Since the Alma Ata Declaration in 1978, community health volunteers (CHVs) have been at the forefront, providing health services, especially to underserved communities, in low-income countries. Howe
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ver, consolidation of CHVs position within formal health systems has proved to be complex and continues to challenge countries, as they devise strategies to strengthen primary healthcare. Malawi’s community health strategy, launched in 2017, is a novel attempt to harmonise the multiple health
service structures at the community level and strengthen service delivery through a team-based approach. The core community health team (CHT) consists of health surveillance assistants (HSAs), clinicians, environmental health officers and CHVs. This paper reviews Malawi’s strategy, with particular focus on the interface between HSAs, volunteers in community-based programmes and
the community health team. Our analysis identified key challenges that may impede the strategy’s implementation:
(1) inadequate training, imbalance of skill sets within CHTs and unclear job descriptions for CHVs; (2) proposed community-level interventions require expansion of pre-existing roles for most CHT members; and (3) district authorities may face challenges meeting financial obligations and filling community-level positions. For effective implementation, attention and further deliberation is needed on the appropriate forms of CHV support, CHT composition with possibilities of co-opting trained CHVs
from existing volunteer programmes into CHTs, review of CHT competencies and workload, strengthening coordination and communication across all community actors, and financing mechanisms. Policy support through the development of an addendum to the strategy, outlining opportunities for task-shifting between CHT members, CHVs’ expected duties and interactions with paid CHT personnel is recommended.
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The article "Non-communicable diseases, injuries, and mental ill-health in Africa: the role of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention" examines the role
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of the Africa CDC in addressing non-communicable diseases (NCDs), injuries, and mental health across the continent. It highlights how Africa CDC, originally focused on communicable disease response, has expanded its mandate to include NCDs and mental health, driven by the high mortality and morbidity associated with these conditions.
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Adolescence is a critical stage in life for physical, cognitive and emotional development, shaping future health and well-being. Comprehensive measurement of adolescent
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health is essential to prioritize health issues, guide interventions and track progress. However, global, regional and national adolescent health measurement has historically been inconsistent and incomplete.
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1.HIV infections – drug therapy. 2.Anti-HIV agents – adverse effects. 3.Anti-retroviral agents. 4.Benzoxazines – adverse effects. 5.Pregnancy. 6.Disease transmission, Vertical - prevention and control. 7.Treatment outcome. I.World Health Organ
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ization
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On 14 August 2024, the Director-General of the World Health Organization determined that the upsurge of mpox in a growing number
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of countries in Africa constitutes a new public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC) under the International Health Regulations (IHR) (2005)
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Master of Science in Pharmaceutical Management Dissertation
Regional Network for Equity in Health in east and southern Africa (EQUINET): Disussion Paper 112
The Essential Health Benefit (EHB) is known as Essential
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Health Care Package (EHCP) in Swaziland. This desk review provides evidence on the experience of EHCPs in Swaziland and includes available policy documents and research reports.
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PLoS Med 10(1): e1001366. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1001366
Published: January 8, 2013
BMC Health Services Research 14(1):42 · January 2014
The objective of this international comparative study is to describe and compare the mental heal
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th policies in seven countries of Eastern Europe that share their common communist history: Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Moldova, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia.
The burden of totalitarian history still influences many areas of social and economic life, which also has to be taken into account in mental health policy. We may observe that after twenty years of health reforms and reforms of health reforms, the transition of the mental health systems still continues. In spite of many reform efforts in the past, a balance of community and hospital mental health services has not been achieved in this part of the world yet.
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(New 2015)
Scoping question: Within the context of mental health and developmental assessment of children and youth, what are the effective stra
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tegies for detecting maltreatment?
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Physical distancing measures are important to reduce COVID-19 transmission. However, when stringently applied, they can result in negative health and socio-economic impacts. This report draws on a rapid review
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of available literature, case studies from across Africa and expert knowledge to make recommendations on adapting classic physical distancing measures to the contextual realities in Africa and on mitigating potential negative impacts.
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The Knowledge Guide provides guidance on how health workers can apply the Standards to their own practice. For each of the nine competencies and their specific behaviours in the Standards, the Knowl
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edge Guide examines in detail how a health worker's knowledge, skills and attitudes can reach the stated benchmark for providing people-centred health services to refugees and migrants. The Knowledge Guide also details the learning outcomes that reflect the behaviours that a health worker will demonstrate once they have achieved the Competency Standards.
The Knowledge Guide is designed for educators and health workers to assist in designing or integrating learning content to enable attainment of the identified knowledge, skills and attitudes.
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22 April 2022, This document provides updated interim recommendations on the use of masks by health workers providing care to patients with suspected or confirmed COVID-19. This update is prompted b
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y new evidence around mask use and COVID-19 transmission, as well as the emergence of variants of concern including Omicron. Masks continue to be a critical tool to prevent the spread of COVID-19. These interim guidelines supersede the recommendations provided in the WHO recommendations on mask use by health workers, in light of the Omicron variant of concern published on 22 December 2022.
WHO continually evaluates the emerging evidence and will review these interim recommendations within two months and issue new guidance as needed.
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This report contains the results of an in-depth Training Needs Assessment (TNA) of Health Workers in the 4 project counties
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of the republic of Kenya – Nakuru, Kisumu, Nairobi and Bungoma. The assessment, facilitated by the UPOPs Project in close collaboration with the Ministry of Health and Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources, took place in the month of September 2017. This assessment focused on health workers at County and County referral health facilities.
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This policy brief aims to provide a review of the current progress on implementing the Mali national action plan on AMR, identifies critical gaps, and highlights findings to accelerate further progress in the human
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health sector. The target audience includes all those concerned with implementing actions to combat antimicrobial resistance in Mali.
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