Neonatal tetanus (NT), a severe newborn illness from the toxigenic strains of Clostridium tetani, persists in middle- and low-income countries due to non-sterile childbirth practices. Unlike smallpox and polio, tetanus cannot be eradicated: Clostrid
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ium tetani spores exist in the environment, and animal reservoirs. However, elimination as a public health issue is achievable through widespread tetanus vaccination, clean deliveries, and proper umbilical cord care. The goal of eliminating maternal and neonatal tetanus (MNT) as a public health problem is considered met when all municipalities in a country have an annual incidence rate of NT of less than 1 case per 1000 live births. The Region of the Americas achieved the maternal and neonatal tetanus elimination (MNTE) target in 2017 when elimination was validated in the Republic of Haiti. Yet maintaining this progress requires continued efforts. High vaccination coverage, booster doses in countries lacking them, hygienic practices, and strong maternal and child health services are key. The Pan American Health Organization’s (PAHO) integrated maternal and neonatal immunization platform further strengthens this fight against early childhood diseases.
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Under the theme “Stronger Together”, the campaign aims to offer information and strategies to assist communities in the region in better coping
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with the psychological impact of adverse events before, during and after a disaster situation. It also aims to raise awareness to reduce the stigma about seeking mental health and psychosocial support.
You can download a wide range of communication material: videos, posters, radio jingles, guidebooks.
The Caribbean is highly prone to natural hazards, including seismic activity, hurricanes, landslides and floods. These events have resulted in lost lives, serious injuries and severe damage to housing and infrastructure. A single hurricane event can affect more than one island, and completely erase the gains of many years of productivity. As a result, these unpredictable hazards create disruption and have an ongoing impact on people’s lives - affecting their mental health and psychosocial well-being.
Although everyone is affected in some way by disaster events, there are a wide range of reactions and feelings that a person can experience. People may feel overwhelmed, confused or very uncertain about what is happening. They can also feel very fearful, anxious, numb or detached. People who feel safe, connected, calm and hopeful, have access to social, physical and emotional support and find ways to help themselves after a disaster, however, will be better able to recover long-term from mental health effects
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A Summary
Accessed: 23.11.2019
Over the past decade, the reduction of maternal mortality in Latin America and the Caribbean has
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shown signs of a marked slowdown and in some cases a reversal, jeopardizing commitments made at the global and regional levels and by the Member States themselves, including those established in the Sustainable Development Goals.
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This report includes analysis from informal regional consultations in the African Region, the Caribbean and North America, Latin America, South-Eas
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t Asia Region, European Region, Eastern Mediterranean Region, alongside three forums in the Western Pacific Region. It analyses the overarching similarities, regional nuances and priorities raised across the six WHO regions for the meaningful engagement of individuals with lived experience.
It is the second publication in the WHO Intention to action series, which aims to enhance the limited evidence base on the impact of meaningful engagement and address the lack of standardized approaches on how to operationalise meaningful engagement. The Intention to action series aims to do this by providing a platform from which individuals with lived experience, and organizational and institutional champions, can share solutions, challenges and promising practices related to this cross-cutting agenda. The Intention to action series also aims to provide powerful narratives, inspiration and evidence towards the Fourth United Nations High Level Meeting on NCDs in 2025 and achieving the 2030 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
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The region of Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) has high levels of income inequality and urbanization. This leaves a large percentage of
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the population exposed and vulnerable to infectious disease outbreaks (1). The COVID-19 outbreak occurred suddenly, within a complex economic, social and political context and at a time of low economic growth and high levels of informal labour. Structural challenges of poverty, deep inequality across different dimensions, and weak health and social protection systems exacerbated the region’s vulnerability to the pandemic
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This situation update is on the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) reported cases and deaths, Globally, Regionally, for Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean
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Countries, French Territories, and the United Kingdom Overseas Territories.
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Key Messages and Recommendations.
The Report, Todos y todas sin excepción, produced by the Global Education Monitoring (GEM) Report and the Regio
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nal Bureau for Education in Latin America and the Caribbean (OREALC /UNESCO Santiago), along with the Laboratory of Education, Research and Innovation in Latin America and the Caribbean (SUMMA) shows that, prior to the pandemic, in 21 countries, children from the richest households were five times as likely as the poorest to complete upper secondary school.
Learning outcomes were low before COVID-19. Only half of 15-year-olds achieved minimum proficiency in reading. In Guatemala and Panama, barely 10 disadvantaged 15-year-old students master basic mathematics skills for every 100 of their better-off peers. Indigenous people and Afro-descendants also have lower attainment and literacy rates.
The report includes a set of key recommendations for the next decade, which will help countries achieve the objectives of the 2030 Agenda and calls for schools to be more inclusive, which many still are not.
