These guidelines provide new and updated recommendations on the use of point-of-care testing in children under 18 months of age and point-...ss="attribute-to-highlight medbox">of-care tests to monitor treatment in people living with HIV; the treatment monitoring algorithm; and timing of antiretroviral therapy (ART) among people living with HIV who are being treated for tuberculosis.
New recommendations launched today outline key new actions that countries can take to improve the delivery of HIV testing, treatment and care services by providing greater options for differentiated approaches such as, supporting HIV treatment start in the community, ensuring that children are diagnosed and treated early, and that viral load treatment monitoring is more accessible, focused and triggers clinical action
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national programmes for occupational health and safety for health workers: lessons learned from countries: summary report of the WHO online worksho...p, 15 July 2020
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The COVID-19 pandemic has put significant pressure on health systems all around the world. The drastic measures established to contain its spread are creating serious impediments to economic activity (including agrifood systems) and, consequently, t...o livelihoods and food security and nutrition.
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This document is a guide defining requirements for quality and safety for malaria rapid diagnostic testing services to safeguard the quality of the results, the safety of the operators and patients ...and that of the environment for use by national malaria control programmes, regulators, implementers and rapid diagnostic providers.
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This fourth annual report monitors global progress towards the 2023 target for global elimination of industrially produced trans-fatty acids (TFA), highlighting achievements during the past year (October 2021 – September 2022). Countries are respo...nding to the World Health Organization (WHO) call to action by putting into place best-practice TFA policies. Mandatory TFA policies are currently in effect for 3.4 billion people in 60 countries (43% of the world population); of these, 43 countries have best-practice policies in effect, covering 2.8 billion people (36% of the world population).
Over the past year, several additional countries took action to eliminate industrially produced TFA: best-practice policies came into effect in India in January 2022, Uruguay in May 2022 and Oman in July 2022. Best-practice policies were passed in Bangladesh in November 2021 (to come into effect in December 2022) and in Ukraine in September 2020 (to come into effect in October 2023), best-practice TFA policies are projected to pass soon in Mexico, Nigeria and Sri Lanka.
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Promoting health and preventing disease is a critical component of the effort required to achieve Universal Health Coverage (UHC). to date, efforts... to achieve UHC have focused mostly on strengthening health systems and their capacities to provide curative care. However, experience from the COVID-19 pandemic has reaffirmed the need for resilient health systems, emphasizing primary health care, including preventive and promotive health and well-being.
Emerging from the eye of the storm as the global health lead agency during the pandemic, WHO is equipped with the required insights and actions for a holistic approach to “building back fairer and better” after COVID-19.
The Healthier Populations (UHP) Cluster in the African Region is designed to support Pillar 3 of WHO’s 13th Global Programme of Work (GPW13) which aims to make 1 billion people healthier by reducing health inequities, preventing diseases and injuries, addressing health determinants, and promoting partnerships for collaborative actions amongst all stakeholders.
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The KMC implementation strategy targets a broad audience. These include policy-makers and programme managers at national, regional and local levels, government and nongovernmental organizations working in the area of maternal and newborn care, globa...l and national professional associations, public and private hospital management at all levels of care, and facility- and community-based maternal and infant care providers.
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Adolescence, defined as the period between 10 and 19 years of age, is a developmental stage during which many psychosocial and mental health challenges emerge. There is a well-established link betwe...en mental health and HIV outcomes. Adolescents and young adults living with HIV typically have additional mental health needs linked to their experiences of living with and managing a chronic illness, along with prevailing stigma and discrimination. Mental health promotion and prevention is thus a critical priority for this group.
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While there has been real progress in addressing the burden of disease in the WHO African region, the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the link between health, economics and security, as the region... saw decades of progress threatened, including positive trends in decreasing inequality. In the African Region the momentum towards achieving the 2030 SDG disease burden reduction targets (SDG targets 3.3, 3.4 and 3B) has stalled.
The COVID-19 pandemic was also a major threat to gains made, such as the eradication of polio in the region, declared in 2020; reduced numbers of new HIV infections in 2021 compared to 2010; and passing the 2020 milestone of the End TB Strategy, with a 22% reduction in new cases compared with 2015. However, the pandemic also disrupted essential health services in 92% of countries globally, 22.7 million children missed basic immunization, there was an increase in malaria and TB, and global deaths from TB rose for the first time since 2015.
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Hepatitis B (HBV) infection is a major public health problem and cause of chronic liver disease.
The 2024 HBV guidelines provide updated evidence-informed recommendations on key priority topics. ...These include expanded and simplified treatment criteria for adults but now also for adolescents; expanded eligibility for antiviral prophylaxis for pregnant women to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HBV; improving HBV diagnostics through use of point-of-care HBV DNA viral load and reflex approaches to HBV DNA testing; who to test and how to test for HDV infection; and approaches to promote delivery of high-quality HBV services, including strategies to promote adherence to long-term antiviral therapy and retention in care.
The 2024 guidelines include 11 updated chapters with new recommendations and also update existing chapters without new recommendations, such as those on treatment monitoring and surveillance for liver cancer.
