Afghanistan has one of the largest populations per capita of persons with disabilities in the world. At least one in five Afghan households includes an adult or
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child with a serious physical, sensory, intellectual, or psychosocial disability. More than 40 years of war have left more than one million Afghans with amputated limbs and other mobility, visual, or hearing disabilities. Many Afghans have psychosocial disabilities (mental health conditions) such as depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress, which are often a direct result of the protracted conflict. Other Afghans have pre-existing disabilities not directly related to the conflict, such as those caused by polio.
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FAST FACTS FROM THE 2013-14 ZAMBIA DEMOGRAPHIC AND HEALTH SURVEY
War Trauma Foundation strengthens mental health care and psychosocial support through capacity building
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and development and dissemination of expertise through the implementation of programmes in (post) conflict areas. We develop and evaluate new methods in close cooperation with (local) partner organisations ensuring the inclusion of cultural and context aspects as well as long term sustainability. A couple of programmes will always be highlighted on our website.
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DHS Working Paper No. 136
A total of 1,222 children age 6-23 months were included in this analysis. Twenty percent of children were stunted and
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43% were moderately anemic. Regarding IYCF practices, only 16% of children received a minimum acceptable diet, 25% received diverse food groups, 58% were fed with minimum meal frequency, 85% currently breastfed, and 59% consumed iron-rich foods. Breastfeeding reduced the odds of being stunted. By background characteristics, male sex, perceived small birth size, children of short stature, and children of working mother were significant predictors of stunting. Iron-rich food consumption was inversely associated with moderate anemia. Among covariates, male sex and maternal anemia were also significant predictors of moderate anemia among children age 6-23 months.
The study concluded that stunting and anemia among young children in Myanmar are major public health challenges that need urgent action.
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Nearly half the population of Sierra Leone is under the age of 18 years and the impact of the Eb
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ola crisis on their lives now and on their future opportunities has been far-reaching: no school; loss of family members and friends to the virus; and changing roles and responsibilities in the home and the community.
While the priority now remains meeting the goal of zero cases, the Government of Sierra Leone (GoSL) is also developing a comprehensive strategy aimed at supporting communities to recover from this crisis, to put the country back on track to meet development targets. The Ebola Recovery Strategy – currently being finalised by the GoSL – represents a potentially transformative framework to support the immediate recovery of children from the crisis and to ensure their place in the future development of Sierra Leone.
To date, there has not been a formal process for children to outline their own priorities for recovery to decision-makers. In mid-March 2015, child-centred agencies conducted a Children’s Ebola Recovery Assessment (CERA) in nine districts across Sierra Leone to create a mechanism for more than 1,100 boys and girls, to discuss issues of concern; assess the impact of the crisis on their roles, responsibilities and future opportunities; and to formulate their recommendations for recovery.
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This special issue on Newborn Health in Global Health Action is being launched to share the experience of how to scale up a cost-effective package
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of newborn care that involves families, community health workers and health facilities. The results of this community randomized trial, the Uganda Newborn Study (UNEST), show that home visits in pregnancy and soon after delivery resulted in improved breastfeeding practices, skin-to-skin care immediately after birth, delaying a baby’s first bath, and hygienic care of the baby’s umbilical cord among the poorest households with lowest access to care.
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The development of water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) in schools guidelines for TimorLeste is a landmark moment in our quest to make every school child
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-friendly – a place where every child can learn, play and grow with pride and dignity. The overarching goal is to improve health, boost education achievement and promote gender equity in our schools.
The guidelines set clear levels of acceptable standards for water supply, provision of sanitation facilities and hygiene promotion in schools and provide a common framework and policy direction for all sub-sector actors. Therefore, all implementing agencies, managers, planners, architects, water and sanitation technicians, teaching staff, school directors, school boards, district WASH committees, local authorities and other relevant bodies should consult these guidelines, when making implementation plans.
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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
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for care – a situation that is fundamentally inequitable. The challenge is to reduce levels of inequity 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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At least half of the world’s population does not have full coverage of essential health services. Hea
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lth expenses push more than 100 million people into extreme poverty each and every year, forcing them into terrible choices that no one should ever have to make: Buy medicine or food? Education or health care? These stark statistics make the case for universal health coverage compelling.
