Epidemics of infectious diseases are occurring more often, and spreading faster and further than ever, in many different regions of the world. The ...background factors of this threat are biological, environmental and lifestyle changes, among others. A potentially fatal combination of newly-discovered diseases, and the re-emergence of many long-established ones, demands urgent responses in all countries. Planning and preparation for epidemic prevention and control are essential. The purpose of this “Managing epidemics” manual is to provide expert guidance on those responses.
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As of 12 December 2022, over 645 million people worldwide have been diagnosed with COVID-19, with over 6.6 million deaths (4).
The Omicron variant, which emerged in late November 2021, and its subv...ariants, are now the dominant circulating viruses, contributing to the ongoing surge in several countries (4). Vaccination has substantially reduced case numbers and hospitalizations in many countries,but limitations in global access to vaccines mean that many populations, including those in low- and middle-income countries, remain vulnerable. Even in vaccinated individuals, uncertainties remain about duration of protection and efficacy, and the degree of crossprotection with new variants.
There remains a need for more effective treatment and management for those affected by COVID-19. The pandemic – and the
explosion of both research and misinformation – has highlighted the need for trustworthy, accessible and regularly updated living
guidelines to place emerging findings into context and provide clear recommendations for clinical practice
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This document provides technical guidance on concepts, definitions, indicators, criteria, milestones and tools to assist leprosy programmes in their journey towards the goals of interruption of transmission and elimination of leprosy disease and thr...ough the post-elimination period. Importantly, it provides criteria with benchmarks, where possible, for all key aspects of leprosy programmes and services. Not only those related to elimination efforts, but also those related to diagnosis and management of leprosy, leprosy-related disabilities, mental wellbeing, stigma and discrimination and inclusion and participation of persons affected by leprosy. The document emphasises that the elimination of leprosy is a long-term, continuous journey on the one hand, while, on the other, clear milestones can be recognised on the way and programme implementation can be assessed against benchmarks, guiding appropriate action to keep the programme on track.
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Stories of how people in Georgia, Laos, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan and Vietnam made inclusive development happen in their societies. It contains significant experiences andlessons learnt about the practice of inclusive development ...to-highlight medbox">for a wide range of excluded or marginalised groups, useful for policy-makers, programme designers, local authorities, development practitioners and community leaders alike.
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A resource for improving menstraul hygiene around the world.
Comprehensive guidance with examples of good practice, information ...bute-to-highlight medbox">for colleagues and pupils in class and tips on how to break the taboo
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MSF provides treatment for HIV and tuberculosis (TB) in more than 20 countries around the world. The...span> report Burden sharing or burden shifting? How the HIV/TB response is being derailed examines the situation in nine countries where MSF runs programmes: Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Eswatini, Guinea, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Myanmar and Zimbabwe. With a focus on the financial resources available, this report highlights the current risks and gaps in HIV and TB service delivery in these countries.
Given the findings of gaps in diagnosis, prevention and care services and dwindling resources, MSF calls for a robust assessment of the needs and the resource capacity of each affected country, and calls on international donors to ensure that the financial burden is shared, rather than shifted onto those countries worst affected by the diseases.
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The report provides a brief introduction to patents and licences and their effect on the market for antiretroviral (ARV) medicines. It gives an ove...rview of the patent landscape with respect to a select number of ARV medicines in developing countries as of April 2014. The focus is primarily on those ARVs that are recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) as well as new ARVs that have either recently obtained regulatory approval or are in phase III clinical trials.
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This report tells the stories of some of the world’s 7.1 million refugee children of school age under UNHCR’s mandate. In addition, it looks a...t the educational aspirations of refugee youth eager to continue learning after secondary education, and highlights the need for strong partnerships in order to break down the barriers to education for millions of refugee children.
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According to the United Nations, Yemen has been the "Worst humanitarian crisis in the world," ...pan class="attribute-to-highlight medbox">for the past two years. Despite the Hudaydah Agreement signed in December 2018, the fighting continued in many areas of the country, such as Hajjah in the north, Al Dhale' e in the south and Hudaydah along the west coast. Within a year, another 400,000 Yemenis were forced to flee their homes, eventually adding up to one-eighth of the entire Yemeni population who had become displaced at least once, over the last five years.
