Policy Note #2: Myanmar Health Systems in Transition Policy Notes Series
Myanmar is a country in which people’s access to health services is determined more by where they live than their need for care – a situation that is fundamentally inequitable. The challenge is to reduce levels of ineq...uity between different groups in the population and different geographical areas, and most particularly to ensure that health services reach poor and disadvantaged groups, including minorities and those living in conflict-affected areas.
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Myanmar is prone to various natural hazards that include earthquakes, floods, cyclones, droughts, fires, tsunamis, some of whichhave the potential to impact large numbers of people. In the event that large numbers of people are affected (such as was the case in 2008 following cyclone Nargis), the go...vernment may decide to request international assistance to respond to the disaster.
The overall goal of the ERPP is to mitigate the impact of disasters and save as many lives as possible from preventable causes. It aims to ensure that effective and timely assistance is provided to people in need through effective coordination and communication on emergency preparedness and humanitarian response between members of the HCTin Myanmar. The approach has been developed in collaboration with the Government, to facilitate a coordinated and effective support to people affected by humanitarian crises.
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Women and Health Initiative Working Paper No. 1. Women and Health Initiative
Improving maternal health in the context of the sub-Saharan African HIV epidemic requires greater understanding of the relationships between HIV disease and maternal morbidity and mortality, integrated and effective resp...onses by the health system, and a social context which promotes quality care and encourages use of MCH and HIV services. Advancing the proposed research agenda will make an invaluable contribution by generating needed evidence for policy and practice that improves the maternal health of women who are living with HIV, as well as those who are not. Bringing together maternal health and HIV researchers, policy-makers and program implementers to reduce HIV-related maternal morbidity and mortality and improve the HIV response for women represents an opportunity and a challenge.
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This landscape analysis aims to:
1. Identify and document supportive policies and best practices in family planning program implementation
2. Assess the quality of family planning service provision
3. Propose recommendations for scaling up best family planning practices and new interv...entions to improve program effectiveness and increase utilization of contraception
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In many humanitarian emergencies, there is a serious lack of access to even the most basic materials needed for managing the blood in addition to a lack of appropriate sanitation facilities (including water), which are critical for addressing menstrual hygiene. Privacy in emergencies is often scarc...e, and even if toilets are available they often lack locks, functioning doors, lighting and separation between genders. These barriers are often intensified by cultural beliefs and taboos surrounding menstruation which can restrict the movements and behaviors of girls and women
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September Highlights
Ebola prevention measures began in South Sudan with three border screening points established
Nearly 160,000 people reached with WASH services throughout South Sudan
An 82 percent funding gap is putting the lives of 2.5 million people in north-west Syria at risk this winter.
The first cholera case in north-west Syria was confirmed on 19 September. See below for the latest updates.
On 17 September, at least six airstrikes were reported in Idleb, 10 ...km away from the road used by the 7th cross-line convoy. One man was injured.
On 27 September, an airstrike reportedly hit in the vicinity of five IDP camps in Idleb, near the Bab AlHawa border crossing, injuring a woman, child and seven men.
HNAP recorded 19,545 new internal displacements in north-west Syria in September – the highest record so far in 2022 - largely driven by the deteriorating economy.
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Living Conditions Among Persons with Disability Survey Report
Musculoskeletal disorders represent a significant problem of modern society which are more pronounced in young people and school children. Etiology of these disorders is found in inadequate ergonomic conditions, too heavy school bag, school furniture inadequate to age, poor posture, sedentary lifest...yle, reduction of physical activity and lack of exercise.
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The State of the World’s Children 2013: Children with Disabilities examines the barriers – from inaccessible buildings to dismissive attitudes, from invisibility in official statistics to vicious discrimination – that deprive children with disabilities of their rights and keep them from partic...ipating fully in society. The report also lays out some of the key elements of inclusive societies that respect and protect the rights of all children, regardless of disability, and progress in helping all children to flourish and make their contribution to the world.
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The report offers 20 top recommendations for getting ahead of future outbreaks in Yemen and similarly complex humanitarian settings.
In 2015, Yemen was declared a Level 3 emergency by the UN, kicking into gear the highest level of humanitarian support. A massive cholera outbreak followed, leading t...o 1 million suspected cases in 2 waves from September 2016-July 2018.
“We largely know ‘what to do’ to control cholera, but context-specific practices on ‘how to do it’ in order to surmount challenges to coordination, logistics, insecurity, access and politics remain needed,” the report states.
