This document summarizes current WHO guidance for public health surveillance of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in humans caused by infection with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2... (SARS-CoV-2).
New elements include:
update of contact definitions, in line with latest contact tracing guidance
update of detection strategies in line with updated version of WHO SARS-CoV-2 testing guidance
reinfection evidence standardization and surveillance: molecular, genomic and immunological evidence of reinfection
inclusion of clinical case definition of Post COVID-19 condition as defined by WHO
definition of breakthrough infection
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Diabetes is a major public health problem in the Americas and worldwide, demanding special attention and integrated response. It is estimated that more than 62 million adults are living with diabete...s in the Americas. The projections show that diabetes prevalence will continue to increase to at least 2025. Its steady rise has been mainly due to the high prevalence of risk factors, especially overweight/obesity and physical inactivity. Diabetes also is one of the leading causes of mortality and disability worldwide and across our Region.
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Global Knowledge for Climate and Public Health. Informing action to protect populations from the health risks of climate change. It is in response ...to growing calls for actionable information to protect people from the health risks of climate change and other environmental hazards.
Climate and health are inextricably linked. Climate change, extreme weather events and environmental degradation have fundamental impact on human health and well-being. More people than ever before are exposed to increased climate-related health risks, from poor water and air quality to infectious diseases and heat stress.
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International commitment to eliminate trachoma as a public health problem worldwide is supported by resolution WHA51.11 of the World Health Assembl...y .1 Important progress towards this goal has been made by harnessing the mostly informal relationships that exist between partners including Member States, the World Health Organization (WHO), academic institutions, donors and nongovernmental organizations. Recognizing that work remains to be done and that the 2020 target2 for elimination is rapidly approaching, in February 2015 the WHO Department of Control of Neglected Tropical Diseases convened a group of academic institutions that had for many years helped WHO to implement its mandate on trachoma and to work towards establishing a Network of WHO collaborating centres (WHOCCs) for Trachoma. The report of that meeting has been published.
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Onchocerciasis used to be an important public health problem in Africa, with over 37 million people infected and millions suffering from debilitating skin disease, terrible itching, impaired vision ...and
blindness. But the epidemiological situation has improved dramatically over the last two decades. Community directed treatment with ivermectin has effectively brought the disease under control in most endemic areas where onchocerciasis is no longer a public health risk.
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Snake bite is a neglected public health issue in many tropical and subtropical countries. About 5.4 million snake bites occur each year, resulting in 1.8 to 2.7 million cases of envenomings (poisoni...ng from snake bites). There are between 81 410 and 137 880 deaths and around three times as many amputations and other permanent disabilities each year.
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Anaemia is a serious global public health problem that particularly affects young children, menstruating adolescent girls and women, and pregnant and postpartum women. It is a condition in which the... number of red blood cells or the haemoglobin concentration within them is lower than normal, affecting the blood’s ability to carry oxygen to the body’s tissues.
To reliably monitor the prevalence of anaemia at a population level, it is vital to measure the haemoglobin concentration in an accurate and precise way. In large-scale surveys, however, haemoglobin is most commonly measured using single-drop capillary blood specimens in point-of-care devices. Emerging evidence suggests that the use of single-drop capillary blood can introduce random and/or systematic errors, which may lead to inaccurate estimates, complicating effective anaemia programming.
This technical brief describes the current best practices for haemoglobin measurement, providing guidance to help plan or implement field surveys to assess anaemia at a population level. Continuing work to review emerging evidence is led by members of the WHO-UNICEF Technical Expert Advisory group on nutrition Monitoring (TEAM).
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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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Diabetes is a major public health problem in the Americas and worldwide, demanding special attention and integrated response. It is estimated that more than 62 million adults are living with diabete...s in the Americas. The projections show that diabetes prevalence will continue to increase to at least 2025. Its steady rise has been mainly due to the high prevalence of risk factors, especially overweight/obesity and physical inactivity.
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Diabetes is a major public health problem. The rising incidence of Diabetes Type 2 is related to the effects of urbanization and unhealthy lifestyles. Research studies show that ...te-to-highlight medbox">healthy eating and regular physical activity can prevent or delay the onset of Diabetes Type 2, even in high-risk individuals.
