HIV infection, due to the immunosuppressant that leads, nowadays constitutes an aggravating factor of endemic tuberculosis. Tuberculosis remains a huge burden to human health, even in the early 21st century. The situation is deteriorating in many co...untries, particularly because of the synergy with the HIV epidemic and the emergence of multidrug-resistant (MDR) and extensively drug resistant (XDR) tuberculosis. The urgent development of new tools that can improve the diagnosis, prevention and/or treatment of tuberculosis and other major mycobacterium diseases depends largely on the progress of basic and applied research. Faced with this situation, there is an urgent need for effective strategies and actions to permanently solve the problem of this endemic disease whose impact is too negative on people’s lives.
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The WHO SAGE values framework for the allocation and prioritization of COVID-19 vaccination is intended to offer guidance on the prioritization of groups for vaccination when vaccine supply is limited. It provides a values foundation for the object...ives of COVID-19 vaccination programmes and links those to target groups for vaccination. This information is valuable to countries and globally while specific policies will be developed once vaccines become available.
This document it available in Arabic, Chinese English, French, Portugese and Russian,
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Bioethics 519 (online) doi:10.1111/bioe.12145 Volume 29 Number 8 2015 pp. 488–596;
Pandemic plans recommend phases of response to an emergent infectious disease (EID) outbreak, and are primarily aimed at preventing and mitigating human-to-...class="attribute-to-highlight medbox">human transmission. These plans carry presumptive weight and are increasingly being operationalized at the national, regional and international level with the support of the World Health Organization (WHO). The conventional focus of pandemic preparedness for EIDs of zoonotic origin has been on public health and human welfare. However, thisfocus on human populations has resulted in strategically important disciplinary silos. As the risks of zoonotic diseases have implications that reach across many domains outside traditional public health, including anthropological, environmental, and veterinary fora, a more inclusive ecological perspective is paramount for an effective response to future outbreaks.
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The pharmaceutical sector of any nation is responsible for providing society with quality medicines and other pharmaceutical services. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), Pharmaceuticals may constitute as much as 40% of the national health budget in developing countries, yet portions o...f the population may lack access to the most essential medicines; while the limited funds available for health are spent on unnecessary, ineffective and even dangerous medications.
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Nutrition data and information systems (ND&IS) are critical to guide the prioritisation, collection, analysis and
dissemination of nutrition data in countries. However, there is limited guidance for countries regarding how to invest
in their ND&IS... and little is known about current financing allocations by both countries and donors
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Maldives has made significant strides in the area of infectious disease prevention and control. This is exemplified by elimination of malaria from Maldives in 2015 and successes in TB control. In addition, Maldives is a front runner in infectious disease prevention through successful water, sanitati...on, hygiene and vaccination campaigns and coverage. However, given the limited evidence that exists with respect to the occurrence of resistant organisms in the nation, it is hard to estimate the exact antimicrobial resistance (AMR) scenario. Also, it becomes difficult to compare the current situation with other countries in the region. Moreover, limited evidence exists on the trends of use of antimicrobial agents (AMA) in Maldives. Although, recent prescription audits have indicated overuse of antibiotics, especially for common conditions such as flu, cough and fever.
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The world is facing an unprecedented range of emergencies. In reaction to these complex adversities, many people experience considerable distress and impairment, and a minority may even go on to develop mental health conditions. Meanwhile, those with pre-existing mental health conditions may experie...nce a worsening of their condition and are at risk of neglect, abandonment, abuse and lack of access to support. Unfortunately, evidence-based mental health care is often extremely limited in humanitarian settings. In response, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) published the Mental Health Gap Action Programme (mhGAP) Humanitarian Intervention Guide (mhGAP-HIG) in 2015. This practical tool supports health-care providers in assessing and offering first-line management of mental, neurological and substance use (MNS) conditions in humanitarian emergency settings.
2 December 2021. The current report, Stories of change from four countries: Building capacity for integrating mental health care within health services across humanitarian settings, describes efforts in four countries to build evidence-based mental health systems in humanitarian emergency settings using the mhGAP-HIG. This report includes three sections, the first describing the importance of scaling up mental health care in emergency contexts, the second outlining case studies (“stories of change”) to scale up the Mental Health Gap Action Programme (mhGAP) programme in four settings and the third describing lessons learned by stakeholders.
