This interim guidance is aimed at healthcare workers who may receive patients
exposed to chemical weapons at their healthcare facilities.
It provides questions to guide the identification of contaminated patients,
recommendations on personal protection, procedures for decontamin
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ation,
guidance for triage and identification of categories of exposure, and treatment
regimens for individual chemicals.
Arabic version available: http://www.who.int/environmental_health_emergencies/deliberate_events/interim_guidance_ar.pdf
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Beat the heat: child health amid heatwaves in Europe and Central Asia finds that half of these children died from heat-related illnesses in their first year of life. Most children died during the summer months.
"Around half of children across Europe and Central Asia – or 92 million children –
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are already exposed to frequent heatwaves in a region where temperatures are rising at the fastest rate globally. The increasingly high temperatures can have serious health complications for children, especially the youngest children, even in a short space of time. Without care, these complications can be life-threatening,” said Regina De Dominicis UNICEF Regional Director for Europe and Central Asia.
Heat exposure has acute effects on children, even before they are born, and can result in pre-term births, low birth weight, stillbirth, and congenital anomalies. Heat stress is a direct cause of infant mortality, can affect infant growth and cause a range of paediatric diseases. The report also notes that extreme heat caused the loss of more than 32,000 years of healthy life among children and teenagers in the region.
As the temperatures continue to rise, UNICEF urges governments across Europe and Central Asia to:
- Integrate strategies to reduce the impact of heatwaves including through National Determined Contributions (NDC), National Adaptation Plans (NAP), and disaster risk reduction and disaster management policies with children at the centre of these plans
Invest in heat health action plans and primary health care to more adequately support heat-related illness among children
- Invest in early warning systems, including heat alert systems
- Adapt education facilities to reduce the temperatures in the areas children play in and equip teachers with skills to respond to heat stress
- Adapt urban design and infrastructure including ensuring buildings, particularly those housing the most vulnerable communities are equipped to minimize heat exposure
- Secure the provision of safe water, particularly in countries with deteriorating water quality and availability.
UNICEF works with governments, partners and communities across the region to build resilience against heatwaves. This includes equipping teachers, community health workers and families with the skills and knowledge to respond to heat stress.
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PTSD Rating Scales: Two rating scales can be used by clinicians to help identify children's or adolescents' exposure to child abuse, interpersonal violence and other traumatic events, to identify PTSD symptoms, and to monitor symptoms. These are the
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UCLA PTSD Reaction Index (RI) and the Child PTSD Symptom Scale (CPSS). The RI is rated separately by the child or adolescent and a parent; the CPSS is rated only by the child or adolescent. This is the Child PTSD Symptom Scale. | Accessed online February 2019
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The new guide provides practical, first-line management recommendations for mental, neurological and substance use conditions. Contents include modules on assessing and managing conditions such as acute stress, grief, moderate-severe depressive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, epilepsy, and
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harmful use of alcohol and drugs.
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The CSMH compiled a list of assessment measures that are in the public domain (free of charge) and available online for clinicians. Below are the recommended measures can be used in school mental health programs to help assess symptoms of clinical disorders (e.g. depression, anxiety, ADHD) an in som
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e cases are useful for tracking student progress and outcomes over time.
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This publication addresses the management of war wounds by non-specialist surgeons in situations where resources and expertise are limited. It is intended to be a pratical guide whether or not the surgeon has a special training in orthopaedic trauma
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.
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This revision covers the main non-communicable diseases in Mozambique as well as the National Strategic Plan's aim to create a positive environment to minimize or eliminate the exposure to risk factors and guarantee access to care.
A chemical release may not always be immediately apparent given the fact that many agents are odourless and colourless, and some cause no immediately noticeable effects or symptoms. Be alert to the possible presence of a chemical.
Arabic version available: http://www.who.int/environmental_health_e
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mergencies/deliberate_events/warning_signs_May2017_ar.pdf
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This course introduces the basic actions that should be performed by eyewitnesses right at an emergency scene. The course consists of 5 blocks: a) first aid for heart arrest (Cardiopulmonary resuscitation) b) first aid for airway obstruction and drowning c) first aid for bleeding, injuries,
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trauma d) first aid for physical factors exposure e) first aid for life-threatening conditions such as stroke, epilepsy, and heart attack Educational material includes pictures and videos made at the Simulation Center at Kazan Federal University to better understand the topics. After the course, you will be able to identify life-threatening conditions, explain the reasons lead to their development, and provide correct first aid.
