This report provides an overview of the key information gaps and limitations in interpreting existing COVID-19 data
The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) showed
that global commitment and collective action
could significantly reduce the disease burdens of
three deadly communicable diseases: HIV/AIDS,
tuberculosis (TB) and malaria. The MDGs helped
focus eff...orts on these three deadly diseases
and leveraged disease-specific programmes and
financing, thus achieving significant progress.
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This paper reviews the effects of vertical responses to COVID-19 on health systems, services, and people’s access to and use of them in LMICs, where historic and ongoing under-investments heighten... vulnerability to a multiplicity of health threats. We use the term ‘vertical response’ to describe decisions, measures and actions taken solely with the purpose of preventing and containing COVID-19, often without adequate consideration of how this affects the wider health system and pre-existing resource constraints.
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A study conducted by the World Health Organisation Regional Office for Africa. The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on older persons both globally and in the African region. Although overall the region’s population is younger relative to many other world regions, the WHO AFRO region ...has a population just over 62 million older people and is ageing rapidly, with the number of older people expected to triple in the next three decades (Aboderin et al., 2020).
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Overview
Epilepsy is one of the most common neurological disorders globally. The WHO epilepsy technical brief aims to strengthen action for epilepsy and complements the Intersectoral global action plan on epilepsy and other neuro...logical disorders 2022–2031.
The technical brief presents the key information on epilepsy and recommends actions to policy makers and other stakeholders. Using the concept of levers for change introduced by the Operational Framework for Primary Health Care, it identifies actions on the policy and operational levels that stakeholders should take to strengthen services for people with epilepsy using a person-centered approach based on human rights and universal health coverage.
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This document focuses on the management of patients affected by gambiense HAT and
constitutes an update to the WHO therapeutic guidance issued in 2013. The main changes in recommendations concern the criteria and methods for deciding the treatment ...among the new set of therapeutic options and the particular conditions that apply to treatment with fexinidazole, as outlined below. Because HAT is a serious, life-threatening disease and because the efficacy of fexinidazole depends on swallowing the medicine after an appropriate intake of food as well as on completing the full 10-day
treatment schedule, the recommendations regarding fexinidazole administration are considered key elements that must be carefully followed. When the conditions listed in these guidelines are not met for any individual patient, the alternative available treatments should be prescribed.
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During the 17 years since Surgical approaches to the urogenital manifestations of lymphatic filariasis was first published, there has been heightened awareness of the physical, economic and emotiona...l burden of the genitourinary manifestations of filariasis. With the impetus to provide better guidance for care of those suffering from LF, this update was both warranted and timely.
At the outset, the Committee noted that barriers continue to exist in care of patients affected by LF-associated morbidity. These barriers include lack of information for patients as well as for many healthcare providers, including general surgeons and others within health systems
This update offers a new consensus of the Committee regarding the staging of hydroceles caused by LF, also known as “filariceles”. It recommends integrating LF surgery with other efforts to strengthen surgical care by assessing health facilities for their surgical readiness using the WHO surgical assessment tool or “SAT”. It also recommends integratinghernia surgery with hydrocele surgery and integrating standards for prevention of surgical site infection (SSI).
The update revises recommendations for standard procedures and processes, offers an algorithm for diagnosis (including the use of ultrasound) and discusses postoperative care. It recommends collecting data using the staging and grading system described by Capuano and Capuano along with other metrics for public health management of LF.
A multifaceted approach has therefore been recommended to coordinate public health outreach with national surgical planning and local health systems to include supporting partners such as nongovernmental organizations. Surgical camps with mobile teams, as well as training of personnel at DCP3 “first level” or WHO Level II hospitals (depending on region and resources), have important roles for reducing LF morbidity.
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This guideline provides updated, evidence-informed guidance on the percentage of total fat in the diet to reduce the risk of unhealthy weight gain.
This guideline is intended for a wide audience ...involved in the development, design and implementation of policies and programmes in nutrition and public health. This guideline includes a recommended level of total fat intake which can be used by policy-makers and programme managers to address various aspects of dietary fat in their populations through a range of policy actions and public health interventions.
The guidance in this guideline replaces previous WHO guidance on total fat intake, including that from the 1989 WHO Study Group on Diet, Nutrition and the Prevention of Chronic Diseases and the 2002 Joint WHO/FAO Expert Consultation on Diet, Nutrition and the Prevention of Chronic Diseases. The guidance in this guideline should be considered in the context of that from other WHO guidelines on healthy diets.
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This paper explores the angles and opportunities of digital health, with a look
at digital innovation and its potential to support patients with circulatory diseases.
In reviewing developments in the field, current applications as well as gaps, th...e paper aims to support policymakers in leveraging technology for better circulatory health and to capture the roles that various sectors have in making
digital health a tool for everyone.
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Smallpox eradication was certified in 1980. Mpox has been endemic in Central and West African countries since it was first detected in 1958 . It is a zoonosis; cases are often found close to tropical rainforests where various animals carry the orthopoxvirus that causes the disease. In endemic countr...ies, most mpox infections in humans result from a primary animal-to-human transmission. Human-to-human transmission can result from close contact with respiratory secretions, skin lesions of an infected person, or recently contaminated objects. Transmission can also occur via the placenta from mother to fetus or through close contact during and after birth.
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The Malawian government recently introduced cost-covering consultation fees for self-referral patients in tertiary public hospitals. Previously, patients received medicines free of charge in government-owned health facilities, but must pay elsewhere.... Before the government implements a payment policy in other areas of health care, it is important to investigate the prices, affordability and availability of essential medicines in Malawi.
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The case is intended to be used as the basis for group work and class discussion rather than to illustrate either effective or ineffective handling of a Medical Peace Work situation. This is one of ...seven Medical Peace Work courses.
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Tuberculosis (TB) prevention is essential for reaching the End TB targets in the South-East Asia Region (SEAR) of World Health Organization (WHO)1. The targets of 80% reduction in TB incidence rate ...and 90% reduction in TB mortality by 2030 (compared to 2015 levels) can be achieved only with additional interventions aimed at preventing TB, according to epidemiological modelling studies commissioned by the WHO South-East Asia Regional Office (WHO SEARO). Optimal implementation of TB preventive treatment (TPT) is a critical intervention to accelerate reduction in TB burden in the SEA Region, which bears nearly 43% of the global TB burden. TPT by itself has the potential to reduce the overall annual TB incidence rates by 8.3% (95% CrI 6.5–10.8) relative to 2015.
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Guidelines on the management of chronic pain in children, developing and implementing national and local policies for pain management and protocols in children, implementing national and local regulations for pain management in children, pain manag...ement and protocols
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Rev Panam Salud Publica. 2021;45:e74.
Some characteristics of patients and healthcare providers influence treatment success in MDR-TB cases. Physicians’ and nurses’ knowledge about MDR-TB must be improved, and follow-up ...o-highlight medbox">of MDR-TB patients who are living with HIV and of those affiliated with the subsidized health insurance scheme in Colombia must be strengthened, as these patients have a lower likelihood of a successful treatment outcome.
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Sistema General de Seguridad Social en Salud – Colombia Guía No. GPC-2015-51