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In the mid-1980s, recognizing the limitations of traditional training and that the knowledge and skills acquired are not necessarily applied back in the workplace, MSH developed the Monitoring‐Training-Planning (MTP) approach to assist the Ecuadorian Ministry of Health to implement its Child Survi...val Program. Using the MTP approach, staff me
mbers learn to mobilize their own resources and to improve, incrementally, the management of medicines and other pharmaceuticals at their own facility.
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Needs assessment is essential for programme planning, monitoring and evaluation, and accountability, however needs assessment is still a critical weakness of humanitarian response. Organisations need to improve how they do assessments. The Assessment Capacities Project (ACAPS) and the Emergency Capa...city Building Project (ECB) have produced this guide to fill the gap that existed for a practical resource that pulls together the main lessons learned from various initiatives and experiences.
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In light of the decline in new Ebola cases, strategies are now needed to scale down the activities and bed capacities in Ebola care facilities. These facilities include Ebola treatment units, community care centres, Ebola treatment centres and isolation centres. The Governments of Guinea, Liberia an...d Sierra Leone; WHO; CDC; ICAN and UNICEF have jointly developed this rapid guidance and checklist to assist national governments and partners as they begin this process. This rapid guidance pertains to protecting the safety and repurposing of infrastructures and resources previously used for the Ebola outbreak to care for Ebola patients.
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Regional Network for Equity in Health in east and southern Africa (EQUINET): Disussion Paper 111
The health services delivery system in Zambia is pyramid in structure, with primary healthcare (PHC) services at community level, at the base, followed by first and second level hospitals at distric...t and provincial levels, respectively, and third level (tertiary) services at national level. Notably, primary health services are free in Zambia and health service providers are either governmentowned or not-for-profit facilities.
Over the years, resource constraints have affected the quality and extent of healthcare services at all levels, requiring the mobilisation of additional resources for the sector. In doing so, prioritisation was high on the agenda of health sector reform. The EHB, therefore, prioritises interventions with the highest impact on the population, enabling policy makers to revisit priority diseases and conditions and to cost the services provided at each level of facility. Other key issues in developing the EHB in Zambia have included the need to have cost-effective services and cost per capita of services for more systematic budgeting, to rank interventions and to validate and cost the health benefit package as a whole.
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Regional Network for Equity in Health in east and southern Africa (EQUINET): Disussion Paper 110
This report compiles evidence from published, grey literature and key informants on the UNMHCP
since its introduction in Uganda’s health system, and findings were further validated during a oneda...y
national stakeholder meeting.
Three main factors motivated introduction of the UNMHCP. First, Uganda, along with other lowincome countries, was unable to implement holistically the primary healthcare (PHC) concepts as set out in the Alma Ata Declaration. Second, the macro-economic restructuring carried out in the 1990s, which was an international conditionality for low-income countries to access development financing, influenced the trend towards more stringent prioritisation of health interventions as a means of rationing and targeting use of resources. Third, the government sought to achieve equity with a service package that would be universally available for all people.
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Review of International, Regional and National Policies and Legal Frameworks that Promote Migrants and Mobile Populations' Access to Health and Malaria Services in the Greater Mekong Subregion (Cambodia, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Myanmar, Thailand and Viet Nam)
Migrants and mobile popul...ations face many obstacles in accessing equitable essential health care services due to factors such as living and working conditions, education level, gender, irregular migration status, language and cultural barriers, anti-migrant sentiments, and lack of migrant-inclusive health policies among others. Despite significant progress having been made in the context of malaria control in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS), human movements can impact malaria transmission patterns and potentially introduce drug-resistant parasites. This legal framework review therefore serves as a guidance document on approaches to address malaria and malaria elimination for migrant and mobile populations (MMPs) in five countries of the GMS.
