UNAIDS report on the global AIDS epidemic shows that 2020 targets will not be met because of deeply unequal success; COVID-19 risks blowing HIV progress way off course. Missed targets have resulted in 3.5 million more HIV infections and 820 000 more
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AIDS-related deaths since 2015 than if the world was on track to meet the 2020 targets. In addition, the response could be set back further, by 10 years or more, if the COVID-19 pandemic results in severe disruptions to HIV services.
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2020 is a critical year for our Joint Programme as we collectively define the path to getting back on track to ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030. Our revised timelines for adoption of
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the next strategy are highly ambitious. We need the full support of all the tremendously dedicated people in UNAIDS-within our staff, our board and all our stakeholders to make this happen.
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This report offers a summary of the provided support and recommendations on priority activities for IPC improvement at national and facility levels. The COVID-19 pandemic spotlighted areas for impro
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vement in the IPC programme at national and facility levels. Improvements in the IPC programme were achieved during the acute phase of the pandemic response. WHO will continue to support the Ministry Health of Ukraine and the Public Health Centre, as well as health facility managers and health-care providers, on the next steps to ensure the sustainability of progress achieved and to further enhance IPC in health-care settings.
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It describes and analyzes the theoretical-practical incidences of misinformation, disinformation, and malinformation, including but not limited to the Information Science framework.
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Besides, it aims to outline an understanding of these three concepts based on 16 arrangements interconnected according to their intentionality.
Conclusions: We highlight that the complexity that permeates the various fields in the present situation is due to the difficulty of reaching a consensus on the semantic definition of the concepts of information, misinformation, and its disambiguations since these concepts have various properties.
Also available in: Portuguese
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Available in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish. You can download a summary of the main report and background documents!
The report demonstrates that
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the current system—at both national and international levels— was not adequate to protect people from COVID-19. The time it took from the reporting of a cluster of cases of pneumonia of unknown origin in mid-late December 2019 to a Public Health Emergency of International Concern being declared was too long. February 2020 was also a lost month when many more countries could have taken steps to contain the spread of SARS-CoV-2 and forestall the global health, social, and economic catastrophe that continues its grip. The Panel finds that the system as it stands now is clearly unfit to prevent another novel and highly infectious pathogen, which could emerge at any time, from developing into a pandemic.
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This rapid communication outlines the main outcomes of a WHO convened Guideline Development Group (GDG) meeting, held in May-June 2021 on the topic of th
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e management of TB in children and adolescents. The rapid communication aims to inform staff from ministries of health and care providers across public and private sectors, technical partners and other stakeholders about the key findings, considerations and changes related to the diagnosis, treatment and care of TB for children and adolescents, in order to allow for planning at the country level ahead of the release of updated guidelines and an associated operational handbook. WHO will publish the guidelines and operational handbook in the coming months.
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At a time when the world is reeling from the deepest global disruption and health crisis of a lifetime, this year’s Living Planet
report provides unequivocal and alarming evidence that nature is
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unraveling and that our planet is flashing red warning signs of
vital natural systems failure. The Living Planet Report 2020 clearly outlines how humanity’s increasing destruction of nature is having
catastrophic impacts not only on wildlife populations but also on human health and all aspects of our lives.
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To assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on health and HIV expenditure, UNAIDS carried out a modelling study on fiscal space for health and HIV. From a sample of 28 countries, three countries
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the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Jamaica, and Lesotho—were selected to capture health and HIV expenditure impacts across countries with especially marked differences in burdens of disease (including HIV prevalence), HIV donor dependency, level of economic development, and geographic location. While the three-country sample is too small to permit findings to be generalized to other countries, these analyses are useful for informing UNAIDS’ work to identify some policy positions to minimize the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on the HIV response.
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This publication presents the Agenda for the Americas on Health, Environment, and Climate Change 2021–2030 (the Agenda).
