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Beat the heat: Child health amid heatwaves in Europe and Central Asia

UN Children's Fund UNICEF (2024) CC

Beat the heat: child health amid heatwaves in Europe and Central Asia finds that half of these children died from heat-related illnesses in their first year of life. Most children died during the summer months. "Around half of children across Europe and Central Asia – or 92 million children –... are already exposed to frequent heatwaves in a region where temperatures are rising at the fastest rate globally. The increasingly high temperatures can have serious health complications for children, especially the youngest children, even in a short space of time. Without care, these complications can be life-threatening,” said Regina De Dominicis UNICEF Regional Director for Europe and Central Asia. Heat exposure has acute effects on children, even before they are born, and can result in pre-term births, low birth weight, stillbirth, and congenital anomalies. Heat stress is a direct cause of infant mortality, can affect infant growth and cause a range of paediatric diseases. The report also notes that extreme heat caused the loss of more than 32,000 years of healthy life among children and teenagers in the region. As the temperatures continue to rise, UNICEF urges governments across Europe and Central Asia to: - Integrate strategies to reduce the impact of heatwaves including through National Determined Contributions (NDC), National Adaptation Plans (NAP), and disaster risk reduction and disaster management policies with children at the centre of these plans Invest in heat health action plans and primary health care to more adequately support heat-related illness among children - Invest in early warning systems, including heat alert systems - Adapt education facilities to reduce the temperatures in the areas children play in and equip teachers with skills to respond to heat stress - Adapt urban design and infrastructure including ensuring buildings, particularly those housing the most vulnerable communities are equipped to minimize heat exposure - Secure the provision of safe water, particularly in countries with deteriorating water quality and availability. UNICEF works with governments, partners and communities across the region to build resilience against heatwaves. This includes equipping teachers, community health workers and families with the skills and knowledge to respond to heat stress. more

The increasing burden of asthma in South African children: A call to action

Masekela, R.; Gray, C.L.; Green, R.J. et al. The South African Medical Journal (2018) CC

BACKGROUND. Asthma is a heterogeneous condition characterised by chronic inflammation and variable expiratory airflow limitation, as well as airway reversibility. The burden of asthma in children is increasing in low- and middle-income countries and remains under-recognised and poorly managed. OBJE... more

Symptom-based screening tool for asthma syndrome among young children in Uganda

Nantanda, R.; Siersma, V.; Ndeezi, G. et al. npj Primary Care Respiratory Medicine (2020) CC

Under-diagnosis of asthma in ‘under-fives’ may be alleviated by improved inquiry into disease history. We assessed a questionnaire-based screening tool for asthma among 614 ‘under-fives’ with severe respiratory illness in Uganda. The questionnaire responses were compared to post hoc consensu... more

Prevalence, severity and risk factors for asthma in school-going adolescents in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa

Mphahlele, R.; Lesosky, M.; Masekela, R. BMJ Open Respiratory Research (2023) CC

Background Asthma remains highly prevalent, with more severe symptoms in low-income to middle-income countries (LMICs) compared with high-income countries. Identifying risk factors for severe asthma symptoms can assist with improving outcomes. We aimed to determine the prevalence, severity and ris... more

A summary of the new GINA strategy: a roadmap to asthma control

Reddel, H. K.; Bateman, E. D.; Becker, A.; et al. (2015) CC2

Over the past 20 years, the Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA) has regularly published and annually updated a global strategy for asthma management and prevention that has formed the basis for many national guidelines. However, uptake of existing guidelines is poor. A major revision of the GINA r... more

Global Strategy for Asthma Management and Prevention (2019 update)

Global Initiative for Asthma (2019) CC2

The reader acknowledges that this report is intended as an evidence-based asthma management strategy, for the use of health professionals and policy-makers. It is based, to the best of our knowledge, on current best evidence and medical knowledge and practice at the date of publication. When assessi... more

The reality of managing asthma in sub-Saharan Africa – Priorities and strategies for improving care

Mortimer, K.; Masekela, R.; Ozoh, O.; et al. (2022) CC2

Asthma is the most common non-communicable disease in children and remains one of the most common throughout the life course. The great majority of the burden of this disease is seen in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs), which have disproportionately high asthma-related mortality relati... more

2020 Brazilian Thoracic Association recommendations for the management of asthma

Menezes Pizzichini, M. M.; de Carvalho-Pinto, R. M.; Delfini Cançado, J. E.; et al. (2020) CC2