JOIN THE COURSE FOR FREE, YOU ONLY HAVE TO REGISTER WITH AN E-MAIL ADRESS.
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Climate hazards, including extreme heat, are associated with increased risks of developing complications that lead to adverse maternal and perinatal outcomes. These may include multiple causes of maternal and neonatal morbidity and mortality such as gestational diabetes, hyper tensive disorders of p
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regnancy, preterm birth, low birth weight and stillbirth. In addition to the health risks related to poor nutrition, water, hygiene and sanitation, the effects of exposure to climate hazards and their aftermath during and after pregnancy can affect mental health and contribute to intergenerational trauma. They may increase stress, anxiety and depression – known risk factors for adverse perinatal outcomes.
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Just under 2.5 million people die annually due to alcohol use. This global estimate, however, excludes most of the health burden
borne by others than the alcohol user. Alcohol’s harm to others includes a multitude of conditions, such as trauma fr
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om traffic crashes, fetal disorders due to prenatal exposure to alcohol, as well as interpersonal and intimate partner violence. While alcohol’s causal role in these conditions is well-established, alcohol’s harm to others’ contribution to the overall health burden of alcohol remains unknown. This knowledge gap leads to a situation in which alcohol policy and prevention strategies largely focus on the reduction of alcohol’s detrimental health harms on the alcohol users, neglecting affected others and population groups most vulnerable to these harms, including women and children. In this article, we seek to elucidate why estimates for alcohol’s harm to others are lacking and offer guidance for future research. We also argue that a full assessment of the alcohol health burden that includes the harm caused by others’ alcohol use would enhance the visibility and public awareness of such harms, and advancing the evaluation of policy interventions to mitigate them.
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Overwhelming evidence shows that a range of health concerns—mental illness, substance dependence, HIV/AIDS, and noncommunicable diseases—affect prisoners disproportionately. But, while incarceration poses risks to health—including inadequate nutrition and
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exposure to violence—prisons also present important opportunities to promote health and risk reduction that need to be tapped.
Some recommended remedies:
Health ministries, not ministries of justice, should manage health care responsibilities
Ensure that testing is available, but not mandatory, for infectious diseases
Make prison health part of the broader public health agenda
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This guide focuses on the evaluation of psychosocial programs that are aligned with two main goals: - To promote psychosocial wellbeing by promoting an environment that provides appropriate care, opportunities for development and protects children from exp
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osure to situations that are harmful to their psychosocial wellbeing, and - To respond to psychosocial problems by strengthening social and psychological supports for children who have been exposed to situations that affect their psychological development.
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Individual psychological help for adults impaired by distress in communities exposed to adversity.
The manual describes a scalable psychological intervention called Problem Management Plus (PM+) for adults impaired by distress in communities who are exposed to adversity. Aspects of Cognitive Behavi
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oural Therapy (CBT) have been changed to make them feasible in communities that do not have many specialists. To ensure maximum use, the intervention is developed in such a way that it can help people with depression, anxiety and stress, whether or not exposure to adversity has caused these problems. It can be applied to improve aspects of mental health and psychosocial well-being no matter how severe people’s problems are.
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As daily lives and communities are upended by COVID-19, concern is mounting that children’s exposure to violence may increase. Children with a history of abuse may find themselves even more vulnerable – both at home and online – and may experi
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ence more frequent and severe acts of violence. Others may be victimized for the first time.
Understanding the current status of violence prevention and response services is therefore essential to assessing risks to children
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Aligned to the Lancet Migration Global Statement to include migrants and refugees incountries’response to COVID-19, this update focuses on Mexico’s challenges and opportunities to build an inclusive response that is based on a contextualized adaptation of there commendations published by th
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e Lancet Migration. A critical component for this analysis is the recognition of migration as a social determinant of health, which acts as a major risk factor for populations subjected to violence, trauma and forced exile while in the face of a global pandemic.
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Group psychological help for adults impaired by distress in communities exposed to adversity
With this manual, the World Health Organization (WHO) is responding to requests from colleagues around the world for a group version of the manual Problem Management Plus (PM+), which was developed for adul
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ts impaired by distress in communities who are exposed to adversity. Aspects of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) have been changed to make them feasible in communities that do not have many specialists. To ensure maximum use, the intervention is developed in such a way that it can help people with depression, anxiety and stress, whether or not exposure to adversity has caused these problems. It can be applied to improve aspects of mental health and psychosocial well-being no matter how severe people’s problems are.
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