Birth defect has been an emerging major cause of child mortality in the region. Scarcity of the birth defects information hampers policy decisions and control measures at national level. In order to
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create evidence for action for birth defects prevention in the region, WHO-SEARO in collaboration with CDC, USA has developed and launched a regional electronic database on birth defects. This surveillance database allows data collection on newborn health, birth defects and stillbirths cases and provides real time information at hospitals and national level.
Training of the hospital health staffs and data managers in the birth defects surveillance network; at regional, national and at hospital levels is recognized as essential for expansion of this database and to assure quality of data. A two days training module for hospital based birth defects surveillance was developed using a guide for operation and facilitator guide.
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This Training module on malaria elimination has been developed by WHO to support health professionals in planning, managing, monitoring and evaluat
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ing malaria elimination programmes
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This Training module on malaria elimination has been developed by WHO to support health professionals in planning, managing, monitoring and evaluat
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ing malaria elimination programmes.
Supporting exercises: These files are necessary for participants to complete a number of exercises listed in the manual. Please go to the website: http://www.who.int/malaria/publications/atoz/9789241549424/en/
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Working document from an informal consultation of experts. A Protocol for risk assessment at the field level. The purpose of document is to provide guidance on the methodology to be used for assessing, at field level, the yellow fever virus circulation in areas at risk,
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and is primarily intended for public health specialists
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Climate change, increasing population densities, and intensified globalisation in trade, travel and migration are among the most important factors
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shaping the 21st century. Each impacts upon population health and the risk of infectious disease, particularly those originating at the human-animal-environmental interface. The recognition that many risk drivers of infectious disease fall outside of the typical domain of the health sector creates the challenge of identifying and pursuing priorities for cross-sectoral action aimed at strengthening global health security. In response, the One Health concept has emerged, as have related initiatives addressing Planetary Health and Biodiversity and Human Health. From a public health perspective and operationally speaking, the One Health approach offers great potential, emphasising as it does cooperation and coordination between multiple sectors. Yet despite having been a focal point for discussion for over a decade, numerous challenges facing the implementation of One Health preparedness strategies remain. While some are technical, related to the requirement for innovative early warning systems or new vaccines, for example, others are institutional and cultural in nature, given the transdisciplinary nature of the topic. There have thus been calls to address One Health from multiple perspectives, from ecology to the social sciences. In order to further explore this issue and to identify priority areas for action for strengthening One Health preparedness in Europe, ECDC convened an expert consultation on 11–12 December 2017.
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Following the publication of Guidelines on certification of elimination of human onchocerciasis in 2001 by the World Health Organization (WHO), these are the first evidence-based guidelines develope
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d by NTD Department according to the international standards. They provide a set of recommendations that would guide national programme managers in collaboration with their respective oversight committees on when to stop mass drug administration (MDA) and conduct post-treatment surveillance (PTS) activities for a minimum period of 3 to 5 year before confirming the interruption of transmission of Onchocerca volvulus parasite and hence its elimination. They also include steps to undertake for verification of elimination of transmission of the parasite in the whole endemic country by the International Verification Team (IVT) prior to the official acknowledgement by WHO Director General.
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WHO TRS N°1012.
Key updates include: (i) surveillance strategies, including cross-sectoral linking of systems and suitable diagnostics; (ii) the
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latest recommendations on human and animal immunization; (iii) palliative care in lowresource settings; (iv) risk assessment to guide management of bite victims; and (v) a proposed process for validation and verification of countries reaching zero human deaths from rabies.
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April 2022 Volume 35 Issue 2 e00152-21
Population movements have turned Chagas disease (CD) into a global public health problem. Despite the successful implementation of subregional initiatives to contro
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l vectorial and transfusional Trypanosoma cruzi transmission in Latin American settings where the disease is endemic, congenital CD (cCD) remains a significant challenge. In countries where the disease is not endemic, vertical transmission plays a key role in CD expansion and is the main focus of its control. Although several health organizations provide general protocols for cCD control, its management in each geopolitical region depends on local authorities, which has resulted in a multitude of approaches. The aims of this review are to (i) describe the current global situation in CD management, with emphasis on congenital infection, and (ii) summarize the spectrum of available strategies, both official and unofficial, for cCD prevention and control in countries of endemicity and nonendemicity. From an economic point of view, the early detection and treatment of cCD are cost-effective. However, in countries where the disease is not endemic, national health policies for cCD control are nonexistent, and official regional protocols are scarce and restricted to Europe. Countries of endemicity have more protocols in place, but the implementation of diagnostic methods is hampered by economic constraints. Moreover, most protocols in both countries where the disease is endemic and those where it is not endemic have yet to incorporate recently developed technologies. The wide methodological diversity in cCD diagnostic algorithms reflects the lack of a consensus. This review may represent a first step toward the development of a common strategy, which will require the collaboration of health organizations, governments, and experts in the field.
