The WHO Health Emergencies Programme is currently monitoring 118 events in the region. This week’s main articles cover the following events:
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) ...ttribute-to-highlight medbox">in Togo
Measles in Chad
Ebola virus disease (EVD) in Équateur Province, Democratic Republic of the Congo.
more
The Multi-professional Patient Safety Curriculum Guide (2011) was developed to assist in the teaching of patient safety in universities and schools in...an> the fields of dentistry, medicine, midwifery, nursing and pharmacy. It also supports the on-going training of all health care professionals.
The Curriculum Guide is comprised of two parts. Part A is a teachers’ guide designed to introduce patient safety concepts to educators. It relates to building capacity for patient safety education, programme planning and design of the courses. Part B provides all-inclusive, ready-to-teach, topic-based patient safety courses that can be used as a whole, or on a per topic basis. There are 11 patient safety topics, each designed to feature a variety of ideas and methods for patient safety learning. Universities are encouraged to start with Part A which provides comprehensive advice on how to introduce and build patient safety courses.
more
Lateral-flow rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) continue to play a vital role in global health in the management and diagnosis of infectious diseases, i...ncluding malaria, HIV and COVID-19. Visually interpreted RDTs, more than any other class of diagnostics, fulfil WHO’s ASSURED criteria,1 enabling their use at the lowest levels of health care and in self-testing.2 Their utility is, however, compromised every time a test is incorrectly performed or interpreted or its result is not available in a timely manner for clinical decisionmaking and surveillance.
more
In 2012, all Member States of the World Health Organization (WHO) endorsed a historical target t...o reduce premature mortality from noncommunicable diseases
(NCD). This commitment was echoed in 2015 by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, which included a target to reduce premature mortality (the
measure of unfulfilled life expectancy and deaths between the ages of 30 and 70 years) from NCD by 30% by the year 2030. The Sustainable Development Goals are especially relevant to cardiovascular disease (CVD), the leading cause of death globally, with increasing prevalence in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC).
more
The Facilitator's Guide provides instruction and suggestions for teaching the training modules for the Technical Guidelines for Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response in the Africa Region, 2nd edition. This training is intended for district le...vel health officers who conduct IDSR activities. The course is laid out in 7 modules that walk participants through the Technical Guidelines (TGs) chapter by chapter. By the end of the course, participants will be familiar with the TGs and capable of utilizing them appropriately in their position
more
This document provides guidance to Member States in the WHO European Region that wish to conduct behavioural insights studies related to COVID-19. Studies can be used to monitor public knowledge, risk perceptions, behaviours and trust with the overa...ll aim to inform national COVID-19 outbreak response measures, including policies, interventions and communications.
more
July 2018
This fourth edition of the Unitaid/WHO market and technology landscape: HIV rapid diagnostic tests for self-testing report summarizes the current HIV testing gap; the challenges facing efforts to scale up; and the potential role HIV self-testing (HIVST) could play to achieve the United... Nation’s 90-90-90 targets. In particular, the report synthesises the existing and emerging market demand and supply of kits.
The information in this report is intended for manufacturers, donors, national programmes, researchers and other global health stakeholders who are exploring the potential role of HIVST.
more
Risk Communication and Community Engagement (RCCE) is an essential component of your health emergency preparedness and response action plan. This tool is designed to support risk communication, community engagement staff and responders working with ...national health authorities, and other partners to develop, implement and monitor an effective action plan for communicating effectively with the public, engaging with communities, local partners and other stakeholders to help prepare and protect individuals, families and the public’s health during early response to COVID-19.
more
This is a guidance document for countries and implementing partners on the technical requirements for developing digital information systems for issuing standards-based interoperable digital certificates for COVID-19 vaccination status, and consider...ations for implementation of such systems, for the purposes of continuity of care, and proof of vaccination.
more
The marathon to eradicate polio is on its final lap: the world is more than 99% of the way to success. After millennia of living with poliovirus and suffering the paralysis it causes, today nearly all the ...world’s people live in polio-free countries; two of the three strains of wild poliovirus (WPV) have been eradicated. Some 20 million people are walking who would have been paralysed had it not been for the efforts of national governments and health workers. If eradicating polio has been a marathon, the finishing line is in sight.
