At present at least 2.2 billion people around the world have a vision impairment, of whom at least 1 billion have a vision impairment that could have been prevented or is yet to be addressed. The world faces considerable challenges in terms of eye care, including inequalities in the coverage and qua...lity of prevention, treatment and rehabilitation services; a shortage of trained eye care service providers; and poor integration of eye care services into health systems, among others. The World report on vision aims to address these challenges and galvanize action.
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MSF provides treatment for HIV and tuberculosis (TB) in more than 20 countries around the world. The report Burden sharing or burden shifting? How the HIV/TB response is being derailed examines the situation in nine countries where MSF runs programmes: Central African Republic, Democratic Republic ...of Congo, Eswatini, Guinea, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Myanmar and Zimbabwe. With a focus on the financial resources available, this report highlights the current risks and gaps in HIV and TB service delivery in these countries.
Given the findings of gaps in diagnosis, prevention and care services and dwindling resources, MSF calls for a robust assessment of the needs and the resource capacity of each affected country, and calls on international donors to ensure that the financial burden is shared, rather than shifted onto those countries worst affected by the diseases.
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Global HIV Strategic Information Working Group
Guidance Document and supporting Resources
Frontiers in Public Health | www.frontiersin.org 1 June 2017 | Volume 5 | Article 127
Medical Journal of Zambia, Volume 36 Number 4 (2009)
Children in Kabwe are especially at risk because they are more likely to ingest lead dust when playing in the soil, their brains and bodies are still developing, and they absorb four to five times as much lead as adults. The consequences for children who are exposed to high levels of lead and are no...t treated include reading and learning barriers or disabilities; behavioral problems; impaired growth; anemia; brain, liver, kidney, nerve, and stomach damage; coma and convulsions; and death. After prolonged exposure, the effects are irreversible. Lead also increases the risk of miscarriage and can be transmitted through both the placenta and breastmilk.
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Large-Scale UN Response Needed to Address Health and Food Crises
This report is based on interviews with more than 150 health care professionals, Venezuelans seeking or in need of medical care who recently arrived in Colombia and Brazil, representatives from international and nongovernmental humani...tarian organizations. In addition, researchers analyzed data on the situation inside Venezuela from official sources, hospitals, international and national organizations, and civil society organizations.
We found a health system in utter collapse with increased levels of maternal and infant mortality; the spread of vaccine-preventable diseases, such as measles and diphtheria; and increases in numbers of infectious diseases such as malaria and tuberculosis (TB). Although the government stopped publishing official data on nutrition in 2007, research by Venezuelan organizations and universities documents high levels of food insecurity and child malnutrition, and available data shows high hospital admissions of malnourished children.
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Minimum standards of home care for older people in Red Cross Red Crescent volunteer-based programming in the Europe Zone
The toolkit's purpose is to:
improve the primary health care response for older persons.
sensitize and educate primary health care workers about the specific needs of their older clients.
provide primary care health workers with a set of tools/instruments to assess older people's hea...lth.
raise awareness among primary care health workers of the accumulation of minor/major disabilities experienced by older people.
provide guidance on how to make primary health care management procedures more responsive to the needs of older people's needs.
offer direction on how to do environmental audits to test primary health care centres for their age-friendliness.
The toolkit comprises a number of instruments (evaluation forms, slides, figures, graphs, diagrams, scale tables, country guidelines, exam sheets, screening tools, cards, checklists, etc.) that can be used by primary health care workers to assess and address older persons' health. These resources are meant to supplement and not to replace local and national materials and guidelines
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Procurement and supply management activities are fundamental to consistent and reliable access to essential medicines and health products. To reduce the impact of CVD, action needs to be taken to improve prevention, diagnosis, care and management of CVD diseases. Affordable essential medicines and t...echnologies to manage CVD disease must be available where and when they are required. Medicines and technologies need to be managed appropriately to ensure that the correct medicines are selected, procured in the right quantities, distributed to facilities in a timely manner, and handled and stored in a way that maintains their quality. This needs to be backed up by policies that enable sufficient quantities to be procured in order to reduce cost inefficiencies, ensure the reliability and security of the distribution system, and encourage the appropriate use of these health products. In order to avoid stock-outs and the disruption of treatment, all related activities need to be conducted in a timely manner, with performance continually monitored, and prompt action taken in response to problems that may arise. Additionally, medication must be dispensed correctly and used rationally by the healthcare provider and patient alike. The purpose of this guide is to explain the necessary steps.
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Many low-resource settings have a shortage of physicians and health workers. (1) In order to provide patient-centred continuous care more effectively, primary care systems can include team-based care strategies in their clinic workflows and protocols. Team-based care uses multidisciplinary teams (wh...ich may involve new staff, or the shifting of tasks among existing staff). Teams can include patients themselves, primary care physicians, and other allied health professionals, such as nurses, pharmacists, counsellors, social workers, nutritionists, community health workers, or others. Teams reduce the burden on physicians by utilizing the skills of trained health workers. Strong evidence shows that team-based care is effective in improving hypertension control among patients in a cost-effective way. (2) Some amount of task shifting/team-based care is already taking place in many settings; this module provides further guidance on how to maximize this approach for greater impact.
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2018
Vol.5 No.2:73
DOI: 10.21767/2254-9137.100092
Health Systems and Policy Research ISSN 2254-9137
Global HIV Strategic Information Working Group
For Populations At Risk For HIV
Technical Brief
Damon Barrett, Gonçalo Figueiredo Augusto, Martiani Oktavia, Jeanette Olsson, Mira Schneiders and Kate Welch provided background papers and literature reviews which informed this technical series.