The five hepatitis viruses have different epidemiological profiles, and their impact, duration, and transmission route also vary. The most common transmission routes contributing to the spread
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of hepatitis are exposure to infected blood via blood transfusion or unsafe injection practices, consumption of contaminated food and drinking water, and transmission from mother to child during pregnancy and delivery. Also, unsafe injection practices, including the use of unsterile needles and syringes, serve as a major pathway for the spread of hepatitis B and C, and reducing transmission of both diseases requires addressing these practices.
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Rehabilitation in health systems provides recommendations for Member States and other relevant stakeholders to strengthen and expand the availabili
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ty of quality rehabilitation services. Currently, there is a significant unmet need for rehabilitation services and it is frequently undervalued in the health system. As populations age and the prevalence of noncommunicable diseases and injuries increases, and the demand for rehabilitation grows, strengthening rehabilitation in health systems becomes ever more paramount.
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"This is the final report of the six-year collaboration between the WHO Department of Mental Health
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and Substance Abuse and the Gulbenkian Global Mental Health Platform, an initiative of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation aimed at reducing the global burden of mental health through the development and application of evidence and good practices to global mental health."
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The scope of this PPC document is to serve as a guide to address the unmet public health need for a PPE system that protects the HW-F in tropical climate
s while caring for patients
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and providing heavy duty essential health services.
The characteristics described in this guidance are targeted for PPE used in
health clinics, hospitals and communities in low resource settings where there is lack of advanced environmental controls and equipment. The purpose is to ensure harmonization in PPE design and its use to avoid confusion and exacerbating the risk of infections in HW-F. The principles of this PPC document can also be considered in risk reduction strategies
in other healthcare settings.
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What We Know, What We Don’t Know, and What We Need to Do
Regional Network for Equity in Health in east and southern Africa (EQUINET): Disussion Paper 109
This report describes the evolution of mainla
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nd Tanzania’s EHB; the motivations for developing the EHBs, the methods used to develop, define and cost them; how it is being disseminated, communicated, and used; and the facilitators (and barriers) to its development, uptake or use. Findings presented in this report are from three stages of analysis: literature review, key informant perspectives and a national consultative meeting.
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The majority of developing countries will fail to achieve their targets for Universal Health Coverage (UHC)1 and the
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health- and poverty-related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) unless they take urgent steps to strengthen their health financing. Just over a decade out from the SDG deadline of 2030, 3.6 billion people do not receive the most essential health services they need, and 100 million are pushed into poverty from paying out-of-pocket for health services. The evidence is strong that progress towards UHC, core to SDG 3, will spur inclusive and sustainable economic growth, yet this will not happen unless countries achieve high-performance health financing, defined here as funding levels that are adequate and sustainable; pooling that is sufficient to spread the financial risks of ill-health; and spending that is efficient and equitable to assure desired levels of health service coverage, quality, and financial protection for all people— with resilience and sustainability.
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In the Indian state of Bihar, visceral leishmaniasis (VL) is a major public health issue that has been aggravated by the rising incidence of new
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Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infections. In endemic areas, the risk of VL infections in patients living with HIV (PLHIV) is higher. It is important to investigate the disease-related knowledge, attitude, and practices (KAP) of PLHIV in Bihar in order to monitor HIV/VL co-infection. Adequate knowledge, a positive attitude, and good practices for VL control are essential to stamp out the disease. This study investigated the KAP towards VL in HIV patients attending antiretroviral therapy (ART) clinic at ICMR-RMRIMS, Patna.
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Moral emotions are a key element of our human morals. Emotions play an important role in the
caring process. Decision-making and assessment in eme
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rgency situations are complex and they frequently result in
different emotions and feelings among health-care professionals.
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Health facilities in the Region of the Americas frequently suffer the effects of health emergenc
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ies and disasters, which jeopardize their ability to provide services to the population. The STAR-H methodology helps staff responsible for health emergency and disaster risk management to identify and assess risks as part of strategic planning to improve facility preparedness. It is intended to help them develop, with a multi-hazard approach, a response framework with operating procedures to deal with hazards of any type, scale, or frequency; determine roles and responsibilities; facilitate the effective use of resources; undertake strategic planning exercises, and improve the preparedness of facilities to effectively respond to and recover from impacts. This methodology is designed for use in health facilities of any size and capacity, and makes it possible to generate historical reports and national or subnational risk profiles. This information can be used to develop an effective health emergency and disaster risk management program.
