Mobile vaccination teams visiting long-term care homes will have an important role in providing vaccination coverage for some of the most vulnerable population sub-groups. However, based on the experiences of German mobile diagnostic teams during the first COVID-19 pandemic w
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ave, the deployment of mobile vaccination teams to care homes for older adults and people with disabilities is expected to raise various ethical challenges.
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The Quality Criteria for Health National Adaptation Plans (HNAPs) presents examples of good practice in HNAP development to assist countries in developing a comprehensive, feasible and implementable plan. The criteria are also intended to guide countries in setting the foundation for a long-term ite
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rative HNAP process. The proposed criteria are not prescriptive and should be adapted to dynamic country contexts, uncertain and changing climatic conditions, and new knowledge and technologies.
9 February 2021
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The framework responds to the demand from Member States and partners for guidance on how the health sector and its operational basis in health systems can systematically and effectively address the challenges increasingly presented by climate variability and change. This framework has been designed
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in light of the increasing evidence of climate change and its associated health risks (1); global, regional and national policy mandates to protect population health (2); and a rapidly emerging body of practical experience in building health resilience to climate change (3).
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“Preferred product characteristics” (PPCs) are key tools to incentivize and guide the development of urgently needed health products. Some of the vector control interventions deployed in complex emergencies and in response to natural disasters – namely insecticide-treated nets (ITNs) and indoo
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r residual spraying (IRS) – have already met identified public health needs in more stable settings; other tools such as insecticide-treated tarpaulins have been specifically designed for this use case. Given the diverse mix of existing and potential new interventions and the considerable gaps in the associated evidence base, this PPC aims to clearly articulate the unmet public health needs for tools designed to control malaria transmission in complex emergencies and in response to natural disasters.
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2 March 2021
Protracted displacement, socio-economic crises aggravated by the COVID-19 pandemic, dire humanitarian needs and protection threats continue to affect the Palestine refugees in Syria, Lebanon and Jordan.
In Syria, the protracted conflict has left 91 per cent of the 438,000 Palestine re
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fugees1 estimated to remain in the country in absolute poverty2 and 40 per cent displaced.
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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 young key populations in Kenya and elsewhere, they outline a package of HIV prevention services, and emphasize the need to combine biobehavioural i
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nterventions with services in education, job skills training, mental health, and social care and protection.
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It estimates that there have been 228,000 additional deaths of children under five in these six countries [Afghanistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka] due to crucial services, ranging from nutrition benefits to immunisation, being halted.
It says the number of children being tr
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eated for severe malnutrition fell by more than 80% in Bangladesh and Nepal, and immunisation among children dropped by 35% and 65% in India and Pakistan respectively...
It also estimates that there have been some 3.5 million additional unwanted pregnancies, including 400,000 among teenagers, due to poor or no access to contraception...
The interruption to health services also affected those suffering from other diseases - the report predicts an additional 5,943 deaths across the region among adolescents who couldn't get treated for tuberculosis, malaria, typhoid and HIV/Aids.
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UNAIDS and the World Health Organization have published this updated guidance on ethical considerations in HIV prevention trials. The new guidance is the result of a year-long process that saw more than 80 experts and members of the public give inputs and is published 21 years after the first editio
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n appeared.
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The checklist and reference list has two parts: high-level cross-cutting content (Part A) and specific programme content (Part B). Part A applies to all countries and contains situation and response analysis, the NSP development process, the goal, targets and priority-setting of the NSP and the prin
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ciples of human rights and gender equity and sustainability. Part B comprises the programme requirements of prevention, treatment and care, comorbidities and integration, social protection, health systems, community engagement, human rights and gender equity, efficiency and effectiveness, governance, management and accountability, HIV and the humanitarian response
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A Christian Call to Reflection and ActionDuring COVID-19 and Beyond
The World Council of Churches (WCC) and the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue (PCID) released a joint document, “Serving a Wounded World in Interreligious Solidarity: A Christian Call to Reflection and Action During
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COVID-19.” Its purpose is to encourage churches and Christian organizations to reflect on the importance of interreligious solidarity in a world wounded by the COVID-19 pandemic. The document offers a Christian basis for interreligious solidarity that can inspire and confirm the impulse to serve a world wounded not only by COVID-19 but also by many other wounds.
Available in different languages: German, Spanish, English, Chinese, French. Portuguese, Arabic, Italian
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The global coronavirus pandemic, which has brought death to hundreds of thousands and serious illness to millions more, also poses profound spiritual questions and real challenges to Christians everywhere.
The pandemic itself has become a fundamental test of our faith in God and God’s providence,
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and it urges us to earnest re-examination of our relationship to God, each other, and the natural world.
In Healing the World, the World Council of Churches offers these eight Bible studies to facilitate our coming to terms—as individuals, groups, and communities of faith—with the loss, fear, and confusion engendered by the pandemic, and the bracing prospect of building the world anew.
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Este artículo analiza un grupo particularmente vulnerable a la pandemia de la COVID-2019: las personas privadas de libertad (PPLs). Con base en el análisis del Censo Carcelario de 2019, presentamos la situación actual de las PPLs y las condiciones de los establecimient
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os penitenciarios de Bolivia, con énfasis en los aspectos que impactan en la salud. Posteriormente, identificamos los principales factores estructurales detrás de la mayor vulnerabilidad epidemiológica y sanitaria de las PPLs, no solo a la COVID-2019, sino a epidemias en general. Diferentes instituciones involucradas en el combate de la pandemia desarrollaron recomendaciones para su prevención y tratamiento en contextos carcelarios. Considerando estas recomendaciones y los datos de la situación de las PPLs de Bolivia, desarrollamos propuestas de reformas políticas y legales para reducir la vulnerabilidad epidemiológica de esta población. Argumentamos que, mientras algunas son sencillas de implementar, muchas se enfrentan a obstáculos estructurales para su ejecución, demandando reformas profundas en la política carcelaria y el sistema penal.
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A global hunger crisis -- fuelled by conflict, economic turbulence and climate-related shocks -- has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. The number of people experiencing food insecurity and hunger has risen since the onset of the pandemic. The IRC estimates that the economic downturn alone w
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ill drive the number of hungry people up by an additional 35 million in 2021. Without drastic action, the economic downturn caused by COVID-19 will suspend global progress towards ending hunger by at least five years.
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Background paper 9
The Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response
May 2021