The number of COVID-19 cases is on the rise again, with South Africa nearing half of all confirmed cases in the WHO African Region. Threats of new variants loom and low vaccination coverage raises questions on the future of the response to COVID-19. Prevention remains the key strategy in most sub-Sa...haran countries. Five National Centres (NCs) from the African Health Observatory Platform on Health Systems and Policies (AHOP), based in Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda and Senegal, reflect on lessons to be learnt from their containment responses in the initial phases. They construct timelines to highlight the policies and challenges associated with introducing a range of public health containment measures and
discuss the extent to which these measures continue to be valuable given the ever-changing nature of the pandemic.
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Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) are the principal cause of morbidity, disability and premature mortality in Azerbaijan. The most effective way to reduce the NCD burden is to prevent NCD development, by addressing thebehavioural risk factors underlying NCDs at the population and individual leve...ls: smoking, alcohol use, excessive salt intake, low physical activity, overweight and obesity, and unhealthy diets. In Azerbaijan, a national survey of the prevalence of major NCD risk factors, aligned with the WHO-endorsed STEPwise approach to surveillance (STEPS) methodology, was conducted in 2017.
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Climate change and health vulnerability and adaptation assessment
In 2013 the World Health Organization (WHO) published the report Protecting health from climate change:
vulnerability and adaptation assessment. The aim was to provide basic and flexible guidance on conducting national or subnati...onal assessments of current and future vulnerability (the susceptibility of a population or region to harm) to the health risks of climate change, and of policies and programmes that could increase resilience, taking into account the multiple determinants of climate-sensitive health outcomes.
That guidance has been a very useful tool, applied to more than 50 countries and settings, and has helped countries to prepare their health contributions to United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change national adaptation plans.
Since the launch of the guidance, WHO, technical partners such as Health Canada, and countries have learned much in terms of its applicability in different countries, at national and local levels.
At the same time, knowledge on climate change and health has increased.
WHO, the Pan American Health Organization and Health Canada have produced this updated version, which aims to better support countries in their assessments by proposing a simpler tool that incorporates all lessons learned.
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The overview of findings from five Latin American countries
síntesis de hallazgos en cinco países de América Latina
Herd immunity by mass vaccination offers the potential to substantially limit the continuing spread of COVID-19, but high levels of vaccine hesitancy threaten this goal. In a cross-country analysis of vaccine hesitant respondents across Latin America in January 2021, we experimentally tested how fiv...e features of mass vaccination campaigns—the vaccine’s producer, efficacy, endorser, distributor, and current population uptake rate—shifted willingness to take a COVID-19 vaccine. We find that citizens preferred Western-produced vaccines, but were highly influenced by factual information about vaccine efficacy. Vaccine hesitant individuals were more responsive to vaccine messengers with medical expertise than political, religious, or media elite endorsements. Citizen trust in foreign governments, domestic leaders, and state institutions moderated the effects of the campaign features on vaccine acceptance. These findings can help inform the design of unfolding mass inoculation campaigns.
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The Impacts of Climate Change on Human Health
in the United States: A Scientific Assessment
Climate change is a significant threat to the health of the American people. This scientific assessment examines how climate change is already affecting human health and the changes that may occur in the fu...ture.
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Today’s children, and their children, are the ones who will live with the consequences of climate change.
national programmes for occupational health and safety for health workers: lessons learned from countries: summary report of the WHO online workshop, 15 July 2020
Guide to bio-safety procedures for dental practices during the COVID-19 pandemic
The community-BFCI (c-BFCI) manual has been developed to facilitate training of CHVs and stakeholders providing nutrition sensitive services at community level. The manual covers a wide range of topics: basic nutrition, exclusive breastfeeding, complementary feeding, Breast Milk Substitutes Act, gro...wth monitoring and promotion, early childhood development and stimulation, household food and nutrition security and establishment of baby friendly communities.
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RESULTS: Between 76 and 97% of the PHCS offered RMCAH services before the lockdown. Except in antenatal, delivery and adolescent care, there was a decline of between 2 and 6% in all the services during the lockdown and up to 10% decline after the lockdown with variation across and within States. Dur...ing the lockdown. Full-service delivery was reported by 75.2% whereas 24.8% delivered partial services. There was a significant reduction in clients' utilization of the services during the lockdown, and the difference between States before the pandemic, during, and after the lockdown. Reported difficulties during the lockdown included stock-out of drugs (25.7%), stock-out of contraceptives (25.1%), harassment by the law enforcement agents (76.9%), and transportation difficulties (55.8%). Only 2% of the PHCs reported the availability of gowns, 18% had gloves, 90.1% had hand sanitizers, and a temperature checker was available in 94.1%. Slightly above 10% identified clients with symptoms of COVID-19.
CONCLUSIONS: The large proportion of PHCs who provided RMCAH services despite the lockdown demonstrates resilience. Considering the several difficulties reported, and the limited provision of primary protective equipment more effort by the government and non-governmental agencies is recommended to strengthen delivery of sexual and reproductive health in primary health centres in Nigeria during the pandemic.
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A study conducted by the World Health Organisation Regional Office for Africa. The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on older persons both globally and in the African region. Although overall the region’s population is younger relative to many other world regions, the WHO AFRO region ...has a population just over 62 million older people and is ageing rapidly, with the number of older people expected to triple in the next three decades (Aboderin et al., 2020).
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Access to controlled medicines. 3rd edition
Compilation of country case studies and best practices. World Health Report (2010) Background Paper, 25
As a lower-middle-income country (LMIC), South Africa (SA) bears
the burden of maternal and neonatal mortality similar to other sub-
Saharan African countries. According to the Saving Mothers Report
2017/19, there has been a progressive and sustained reduction
in institutional maternal mortality... (iMMR) in the past three triennia
(2010-2019), from 320 per 100,000 live births to 120 per 100,000 live
births.
According to the Rapid Mortality Survey, the country’s infant mortality
rate has declined from 29 deaths per 1000 live births in 2014 to 25
deaths per 1,000 live births in 2018. The institutional neonatal death
rate showed a slight decrease from 12,7 deaths per 1,000 live births in
2016 to the current level of 12 per 1,000 live births and has remained
static at this level for the past three years (saDHIS).
Working towards the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) of reducing maternal mortality to below 70 per 100 000 live births and neonatal mortality to 12 deaths per 1000 live births, South Africa aims to reduce institutional maternal mortality, neonatal mortality and stillbirths by 50% by 2030.
This Maternal, Perinatal and Neonatal Health Policy provides a
framework for the delivery of quality, comprehensive, and integrated
MNH services and will guide the development and review of guidelines
and related MNH interventions, including strengthening of the service
delivery platform, governance, leadership and accountability for
the provision of quality MNH services, development of advocacy
messages, and guiding civil society priorities and community
initiatives. The policy will also guide the development and review of
academic curricula and the setting of research priorities.
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1.1 Why this course is needed
The first few hours and days of a newborn baby’s life are a critical window for establishing breastfeeding and for providing mothers with the support they need to breastfeed successfully. Since 1991, the Baby-friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI) has helped to motivate... facilities providing maternity and newborn baby services worldwide to better support breastfeeding. It has been adopted by many countries and organizations. The BFHI aims to provide a health-care environment that supports mothers to acquire the skills necessary to exclusively breastfeed for six months, and to continue breastfeeding for two years or beyond.
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