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The Agenda is a call to action to the health sector to lead the charge to address environmental determinants of health in the Americas. The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) will work with Member States to achieve its goal and objective to ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages using a sustainable and equitable approach that places a priority on reducing health inequity. The Agenda has been developed under the umbrella of the WHO Global Strategy on Health, Environment, and Climate Change, and builds upon the commitments set forth in the Sustainable Health Agenda for the Americas 2018–2030 and the PAHO Strategic Plan 2020–2025. The Agenda was developed in consultation with the Technical Advisory Group and through a consensus-driven decision-making process with Member States during the 2019–2020 period. Looking toward the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal 3, the Agenda focuses on: improving the performance of environmental public health programs and institutions; fostering environmentally resilient and sustainable health systems; and promoting environmentally healthy and resilient cities and communities. Its implementation will be context-specific, based on the needs and realities of the countries. It will benefit countries and territories by promoting good governance practices, strengthening the leadership and coordination roles of the health sector, fostering cross-sectoral action, focusing on primary prevention, and enhancing evidence and communication. It will facilitate access to human, technical, and financial resources necessary to address environmental determinants of health and ensure that the Region is fully engaged in global health, environment, and climate change processes and agreements. The objective of the Agenda is to strengthen the capacity of health actors in the health and non-health sectors to address and adapt to environmental determinants of health (EDHs), prioritizing populations living in conditions of vulnerability, in order to meet Outcome 18 of the PAHO Strategic Plan 2020–2025 directly and several other outcomes of the Plan indirectly. To address and adapt to the challenges of EDHs in the Region, an integrated and evidence-informed approach within the health sector and across sectors will be needed, one enabled, and supported by good governance practices, adequate management mechanisms, high-level political will, and adequate human, technical, technological, and financial resources.
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PHARMA’S RESPONSE TO THE COVID-19 VACCINES CRISIS. Update Feb., 14, 2022. In September 2021, Amnesty International published A Double Dose of Inequality, which assessed the extent to which
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the pharmaceutical industry was restricting access to Covid-19 vaccines. This report updates that assessment of five leading vaccine manufacturers, AstraZeneca plc, BioNTech SE, Johnson & Johnson, Moderna Inc., and Pfizer Inc. It also includes for the first time an assessment of the two largest Chinese vaccine producers, China National Pharmaceutical Group Co., Ltd. (Sinopharm) and Sinovac Biotech Ltd. (Sinovac).
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A implementation Matrix approved by the Cabinet of the Government of South Africa
This second edition of the Infection prevention and control in the context of coronavirus disease (COVID-19): A living guideline provides the most
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up to date technical guidance on mask use in community settings in the context of COVID-19.
In this edition, new information includes updated mask recommendations for children in community settings including updated age specific recommendations, statements for children with disabilities and those at high risk for complications related to COVID-19 infection. Updated implementation considerations for mask use in school settings are also included.
This living guideline is being published using the MAGICApp online publishing platform https://app.magicapp.org/#/guideline/Lr2a8L , as well as in PDF copy on the WHO website.
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A One Health Response. A Briefing Note
WHO's Health in the Green Economy sector briefings examine the health impacts of climate change mitigation strategies considered by the Intergovern
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mental Panel on Climate Change in their Fourth Assessment Report (Climate Change, 2007). Large, immediate health benefits from some climate change strategies are to be expected.
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Building on our decades of commitment to human rights in medicine and healthcare, we have published a new report on emerging threats in health-related human rights both globally and in the UK.
'Health and human rights in
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the new world (dis)order' outlines a shifting rights landscape in which new technologies, environmental change and geopolitical reconfigurations are putting renewed and at times intense stress on human rights, both in medicine and healthcare more broadly.
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Cities are uniquely positioned to understand local needs and respond rapidly to changing conditions to safeguard health. These changes require strong city leadership to implement multisectoral, health-relevant policies and public services that engage communities.
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The response to malaria must be an integral part of such policies and processes.
This framework supports the control and elimination of malaria in urban environments. It provides guidance for city leaders, health programmes and urban planners as they respond to the challenges of rapid urbanization in a targeted way. For each urban context, the strategic use of data can inform effective, tailored responses and help build resilience against the threat of malaria and other vector-borne diseases.
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After eight years of armed conflict in the east of the country, the Russian Federation started a military offensive in Ukraine on 24 February 2022.
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The impact of this war has been devastating. It has so far caused 16,200 civilian casualties and destroyed key infrastructure, such as hospitals, schools, homes, and water installations.
Since the beginning of the conflict, nearly 14 million people - a third of all Ukrainians - have been forced to leave their homes, 90% of them women, children, and elderly people. An estimated 6.2 million people are displaced within Ukraine, while more than 7 million sought safety in Poland, Romania and Moldova or passed through to other destinations in Europe. Some have returned to Ukraine. Another 13 million people are estimated to be stranded in or unable to leave affected areas within the country.
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