In 2019, unprecedented heavy rain and flooding from May onwards caused catastrophic damage to homes and the families’ livelihoods, adding to their misery. Thousands of families who had already lost their home due to the fighting had yet again, their temporary shelters, beddings and essential kitchen supplies, destroyed.
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This brief report examines the extent to which community-based treatment and integration support are provided for people living with mental illness across 15 selected Asia-Pacific economies. Some of... the key findings are discussed in light of the diversity of economies and cultural contexts.
BJPSYCH INTERNATIONALVOLUME 15 NUMBER 4 NOVEMBER 201
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At least half of the world’s population does not have full coverage of essential health services. Health expenses push more than 100 million people into extreme poverty each and every year, forcin...g 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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The COVID-19 pandemic led to school closures around the world, affecting almost 1.6 billion students. T...he effects of even short disruptions in a child’s schooling on their learning and well-being have been shown to be acute and long lasting. The capacities of education systems to respond to the crisis by delivering remote learning and support to children and families have been diverse yet uneven.
This report reviews the emerging evidence on remote learning throughout the global school closures during the COVID-19 pandemic to help guide decision-makers to build more effective, sustainable, and resilient education systems for current and future crises.
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During the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic, the world’s economy slowed. Yet, ...attribute-to-highlight medbox">the global annual average particulate pollution (PM2.5) was largely unchanged from 2019 levels. At the same time, growing evidence shows air pollution—even when experienced at very low levels—hurts human health. This recently led the World Health Organization (WHO) to revise its guideline for what it considers a safe level of exposure of particulate pollution, bringing most of the world—97.3 percent of the global population—into the unsafe zone. The AQLI finds that particulate air pollution takes 2.2 years off global average life expectancy, or a combined 17 billion life-years, relative to a world that met the WHO guideline. This impact on life expectancy is comparable to that of smoking, more than three times that of alcohol use and unsafe water, six times that of HIV/AIDS, and 89 times that of conflict and terrorism.
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The Sierra Leone National Infection Prevention and Control Guidelines were jointly developed and updated by the Ministry of Health and Sanitation in collaboration with ...light medbox">the World Health Organization and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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WaterAid is an international NGO that provides assistance for safe water supply,
sanitation and hygiene practice in the poor communities in the ...pan class="attribute-to-highlight medbox">world.
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The publication draws on pre-COVID data to highlight how children with disabilities face greater risks in the midst of this pandemic. It documents what has happened to services ...e-to-highlight medbox">for children and adults with disabilities across the world and includes examples of what has been done to address disruptions in services. It also discusses the challenges in generating disability-inclusive data during the pandemic.
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MEDBOX Issue Brief no.18.
The MEDBOX team has compiled a new issue brief on the impact of COVID-19 on PLHIV HIV prevention programmes and treatment for<.../span> this year's World AIDS Day on 1 December 2021.
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Catholic Social Teaching (CST) has often been called ‘the Church’s best kept secret’. Thankfully, particularly with the release of Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Si’, and with ...s="attribute-to-highlight medbox">the new RE GCSE, this is changing. CST is part of our Catholic young people’s heritage and a treasure they should not be denied.CST reads the ‘signs of the times’ in the light of scripture and offers wisdom and Insights on living the Gospel in today’s world. CAFOD uses CST principles to guide all of its work, and we offer teachers this resource to supplement their RE curricula
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From Participation to Partnerships (September 2020)
Despite the COVID-19 challenges, children around the world have found meaningful ways to suppo...rt and protect their peers, families, and communities. Children are on the frontlines of innovative responses and are working closely with their adult allies. The leadership demonstrated through these child-adult partnerships is the underlying inspiration for this guide.
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An interdisciplinary study within the framework of the dialogue project on the contribution of the...n> Catholic Church to a socio-ecological transformation.
The study examines the obstacles to the implementation of the socio-ecological transformation and develops recommendations for action.
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