Conducting simulations and drills is the most effective way to evaluate and test disaster preparedness plans; these exercises are used widely by organizations and institutions working in development and in disaster response. Drills and simulations are also excellent tools for training, and for asses...sing decision making processes, teamwork, and coordination.
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Health Evidence Network synthesis report 53
Annex I to: To stay and deliver, good practice for humanitarians in complex security environments
The principal findings of the report include that despite overall improvements in aid agencies’ security risk management, national aid workers perceive continued inequities in security suppor...t compared with their international counterparts. National aid workers, while less subject to major attacks per capita than international aid workers, nevertheless form the majority of victims, and their specific security needs require more attention.
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Policy Note: Thailand Health Systems in Transition
By 2002, Universal Health Coverage was achieved through three public insurance schemes: the Civil Servant Medical Benefit Scheme (CSMBS) for civil servants and their dependents, Social Health Insurance (SHI) for formal sector employees, and the U...niversal Coverage Scheme (UCS) for the remainder of the population.
The establishment of these three schemes has changed the way health care is financed. A supply-led system, under which all Ministry of Public Health (MOPH) health facilities received an annual budget allocation from the MOPH, has now been completely replaced by a system in which the three public purchasers - separated through a purchaser-provider split - manage a demand-led system of financing.
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This strategy has been developed with a view to managing climate-induced internal displacement (CIID) in a comprehensive and rights-based manner. It is part of the action plan for the Government of Bangladesh (GoB) to implement the Sendai Framework.
The strategy focuses solely on internal disp...lacements caused by climate-related disasters and not cross-border displacement issues. It aims to chalk out a comprehensive strategy covering all three phases of displacements: (i) pre-displacement; (ii) displacement phase; and (iii) post-displacement. The multidimensional characteristics of the Strategy require participation of all relevant ministries with a target to integrate the concerns of CIIDPs into the existing programmes of all these ministries.
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Inequality of access to palliative care and symptom relief is one of the greatest disparities in global health care (1). Currently, there is avoidable suffering on a massive scale due to lack of access to palliative care and symptom relief in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) (1). Yet basic p...alliative care that can prevent or relieve most suffering due to serious or life-threatening health conditions can be taught easily to generalist clinicians, can be provided in the community and requires only simple, inexpensive medicines and equipment. For these reasons, the World Health Assembly (WHA) resolved that palliative care is "an ethical responsibility of health systems"(2). Further, most patients who need palliative care are at home and prefer to remain there. Thus, it is imperative that palliative care be provided in the community as part of primary care. This document was written to assist ministries of health and health care planners, implementers and managers to integrate palliative care and symptom control into primary health care (PHC).
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WHO, in partnership with the International Society for Prosthetics and Orthotics (ISPO) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), has published global standards for prosthetics and orthotics. Its aim is to ensure that prosthetics and orthotics services are people-centred an...d responsive to every individual’s personal and environmental needs. The standards advocate for the integration of prosthetics and orthotics services into health services, under universal health coverage. Implementation of these standards will support countries to fulfil their obligations under the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and towards the Sustainable Development Goals, in particular Goal 3: Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages.
The standards provide guidance on the development of national policies, plans and programmes for prosthetics and orthotics services of the highest standard. The standards are divided into two documents: the standards and an implementation manual. Both documents cover four areas of the health system:
policy (governance, financing and information);
products (prostheses and orthoses);
personnel (workforce);
and provision of services.
The Standards have been developed through consultation with experts from around the globe via a steering group, development group and external review group.
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Department of Behavioural Medicine, Lagos State University College of Medicine Ikeja, Lagos Nigeria
Global Mental Health (2015), 2, e5, page 1 of 12. doi:10.1017/gmh.2015.8;
Received 29 January 2015; Revised 8 April 2015; Accepted 15 April 2015
Global concerns: Implications for the future
Child Mental Health Atlas
Health Services Insights Volume 10: 1–7