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This fourth annual report monitors global progress towards the 2023 target for global elimination of industrially produced trans-fatty acids (TFA), highlighting achievements during the past year (October 2021 – September 2022). Countries are respo...nding to the World Health Organization (WHO) call to action by putting into place best-practice TFA policies. Mandatory TFA policies are currently in effect for 3.4 billion people in 60 countries (43% of the world population); of these, 43 countries have best-practice policies in effect, covering 2.8 billion people (36% of the world population).
Over the past year, several additional countries took action to eliminate industrially produced TFA: best-practice policies came into effect in India in January 2022, Uruguay in May 2022 and Oman in July 2022. Best-practice policies were passed in Bangladesh in November 2021 (to come into effect in December 2022) and in Ukraine in September 2020 (to come into effect in October 2023), best-practice TFA policies are projected to pass soon in Mexico, Nigeria and Sri Lanka.
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1st edition.
Unitaid’s report describes a slate of new devices that can more efficiently identify dangerously ill children so that they can be treated immediately. These tools make it easier to recognize danger signs, and support integrated appr...oaches to reducing childhood deaths from the three greatest childhood killers: malaria, pneumonia and diarrhoea.
The report also highlights tests that can determine whether or not a child has an illness that can be treated with antibiotics. Viral infections are a common cause of childhood fevers, but cannot be cured with antibiotics. Although many children seeking care at clinics have fever, three-quarters by some estimates, only a small fraction of those have an illness that can be treated with an antimalarial or antibiotic drug
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Antibiotic resistance is no longer a concern for the distant future but is a pressing issue, both globally and in Nepal. As part of global effort to preserve the effectiveness of a...ntibiotics, the Global Antibiotic Resistance Partnership (GARP)-Nepal was established to document the current state of antibiotic access, use and resistance in the country, and to identify policies and actions that could set a course for antibiotic sustainability.
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Fact Book on WHO Level I and Level II monitoring indicators - To monitor the progress of efforts to improve the global medicines situation, WHO has developed a system of indicators that measure impo...rtant aspects of a country’s pharmaceutical situation. Level 1 indicators measure the existence and performance of key national pharmaceutical structures and processes. Level II indicators measure key outcomes of these structures and processes in the areas of access, product quality and rational use. These indicators can be used to assess progress over time; to compare situations between countries; and to reassess and prioritize efforts based on the results.
This Fact Book gives the results of the assessment of Level I indicators conducted in 2003 and of Level II indicator surveys conducted between 2002 and 2004
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This Training module on malaria elimination has been developed by WHO to support health professionals in planning, managing, monitoring and evaluating malaria elimination programmes.
Supporting exercises: These files are necessary for participants ...to complete a number of exercises listed in the manual. Please go to the website: http://www.who.int/malaria/publications/atoz/9789241549424/en/
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These consolidated guidelines on HIV testing services (HTS) bring together existing and new guidance on HTS across different settings and populations.
The World Health Organization (WHO) first released consolidated guidelines on HTS in 2015, in r...esponse to requests from Member States, national programme managers and health workers for support to achieve the United Nations (UN) 90–90–90 global HIV targets – and specifically the first target of diagnosing 90% of all people with HIV. In 2016, based on new evidence, WHO released a supplement to address important new HIV testing approaches – HIV self-testing (HIVST) and provider-assisted referral.
Since the release of 2015 and 2016 HTS guidelines, new issues and more evidence have emerged. To address this, WHO has updated guidance on HIV testing services. In this guideline, WHO updates recommendation on HIVST and provides new recommendations on social network-based HIV testing approaches and western blotting (see box, next page). This guideline seeks to provide support to Member States, programme managers, health workers and other stakeholders seeking to achieve national and international goals to end the HIV epidemic as a public health threat by 2030.
These guidelines also provide operational guidance on HTS demand creation and messaging; implementation considerations for priority populations; HIV testing strategies for diagnosis HIV; optimizing the use of dual HIV/syphilis rapid diagnostic tests; and considerations for strategic planning and rationalizing resources such as optimal time points for maternal retesting
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Lessons and best practices in empowering pastoralist communities to prevent HIV infection and reduce the impact of AIDS in Ethiopia. Briefing Paper
A guide to increasing coverage and equity in all communities in the African Region
Expanded Programs on Immunization (EPI) is responsible for vaccines and vaccination to control, eliminate and eradicate vaccine preventable diseases (VPDs). Having strong immunization systems to deliver vaccines ...to those who need them most will play a significant role in achieving the health, equity and economic objectives of several global development goals.
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mhGAP is based on evidence-based technical guidelines (4) and provides a set of tools and
training packages to extend service provision. The mhGAP Intervention Guide (mhGAP-IG)
for MNS disorders in non-specialized ...ht medbox">health settings (8) is a clinical decision-making tool
for assessing and managing priority MNS conditions (depression, psychoses, epilepsy, child
and adolescent mental and behavioural disorders, dementia, disorders due to substance
use, self-harm and suicide).
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Response to the tropical cyclone in southern Africa
Ebola virus disease outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Meningitis outbreak in Togo
Lassa fever outbreak in Liberia.