the aid library

African Union Health Information Exchange Guidelines and Standards

Africa Center for Disease Control and Prevention (2023) CC

The application of digital health technology is growing at a rapid rate in Africa, with the goals of improving the delivery of healthcare services and more effectively reaching out to remote and underserved communities. The lack of enabling guidelines and standards across the continent, on the other ... more

Integrating psychosocial interventions and support into HIV services for adolescents and young adults

World Health Organisation (WHO) (2023) C_WHO

Adolescence, defined as the period between 10 and 19 years of age, is a developmental stage during which many psychosocial and mental health challenges emerge. There is a well-established link between mental health and HIV outcomes. Adolescents and young adults living with HIV typically have additio ... more

Medical treatment of cystic echinococcosis: systematic review and meta-analysis

Velasco-Tirado, V.; Alonso-Sardón, M.; Lopez-Bernus, A. et al BMC Infectious Diseases (2018) C2

Cystic echinococcosis (CE) is a well-known neglected parasitic disease. However, evidence supporting the four current treatment modalities is inadequate, and treatment options remain controversial. The aim of this work is to analyse the available data to answer clinical questions regarding medical t ... more

Regional action framework for noncommunicable disease prevention and control in the Western Pacific

World Health Organisation (WHO) (2023) C_WHO

The Regional Action Framework for Noncommunicable Disease Prevention and Control provides a unified vision of objectives and recommended actions to combat the noncommunicable disease (‎NCD)‎ epidemic in the Western Pacific Region. Implementation should be supported by cross-sectoral coordination ... more

Financing Global Health 2016: Development Assistance, Public and Private Health Spending for the Pursuit of Universal Health Coverage

Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) (2017) C2

Financing Global Health 2016: Development Assistance, Public and Private Health Spending for the Pursuit of Universal Health Coverage presents a complete analysis of the resources available for health in 184 countries, with a particular focus on development assistance for health (DAH). DAH was estim ... more

Self-care competency framework: volume 1: global competency standards for health and care workers to support people’s self-care

World Health Organisation (WHO) (2023) C_WHO

The standards define 10 key competencies for health and care workers to support self-care in their clinical practice as well as the specific, measurable behaviours that demonstrate those competencies, focusing on people-centredness; decision-making; effective communication; collaboration; evidence-i ... more

Self-care competency framework: volume 2: knowledge guide for health and care workers to support people’s self-care

World Health Organisation (WHO) (2023) C_WHO

The knowledge guide is the second publication in the Self-care competency framework to support health and care workers. This describes how health and care workers can apply each of the 10 competency standards in their work, detailing the necessary knowledge, skills and attitudes that underpin the ... more

Interruption of transmission and elimination of leprosy disease - Technical guidance

World Health Organisation (WHO) (2023) C_WHO

This document provides technical guidance on concepts, definitions, indicators, criteria, milestones and tools to assist leprosy programmes in their journey towards the goals of interruption of transmission and elimination of leprosy disease and through the post-elimination period. Importantly, it p ... more

Financing HIV Programming: How Much Should Low And Middle-Income Countries and their Donors Pay?

Galarraga, O.; V. J. Wirtz; Y. Santa-Ana-Tellez et al. PLOS One (2013) C1

Global HIV control funding falls short of need. To maximize health outcomes, it is critical that national governments sustain reasonable commitments, and that international donor assistance be distributed according to country needs and funding gaps. We develop a country classification framework in t ... more

Fight for what counts. Investment Case

The Global Fund (2022) CC

Over the 20 years that followed, this unique partnership has invested more than US$53 billion, saving 44 million lives and reducing the combined death rate from the three diseases by more than half in the countries in which the Global Fund invests.

Guidance for country validation of viral hepatitis elimination and path to elimination

World Health Organization WHO (2023) C_WHO

Building on the 2021 Interim guidance, this second version and update, incorporates the lessons and feedback from the hepatitis pilots that successfully demonstrated the feasibility of measuring hepatitis B and C impact targets to demonstrate elimination, whilst highlighting challenges caused by hig ... more

Advocation for Cholesterol control: A world heard federation toolkit

World Heart Federation (2022) CC

The World Heart Federation (WHF) is a leading global advocate for stronger legislation and policies regarding cardiovascular disease (CVD) and its risk factors, including raised cholesterol. The present Cholesterol Advocacy Toolkit 2022 provides WHF member organizations with information as well as p ... more

Cardiovascular diseases in Africa in the twenty-first century: Gaps and priorities going forward

Minja, N.W.; Nakagaayi, D.; Aliku, T. et al. Frontiers in Cardiovascular Medicine (2022) CC

In 2015, the United Nations set important targets to reduce premature cardiovascular disease (CVD) deaths by 33% by 2030. Africa disproportionately bears the brunt of CVD burden and has one of the highest risks of dying from non-communicable diseases (NCDs) worldwide. There is currently an epide ... miological transition on the continent, where NCDs is projected to outpace communicable diseases within the current decade. Unchecked increases in CVD risk factors have contributed to the growing burden of three major CVDs—hypertension, cardiomyopathies, and atherosclerotic diseasesleading to devastating rates of stroke and heart failure. The highest age standardized disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) due to hypertensive heart disease (HHD) were recorded in Africa. The contributory causes of heart failure are changing—whilst HHD and cardiomyopathies still dominate, ischemic heart disease is rapidly becoming a significant contributor, whilst rheumatic heart disease (RHD) has shown a gradual decline. In a continent where health systems are traditionally geared toward addressing communicable diseases, several gaps exist to adequately meet the growing demand imposed by CVDs. Among these, high-quality research to inform interventions, underfunded health systems with high out-of-pocket costs, limited accessibility and affordability of essential medicines, CVD preventive services, and skill shortages. Overall, the African continent progress toward a third reduction in premature mortality come 2030 is lagging behind. More can be done in the arena of effective policy implementation for risk factor reduction and CVD prevention, increasing health financing and focusing on strengthening primary health care services for prevention and treatment of CVDs, whilst ensuring availability and affordability of quality medicines. Further, investing in systematic country data collection and research outputs will improve the accuracy of the burden of disease data and inform policy adoption on interventions. This review summarizes the current CVD burden, important gaps in cardiovascular medicine in Africa, and further highlights priority areas where efforts could be intensified in the next decade with potential to improve the current rate of progress toward achieving a 33% reduction in CVD mortality. more