It is Zika virus (ZIKV) that most often causes these neurological effects it appears to be the only arbovirus than can cause congenital malformations such as microcephaly. In any case, more scientific tests are needed to establish the causal relationship between the virus ...ighlight medbox">and this malformation (7-10).
This document is a practical tool designed to help health workers improve clinical diagnosis and provide timely care for patients infected
with the dengue, chikungunya, or Zika virus. It is intended mainly for
health workers in primary care facilities where laboratory diagnosis of
arboviruses is not always available. However, this guide may also be
very useful in hospitals that provide second- and third-level care, as it
describes the clinical manifestations of each of the three most important
arboviral diseases currently found in the Region, the elements for
differential diagnosis, and their clinical behavior.
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Due to high routine vaccination coverage, overall counts of diphtheria case have significantly declined in the Western Pacific Region recently. However, diphtheria is still prevalent in several countries and areas of the Region ...e-to-highlight medbox">and remains a public health issue due to its high case fatality rate.
This Field Guide for Preparedness and Response to Diphtheria Outbreaks in the Western Pacific Region is a reference resource for Member States to develop national guidelines adapted to their local context. Countries may also use this Guide to facilitate outbreak preparedness and public health responses to reduce morbidity and mortality due to diphtheria.
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Report of a WHO technical consultation meeting
Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
As a public good, antimicrobial medicines require rational use if their effectiveness is to be preserved. However, up to 50% of antibiotic use is inappropriate, adding considerable costs to patient care, and increasing morbidity ...te-to-highlight medbox">and mortality. In addition, there is compelling evidence that antimicrobial resistance is driven by the volume of antimicrobial agents used. High rates of antimicrobial resistance to common treatments are currently reported all over the world, both in health care settings and in the community. For over two decades, the Region of the Americas has been a pioneer in confronting antimicrobial resistance from a public health perspective. However, those efforts need to be stepped up if we are to have an impact on antimicrobial resistance and want to quantify said impact.
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Nosocomial or health-facility-acquired infections are a serious issue, representing one of the most significant causes of morbidity and mortality in healthcare systems and consuming many scarce reso...urces, especially in developing countries. Although much has been done, particularly in the hospital setting, to reduce the risk of these infections, the problem persists and demands innovative and cost-efficient solutions.
Although the care provided in most primary health care facilities is predominantly ambulatory with few or no inpatient beds, infection prevention is still important to minimize or eliminate the risks of facility-acquired infections and assure quality patient care.
Health facilities and hospitals should have written infection control procedures and guidelines in place and should also be monitoring that these procedures are adhered to in both inpatient and ambulatory care settings.
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A Step-by-Step Guide.
It is intended for health planners, dengue or vector control programme managers and individuals, nongovernmental organizatio...ns (NGOs) and other agencies with interests and/or expertise in developing biological, chemical, environmental and communication interventions to prevent and control dengue fever.
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The strategic framework gives guidance to public and private health facilities and health workers on compliance with standards relating to IPC practices. To further assist health facilities to imple...ment the IPC strategic framework, this practical implementation manual has been developed in parallel to accompany the document.
These implementation strategies should be read in conjunction with the National Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) Strategic Framework (2020) to support an IPC programme at health facility level towards reducing healthcare-associated infections (HAI) and antimicrobial resistance (AMR). This manual is aligned with the World Health Organization (WHO) Core Component IPC programme recommendations and highlights the essentials for developing and improving IPC at health facility level in a systematic, stepwise manner for South Africa. It supports the Framework for the Prevention and Containment of AMR in South African Hospitals (2018).
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The Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene Improvement Training Package is intended to support the training of local outreach workers and their subsequent work in communities to promote improved water, sani...tation and hygiene (WASH) practices to reduce diarrhea
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Extreme heat events (EHEs) are a leading cause of weather-related injury and death in the United States, and under a changing climate, these meteorological episodes are predicted to increase in both... frequency and intensity. Prolonged heat exposure from EHEs places an increased strain on the heart and may lead to heat-related illness if the cardiovascular system fails to properly thermoregulate internal body temperature. Every individual is susceptible to heat-related illness, however, those with reduced cardiovascular function and pre-existing cardiovascular diseases are at a greater risk for morbidity and mortality during EHEs. This document gives an overview of our current understanding of heat exposure and its impact on cardiovascular health outcomes, an overview of the medications that may exacerbate heat-related cardiovascular illness, and asummary of the interaction between extreme heat and air pollutants, and their collective impact on cardiovascular health. Additionally, this document summarizes epidemiologic evidence and identifies gaps in the extant peer-reviewed literature on the effectiveness of strategies and interventions to protect against heat-related cardiovascular disease and death. This information is intended to aid health departments and other health professionals in understanding and responding to the impacts of heat exposure on cardiovascular health.
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The target audience for this training course is non-clinicians such as Home Based Carers, Community Caregivers, Youth Care Workers, Peer educators, Community Health Workers etc. primarily those who will be providing adherence counselling to clients ...with HIV, TB, Hypertension and Diabetes. This group of non-clinicians play a vital role in helping to reduce the workload of nursing staff. Amongst others, non- clinicians educate clients and provide emotional support in a manner that makes each client feel like they are receiving focused, individual attention. Non-clinicians are often in close contact with communities and, therefore, able to understand and play a role in alleviating health service barriers in the community.
Facility managers may also be part of the target audience in order to ensure that they understand the components of the minimum package of interventions to support linkage, adherence and retention in care.
Further, their attendance seeks to ensure that non-clinicians receive necessary assistance and support when they have to implement what they have learned back into their workplaces.
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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 shortag...es. 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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This guidance is intended to be used by programme managers following the decision to introduce human papillomavirus (HPV) virological testing as a screening assay in their national cervical cancer prevention ...x">and control programme. The guidance includes a step-by-step process to be followed after the decision has been made to specifically introduce and/or scale-up HPV virological testing for screening, which would be followed up with adequate management within the context of cervical cancer prevention
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The target audience of this document (and the associated online companion tool) includes WHO country offices
in Member States of the African Region; Member States’ ministries of health and their... public health emergency
operation centres; relevant external assessment teams; and partners looking to identify preparedness gaps and
support interventions that help address them. In the event of a suspected or confirmed VHF case, the document also serves to provide any intervening partner with a sense of what structures should be in place, in order to guide
scale-up activities in line with regional and national plans.
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