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Myanmar has made significant progress in its disaster management policies, plans, and procedures since 2008, when Cyclone Nargis impacted the country leaving devastation in its aftermath. The Government of Myanmar (GoM) has modified the government structure and created new authorities and plans to i...mprove the effectiveness of disaster management at all levels. While this progress is encouraging and shows the determination of the government to make necessary adjustments, the resources to implement the policy changes have been slower to develop. Myanmar has made significant progress in its disaster management policies, plans, and procedures since 2008, when Cyclone Nargis impacted the country leaving devastation in its aftermath. The Government of Myanmar (GoM) has modified the government structure and created new authorities and plans to improve the effectiveness of disaster management at all levels. While this progress is encouraging and shows the determination of the government to make necessary adjustments, the resources to implement the policy changes have been slower to develop.
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This Plan envisions a future with the elimination of cervical cancer as a public health problem as a result of universal access to sexual health and STI prevention services, HPV vaccines, effective screening and precancer treatment services, treatment of invasive cervical cancer, and palliative care.... It foresees that all women and girls, regardless of age, race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, HIV status, or disability will have timely access to quality cervical cancer prevention, care, and treatment so that they can live in good health throughout the life course and enjoy the health-related human rights.
The goal is to accelerate progress toward the elimination of cervical cancer as a public health problem in the Americas by reducing incidence and mortality rates by one-third by 2030.
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Based on the survey, five principles for deinstitutionalization were identified: community-based services must be in place; the health workforce must be committed to change; political support at the highest and broadest levels is crucial; timing is key; and additional financial ...e-to-highlight medbox">resources are needed.
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A comprehensive briefing by Half of Syria
April 2020
A comprehensive briefing on the critical challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic to Syrians, as reported by Syrian civil society organisations. These challenges have been collated following extensive interviews with the teams of member and partner... organisations working in the field in various sectors: health, child care, education, women’s empowerment, media and culture, research, human rights and accountability, relief and social services, and local governance.
This comprehensive briefing also include concrete recommendations formulated by the Syrian civil society.
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This Interim Guidance outlines how key public health and social measures needed to reduce the risk of COVID-19 spread and the impact of the disease can be adapted for use in low capacity and humanitarian settings. The recommendations outlined here need to be adjusted to the scale of transmission, co...ntext and resources, in order to achieve the objective of managing COVID-19, namely to reduce transmission and facilitate the detection and management of infected and exposed individuals within the population. The Guidance is intended for humanitarian and development actors of all operational levels working with communities ocal authorities involved in COVID-19 preparedness and response operations in these settings, in support of national and local governments and plans. Additional considerations for support to residents of urban informal settlements and slums are available in Annex 1.
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This global guidance provided the framework for over 100 countries to develop their NDVPs. This updated (second) version supersedes the previous version published in 16 November 2020. New information has been added on the following areas:
the COVID-19 Partners Platform;
the use of COVID...-19 simulation exercises to test deployment strategies;
the indemnity agreement and no-fault compensation programme for vaccines secured through the COVAX Facility in the Advance Market Commitment (AMC) eligible economies;
the availability and use of the WHO-UNICEF COVID-19 Vaccine Introduction and deployment Costing (CVIC) tool;
the COVAX Facility’s humanitarian buffer that enables allocation of vaccine to cover high-risk populations in humanitarian settings;
recommendations for vaccination of pregnant and lactating women;
supplementary information on infection prevention and control (IPC) measures to be used to deliver COVID-19 vaccines safely;
the WHO licensed COVID-19 vaccines product-specific information;
use of geospatial data and digital micro plans for equitable access and delivery of COVID-19 vaccines;
lessons learned from the development of NDVPs and early experiences in COVID-19 vaccine deployment in countries; and
updated additional resources at the end of each chapter.
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GUIDE PRATIQUE À L’INTENTION DES PROGRAMMES DE LUTTE CONTRE LES MALADIES TROPICALES NÉGLIGÉES
This toolkit provides step-by-step guidance to NTD programme managers and partners on how to engage and work collaboratively with the WASH community to improve delivery of water, sanitation and hygien...e services to underserved population affected by many neglected tropical diseases. The toolkit is based on real-life programme experience, which users can match to their needs and local context. It includes a series of tools to help build multisectoral partnerships, mobilize resources, and design, implement and evaluate interventions.
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