23 December 2020 This document summarizes WHO recommendations for the rational use of personal protective equipment (PPE) in health care settings and temporary strategies during acute supply shortages. This document also contains 2 Annex sections describing updated PPE use recommendations for health... workers based on the transmission scenario, setting, and activity in the context of COVID-19 (Annex 1), and updated considerations for the decontamination or reprocessing of PPE (Annex 2). This guidance is intended for public health authorities, organizations, and focal persons involved in decisions regarding PPE distribution, management, and use by health workers.
Available in Arabic, French, English, Spanish and Russian
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The purpose of this document is to present and promote the minimum requirements for IPC programmes at the national and health care facility level, identified by expert consensus according to available evidence and in the context of the WHO core components.
The minimum requirements are defined as: I...PC standards that should be in place at the national and facility level to provide minimum protection and safety to patients, HCWs and visitors, based on the WHO core components for IPC programmes.
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The WHO Quality Health Services: a planning guide focuses on actions required at the national, district and facility levels to enhance quality of health services, providing guidance on implementing key activities at each of these three levels. It highlights the need for a health systems approach to ...enhance quality of care, with a common understanding on the activities needed by all stakeholders. The guide articulates the key actions required to improve the quality of health services for the entire population. It recognizes that the path varies for each country, district and facility – stimulating the reader to consider multiple factors and entry points for action. This planning guide is for staff working at all levels of the health system (i.e. national, district and facility) who have a role in enhancing the quality of health services. It is also relevant to all stakeholders initiating and supporting action at facility, district and/or national levels both in the public and private sectors.
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National emergency medical teams are the best option for providing immediate and appropriate surge response for emergencies directly affecting populations, while international teams may help relieve overwhelmed health systems. The efficiency and effectiveness of countries and local authorities in mo...bilizing existing resources is only as good as the quality of care they are able to provide. This publication serves as a practical guide for teams and aims to compliment emergency response systems, fostering seamless collaboration with all emergency response actors and networks
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All personnel performing SARS-CoV-2 antigen rapid diagnostic tests (Ag-RDT) need to understand how to safely perform testing, ensure quality testing and interpret results. This course is developed to provide theoretical knowledge on SARS-CoV-2 Ag-RDT testing. The learning package consists of 10 modu...les, which include recorded presentations and videos.
Availble in different languages
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This Eye health strategic plan presents the Ministry of Health’s five
year proposed strategies for eye care in Kenya. It sets the strategic
direction for the National Eye Health Care System and presents
information on the priorities, objectives and indicators that the
Ministry has adopted espe...cially with regard to the main eye diseases
and conditions in the country and health system strengthening.
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This adaptation and implementation guide is part of a five-part Caregiver skills training for families of children with developmental delays or disabilities (CST) package providing guidance on caregiver skills training for families of children aged 2–9 years with developmental delays or disabiliti...es.
This adaptation and implementation guide provides information on how to adapt caregiver skills training materials and delivery strategies to the local context. It includes guidance on development and implementation of contextual and cultural adaptation plans.
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During the pandemic, Brazil has provided its citizens with support in the areas of long-term care and disability, the labor market, social assistance, education, and pensions. This report focuses on two social policy areas, health-care and family benefits (including labor policies), as these were th...e most crucial social policies implemented in Brazil during the Covid-19 pandemic in terms of the resources allocated and the magnitude of social impact. Brazil’s relatively generous social policies were uncoordinated with public health interventions, which contributed to poor compliance with these public health interventions. This suggests that social policy initiatives alone are insufficient in mitigating the social consequences of the pandemic. They need to be accompanied by and coordinated with public health measures, including regulations on testing, social distancing and mask wearing.
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The war is having a devastating impact on health and human capital in Ukraine and is expected to affect generations to come. The most obvious effects on health are immediate: an estimated 4,339 conflict-related deaths and 5,246 people injured. Less visible is the illness caused, and exacerbated, by ...people not being able to access care for acute and chronic conditions.
