Background paper 13
The Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response
May 2021
Annual and medium-term budget preparation processes are the platforms through which specific plans are transformed into actual resource allocation decisions. The aim of this Process Guide is to support key stakeholders involved in these processes (s...uch as the Cabinet, Ministries of Finance and Health, the Parliament, citizens, media, and civil society organizations) to reorient budgetary arrangements in order to facilitate the ability of national governments to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic by delivering, therapeutics, diagnostics, and vaccine services to their populations. Reorienting budgetary arrangements positions governments to sustain the capacity to mitigate and respond to COVID-19 while concurrently delivering other essential health services and working towards Universal Health Coverage (UHC). The reorientation process is an opportunity to better align budgetary arrangements to sustain systemic capacity to prevent emerging health threats over the short, medium, and long terms.
more
Discussion paper initially prepared in April 2015 to facilitate feedback, and finalized after the
June 2015 meeting of WHO’s Strategic and Technical Advisory Group for TB (STAG-TB).
The Committee discussed the implications for preparedness for smallpox-like events reflected by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The Committee noted how quickly diagnostics and vaccines could be developed and deployed when resources and political will... were abundant. This rapidity was also due to the fact that the genetic sequence of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) had been shared worldwide. It was noted that in one country SARS-CoV-2 had been reconstructed in a laboratory from the viral genome sequence before the first case of COVID-19 had been reported, highlighting the benefits of synthetic biology technologies for accelerated development of diagnostics as well as the oft-described potential risks. Lessons learned about clinical care during the COVID-19 pandemic were also discussed.
more
Prepared by the Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response for the WHO Executive Board, January 2021
“The world was not as prepa...red as it should have been, and it must do better,” concludes a WHO panel reviewing the pandemic response "
more
Module 4
Leaders
July 2017
Module 4: Leaders. This module aims to inform and update leaders and decision-makers about PrEP. It provides information on the benefits and limitations of PrEP so ...that they can consider how PrEP could be effectively implemented in their own settings. It also contains a series of frequently asked questions about PrEP.
more
Module 8
Site Planning
July 2017
Module 8: Site planning. This module is for people involved in organizing PrEP services at specific sites. It outlines the steps to be taken in planning a PrEP...> service and gives suggestions for personnel, infrastructure and commodities that could be considered when implementing PrEP.
more
Module 9
Strategic planning
July 2017
Module 9: Strategic planning. As WHO recommends offering PrEP to people at substantial HIV risk, this module offers public health guidance for policy-makers on how to prioritize services, in order to reac...h those who could benefit most from PrEP, and in which settings PrEP services could be most cost-effective.
more
This document lays out economic arguments for investing in the Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator (ACT-Accelerator). Framed within an overall context that recognizes the broader human health and societal impacts of the COVID-19 crisis, ACT-Acceler...ator's Economic Investment Case argues that investment in ACT-Accelerator is the world’s best bet and most viable solution for restarting the global economy. It is intended for governments, multilaterals, civil society, businesses and foundations and all those interested in the work required to change the course of the pandemic. The global deployment of ACT-Accelerator’s comprehensive package of tools will reduce the severity of COVID-19 disease, enabling countries to transition out of the crisis thereby restarting domestic and international economic engines driving our global economy.
more
This implementation plan sets out a series of programmatic objectives, activities and outcomes for malaria surveillance strengthening in Myanmar over the next two years. This period represents a key phase as the National Malaria Control Programme (N...MCP) strives to build on recent achievements in strengthening core surveillance operations.
more
Module 2
Community Educators and Advocates
July 2017
Module 2: Community educators and advocates. Community educators and advocates are needed to increase awareness about PrEP in their communities. This module provides information on ...ass="attribute-to-highlight medbox">PrEP that should be considered in community-led activities that aim to increase knowledge about PrEP and generate demand and access.
more
The National Tuberculosis Programme (NTP) of Rwanda (known as TB & ORD Division/IHDPC/RBC) is preparing to write their next National Strategic Plan and for this reason Rwanda was selected as a country to received technical assistance (TA) to conduct... an assessment of their surveillance system using the surveillance checklist as input for the new strategy. This TA was provided under the USAID TBCARE I Core project on Monitoring and Evaluation, Operational Research and Surveillance (C7.08) developed a surveillance checklist with the objectives to assess a national surveillance system’s ability to accurately measure TB cases and deaths and to identify gaps in national surveillance systems that need to be addressed in order to improve TB surveillance.
more
Conducted November 2011 to February 2012: Summary Report
This summary report has five sections. Following the introduction (Section 1), Section 2 sets out summary findings and recommendations of the assessment team. Section 3 describes the cont...ext in which artemisinin resistance is being tackled. Section 4 highlights key achievements and enabling factors for the response to artemisinin resistance, whilst Section 5 provides a more detailed discussion of major issues to be addressed.
more
Background paper 9
The Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response
May 2021
A national faecal examination of 27 729 schoolchildren from 395 schools carried out in
2008 indicated that intestinal parasitic worms affected an estimated five million (56.8%)
children in Kenya. Existing evidence shows that worm infections lead t...o reduced literacy
levels due to impaired growth and physical fitness.
more
22.9% of surveyed Syrian refugees aged 2 years and above had disabilities (1,374 persons out of 6,003 persons): 13.8% in Azraq camp, 23.5% in Irbid and 30.5% in Zaatari camp. Understanding disability as the level of difficulties a person is facing w...hen performing basic activities that could put him/her at risk of not participating in society, the prevalence of disability found by the study was markedly higher than the existing disability statistics at around 2-3% to less than 10%, many of which used questions focusing on a person’s medical conditions or impairments.
more
Occupational health and safety programmes aim to prevent diseases and injuries arising out of, linked with or occurring in the course of work, while improving the quality and safety of care, safeguarding the health workforce and promoting environmen...tal sustainability in the health sector.
This guide provides an overview of the key elements of occupational health and safety programmes for health workers at national, subnational and facility levels, as well as advice for the development and implementation of such programmes. Health workers exposure risk assessment and management in the context of COVID-19 virus
more
A training tutorial for healthcare professionals
This ECDC tutorial presents the fundamental concepts of personal protective equipment (PPE) and barrier nursing to support preparedness in hospitals across Europe. It provides practical information o...n the proper use of PPE at the point of care, including technical requirements and procurement aspects
more
Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance and Research Network | This manual describes well accepted methods to carry out drug susceptibility testing on important gram positive and gram negative clinically relevant bacteria. Methods of specimen collecti...on, transport, culture, anti-microbial drug susceptibility testing (common, special phenotypic and
molecular techniques) as well as quality control and quality assurance have been described in a concise manner.
more
This handbook presents basic content and tips for implementing a school-based risk reduction programme. It is organised into five modules: its importance; approach and process; activities to benefit children up to five years old; activities for students aged 5–17; and activities for young people a...nd volunteers aged 17–24.
A generic framework for school-based risk reduction initiatives is illustrated in a diagram on p.10. The Comprehensive School Safety framework suggests a series of continuing activities that include: identifying the hazards in and around a school; conducting drills; preparing contingency and disaster management plans by involving parents, teachers and students; and building on the capacities of an institution and individuals to cope with the challenges during an unforeseen event. It also consists of three pillars: safe learning facilities; school disaster management; and risk reduction and resilience education.
more