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- Twenty-two joint integrated rapid response mechanism (IRRM) missions were conducted in 11 counties and reached 305,887 people including 65,432 children under 5 years of age.
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UNICEF’s Integrated Community Mobilization Network reached 345,219 households (total population 2.1 million) advocating for child rights focused on child survival, birth notification, education and protection. Three million people have been reached with advocacy and life-saving messages through radio and community engagement activities, including activities focused on youth and faith leaders.
- On 27 June, discussions between President Salva Kiir and former First Vice President Riek Machar in Khartoum culminated in agreement to a permanent ceasefire and the opening of humanitarian corridors, effective 30 June.
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A key purpose of the Recovery Toolkit is to support countries in the reactivation of health services which may have suffered as a result
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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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This Guidance Document provides practical assistance to Country Offices scaling up programmes to manage SAM in young children. It outlines a step-by-step process through which countries can analyse their current situation, identify barriers and bott
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lenecks through the MoRES approach, and plan action to scale-up treatment. In particular it addresses the challenge of supporting governments to accelerate and sustain scale-up, build national capacities and source reliable and sustained supplies and financing for managing SAM. This document also provides complementary background information, references to international technical recommendations, resources and tools.
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Growing evidence indicates that large proportions of children around the world experience physical, sexual and emotional violence every year, with enormous implications for human rights, public
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health and economic and social development.1 Over the last five years, national governments and Together for Girls – a global public-private partnership comprising UNICEF,
other United Nations (UN) agencies, the United States (US) Government and various private sector agencies – have worked to mobilize and sustain a global movement to end violence against children, with a focus on sexual violence against girls.
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These guidelines were developed as part of Kenya's fast-track plan to end AIDS among adolescents and young people. Based on research into adolescent and
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young key populations in Kenya and elsewhere, they outline a package of HIV prevention services, and emphasize the need to combine biobehavioural interventions with services in education, job skills training, mental health, and social care and protection.
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Measuring progress towards universal health coverage.
This sixth edition of Health at a Glance Asia/Pacific presents a set
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of key indicators of health status, the determinants of health, health care resources and utilisation, health care expenditure and financing and quality of care across 27 Asia-Pacific countries and territories. It also provides a series of dashboards to compare performance across countries and territories, and a thematic analysis on the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on Asia/Pacific health systems.
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MODULE 5 RESOURCE GUIDE | This guide is part of a series of manuals that focuses on six topics in Early Childhood Development (ECD): different programming approaches, basic concepts, assessments, ea
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rly childhood environments, children with special needs and child protection, and the health, safety and nutrition of young children. The series was prepared within a three-year CRS-led project called “Strengthening the Capacity of Women Religious in Early Childhood Development,” or “SCORE ECD.” Funded by the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, the project helps Catholic sisters in Kenya, Malawi, and Zambia in their work with children aged 0-5 years and their families. The project is being implemented from January 2014 to December 2016
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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 community
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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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A practical handbook. This Health Cluster Guide (2nd edition, 2020) provides practical advice on how WHO, Health Cluster Coordinators and partners
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can work together during a humanitarian crisis to achieve the aims of reducing avoidable mortality, morbidity and disability, and restoring the delivery of and equitable access to preventive and curative health care.
It highlights key principles of humanitarian health action and how coordination and joint efforts among health and other sector actors can increase the effectiveness and efficiency of health interventions and promote better health outcomes. It draws on Inter-Agency Standing Committee and other expert guidance and includes lessons from field experience in acute and protracted crises.
The coordination principles and practice presented in Health Cluster Guide are equally valid for coordinators and members of health sector groups that seek to achieve effective health action in countries where the cluster approach has not been formally adopted.
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Updated version – September 2020
The COVID-19 pandemic is affecting everyone. Globally, millions of people have been infected with the virus, while hundreds of thousands have lost their lives. I
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n Moldova, the pandemic is placing an ever-increasing pressure on the health care and social protection systems, causing major disruptions to economic processes and limitations to social life, deepening inequalities and proving how vulnerable we are.
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