This document accompanies the interim guidance on “Strengthening Preparedness for COVID-19 in cities and urban settings”. It provides local authorities, leaders and policy-makers in cities with ...a checklist tool to ensure that key areas have been covered. An excel version that local authorities may wish to adapt to meet their needs is also available. It allows filtering by steps of action; suggested domains and responsible teams within local governments for each action; and phase(s) of the emergency management cycle.
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In India, in response to the above and guided by our counterparts in the government of India, the UN agencies have developed the Novel Coronavirus ...Disease Joint Health Response Plan by UN Agencies and Partners, led by WHO-India, in close collaboration with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, and with the support of other development partners. The UN in India is also preparing a COVID-19 Socio-economic Response and Recovery Plan, in partnership with the government.
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The report examines how people with mental health conditions are often shackled by families in their own homes or in overcrowded and unsanitary institutions, against their will, due to widespread st...igma and a lack of mental health services.
Many are forced to eat, sleep, urinate, and defecate in the same tiny area. In state-run or private institutions, as well as traditional or religious healing centers, they are often forced to fast, take medications or herbal concoctions, and face physical and sexual violence. The report includes field research and testimonies from Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, China, Ghana, Indonesia, Kenya, Liberia, Mexico, Mozambique, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Palestine, the self-declared independent state of Somaliland, South Sudan, and Yemen.
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This research is one case in a study commissioned by the World Food Programme to investigate the participation of recipient community in the targeting and management of humanitarian food assistance ...in complex emergencies. The study involved a substantial desk review of existing documentation, and three weeks of field work in February and March 2008. The purpose of the study was to understand the ways in which participatory or community-based approaches to targeting have been attempted, within the definition of community-based targeting suggested by WFP. The study was not an evaluation of targeting methods, although some critical examination of targeting was necessary in order to understand the constraints on community participation.
Related resources
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Report commissioned by the IASC Inter-Agency Humanitarian Evaluations Steering Group as part of the Syria Coordinated Accountability and Lessons Learning Initiative
The scope includes the assessment of activities to improve the response to affected populations, stakeholders, partners and donors, building on lessons learnt so far in this outbreak.
Mental health problem is one of the growing major public health issues in the Asia Pacific region. It contributes to the high number of Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALYs), morbidity and mortality in...pan> the region. It is expected that leading mental health problems will occur in the low-and middle-income countries (LMICs) and majority of the countries which comes under this category are in the Asia Pacific region. In addition, mental health problem hamper the achievement of Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), particularly MDG 1, MDG 4 and MDG 5. The most common mental health problems in the region are depression, anxiety, posttraumatic stress disorder, suicidal behaviour and substance abuse disorder. Several modifiable and non-modifiable risk factors were identified for the cause of these major mental health issues. Interventions, programmes and policies need to be designed in order to curb mental health problems at all levels.
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All photos in this report were taken by Ahmad Baroudi/Save the Children
Introduction
Capter A.1
Ethics and international child and adolescent psychiatry
Guidance for General Medical and Specialised Mental Health Care Settings
This paper reviews the effects of vertical responses to COVID-19 on health systems, services, and people’s access to and use of them in LMICs, where historic and ongoing under-investments heighten vulnerability to a multiplicity of health threats.... We use the term ‘vertical response’ to describe decisions, measures and actions taken solely with the purpose of preventing and containing COVID-19, often without adequate consideration of how this affects the wider health system and pre-existing resource constraints.
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Strengthening health-system emergency preparedness.
Young children are especially susceptible to exposure to trauma. Rates of abuse and neglect among this population are staggering. This article presents a review of relevant literature, including research findings specific to early childhood vulnerability to trauma, symptoms associated with traumatic... events, diagnostic validity of early childhood trauma, and treatments for young children. In the past, misconceptions about the mental health of young children have hindered accurate diagnosis and treatment of trauma-related mental illness. Due to the prevalence of trauma exposure in early childhood, counselors are encouraged to become familiar with ways that clients and families are impacted and methods for treatment. Implications for future research also are presented.
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The way Forward
Executive Summary
These include taking proactive measures to ensure that people, particularly people in vulnerable groups, can access HIV treatment and prevention services, designating and supporting essential workers, including community-led organizations, and imple...menting measures to prevent and address gender-based violence.
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