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This document aims to provide global guidance on poliomyelitis (polio) surveillance in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. It comes as a technical complement to Polio eradication programme continu
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ity, Immunization in the context of COVID-19 pandemic frequently asked questions, and is aligned with the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) commitment to support the COVID-19 pandemic response.
It highlights the decision making framework to guide the level of polio surveillance activities at country level including; the measures to put in place to ensure a minimum level of polio surveillance in the field and in the laboratory, and the trigger to return to normal polio function.
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The Strategy to respond to antimalarial drug resistance in Africa is a technical and advocacy document, grounded in the best available evidence to date and aimed at minimizing the threat
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and impact of antimalarial drug resistance of Plasmodium falciparum parasites in Africa. Its objectives are to: i) improve the detection of resistance to ensure a timely response; ii) delay the emergence of resistance to artemisinin and artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT) partner drugs; and iii) limit the selection and spread of resistant parasites where resistance has been confirmed.
WHO Team
Global Malaria Programme
Editors
World Health Organization
Number of pages
87
Reference numbers
ISBN: 978 92 4 006026 5
Copyright
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This guideline document lays out the indicators for monitoring the 2016 Political Declaration on ending AIDS. The Global AIDS Monitoring (GAM) process has been often referenced as a benchmark for successful international accountability mechanisms.
The main objectives of the SOPs are to: (i) establish standards and timelines for response activities; and (ii) guide national governments and GPEI
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partners in key support functions.
This new version of the SOPs presents overall response requirements for dealing with type 1, 2 and 3 poliovirus following monovalent type 2 oral polio vaccine (mOPV2) cessation. Version 2.4 will be valid until release of revised version 3.0 (anticipated May 2018).
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UNAIDS/WHO Working Group on Global HIV/AIDS and STI Surveillance
The update of the ESTC was conducted as a joint endeavour with ERS, consulting experts from international societies and organisations, national TB programmes, civil society and affected communities.
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The second edition of the ESTC includes 21 standards in the areas of diagnosis, treatment, HIV and co-morbidities and public health and prevention. The ESTC is a user-friendly guide for clinicians and public health workers to help them achieve optimal diagnosis, treatment and prevention of TB
Available in 25 languages: https://ecdc.europa.eu/en/all-topics-ztuberculosisprevention-and-control/european-union-standards-tuberculosis-care
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Following the declaration of the 9th Ebola Disease Outbreak (EVD) on 8 May 2018 by the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) Ministry of Health, the WHO has raised the alert for neighbouring countries
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of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) which share extensive borders, hosting DRC refugees and are used as corridors for DRC population movement. On 1 August 2018, just one week after the declaration of the end of the Ebola outbreak in Equator province, the 10th Ebola epidemic of the DRC was declared in the provinces of North Kivu and Ituri, which are among the most populated provinces in the DRC that also share borders with Uganda and Rwanda.
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The GEHM series is an evidence-informed normative product of the WHO
Health and Migration
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Programme to inform policy-makers on migrationrelated public health priorities. These reviews aim to respond to policy questions identified as priorities by summarizing the best available evidence worldwide and proposing policy considerations. By addressing data gaps on the health status of refugees and migrants, the GEHM series aims to support evidenceinformed policy-making and targeted interventions that are impactful and make a difference in the lives of these populations.
This Report, the fourth in the GEHM series reviews the available evidence on barriers to antibiotic access and appropriate use in refugees and migrants. It finds that the available evidence on refugees’ and migrants’ access to and use of antibiotics is scarce and is largely constrained to high-income contexts.
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