Preparedness planning is essential in order to respond effectively to outbreaks, including single case occurrences of highconsequence infectious diseases (HCID), such as the importation ..."attribute-to-highlight medbox">of a viral haemorrhagic fever (VHF) case
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Part of Comprehensive Primary Health Care
Spread of resistance to antimicrobial agents (AMR) does not know national borders and has reached dimensions, which require immediate actions at th...e national, regional and global levels.
Antibiotic resistance is a natural biological response to improper use of antimicrobial agents (AMA); increasing number of essential drugs, which become ineffective, contributing to selection, survival and replication of resistant strains of microorganisms. When chosen antimicrobials prove to be ineffective, the second- or third-line drugs need to be used although
in the majority of cases these drugs are more expensive, less safe and not always available.
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In line with its decentralization principle, the Ethiopian Health Policy has achieved great progress in improving access to comprehensive HIV/AIDS services to the majority of ... the population. Both quality and coverage of services have improved significantlysince the initiation of the free ART program in 2005. The role of health workforce in general and that of pharmacy professionals assumes a central position in these achievements. To further enhance accessibility and quality of services, capacity buildingof health cadres is critical. Therefore, this comprehensive HIV prevention, care and treatment training material is prepared with the primarily intention to build the capacity of pharmacy professionals at all levels so that they can contribute to the provision of HIV services.
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To maintain a structured and well-organized implementation plan it is important to have a lead agency or sector. The ministry of health or a simila...r authority in government will be critical in facilitating development and implementation of the multisectoral action plan.
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Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) & injuries and mental health conditions constitute a serious impediment to achieving the vision ...bute-to-highlight medbox">of Agenda 2063 to build an integrated, prosperous, and peaceful Africa driven by its own citizens. Each year, these conditions cause millions of premature deaths and disabled lives across Africa. These conditions also lead to annual economic loss of multiple billion US-Dollars. Their burden both in terms of disease morbidity/mortality and socio-economic impact is increasing.
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Ebola disease and Marburg disease outbreaks continue to occur in Africa, with increased frequency. In addition to resulting in high mortality ... class="attribute-to-highlight medbox">and morbidity, the outbreaks generate fear and mistrust about the response activities within the communities affected.
Infection prevention and control (IPC) is a key pillar in the outbreak response; adherence to IPC practices can prevent and control transmission of infections to health and care workers, patients and their family members.
During the 2014-2016 West African Ebola disease outbreak, there was an urgent need for rapid IPC guidance to help support ministries of health, health-care providers and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). In response, WHO produced several documents related to the outbreak based on expert opinion, including IPC-specific documents and documents on clinical management that also referenced key IPC principles and practices. Since that time, many practices in the field have become institutionalized.
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The WHO continuously reviews available data on SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern. For this version, the global epidemiological
situation of the COVID...-19 pandemic as of 21 January 2022 – at a time when the Omicron VOC had been identified in 171
countries across all six WHO Regions and was rapidly replacing Delta worldwide – was considered Omicron has a substantial growth advantage, higher secondary attack rates and a higher observed reproduction number than Delta.
There is now significant evidence that immune evasion contributes to the rapid spread of Omicron. Other factors may be a shorter
serial interval (by about 0.8 to 1.2 days compared to Delta) and potential increased intrinsic transmission fitness . There is
growing evidence that with Omicron, there is lower vaccine effectiveness (VE) against infection and symptomatic disease soon after vaccination compared to Delta. There is also evidence of accelerated waning of VE over time of the primary series against infection and symptomatic disease for the studied vaccines. Further studies are required to better understand the drivers of transmission and declining incidence in various settings. These factors include the intrinsic transmission fitness properties of the virus, degree of immune evasion, vaccination coverage and level of vaccine-derived and post-infection immunity, levels of social mixing and degree of application of public health and social measures (PHSM).
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This guidance is intended to be used by programme managers following the decision to introduce human papillomavirus (HPV) virological testing as a screening assay in their national cervical cancer preventi...on and control programme. The guidance includes a step-by-step process to be followed after the decision has been made to specifically introduce and/or scale-up HPV virological testing for screening, which would be followed up with adequate management within the context of cervical cancer prevention
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Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are of increasing concern for society and ...e-to-highlight medbox">national governments, as well as globally due to their high mortality rate. The main risk factors of NCDs can be classified into the categories of self-management, genetic factors, environmental factors, factors of medical conditions, and socio-demographic factors.