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The purpose of this report is to provide an overview of the issues in regulating and managing international emergency in a selection
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of large and small-scale sudden onset disasters (SODs). In doing so, it aims to contribute to several key international commitments as well as its objective in disasters and emergencies to “reduce the consequences the event may have on world health and its social and economic implications”.
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This predominantly qualitative research on disability and development in Myanmar was conducted between August 2011 and February 2012, in three commercial centres
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of Yangon, Mandalay and Taunggyi. Stakeholders of service providers, persons with disabilities (PWDs) and families of disabled people were interviewed in order to discover the needs and challenges that they face. Discoveries were made concerning independent living and adaptive education, vocational training and livelihoods challenges, community-based rehabilitation, organisational and human resource capacity, and information channels, networking and cooperation between organisations.
The study found that PWDS, especially those with intellectually disabilities, need training for independent living, adaptive special education, motor development programs and behaviour modification programs in special institutions. Effective services and programs are necessary in all of these areas of need.
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In the last quarter century, several projects emerged to reform mental health services in Latin American and Caribbean countries. Some did not surv
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ive the difficulties that inevitably arise in processes of change, and ended up disappearing before the intended changes could be introduced. Others, however, as shown in this publication, were able to overcome difficulties and meet intended objectives, effectively transforming the structure and quality of services. All these projects, including the many that did not survive, were part of one of the richest experiences in the transformation of mental health care worldwide - the experience of mental health reform in Latin America and the Caribbean
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This document provides a decision-making framework for implementation of mass treatment interventions, active case-finding campaigns and population-based surveys for neglected tropical diseases in t
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he context of the COVID-19 pandemic. A two-step approach is proposed: a risk–benefit assessment, to decide if the planned activity should proceed; and an examination of a list of precautionary measures that should be applied with the aim of decreasing the risk of transmission of COVID-19 associated with the activity, and strengthening the capacity of the health system to manage any residual risk. This guidance note is intended to health authorities, NTD programme managers and their supporting partners.
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Mental disorders are a leading cause of the global burden of disease, and the provision of menta
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l health services in developing countries remains very limited and far from equitable. Using the Creditor Reporting System, we estimate the amounts and patterns of development assistance for global mental health (DAMH) between 2007 and 2013. This allows us to examine how well international donors have responded to calls by global mental health advocates to scale up evidence-based services. Although DAMH did increase between 2007 and 2013, it remains low both in absolute terms and as a proportion of total development assistance for health (DAH). The average annual DAMH between 2007 and 2013 was US$133.57 million, and the proportion of DAH attributed to mental health is less than 1%. Approximately 48% of total DAMH was for humanitarian assistance, education, and civil services. More annual DAMH was channelled into the nonpublic sector than the public sector. Despite an expanding body of evidence suggesting that sustainable mental health care can be effectively integrated into existing health systems at relatively low cost, mental health has not received significant development assistance.
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Frontline health workers (FHWs) provide services directly to communities where they are most needed, especially in remote and rural areas. Many are
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community health workers and midwives, though they can also include local emergency responders/paramedics, pharmacists, nurses, and doctors who serve in community clinics.
The growing burden of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) on low- and middle-income countries threatens many health systems that are already weakened. In many countries, health systems—and health workers—are not prepared to address the complex nature of NCDs. Health systems are often fragmented, and designed to respond to single episodes of care or long-term prevention and control of infectious diseases.1 Many countries also continue to face shortages and distribution challenges of trained and supported health workers. As most NCDs are multifactorial in origin and are detected later in their evolution, health systems face significant challenges to provide early detection as well as affordable, effective, and timely treatment, particularly in underserved communities.
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Gender-based violence is a life-threatening, global health and human rights issue that violates international
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human rights law and principles of gender equality. It is also a threat to lasting peace and an affront to our common humanity. United Nations Member States have called for urgent action to end GBV in emergencies, recognizing that in crises, the risk of GBV is heightened, particularly for women and adolescent girls.
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A key purpose of the Recovery Toolkit is to support countries in the reactivation of health services
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which may have suffered as a result of the emergency. These services include ongoing programmes such as immunization and vaccinations, maternal and child health services, and noncommunicable diseases.
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