In the last quarter century, several projects emerged to reform mental health services in Latin American and Caribbean countries. Some did not survive the difficulties that inevitably arise in processes of change, and ended up disappearing before th...e 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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These country reports provide information on the legal situation for displaced populations, namely asylum seekers, refugees, and returnees, where relevant, regarding access to mobile services, in each country covered
The report shows that where people and communities living with and affected by HIV are engaged in decision-making and HIV service delivery, new infections decline and more people living with HIV gain access to treatment. When people have the power t...o choose, to know, to thrive, to demand and to work together, lives are saved, injustices are prevented and dignity is restored.
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In 2020, UNRWA will continue to support Palestine refugees affected by the protracted crisis through providing relief assistance and ensuring access to essential education and health services. Drawing on its existing structures, supply chains and ca...pacities, the Agency will continue to adapt its interventions to respond to ongoing and evolving needs in an effective and agile manner. In Syria, it is expected that the spontaneous return of Palestine refugees from within and outside the country will continue in areas that experience relative calm and where basic infrastructure is rehabilitated, as observed in Sbeineh and Khan Eshieh camps in recent years. In 2020, UNRWA will increase its efforts to rehabilitate its facilities and restore its services in areas of spontaneous return, including in Dera’a, where small scale returns have been observed in 2019.
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Despite the considerable improvement in global health, millions of people still lack access to quality health services, including access to effective antimicrobial medicines, or are impoverished as a result of health spending. At the same time, anti...microbial resistance – a consequence of overuse and misuse of antimicrobials – is increasingly a barrier to accessing effective care. The declining effectiveness of antibiotics is driven by multiple factors, many of which can be addressed through well functioning primary health care. However, primary health care has not always had much attention in national health sector responses to
antimicrobial resistance, which often focus on tertiary care, laboratory detection and surveillance. The three pillars of primary health care (community engagement, front-line health services including primary care and essential public health, and multisectoral action on wider health determinants) are central not just to Universal Health Coverage and the Sustainable Development Goals, but also to an effective response to antimicrobial resistance.
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This survey is part of a series of eight country surveys conducted in the context of the People that Deliver Initiative (peoplethatdeliver.org). This global initiative, which brings together the world’s largest organizations, aims to improve health servi...ces performance through the professionalization of logistics managers.
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Society first acknowledges a child’s existence and identity
through birth registration. The right to be recognized as
a person before the law is a critical step in ensuring
lifelong protection and is a prerequisite for exercising all
other rights. A birth certificate is proof of that legal ide...ntity, and is
the basis upon which children can establish a nationality,
avoid the risk of statelessness and seek protection from
violence and exploitation. For example, proof of age is
needed to help prevent child labour, child marriage and
underage recruitment into the armed forces. A birth
certificate may also be required to access social service
systems, including health, education and justice.
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This document sets out the preparedness and response plan of the Nigerian Primary Health Care System for COVID-19 Acute Respiratory Disease. It outlines the planning scenarios, key areas of work and priority activities required for the Primary Health Care Sector to quickly scale up its core capacity... to prevent, quickly detect, characterize and efficiently respond, in a coordinated manner to the COVID-19 pandemic. These include guidelines for the setup and operationalization of COVID-19 response platforms at the national and state levels, guidelines for the provision of PHC services during the pandemic to minimize transmission in PHCs as well as guidelines for preparedness and response of PHC Centres and communities for COVID-19 case detection and response.
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The spread of COVID-19 poses a challenge for emerging markets such as those in Africa and Latin America. While governments around the world are suffering from a shortage of ventilators, hospital beds, and personal protective equipment, availability ...of these items is already extremely limited in some countries. In Africa, countries including Mali, Liberia, and Burkina Faso have only a few ventilators available to aid their populations, and there is also a lack of reliable oxygen supplies, ICUs, and healthcare workers to treat the sick. Additionally, many countries in Africa are already suffering from food insecurity and weak economies, which will worsen the long-term effects of coronavirus.
Keeping these factors in mind, GeoPoll conducted a remote study in 12 countries in sub-Saharan Africa on the effects coronavirus is already having on people throughout the region.
