information was extracted from articles meeting the eligibility criteria and measures were taken to avoid double counting. Funding was collated, then amounts and purposes were compared within, and between, data sources.
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We combine data on Chinese development projects with data from Demographic and Health Surveys to study the impact of Chinese aid on household welfa
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re in sub-Saharan Africa. We use a novel methodology to test the effect of Chinese aid on three important development outcomes: education, health, and nutrition. For each outcome, we use difference-in-difference estimations to compare household areas near Chinese project sites to control areas located farther away, before and after receiving Chinese aid. This empirical strategy rules out many confounding factors that can bias measuring the impact of Chinese aid on our outcome variables. First, we find that Chinese projects significantly improve education and child mortality in treatment areas, but do not significantly affect nutrition. Second, social sector projects have a larger effect on outcomes than economic projects. Third, we do not find significant effects for projects that ended more than five years before the post-treatment survey wave. Our results are robust to a host of robustness checks.
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Donor financing to low- and middle-income countries for reproductive, maternal, newborn, and child health increased substantially from 2008 to 2013
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. However, increased spending by donors might not improve outcomes, if funds are delivered in ways that undermine countries’ public financial management systems and incur high transaction costs for project implementation
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This report provides an overview of air pollution levels and associated health impacts in cities around the world. Since urban areas are often hots
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pots for poor air quality, city-level data can help to inform targeted efforts to curb urban air pollution and improve public health. This report draws on data from the Global Burden of Disease project and from peer-reviewed analyses led by Susan Anenberg of the George Washington University.
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Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) have collectively remained the leading causes of death worldwide and substantially contribute to loss of
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health and excess health system costs. The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors (GBD) Study has tracked trends in death and disability since 1990 and has provided an updated perspective on the status of cardiovascular health globally, regionally, and nationally.
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