Every country has been affected by COVID-19, with nearly a quarter
of a billion cases and almost 5 million deaths reported globally as of
end of September 2021. Despite the stunning speed with which highly
effective and safe vaccines have been developed, new waves of disease
are still pushin...g health systems to the breaking point, increasingly
transmissible variants are emerging, some survivors are suffering
serious long-term sequelae, and the International Monetary Fund
estimates that global economic losses could exceed US$5.3 trillion
by 2026, if COVID-19 becomes endemic.
Although over 6 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccine have already been
administered, and global production is now reaching 1.5 billion doses
per month, the world is not positioned to end the pandemic. In areas of
high vaccine coverage, there have been massive reductions in serious
disease, hospitalization and death but, globally, vaccine access is highly
inequitable with coverage ranging from 1% to over 70%, depending
largely on a country’s wealth. Consequently, SARS CoV-2 variants
continue to emerge, causing surges of disease and slowing or even
reversing the reopening of societies and economies.
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In 2015, to advance the global and national response to antimicrobial resistance (AMR), the World Health Assembly issued resolution WHA68.7 calling for all Member States to develop AMR national action plans that address the five objectives of the World Health Organization Global Action Plan (GAP) by... May 2017. The WHO GAP provides a framework to support countries in developing their national action plans on AMR. To operationalize and accelerate implementation of national action plans on AMR, WHO has developed a costing and budgeting tool and accompanying user guide. The purpose is to support countries in costing prioritized activities of an operational plan linked to their AMR national action plan, and identify existing funding and funding gaps to promote resource mobilization and sustainable implementation. The target audience of the publication are national policy makers and designated costing coordinators for national action plans on AMR.
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These WHO interim recommendations for use of the BBV152 COVAXIN vaccine were developed on the basis of advice issued by the Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization (SAGE) and the evidence summary included in the background document and annexes referenced below.
This document has been ...updated: version 15 March 2022.
The vaccine is formulated from an inactivated SARS-CoV-2 antigen and is presented in single dose vials and multidose vials of 5, 10 and 20 doses.
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Drug Distribution and Control: Preparation and Handling–Guidelines
Review 2008
Drug Distribution and Control: Preparation and Handling
This Technical Assistance Bulletin is intended to assist pharmacists in the extemporaneous compounding of non-sterile drug products for individual patients. Included in this document is information on facilities and equipment, ingredient... selection, training, documentation and record keeping, stability and beyond-use dating, packaging and labeling, and limited batch compounding. This document is not intended for manufacturers or licensed repackagers.
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After completing this activity, pharmacists should be able to:
1. List populations for which the compounding of an oral liquid may be necessary
2. Outline necessary considerations that should be made by the pharmacist to ensure product stability
3. Describe methods used in the compounding of liqu...id preparations
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5 April 2022, Addendum. This policy brief confirms WHO guidance and policy on injection safety in the context of the extraordinary increase in global injections resulting from COVID-19 immunization campaigns. It also calls attention to information on specialized syringes for COVID-19 vaccines and br...oad short-term and long-term solutions to address and alleviate supply shortages related to vaccine products with non-standard dose volumes.
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Validation of elimination of mother-to-child transmission, or vertical transmission, of HIV, syphilis and hepatitis B virus (HBV), is an attestation that a country has successfully met standard criteria for elimination, or for being at 1 of the 3 levels of achievement on the ‘Path to Elimination... while delivering quality services for women, girls and their children, through the life-course, respecting human rights and ensuring gender equality and community engagement.
This document, the third version, adds on EMTCT of hepatitis B virus (HBV), bringing together a package of interventions and metrics to support integrated management and monitoring of vertical transmission across a wide range of epidemiological and programmatic contexts.
This document, the third version, adds on EMTCT of hepatitis B virus (HBV), bringing together a package of interventions and metrics to support integrated management and monitoring of vertical transmission across a wide range of epidemiological and programmatic contexts.
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For most people in displacement contexts, there are simply not enough vaccines available in the places where they are hosted: 85% of refugees are hosted in lower- and middle-income countries, while in the first six months of this year 85% of vaccines went to wealthy countries; lower- and middle inco...me countries have still received only a fraction of the vaccine doses they require.3 Shortages in these countries can also pose particular risks to vaccination campaigns aimed at displaced populations, as they can result in them being deprioritized.
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The Strategic Tool for Assessing Risks (STAR) offers a comprehensive, easy-to-use toolkit and approach to enable national and subnational governments to rapidly conduct a strategic and evidence-based assessment of public health risks for planning and prioritization of health emergency preparedness a...nd disaster risk management activities. This guidance describes the principles and methodology of STAR to enhance its adaptation and use at the national or subnational levels.
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16 Dec. 2021
This document is a prioritization toolkit providing a set of action steps to follow in the event of an impending surge in cases of COVID-19 in health-care facilities. The document provides a framework for action steps to be followed within 2-4 weeks of identification of a surge or resu...rgence of cases, and is accompanied by references to existing WHO resources to assist with managing each step. This document is intended for emergency operations centre focal persons for health facilities, incident managers, health-care managers and administrators, and infection prevention and control focal persons.
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The Impacts of Climate Change on Human Health
in the United States: A Scientific Assessment
Climate change is a significant threat to the health of the American people. This scientific assessment examines how climate change is already affecting human health and the changes that may occur in the fu...ture.
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ABSTRACT
Objectives: We developed COVID-19 Outbreak Simulator (https://ictr.github.io/covid19-outbreak-simulator/) to quantitatively estimate the effectiveness of preventative and interventive measures to prevent and battle COVID-19 outbreaks for specific populations.