more
Pathogen genomic surveillance has become a priority for public health systems in recent years. Genomic sequencing is increasingly being used to characterize pathogens and monitor important public ...pan class="attribute-to-highlight medbox">health priorities (e.g. poliovirus, influenza virus, Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Vibrio cholerae, antimicrobial resistance (AMR)). The decrease in cost and time of sequencing and the exponential development of bioinformatic pipelines have played a critical role in integrating pathogen genomics into routine public health surveillance. The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has highlighted the role that sequencing plays in the surveillance of infectious diseases. Sequencing facilitates earlier detection, more accurate investigation of outbreaks, closer real-time monitoring of pathogen evolution and tailored development and evaluation of interventions to inform local to global public health decision-making and action. However, there remains a need to coordinate efforts, leverage and link existing surveillance and laboratory networks and capabilities, and systematically integrate genetic sequence data (GSD) with clinical and epidemiological data to strengthen its utility.
more
Proper and dignified management of the dead in disasters is one of the three key pillars of humanitarian response and a fundamental factor in facilitating identification of the deceased and helping ...families discover the fate of their loved ones. This second and updated edition of this hugely successful manual provides practical and easy-to-follow guidelines on the recovery, documentation and storage of the remains of individuals who have died in disasters, helping first responders ensure that the dead are treated with respect and that information crucial for their subsequent identification is recorded. This revised edition incorporates experience gained in recent catastrophes, such as the 2013 Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines, the 2014/15 Ebola epidemic in West Africa and the 2015 earthquake in Nepal.
more
A survey was conducted in countries in all six WHO regions and focused on the building blocks that are considered prerequisites to combat antimicrobial resistance: a comprehensive national plan, lab...oratory capacity to undertake surveillance for resistant microorganisms, access to safe, effective antimicrobial medicines, control of the misuse of these medicines, awareness and understanding among the general public and effective infection prevention and control programmes.
more
The report provides a global knowledge base on suicide and suicide attempts as well as actionable steps for countries based on their current resources and context to move forward in suicide prevention.
This document should be used in conjunction with the WHO checklist for influenza preparedness planning published by the World Health ...attribute-to-highlight medbox">Organization in 2005. Available in English; Chinese; French
more
Guide for coordinators and data collectors - The WHO Operational Package for Assessing, Monitoring and Evaluating Country Pharmaceutical Situations is intended as a useful tool for researchers, policy-makers, planners and others who need to use standardized measurement tools to gather data and other... information. In addition, the operational package can be used by international agencies and donors, by professional groups and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs).
more
First WHO Global Ministerial Conference
Ending TB in the Sustainable Development Era: A Multisectoral Response
Moscow, Russian Federation, 16-17 November 2017
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 prost...hetics and orthotics services are people-centred and 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.
more
Manual for use in primary care.
There is substantial evidence for the benefits of screening and brief intervention in primary health care for alc...ohol problems. However, there is a need for screening and brief interventions with cross-cultural relevance for substances other than alcohol or tobacco, such as cannabis, amphetamines, cocaine and opiates.
The Alcohol, Smoking and Substance Involvement Screening Test (ASSIST) was developed for the World Health Organization (WHO) by an international group of substance abuse researchers to detect and manage substance use and related problems in primary and general medical care settings. Primary health care professionals are well-positioned to provide interventions targeted to all substances irrespective of their legal status.
The ASSIST screening test version 3.0 is available in English and in 10 other languages (Arabic, Chinese, Farsi, French, German, Hindi, Portugüse, Russian, Spanish and Ukrainian).
more
This National Action Plan addresses actions needed to be taken in order to combat antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in the country. It is obligatory to raise awareness of antimicrobial resistance and p...romote behavioral change through public communication
programmes that targets human, animal and plant health. Inclusion of the use of antimicrobial agents and resistance in school curricula will further promote better understanding and awareness from an early age. Antimicrobial Resistance knowledge, surveillance and research will be strengthened through establishing a national surveillance system for antimicrobial resistance, establishing and building capacity for a national reference laboratory and designated laboratories for AMR surveillance, developing a national research agenda on AMR and establishing and supporting a coordinated mechanism that will ensure harmonized AMR guidelines, data management and sharing systems in human, animal and plant health settings.
more