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HIV epidemic and response in Latin America and the Caribbean: PPT
N Engl J Med. 2016 Jan 13. [Epub ahead of print] Free full text
The explosive pandemic of Zika virus infection occurring throughout South America, Central America, and the
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Caribbean (see map) and potentially threatening the United States is the most recent of four unexpected arrivals of important arthropod-borne viral diseases in the Western Hemisphere over the past 20 years. It follows dengue, which entered this hemisphere stealthily over decades and then more aggressively in the 1990s; West Nile virus, which emerged in 1999; and chikungunya, which emerged in 2013. Are the successive migrations of these viruses unrelated, or do they reflect important new patterns of disease emergence?
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The ongoing political, socio-economic and human rights events in Venezuela have led to the outflow of almost 4 million refugees and migrants, the b
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iggest population movement in the history of Latin America and the Caribbean. The Gender-Based Violence (GBV) working group of the Regional Coordination Platform supports national stakeholders to prevent and respond to GBV using a multisectoral, survivor-centered approach based on international humanitarian principles. In line with the 2019 Regional Response Plan for Refugees and Migrants from Venezuela (RMRP), the GBV working group prioritizes prevention, mitigation and response to GBV, with special emphasis on addressing sexual violence and trafficking in persons for the purpose of sexual exploitation.
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In 2017 Hurricane Maria devastated the Caribbean island of Puerto Rico. “After Maria” is based on a one-year ethnographic research project about how 16 low-income Puerto Rican families were affe
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cted by, and recovered from the impacts of Maria. Dr. Gemma Sou visited Puerto Rico five times during the first year after Maria, to chat candidly about how the families were recovering. Although this graphic novella tells the story of a fictional family, “After Maria” is based on the experiences that tie together all of the Puerto Rican families that I spoke to.
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The world’s population is projected to grow from 7.7 billion in 2019 to 8.5 billion in 2030 (10% increase), and further to 9.7 billion in 2050 (26%) and to 10.9 billion in 2100 (42%). The
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population of sub-Saharan Africa is projected to double by 2050 (99%). Other regions will see varying rates of increase between 2019 and 2050: Oceania excluding Australia/New Zealand (56%), Northern Africa and Western Asia (46%), Australia/New Zealand (28%), Central and Southern Asia (25%), Latin America and the Caribbean (18%), Eastern and South-Eastern Asia (3%), and Europe and Northern America (2%).
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Ethnic disparities in COVID-19 persist, with increased rates of infection, severe disease, and death among people from minority ethnic groups. COVID-19 vaccination rates also remain lowest in these communities compared with white people in the UK. A
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mong people older than 18 years, the proportion who have had three COVID-19 vaccinations in England in March, 2022, was lowest among Black Caribbean (38%), Black African (45%), and Pakistani (45%) ethnic groups. These disparities are likely to be attributed to the intersection of key social determinants, including socioeconomic factors such as deprivation, overcrowding, and working patterns and conditions,
alongside discrimination and structural violence in the health-care system and society.
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This publication summarizes the facilitators and barriers that will be encountered in the deinstitutionalization process and identifies useful and proven interventions in Latin American and
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Caribbean countries. Four areas of work are identified with the respective guidelines or suggestions for action, which should provide an operational guide for countries that are restructuring mental health services and moving toward the deinstitutionalization of psychiatric care.
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2nd edition. The Pan American Health Organization and the Caribbean Development Bank developed this booklet as a tool to help you take care of your
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self and your community during crisis situations. This is achieved through psychological first aid, also known as PFA, a humane, supportive and practical response to a fellow human being who is suffering and may need support. In this booklet, our “PFA helper” will guide you through the three basic principles of PFA: look, listen and link. This will help you to approach affected people, listen and understand their needs, and link them with practical support and information. It will also bring to your attention the needs of specific groups, including men, women, children and adolescents, and people with disabilities, among others. Enjoy the booklet. Read it again from time to time, share it with friends, family and members of your community, and spread the message: “Stronger together”
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COVID-19 Global is the hub page for all ReliefWeb's coverage on the COVID-19 Pandemic, focusing on the countries with humanitarian situations. For
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updates grouped by regions, see Regional COVID-19 pages for Sub-Saharan Africa; Northern Africa; Latin America and the Caribbean; Central, Eastern, South-eastern & Southern Asia; Oceania; Latin America and the Caribbean; and Europe.
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Factsheets with global and regional data from the IDF Diabetes Atlas 10th Edition are available for download below.
Diabetes around the world in 2021
Diabetes in Africa in 2021
Diabetes in Europe
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in 2021
Diabetes in Middle-East and North Africa in 2021
Diabetes in North America and Caribbean in 2021
Diabetes in South and Central America in 2021
Diabetes in South-East Asia in 2021
Diabetes in Western Pacific in 2021
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