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Infection prevention and control (IPC) practices are of critical importance in protecting the function of healthcare services at all levels and mitigating the impact on vulnerable populations. Although the management of possible COVID-19 cases is us...ually guided by national policies for specific healthcare facilities, community transmission is currently widespread in most EU/EEA countries and the UK, therefore primary healthcare providers in the community such as GPs, dentists and pharmacists are at risk of being exposed to COVID-19.
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This guideline is for:
• health and care practitioners
• health and care staff involved in planning and delivering services
• commissioners.
The recommendations bring together:
• existing national and international guidance and policies...
• advice from specialists working in the NHS from across the UK. These include people with
expertise and experience of treating patients for the specific health conditions covered by the
guidance during the current COVID-19 pandemic.
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In most contexts, the social stigma surrounding mental health issues exists because of cultural norms and a lack of understanding of mental health’s complexities and realities, resulting in isolation, increased vulnerability, and lack of support for people with mental health problems.
This stig...ma has been exacerbated during COVID-19, as more people may need mental health or psycho-social support but cannot access it due to the cessation of in-person services and limited remote care option
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This document describes the essential interventions in mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) that should be developed on an intersectoral basis in countries and communities. Its frame of reference is the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) intervention pyramid for MHPSS ...ibute-to-highlight medbox">services. The pyramid shows different levels of support, ranging from social considerations, safety, and basic needs, to the provision of specialized services for the management of more severe conditions, as well as the probable volume of demand at each established level.
Available in Spanisch, Portuguese and English
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This guide is available in English, French, Spanish, Russian, Arabic and Chinese
This guide consolidates COVID-19 guidance for human resources for health managers and policy-makers at national, subnational and facility levels to design, manage and preserve the workforce necessary to manage the COVI...D-19 pandemic and maintain essential health services.
The guide identifies recommendations to protect, support and empower health workers at individual, management, organizational and system levels.
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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, comp...lementary feeding, Breast Milk Substitutes Act, growth monitoring and promotion, early childhood development and stimulation, household food and nutrition security and establishment of baby friendly communities.
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This global guidance provided the framework for over 100 countries to develop their NDVPs. This updated (second) version supersedes the previous version published in 16 November 2020. New information has been added on the following areas:
the COVID-19 Partners Platform;
the use of COVID...-19 simulation exercises to test deployment strategies;
the indemnity agreement and no-fault compensation programme for vaccines secured through the COVAX Facility in the Advance Market Commitment (AMC) eligible economies;
the availability and use of the WHO-UNICEF COVID-19 Vaccine Introduction and deployment Costing (CVIC) tool;
the COVAX Facility’s humanitarian buffer that enables allocation of vaccine to cover high-risk populations in humanitarian settings;
recommendations for vaccination of pregnant and lactating women;
supplementary information on infection prevention and control (IPC) measures to be used to deliver COVID-19 vaccines safely;
the WHO licensed COVID-19 vaccines product-specific information;
use of geospatial data and digital micro plans for equitable access and delivery of COVID-19 vaccines;
lessons learned from the development of NDVPs and early experiences in COVID-19 vaccine deployment in countries; and
updated additional resources at the end of each chapter.
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A wide range of potential enablers and barriers were identified for influencing progress for the scale-up of severe wasting services within national health systems. Findings were categorised according to the six pillars of WHO’s health system stre...ngthening framework.
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Available in Russian
A detailed overview is provided of the implementation of alcohol policies described in the 10 action areas of the European Action Plan to Reduce the Harmful Use of Alcohol 2012–2020 (EAPA), including the current status of implementation of the five action areas of the WHO-led... SAFER initiative:
Strengthen restrictions on alcohol availability;
Advance and enforce drink–driving countermeasures;
Facilitate access to screening, brief interventions and treatment;
Enforce bans or comprehensive restrictions on alcohol advertising, sponsorship and promotion; and
Raise prices on alcohol through excise taxes and pricing policies.
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1 July 2021; Report shows big COVID-19-related HIV prevention programme service disruptions, but highlights that HIV service innovations and adaptations are possible.
A synthesis report on programm...e disruptions and adaptations during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020
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2021 UNAIDS Global AIDS Update. UNAIDS report shows that people living with HIV face a double jeopardy, HIV and COVID-19, while key populations and children continue to be left behind in access to HIV services