While the response improved between the 2 waves, there were gaps. For one, Yemen’s history of cholera should have triggered a heavy focus on pre-planning for an epidemic, such as stockpiling supplies and doubling down on community-based surveillance, the report fou
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Child marriage is defined as a formal or informal union before the age of 18. The practice affects mostly girls. While child marriage is especially prevalent in low and lower-middle income countries, it is also observed in other countries. It endangers the life trajectories of girls in multiple ways.... Child brides are at greater risk of experiencing a range of poor health outcomes, having children at younger ages when they are not yet ready to do so, dropping out of school, earning less over their lifetimes and living in poverty compared to their peers who marry at later ages. Child brides may also be more likely to experience intimate partner violence, have restricted physical mobility, and limited decision making ability. M
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EVALUATION REPORT | This evaluation is the first comprehensive global exercise to examine UNICEF’s programme response in protecting children in emergencies. Its purpose is to strengthen child protection programming by assessing performance in recent years and to draw lessons and recommendations th...at will influence ongoing and future programmes. It is expected that the findings of the evaluation will inform the roll-out of the Strategic Plan 2014-2017. The evaluation design includes country case studies analysing outcomes for children against the medium term strategic plan (MTSP, 2006-2013), the CCCs and selected evaluation questions. Twelve countries provided data for the analysis, four as case studies with country visits and standalone reports (Colombia, Democratic Republic of the Congo [DRC], Pakistan and South Sudan) and a further eight countries as desk studies (Afghanistan, Haiti, Myanmar, Philippines, Somalia, Sri Lanka, State of Palestine and Sudan). Four of the countries (Haiti, Myanmar, Pakistan and the Philippines) are disaster-affected and sudden-onset contexts while the remainder are primarily contexts of protracted conflict that include sudden-onset upsurges in violence.
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On Sunday 16th December 2018, some villages in the Province of Mai-Nambiar, Democratic Republic of Congo, neighboring the district of Makotimpoko in the Republic of Congo (CongoBrazzaville) were affected by inter-ethnic conflict between the Banunu and the Batende. The fighting has resulted in 400 fa...talities and the destruction of property. A large number of the population of the conflict affected areas were forced to cross the river Congo and find refuge in several localities in the Cuvette (Konda and Youmba) and Plateaux (Makotimpoko, Bouemba, Patrick) areas in Congo-Brazzaville.
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Despite growing evidence on the impact of psychosocial support interventions, there is an urgent need for a stronger evidence base on approaches that effectively support children affected by armed conflict. To contribute to this evidence base, and building on a pilot study conducted in Uganda in 200...9, War Child conducted an exploratory outcome evaluation of its psychosocial support intervention ‘I DEAL’ in South Sudan and Colombia in 2012. The objective of the evaluation was to explore the outcomes that I DEAL achieves for children and the factors that influence the achievement of those outcomes to further inform and strengthen the intervention
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National Child Traumatic Stress Network National Center for PTSD | The field of school safety and emergency management has evolved significantly over the past decade. Tragically, acts of violence, natural disasters, and terrorist attacks have taught us many lessons. We also know that other types of ...emergencies can impact schools, including medical emergencies, transportation accidents, sports injuries, peer victimization, public health emergencies, and the sudden death of a member of the school community. We now recognize the need for school emergency management plans that are up-to-date and take an “all-hazards” approach with clear communication channels and procedures that effectively reunite parents and caregivers with students. We have also learned that preparing school administrators, teachers, and school partnering agencies before a critical event is crucial for effective response, the value of ongoing training and emergency exercises, and that having intervention models that address the public health, mental health, and psychosocial needs of students and staff is essential to a safe school environment and the resumption of learning.
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BMJ 2009; 338 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.b158 (Published 05 February 2009)
Cite this as: BMJ 2009;338:b158
Correspondence to: A Burns alistair.burns@manchester.ac.uk
Q1: What are the effective maternal mental health interventions to prevent developmental problems in early infancy?
Initial reports indicate significant damage to Beira and surrounding areas, including destroyed houses.
• Sofala, Manica, Zambezia and Inhambane provinces have been hardest hit by the cyclone’s path and the preceding tropical depression.
• An inter-agency assessment team, led by the Nati...onal Institute of Disaster Management’s (INGC) Director, is on ground in Beira
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