UNAIDS report on the global AIDS epidemic shows that 2020 targets will not be met because of deeply unequal success; COVID-19 risks blowing HIV progress way off course. Missed targets have resulted in 3.5 million more HIV infections and 820 000 more... AIDS-related deaths since 2015 than if the world was on track to meet the 2020 targets. In addition, the response could be set back further, by 10 years or more, if the COVID-19 pandemic results in severe disruptions to HIV services.
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Obesity and diet-related noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) have been steadily increasing globally, and with them, a pressing need to implement effective responses to address the contributing factors. ...Among the available evidence-based policy options that enable healthier choices and improved diets is the implementation of taxes on sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs).
This tax manual is a practical guide for policy-makers and others involved in SSB tax policy development to promote healthy diets and populations. It features summaries and case studies of SSB global taxation evidence, and provides support on the policy-cycle development process to implement SSB taxation — from problem identification and situation analysis through policy design, development and implementation to the monitoring and evaluation phase. Additionally, the manual identifies and debunks industry tactics designed to dissuade policy-makers from implementing these taxes.
SSB taxes can be a win-win-win strategy: a win for public health (and averted health-care costs), a win for government revenue, and a win for health equity.
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The State of the world’s nursing 2020 report provides the latest, most up-to-date evidence on and policy options for the global nursing workforce. It also presents a compelling case ...ttribute-to-highlight medbox">for considerable – yet feasible – investment in nursing education, jobs, and leadership.
The primary chapters of the report outline the role and contributions of nurses with respect to the WHO “triple billion” targets; the health labour market and workforce policy levers to address the challenges to nurses working to their full potential; the findings from analysis of National Health Workforce Account (NHWA) data from 191 Member States and progress in relation to the projected shortfall of nurses by 2030; and forward-looking policy options for an agenda to strengthen the nursing workforce to deliver the Sustainable Development Goals, improve health for all, and strengthen the primary health care workforce on our journey towards universal health coverage.
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The Community Action Research on Disability (CARD) programme in Uganda embraced and modified the EDR approach, recognising the need for including people...span> with disability in the research process from concept to outcome, and nurturing participation and collaboration between all the stakeholders in achieving action-based research. T
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As the crisis in Syria moves into its second decade, a survey commissioned by the International Committee of the Red Cross highlights the heavy price paid by young Syrians.
1,400 Syrians between the ages of 18-25 were surveyed in Syria, Lebanon <...span class="attribute-to-highlight medbox">and Germany. Across the three countries, young people spoke of families and friendships torn apart, immense economic hardship and worry, frustrated ambitions, missed milestones and the profound psychological toll of years of relentless violence and disruption.
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Schistosomiasis is a helminthic infection and one of the neglected tropical diseases (NTDs). It is caused by blood flukes of the genus Schistosoma. It is an important public health problem, particularly in poverty-stricken areas, especially those wi...thin the tropics and subtropics. It is estimated that at least 236 million people worldwide are infected, 90% of them in sub-Saharan Africa, and that this disease causes approximately 300,000 deaths annually. The clinical manifestations are varied and affect practically all organs. There are substantial differences in the clinical presentation, depending on the phase and clinical form of schistosomiasis in which it occurs. Schistosomiasis can remain undiagnosed for a long period of time, with secondary clinical lesion. Here, we review the clinical profile of schistosomiasis. This information may aid in the development of more efficacious treatments and improved disease prognosis.
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The WHO Disability-Inclusive Health Services Training Package is a companion to the “WHO Disability-Inclusive Health Services Toolkit: A resource for health facilities in the Western Pacific Region” published by WHO in 2020. This package offers ...a range of additional training materials including presentations, workbooks and videos that will allow users to develop the foundational skills and understanding of the Toolkit for its implementation. Together the Toolkit and Training Package will help ensure equitable access to health services, best-quality outcomes and improved quality of life for all people with disabilities to achieve universal health coverage.
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This document aims to assist policy‑makers, health care providers and researchers to understand key concepts in health ethics and to identify bas...ic ethical questions surrounding health and health care. It illustrates the challenges of applying ethical principles to global public health and outlines practical strategies for dealing with those challenges.
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This Tuberculosis guide has been developed jointly by Médecins Sans Frontières and Partners In Health. It aims at providing useful information to the clinicians and health staff ...bute-to-highlight medbox">for the comprehensive management of tuberculosis. Forms of susceptible and resistant tuberculosis, tuberculosis in children, and HIV co-infection are all fully addressed.
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The UNAIDS 2020 global report is a call to action. It highlights the scale of the HIV epidemic and how it runs along the fault lines of inequalities.
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 n...utrition and 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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The world is not on track to end the AIDS pandemic. New infections are rising and AIDS deaths are continuing in too many communities. This report reveals why: inequalities are holding us back. In frank terms, the report calls the world’s attention... to the painful reality that dangerous inequalities are undermining the AIDS response and jeopardising the health security of everyone. The report highlights three specific areas of inequality for which concrete action is immediately possible—gender
inequalities and harmful masculinities driving HIV; marginalisation and criminalisation of key populations, which our data show is resulting in starkly little progress for those populations and undermining the overall response; and
inequalities for children whose lives must matter more than their market share. But this is not a counsel of despair, it is a call to action. Through bold action to confront these inequalities, we can end AIDS.