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The World Health Organization (WHO) recognizes the challenges countries face for maintaining their COVID-19 response while addressing competing public health challenges, conflicts, climate change and economic crises.
It remains critical for national programmes to continue to offer testing for COVI...D-19 in line with three main objectives: reduce morbidity and mortality through linkage to prompt care and treatment, reduce onward transmission and track the evolution of the epidemic and the virus
itself.
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Pakistan is on the verge of a public health disaster as a result of the massive monsoon rainfalls and unprecedented levels of flooding that are affecting 33 million people across the country.
The risk of disease outbreaks is extremely high and malnutrition rates are rising.
WHO requires US$ 81.5 m...illion to respond to this health crisis in flood-affected Pakistan, to ensure a coordinated delivery of essential health care services, efficient management of severe acute malnutrition, and stronger outbreak detection and control.
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UNICEF, WHO Whole of Syria Nutrition, Cluster, the Global Nutrition Cluster, the IFE Core Group, and partners call for ALL involved in the response to the earthquakes in Syria to protect, promote, and support the feeding and care of infants and young children, their caregivers, especially pregnant, ...postpartum, and breastfeeding women. This is critical to support maternal and child survival, growth and development, and to prevent malnutrition, illness and death. This joint statement has been issued to help secure immediate, coordinated, multi-sectoral action on infant and young child feeding (IYCF) to support and provide care for infants and their caregivers during the emergency response of the Earthquake in Syria.
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The full-scale invasion of Ukraine has caused a deterioration in the level of access to health-care services and medicines in the country, particularly for people living in regions close to the front line and areas that are not partially or fully controlled by the Government of Ukraine, and for peop...le who have been internally displaced. Cost and time constraints involved in getting to and from health facilities, as well as limited transportation options were the main barriers to accessing essential health-care services. At the same time, the findings show that the country’s health system remains resilient and that overall access to health services is fairly high.This report is based on data collected through a quantitative cross-sectional survey of self-reported health needs of the general population in Ukraine. It presents results of the first round survey conducted in September 2022 and could help to address the specific health-care needs of the population groups concerned.
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Trustworthy, evidence-based health guidelines form the basis of national policies affecting both patients and health-care workers. Emphasizing the link between robust evidence and people’s trust in their health systems, Dr Hans Henri P. Kluge, WHO Regional Director for Europe said at the launch ev...ent, “Trust and transformation are key words for us, especially when we talk about improving and strengthening our health systems. Transformation should first and foremost serve the interests of patients and health-care workers”.
While it is not always easy to demonstrate the immediate effect of guidelines on people’s health, there is no viable alternative to utilizing guidelines based on the best available evidence.
Yet, developing robust guidelines remains a challenge for most countries. “Guidelines need to be both simple to use and timely, they need to address people’s real needs, especially at the local level, and should ultimately reflect the resources available,” said Dr Natasha Azzopardi-Muscat, Director, Country Health Policies and Systems, WHO/Europe. “This means that any successful guideline needs to be adjusted and adapted to local contexts and realities.”
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The Water and Sanitation for Health Facility Improvement Tool (WASH FIT) presents a framework and acts as a guide to support multisectoral action to improve water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) in health care. Central to the WASH FIT methodology is training and incremental improvements.
Implementat...ion of WASH FIT requires six preparatory steps at the national level, one of which is conducting national sensitization and training of trainers, followed by facility-level training. At the facility level, step 1 (of five) involves establishing and training a WASH FIT team.
The WASH FIT methodology is outlined in WASH FIT: A practical guide for improving quality of care through water, sanitation and hygiene in health care facilities. Second edition. (the WASH FIT guide), which includes a set of templates designed to help users with each phase of the improvement cycle.
