As the Americas undergo profound demographic change and there are more persons aged 65 years or older than children younger than 5 years, it is crucial to recognize that national immunization programs must be redesigned
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to ensure comprehensive protection for individuals across the lifespan. By adopting a life course approach (LCA) to immunization, vaccination programs can be tailored to close immunity gaps at different stages of life. The life course approach foresees the establishment of multiple strategies to reduce missed opportunities for vaccination according to age group. This technical document explains the key concepts of the LCA with a focus on immunization by vaccination, as well as the underlying biological mechanisms that require the application different vaccines at different life stages according to changes to the immune system and in the epidemiological situation of a community.
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Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) – chief among them, cardiovascular diseases (heart disease and stroke), cancer, diabetes and chronic respiratory diseases – along with mental health, cause nearly three quarters of deaths in the world. Their drive
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rs are social, environmental, commercial and genetic, and their presence is global. Every year 17 million people under the age of 70 die of NCDs, and 86% of them live in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).
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Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) – chief among them, cardiovascular diseases (heart disease and stroke), cancer, diabetes and chronic respiratory diseases – along with mental health, cause nearly three quarters of deaths in the world. Their drive
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rs are social, environmental, commercial and genetic, and their presence is global. Every year 17 million people under the age of 70 die of NCDs, and 86% of them live in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).
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Equity and Quality in Health: a People's Right
An integrated approach to health and human rights lies at the heart of ensuring the dignity and well-being of women living with HIV.
A guide to promote health systems strengthening to achieve universal health coverage.
This global progress report attempts to lay the groundwork for the kind of accelerated action needed. Section 1 presents key data, trends and developments in women’s, children’s and adolescents’ heal
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th and well-being. That is followed in Section 2 by a deeper dive into the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has created and contributed to many threats and challenges to progress for women, children and adolescents. In Section 3, the report concludes with recommendations for accelerating progress towards the achievement of the 2030 Agenda even in such challenging times, with an emphasis on partnership
and clear-eyed recognition of the consequences of failing to do better.
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The objectives of the scheme is to promote cleanliness, hygiene and infection control practices in public health care facilities, to incentivize a
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nd recognize such public healthcare facilities that show exemplary performance in adhering to standard protocols of cleanliness and infection control, to inculcate a culture of ongoing assessment and peer review of performance related to hygiene, cleanliness and sanitation, to create and share sustainable practices related to improved cleanliness in public health facilities linked to positive health outcomes.
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Promoting People's Health to Enhance Social-economic Development
The purpose of this strategy is to guide the planning, management and development of human resources for health in Rwanda for the period 2011 - 2016. The overall aim of the plan is
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to increase the number of appropriately skilled, motivated and equitably distributed health service providers for Rwanda.
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Including a Tool to Assess the Adolescent Health and Development Component in Pre-Service Education of Health-Care Providers
Background document to the 2018 joint statement by WHO, UNFPA, UNICEF, ICM, ICN, FIGO and IPA: definition of skilled health personnel providing care during childbirth
Community health nurses have the potential to make significant contributions to meet the health
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care needs of various population groups in a variety of community settings. In order to assess the extent to which CHNs are achieving this potential, WHO conducted a study between 2010 and 2014 that examined the status of community health nursing in 22 countries, 13 of which were experiencing a critical shortage of health care workers. The study revealed that the countries surveyed had the basic and operational framework for optimizing CHN in their health systems as evidenced by the availability of PHC structures to guide interventions. However, challenges were identified related to the education, practice and management of CHNs in these countries. The major challenges identified were: Limited availability of career opportunities; poor worker retention; low recognition for CHNs; inadequate and unsupportive working conditions and environments; absence of educational standards; varying educational entry-level requirements for CHN programmes; and a lack of consensus on the scope of practice for CHNs.
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A framework to implement the Agenda for the Americas on Health, Environment, and Climate Change 2021–2030
Achieving Quality Health Care in Bangladesh:
2014 Bangladesh Health Facility Survey (BHFS)
According to WHO, around 22% of adults in conflict settings have mental health conditions.
This is almost triple to non-conflict settings. There i
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s no generally accepted estimate for children but it is clear that children who are refugees, IDPs or who live in conflict settings have high levels of mental health issues.
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Rwanda’s fourth health sector strategic plan (HSSP4) is meant to provide the health sector with a Strategic Plan that will highlight its commitme
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nts and priorities for the coming 6 years. It will be fully integrated in the overall economic development plan of the Government. HSSP4 will fulfill the country’s commitment expressed in the national constitution, National Strategy for Transformation (NST) and the aspirations of the Health Sector Policy 2015. The strategies herein adhere to the Universal Health Coverage (UHC) principles towards realisation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). HSSP4 therefore lays a foundation for Vision 2050 (“The Rwanda We Want”), which will transform Rwanda into a high-income country by 2050. HSSP4 anticipates the epidemiological transition of the country, the increase in population and life expectancy and the expected increase of the health needs of the elderly, notably in Non Communicable Diseases (NCDs). HSSP4 also anticipates a decrease in external financial inflows, hence it is imperative to build secure / resilient health systems.
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