The occurrence of a high percentage of couterfeit medicines on the global medicines market is often attributed to a lack of effective regulation and a weak enforcement capacity. This review, while focusing on counterfeit medicines 
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                                        and medical devices in developing countries, will present information on their impact and how these issues can be addressed by regulation and control of the supply chain using technology appropriate to the developing world.
                                    
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                                This paper has been commissioned by RedR to identify gaps in skills, technology, and knowledge in urban humanitarian response in order to inform RedR’s project Ready to Respond which is looking to address these gaps in two specific areas:
    Wat
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                                        er supply, sanitation, and hygiene;     Shelter response to earthquakes
                                    
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                                4 August 2021. Currently, Pfizer BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine COMIRNATY® (Tozinameran) is the only COVID-19 vaccine that should be stored and transported at -60ºC to -86ºC ultra-low temperature (ULT) conditions. Prior to use the vaccine can be trans
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                                        ferred to -20ºC freezer or +2-8ºC refrigerator at the lower store levels and immunization service points. However, vaccine shelf life is affected when vaccine is transferred to a different storage temperature. Health workers in charge of managing the storage, transport and administration of the vaccine should be well trained to maintain vaccine quality. Good cold chain planning, strong management of vaccine supply, logistics and distribution, including installation and effective monitoring and evaluation of the performance of the storage equipment and infrastructure, are also necessary.
                                    
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                                This second edition of the “living paper” contributes to the global knowledge on how countries are responding to the pandemic by documenting real-time actions in a key area of response – that is, social protection measures planned or implemented by governments.  
For the purpose of this revie
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                                        w, we organized interventions by social assistance, social insurance and labor market programs. For the latter measures, we deliberately focused on supply-side programs (e.g., mostly wage subsidies and other activation programs). In most cases, data sources include official information published in government websites, while in many cases we reported information from global and national news outlets. In some cases, information was provided directly by country-based experts, while the full database was validated and integrated by regional and country social protection teams at the World Bank. Overall, findings should be considered preliminary and interpreted with caution.
                                    
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                                The WHO SAGE values framework for the allocation and prioritization of COVID-19 vaccination is intended to offer guidance on the prioritization of groups for vaccination when vaccine supply is limit
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                                        ed.  It provides a values foundation for the objectives of COVID-19 vaccination programmes and links those to target groups for vaccination.  This information is valuable to countries and globally while specific policies will be developed once vaccines become available.  
This document it available in Arabic, Chinese English, French, Portuguese and Russian
                                    
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                                This manual is part of a series of guides devised by the Oxfam Public Health Engineering Team to help provide a reliable water supply for populations affected by conflict or natural disaster. The equipment is designed to be used with any or all of t
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                                        he following Oxfam water equipment: Water Pumping equipment, Water Storage equipment, Water Filtration equipment, Water Distribution equipment, Hand-dug Well equipment, and Water Testing Kit. All are designed using available, easily transported equipment which is simple, rapidly assembled, and fully self-contained, to provide an adequate, safe water supply at moderate cost. The principles used in these packages may often be useful in long-term development projects.
                                    
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                                Oxfam Water Supply Scheme for Emergencies. This manual is part of a series of guides devised by the Oxfam Public Health Engineering Team to help provide a reliable water supply for populations affec
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                                        ted by conflict or natural disaster. Wherever possible, water supplies in emergency conditions should be obtained from underground sources by exploitation of springs, tubewells, or dug wells. No filtration will then be needed. However, if sources are not available or cannot be developed, the use of surface water from streams, rivers, lakes or ponds becomes necessary. Usually these surface sources are polluted. The level of faecal contamination can be measured by use of the Oxfam/Delagua Water Test Kit (see Section C). Where a serious level of faecal pollution exists, it is essential firstly to try to reduce the cause of contamination, and secondly to treat the water to make it suitable for human consumption. The Filtration equipment provides a simple, long-term physical and biological treatment system that requires no chemicals (except small amounts of chlorine required during filter cleaning) and needs only simple regular maintenance
                                    
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                                With sustained economic growth in many parts of the developing world, an increasing number of countries are transitioning away from the most subsidized development finance as they exceed income and other qualification requirements. Cross-country evi
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                                        dence suggests that Development Assistance Committee (DAC) donors view the crossing over of the World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA) eligibility threshold to signal that a country needs less aid, with subsequent reductions in both IDA and other donors’ concessional funding. Within the health sector, it is particularly important to understand the implications of these status changes for children under five years of age since improving early childhood health is critical to fostering health and social and economic development. Therefore, we examine the implications of the IDA transition by measuring the extent t which World Bank commitments—including both IDA and IBRD—are directed to infant and child health needs in Nigeria. Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) models were used in a difference-indifferences (DID) strategy to compare World Bank IBRD/IDA lending before and after the crossover to regions with varying initial levels of under-five and infant need.
                                    