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This report highlights the increasing public health
burden of road traffic injuries and fatalities in
the Region. Road traffic deaths are becoming a
significant problem in Africa, rising at a fas...ter rate
than in any other region. Fatalities increased by
nearly one fifth in the decade from 2010 to 2021,
with almost one quarter of a million people killed
on Africa’s roads within that decade
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Planning for public health emergencies should ensure that capabilities developed during previous emergencies are maintained, incorporated, and put into practice when a new event of ...ibute-to-highlight medbox">public health concern arises. Investments in pandemic preparedness lead to more rapid detection and a stronger response to public health threats, thereby shielding communities from the debilitating social and economic effects of epidemics and pandemics. The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) recognizes the efforts of countries in the Region of the Americas to develop and/or strengthen their respiratory pathogen pandemic plans. PAHO supports planning activities with tools and expertise, aligning these efforts with the Preparedness and Resilience for Emerging Threats (PRET) initiative. The PRET initiative is an innovative approach to improving disease pandemic preparedness. It recognizes that the same systems, capacities, knowledge, and tools can be leveraged and applied for groups of pathogens based on their mode of transmission (respiratory, vector-borne, foodborne etc.). The PRET initiative incorporates the latest tools and approaches for shared learning and collective action established during the COVID-19 pandemic and other recent public health emergencies.
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Reporting system for the general public - This document aims to provide practical guidelines on how to set up national systems for consumers to report adverse reactions to medicines. The purpose is to help countries set up a well-organized and effec...tive consumer reporting system within their pharmacovigilance centre. Throughout this document, the phrase “consumer reporting” is used to refer to reporting of adverse drug reactions (ADRs) by the general public.
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This publication describes the first WHO public-benefit Target Product Profiles (TPPs) for snakebite antivenoms. It focuses on antivenoms for treatment of snakebite envenoming in sub-Saharan Africa. Four TPPs are described in the document:
Broad sp...ectrum Pan-African polyvalent antivenoms: products that are intended for widespread utility throughout sub-Saharan Africa for treatment of envenoming irrespective of the species of snake causing a bite. Monovalent antivenoms for specific use cases: for products for a single species (or genus) of snake (e.g., boomslangs or carpet viper antivenoms).
Syndromic Pan-African polyvalent antivenoms for neurotoxic envenoming: products that are intended for treatment of envenoming by species whose venoms are neurotoxic. Syndromic Pan-African polyvalent antivenoms for non-neurotoxic envenoming: products for snakebite envenoming where the effects are largely haemorrhagic, necrotic or procoagulant.
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The purpose of this booklet is to assist WHO and other
Public Health workers in the field when an emergency
occurs. The booklet provides technical hints on how to
carry out a rapid ...ttribute-to-highlight medbox">health assessment, how to facilitate
coordination, how departments in WHO can assist, etc.
Standard formats for reporting and reference indicators
are provided
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Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) has emerged as a major public health problem all over the world. Infections caused by resistant microbes fail to respond to treatment, resulting in prolonged illness a...nd greater risk of death. This document focuses on the mechanism to develop a practically applicable hospital antibiotic policy and standard treatment guidelines (STG). In addition, the document contains information on various effective strategies for implementation of STG. It also discusses various activities and information required for the development of the antibiogram, antibiotic policy and standard treatment guidelines, such as surveillance programmes, the cause and controlling strategies for AMR and HAI; performance measures of antibiogram, antibiotic policy and standard treatment guidelines. A model hospital STG for community-acquired pneumonia in adults is included.
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These papers are posted in the context of the Public Health Emergency of International Concern declared by the Director-General of the World Health... Organization 1 February 2016.
The data in these papers are freely available for unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided that the original work is properly cited as indicated by the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Intergovernmental Organizations license (CC BY IGO 3.0).
go to the website: http://www.who.int/bulletin/online_first/zika_open/en/
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Special issue: WHO South-East Asia Journal of Public Health -Vol. 5, Issue 1, April 2016.This special This issue contains a rich collection of articles, demonstrating the encouraging scientific mome...ntum to address the growing burden of diabetes in the region
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Standard Operating Procedures for Procurement in the Public Health Sector. Updated 2006.
The PIP Framework is premised on two equally important public health objectives:
-to ensure the sharing of influenza viruses with human pandemic potential through a WHO coordinated network of ...n class="attribute-to-highlight medbox">public health laboratories called the “Global Influenza Surveillance and Response System” (GISRS), and
-to promote the fair and equitable access to benefits, such as vaccines and antiviral medicines, that arise from such sharing.
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