The pharmacological management of asthma has changed considerably in recent decades, as it has come to be understood that it is a complex, heterogeneous disease with different phenotypes and endotypes. It is now clear that the goal of asthma treatment should be to achieve and maintain control of the... more

Recomendações para o manejo da asma da Sociedade Brasileira de Pneumologia e Tisiologia – 2020

Menezes Pizzichini, M. M.; de Carvalho-Pinto, R. M.; Delfini Cançado, J. E.; et al. (2020) CC2

Addressing gender inequalities in national action plans on antimicrobial resistance

World Health Organisation (WHO) (2024) C_WHO

National action plans on antimicrobial resistance (AMR) often overlook the critical intersection of gender, despite evidence that exposure and susceptibility to infection, health-seeking behaviours, as well as antimicrobial prescribing and use patterns are all influenced by gender.

WHO clinical consortium on healthy ageing 2023

World Health Organisation (WHO) (2024) C_WHO

The 2023 meeting of the WHO Clinical Consortium on Healthy Ageing (CCHA) was the group’s ninth gathering and took place in Geneva 5–7 December 2023. The meeting was structured around seven panels, with a series of technical presentations, plenary discussions and group work, and a final session o... more

A worldwide charter for all children with asthma

Szefler, S. J.; Fitzgerald, D. A.; Adachi, Y.; (2020) CC2

Asthma is the commonest chronic childhood disease and encompasses a spectrum of airway diseases with similar symptoms. Inaccurate diagnosis remains common, especially in younger children, with failure to characterize the different “asthmas.” Children worldwide repeatedly suffer symptoms which se... more

International ERS/ATS guidelines on definition, evaluation and treatment of severe asthma

Chung, K. F.; Wenzel, S. E.; Brozek, J. L.; et al. (2022) CC2

The European Respiratory Society (ERS)/American Thoracic Society (ATS) Task Force on severe asthma includes an updated definition of severe asthma, a discussion of severe asthma phenotypes in relation to genetics, natural history, pathobiology and physiology, as well as sections on evaluation and tr... more

Supported self-management for asthma

Hinnock, H. Breathe (2015) CC

This articel summarises the evidence base underpinning supported self-management for asthma. It provides clinicians with a practical approach to providing supported self-management for asthma and suggests an appropriate strategy for implementing supported self-management.

Childhood respiratory disease linked to the enviroment

World Health Organization WHO (2009) CC2

Childhood Respiratory Diseases & the Environment learning objectives •To understand how the respiratory tract is affected by the environment •To describe respiratory diseases linked to the environment •To list one population-level intervention and one personal-level intervention for d... more

Integrated operational framework for mental health, brain health and substance use

World Health Organisation (WHO) (2024) C_WHO

This integrated operational framework provides an overview of the connections between mental health, neurological and substance use (MNS) conditions, and their links to health, well-being and the broader public health and sustainable development agenda. The need for integrated approaches is increasi... more

Strengthening health systems to improve the health of displaced and migrant populations in the context of climate change Evidence brief

World Health Organisation (WHO) (2024) C_WHO

The WHO Global research agenda on health, migration and displacement identified the health of displaced and migrant populations in the context of climate change as one of the most pressing, yet under-researched, topics.

Prevalence, Etiology, and Outcome of Sepsis among Critically Ill Patients in Malawi

Prin, M.; Onofrey, L.; Purcell, L; et al. (2020) CC2

Most of the global burden of sepsis occurs in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), but the prevalence and etiology of sepsis in LMICs are not well understood. In particular, the lack of laboratory infrastructure in many LMICs has historically precluded an assessment of the pathogens leading to ... more

Social capital insights from Healthy Settings needs assessment in Malawi

Rippon, S.; Beattie, T. K.; Lungu, K.; et al. (2018) CC2

Healthy Settings, a key component of Malawi’s Health Sector Strategic Plan (HSSP) 2011–2016, is the World Health Organization’s (WHO) holistic community-led approach to achieving health improvement by addressing social determinants of health, an approach which is central to the current WHO fra... more

List of key WHO-recommended maternal and newborn health commodities

World Health Organisation (WHO) (2024) C_WHO

This document provides a list of key WHO-recommended maternal and newborn health commodities and aims to accelerate progress towards the SDGs. It consolidates the key and enabling commodities from existing WHO guidelines on maternal and newborn health.