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                                This manual is part of a series of guides devised by the Oxfam Public Health Engineering Team to help provide a reliable water supply for populations affected by conflict or natural disaster. Storage tanks are required for collection of water from s
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                                        prings or water produced from continuous flow water treatment systems, e.g. from upflow clarifiers or slow sand filters. There should be sufficient storage volume to store all water produced overnight, as this is unlikely to be collected by users during the night. Storage tanks also have secondary functions such as ensuring a constant water supply to treatment processes, providing a level of treatment by settlement of larger suspended solids and maintaining pressure in distribution systems
                                    
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                                 Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 2001, 79 (4)
                                                            
                         
                     
                                                        
                        
                        
                            
                            
                                
                                The  global  COVID-19  outbreak  is  leading  to  an  acute  and  drastic  shortage  of  essential  supplies,  including  personal protective equipment, diagnostics and clinical management. At the r
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                                        equest of the UN Secretary-General and in support of the UN Crisis Management Team, a Supply Chain Task Force has been convened to establish the COVID-19 Supply Chain System (CSCS).
                                    
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                                In the face of rapid increases in the number of hospitalizations due to COVID-19 in Latin America and the Caribbean, coupled with shortages of human and material resources, including medical equipme
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                                        nt and gases, there is a need to redesign models of care in the Region to optimize available resources and ensure that more patients receive the quantity and quality of oxygen they need. Oxygen is included in the World Health Organization’s list of essential medicines and is used to care for patients at all levels of integrated health services networks. The efficacy of oxygen use in the treatment of patients with respiratory conditions caused by COVID-19 has been demonstrated, but there is great opportunity to improve the effectiveness of its use if it is used in a rational, sustainable, and safe way. Bearing in mind that the efficacy of a health technology is measured by its benefit under actual conditions of use, practical actions can be taken to improve the use of medical oxygen and avoid oxygen shortages. A drug is considered to be used rationally when patients receive it according to their clinical needs, in doses appropriate to their individual needs, for an appropriate period, and at a low cost to them and their community. By providing instruction on the rational use of oxygen and promoting it, negative repercussions can be avoided, such as loss of efficacy as a result of activities related to oxygen storage, distribution, and administration. Rational use of oxygen also involves controlling waste due to leaks in storage and distribution systems, use of gas at incorrect pressures, use of incorrectly adjusted flowmeters, and disconnections, among other problems. Another aspect to consider is the provision of adequate technical support for all oxygen production systems, in terms of maintenance and calibration, availability of electrical energy, and specific knowledge about these systems. For these reasons, a set of guidelines has been put together for the development of an efficient management system to deal with situations of oxygen scarcity, both now and in the future.
                                    
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                                The management of information and logistics is an essential component of health product systems. In a context of limited financial resources and morbidity 
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                                        and mortality sustained by persistent diseases, it is necessary to strengthen health systems through competent resources, especially human resources (HR), to ensure performance, sustainability and independence from external funding. In Burkina Faso, a strong and lasting partnership between the Ministry of Health and the Bioforce Institute has existed since 2005 to address this issue. This partnership has created a favorable environment for the professionalization of health logistics and for the recognition of its significant role in health system performance.
                                    
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                                4 April 2020
This interim guidance on oxygen sources and distribution strategies for COVID-19 treatment has been adapted from WHO and UNICEF’s t
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                                        echnical specifications and guidance for oxygen therapy devices, which is part of the WHO medical device technical series. This guidance is intended for health facility administrators, clinical decision-makers, procurement officers, planning officers, biomedical engineers, infrastructure engineers and policy-makers. It describes how to quantify oxygen demand, identify oxygen sources that are available, and select appropriate surge sources to best respond to COVID-19 patients’ needs, especially in low-and-middle income countries.
                                    
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