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(August 28 – October 10, 2017)
A nutrition and mortality assessment using SMART methodology was applied and the survey covered 15 statistical (14 districts plus 1) domains countrywide. The ma...in objective of the survey was to assess the current nutrition status of the population, especially children 6-59 months old and women of reproductive age (15-49 years of age). The survey also looked at the major contextual factors contributing to undernutrition such as infant and young child feeding (IYCF) practices; food security indicators; water, sanitation and hygiene indicators; and health situation in Sierra Leone
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Climate-induced water insecurity poses one of the biggest threats to humanity and will lead to more hunger, disease and displacement
Oxfam water engineers are having to drill deeper, more expensi...ve and harder-to-maintain water boreholes used by some of the poorest communities around the world, more often now only to find dry, depleted or polluted reservoirs.
Today, during World Water Week, Oxfam publishes the first of its series of reports, “Water Dilemmas”, about the growing water crisis, in large part driven by global heating from greenhouse gas emissions. The report describes how climate change will impact water security in different regions, leading to more hunger, disease and displacement.
Carlos Calderon, Humanitarian Advocacy and Partnerships Lead for Oxfam Aotearoa said, “This new Oxfam research is focused on the global Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WaSH) situation, but it paints a picture that illustrates the complexity of elements that, combined, will continue to increasingly affect women, girls, boys and men in the decades to come. Changing weather, poverty, inequality, gender-based violence, political instability and conflicts are impacting the availability and quality of adequate water systems. All governments, particularly those from rich countries, should responsively take action at a global scale. The clock is ticking. Our children will judge us for our actions today, or for the lack of them.”
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The seventh WHO Report on the global tobacco epidemic analyses national efforts to implement the most effective measures from the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) that are proven to reduce demand for tobacco.
The report show...ed that while only 23 countries have implemented cessation support policies at the highest level, 116 more provide fully or partially cost-covered services in some or most health facilities, and another 32 offer services but do not cost-cover them, demonstrating a high level of public demand for support to quit.
Tobacco use has also declined proportionately in most countries, but population growth means the total number of people using tobacco has remained stubbornly high. Currently, there are an estimated 1.1 billion smokers, around 80% of whom live in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).
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Catholic Social Teaching (CST) has often been called ‘the Church’s best kept secret’. Thankfully, particularly with the release of Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Si’, and with the new RE GCSE, this is changing. CST is part of our Catholi...c young people’s heritage and a treasure they should not be denied.CST reads the ‘signs of the times’ in the light of scripture and offers wisdom and Insights on living the Gospel in today’s world. CAFOD uses CST principles to guide all of its work, and we offer teachers this resource to supplement their RE curricula
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This report is the first of its kind. It brings together various data sets to present the current status of hand hygiene, highlight lagging progress, and call governments and supporting agencies to ...action, offering numerous inspiring examples of change.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, hand hygiene received unprecedented attention and became a central pillar in national COVID prevention strategies. However, concern with hand hygiene should not only be as temporary public health measure in times of crisis, but as a vital everyday behaviour that contributes to health and economic resilience. Hand hygiene is a highly cost-effective investment, providing outsized health benefits for relatively little cost.
Despite efforts to promote hand hygiene, the rates of access to hand hygiene facilities remain stubbornly low. If current rates of progress continue, by the end of the SDG era in 2030, 1.9 billion people will still lack facilities to wash their hands at home.
This report presents a compelling case for investment in five key ‘accelerators’ as a pathway towards achieving hand hygiene for all – governance, financing, capacity development, data and information, and innovation. These accelerators are identified under the UN-Water SDG 6 Global Acceleration Framework.
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The current guidelines on Integrated Management of Acute Malnutrition (IMAM), addresses the issue of improved management of severe acute malnutrition (SAM), particularly in children under 5 years of age. In the absence of standard protocols, mortali...ty in children admitted to hospital with SAM can range between 20 -30% with the highest levels of 50-60% among those with oedematous malnutrition. With modern treatment regimens and improved access to treatment, case-fatality rates can be reduced to less than 5%. These provincial guidelines on IMAM in KZN, includes inpatient care protocols on the management of SAM, and outpatient and community outreach components to manage moderate acute malnutrition (MAM) and prevent deterioration to SAM.
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Unprecedented humanitarian needs, the COVID-19 pandemic, a worsening economic crisis, and funding shortfalls converge to create life-threatening challenges for ...dbox">people in need throughout the region.
In March 2022, the Syria crisis entered its 12th year, marking another grim milestone for Syrians throughout the region. For women and girls, the cumulative impact has been catastrophic, upending decades of progress on women’s issues and bringing unprecedented risks that have fundamentally altered their realities.
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Evidence-based psychological interventions are an important part of health, social, protection and education services and can help increase access to effective mental health treatments ...attribute-to-highlight medbox">and progression towards universal health coverage.
This manual provides managers and others responsible for planning and delivering services with practical guidance on how to implement manualized psychological interventions for adults, adolescents and children. It covers the five key implementation steps: make an implementation plan; adapt for context; prepare the workforce; identify, assess and support potential beneficiaries; and monitor and evaluate the service.
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