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Infectious disease outbreaks and epidemics are increasing in frequency, scale and impact. Health... care facilities can amplify the transmission of emerging infectious diseases or multidrug-resistant organisms (MDRO) within their settings and communities. Therefore, evidence-based infection prevention and control (IPC) measures in health care facilities are critical for preventing and containing outbreaks, while still delivering safe, effective and quality health care. This toolkit is intended to support IPC improvements for outbreak management in all such facilities, both public and private throughout the health system. Specifically, this document systematically describes a framework of overarching principles to approach the preparedness, readiness and response outbreak management phases. The document also provides a toolkit of resource links to guide specific actions for each infectious disease and/or MDRO outbreak management phase at any health facility. This document is specifically tailored to an audience of stakeholders who establish and monitor health care facility-level IPC programs including: IPC focal points, epidemiologists, public health experts, outbreak response incident managers, facility-level IPC committee(s), safety and quality leads and managers, and other facility level IPC stakeholders.
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This document provides a summary of infection control recommendations when providing direct and non-direct care to patients with suspected or confi...rmed Filovirus haemorrhagic fever (HF), including Ebola or Marburg haemorrhagic fevers. These recommendations are interim and will be updated when additional information becomes available.
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This technical report presents the epidemiology of human and animal leishmaniases in the EU and its neighbouring countries ...o-highlight medbox">and concludes that the disease remains widespread and underreported in many countries of southern Europe, northern Africa, and the Middle East and that there is a need to improve leishmaniasis prevention and control based on robust surveillance in humans, animals, and vectors, and to increase public awareness following a one health approach.
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The purpose of this document is to present and promote the minimum requirements for IPC programmes at the ...x">national and health care facility level, identified by expert consensus according to available evidence and in the context of the WHO core components.
The minimum requirements are defined as: IPC standards that should be in place at the national and facility level to provide minimum protection and safety to patients, HCWs and visitors, based on the WHO core components for IPC programmes.
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Accessed: 02.05.2020
These consolidated guidelines provide recommendations for comprehensive prevention and case management strategies in Kenya
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Scope of the Guidelines: Infection prevention and control Patient triage Emergency Medical Services Case management Laboratory testing algorithm
Target Audience: Health care workers taking care of patients suspected or confirmed to have COVID-19
These guidelines combine both preventive and clinical management of the disease in Kenyan context. The protocol borrows various international recommendations including the World Health Organization, from experience of other countries such as China that has struggled with the outbreak for a longer time and from principles of virology and infectious disease management.
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The sixteenth meeting of the Strategic and Technical Advisory Group for Neglected Tropical Diseases...an> (STAG-NTD) was held as a hybrid meeting, 27–28 September 2022.
Dr Ren Minghui, Assistant Director-General, Universal Health Coverage/Communicable and Noncommunicable Diseases, welcomed participants to the meeting. He said the World Health Organization’s Department of Control of Neglected Tropical Diseases (WHO/NTD) was in a state of transition. Following the death of the late esteemed Director Dr Mwelecele Ntuli Malecela earlier in the year, Dr Gautam Biswas had taken over as Acting Director but would soon retire; the appointment of a new Director was under way. Owing to rotation of STAG-NTD members, this would be the last meeting for some and the first meeting for several new participants. The work however would continue with the same commitment. Discussions over the next two days would focus on critical issues regarding recovery of NTD services following the disruptions caused by coronavirus disease (COVID-19), which had impacted many health services worldwide. He looked forward to receiving the advice and guidance of STAG-N
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The purpose of this interim guidance is to provide information and insight to assist public policy and
...>health system leaders in preparing for and responding to an MCE caused by terrorist use of explosives
(TUE). This document provides practical information to promote comprehensive mass casualty care
in the event of a TUE event and focuses on two areas:
1. leadership in preparing for and responding to a TUE event, and
2. effective care of patients in the prehospital and hospital environments during a TUE event.
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