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Prompt, effective antimalarial treatment, and supportive care can substantially reduce the rate of mortality from severe malaria. However, many children in malaria-endemic countries do not have access to health facilities or a qualified health care provider and do not receive the necessary care in a... timely fashion. Without rapid detection of danger signs and access to effective treatment, including pre-referral treatment that can be administered in the community level, many of these children with severe malaria die.
In situations where there is no immediate access to a health care facility, WHO recommends the administration of a standard dose of an effective antimalarial medicine as pre-referral treatment before referral to a facility at which complete treatment can be administered.
Rectal artesunate is the WHO-recommended pre-referral intervention in situations where artesunate injection are not feasible for children under the age of 6 years with suspected severe malaria. The intervention reduces the risk of death or permanent disability by up to 50% provided the child is referred to a health facility at which complete treatment can be administered.
This field guide is aimed at supporting the effective deployment of RAS as pre-referral treatment of suspected severe malaria in line with the WHO malaria guidelines.
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ABSTRACT
More than 500 million people worldwide live with cardiovascular disease (CVD). Health systems today face fundamental challenges in delivering optimal care due to ageing populations, healthcare workforce constraints, financing, availability and affordability of CVD medicine, and service del...ivery.
Digital health technologies can help address these challenges. They may be a tool
to reach Sustainable Development Goal 3.4 and reduce premature mortality from
non-communicable diseases (NCDs) by a third by 2030. Yet, a range of fundamental barriers prevents implementation and access to such technologies. Health system governance, health provider, patient and technological factors can prevent or distort their implementation.
World Heart Federation (WHF) roadmaps aim to identify essential roadblocks on the pathway to effective prevention, detection, and treatment of CVD. Further, they aim to provide actionable solutions and implementation frameworks for local adaptation. This WHF Roadmap for digital health in cardiology identifies barriers to implementing digital health technologies for CVD and provides recommendations for overcoming them.
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Objective: To identify gaps in national stroke guidelines that could be bridged to enhance the quality of stroke care services in low- and
middle-income countries.
Methods: We systematically searched medical databases and websites of medical societies and contacted international organizations.
Co...untry-specific guidelines on care and control of stroke in any language published from 2010 to 2020 were eligible for inclusion. We reviewed
each included guideline for coverage of four key components of stroke services (surveillance, prevention, acute care and rehabilitation).
We also assessed compliance with the eight Institute of Medicine standards for clinical practice guidelines, the ease of implementation of
guidelines and plans for dissemination to target audiences.
Findings: We reviewed 108 eligible guidelines from 47 countries, including four low-income, 24 middle-income and 19 high-income countries.
Globally, fewer of the guidelines covered primary stroke prevention compared with other components of care, with none recommending
surveillance. Guidelines on stroke in low- and middle-income countries fell short of the required standards for guideline development;
breadth of target audience; coverage of the four components of stroke services; and adaptation to socioeconomic context. Fewer low- and
middle-income country guidelines demonstrated transparency than those from high-income countries. Less than a quarter of guidelines
encompassed detailed implementation plans and socioeconomic considerations.
Conclusion: Guidelines on stroke in low- and middle-income countries need to be developed in conjunction with a wider category of
health-care providers and stakeholders, with a full spectrum of translatable, context-appropriate interventions.
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As our world changes, so too does the burden of disease. Globalisation, evolving trade and consumption patterns, and increased access to life-saving medical care are just some of the factors that have transformed the global health landscape.
The purpose of this Operational Guideline is to support state health authorities, programme managers and health care professionals with recommendations on appropriate management of children with SAM in the health facilities. Facility based management includes setting up and managing within the healt...h facility premises, a functional space where these children are cared for. This Facility Based Unit is referred to as Nutritional Rehabilitation Centre or NRC in the document. While the scale and design may vary in a given situation, it is intended that the document provide the basis for a consistent set of principles that can be used by all states for facility based management of children with SAM. The Operational Guideline focuses on the Facility/Hospital based approach for the management of SAM children under 5 years of age based on the WHO and revised IAP protocols.
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