The WHO Pharmaceuticals Newsletter provides you with the latest information on the safety of med
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icinal products and regulatory actions taken by authorities around the world.
In addition, this edition includes summary and recommendations from the virtual meeting of the members of the WHO Programme for International Drug Monitoring (PIDM) and other partners, which was held on 20 October 2022.
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The guideline uses state-of-the-art evidence to identify effective policy options to strengthen community health worker (CHW) programme performance
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through their proper integration in health systems and communities.
Successful delivery of services through CHWs requires evidence-based models for education, deployment and management of these health workers. The guideline is intended as a tool for national policy makers and planners and their international partners to use in the design, implementation, performance and evaluation of effective community health worker programmes. It contains pragmatic recommendations on selection, training and certification; management and supervision: and integration into health systems and community engagement.
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A practical handbook. This Health Cluster Guide (2nd edition, 2020) provides practical advice on how WHO, Health Cluster Coordinators and partners can work together during a humanitarian crisis to achieve the aims
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of reducing avoidable mortality, morbidity and disability, and restoring the delivery of and equitable access to preventive and curative health care.
It highlights key principles of humanitarian health action and how coordination and joint efforts among health and other sector actors can increase the effectiveness and efficiency of health interventions and promote better health outcomes. It draws on Inter-Agency Standing Committee and other expert guidance and includes lessons from field experience in acute and protracted crises.
The coordination principles and practice presented in Health Cluster Guide are equally valid for coordinators and members of health sector groups that seek to achieve effective health action in countries where the cluster approach has not been formally adopted.
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WHO published the first COVID-19 Strategic Response and Preparedness Plan (SPRP) on 3 February, 2020. This report highlights the main points of pro
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gress that were made up to 30 June 2020 under the three objectives outlined in the SPRP: scaling up international coordination and support; scaling up country preparedness and response by pillar; and accelerating research and innovation. The report also discusses some of the key challenges faced so far, and provides an update on the resource requirements for the next phase of WHO’s response as part of an unprecedented whole-of-UN approach to the pandemic.
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This assessment tool for HIV and internally displaced persons (IDPs) is an outcome of multisectoral, multi-agency assessment missions in Côte d’Ivoire,
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the Democratic
Republic of Congo, Nepal and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) first global consultation on HIV and internally displaced persons held in April 2007 in Geneva.
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These consolidated guidelines on HIV testing services (HTS) bring together existing and new guidance on HTS across different settings and populations.
The World Health Organization (WHO) first released consolidated guidelines on HTS in 2015, in r
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esponse to requests from Member States, national programme managers and health workers for support to achieve the United Nations (UN) 90–90–90 global HIV targets – and specifically the first target of diagnosing 90% of all people with HIV. In 2016, based on new evidence, WHO released a supplement to address important new HIV testing approaches – HIV self-testing (HIVST) and provider-assisted referral.
Since the release of 2015 and 2016 HTS guidelines, new issues and more evidence have emerged. To address this, WHO has updated guidance on HIV testing services. In this guideline, WHO updates recommendation on HIVST and provides new recommendations on social network-based HIV testing approaches and western blotting (see box, next page). This guideline seeks to provide support to Member States, programme managers, health workers and other stakeholders seeking to achieve national and international goals to end the HIV epidemic as a public health threat by 2030.
These guidelines also provide operational guidance on HTS demand creation and messaging; implementation considerations for priority populations; HIV testing strategies for diagnosis HIV; optimizing the use of dual HIV/syphilis rapid diagnostic tests; and considerations for strategic planning and rationalizing resources such as optimal time points for maternal retesting
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The purpose of the WHO Manual for the Public
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Health Management of Chemical Incidents is to provide a comprehensive overview of the principles and roles of public health in the management of chemical incidents and emergencies. While this information is provided for each phase of the emergency cycle, including prevention, planning and preparedness, detection and alert, response and recovery, it is recognized that the management of chemical incidents and emergencies requires a multi-disciplinary and multi-sectoral approach and that the health sector may play an influencing, complementary or a leadership role at various stages of the management process. The target audience includes public health and environmental professionals, as well as any other person involved in the management of chemical incidents.
WHO and all those involved in the development of the publication hope that the publication will have wide application, especially in developing countries and countries with economies in transition, and that in the future the health sector will be better prepared to acknowledge and fulfill its roles and responsibilities in the management of chemical incidents and emergencies, thereby contributing to the prevention and mitigation of their health consequences.
The publication is also available in French: http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/246117/9789242598148-fre.pdf?sequence=1 and in Spanish: http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/246118/9789243598147-spa.pdf?sequence=1
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The Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene Improvement Training Package is intended to support the training of local outreach workers and their subsequent
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work in communities to promote improved water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) practices to reduce diarrhea
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Guidelines for the development and implementation of institution-specific protection concepts
Saving Lives: Universal access to Trauma Services in Kenya
2nd edition.
Like the original, this second edition of the guidance aims to inform the revision
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of existing national guidelines and standards for managing Tuberculosis (TB), many of which include guidance on children. It includes recommendations, based on the best available evidence, for improving the management of children with TB and of children living in families with TB. National and regional TB control programmes may wish to adapt these recommendations according to local circumstances
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This paper examines how diaspora and local organisations have responded to the crisis in Syria, how they evolved and the challenges that they face - and how
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international aid organisations and disapora and local groups can better work together in a new aid model.
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2nd edition. These guidelines provide guidance on the diagnosis of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, the use
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of antiretroviral (ARV) drugs for treating and preventing HIV infection and the care of people living with HIV. They are structured along the continuum of HIV testing, prevention, treatment and care
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Objectives and scope of the document
This document was developed to provide recommended management strategies for problems and disorders that are
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specifically related to the occurrence of a major stressful event. The recommended strategies will form the basis of a new module to be added to the WHO (2010) mhGAP Intervention Guide for use in non-specialized specialized health-care settings.
The scope of the problems covered by these guidelines is:
symptoms of acute stress in the first month after a potentially traumatic event, with the following subtypes:
- symptoms of acute traumatic stress (intrusion, avoidance and hyperarousal) in the first month after a potentially traumatic event;
- symptoms of dissociative (conversion) disorders in the first month after a potentially traumatic event;
- non-organic (secondary) enuresis in the first month after a potentially traumatic event (in children);
- hyperventilation in the first month after a potentially traumatic event;
- insomnia in the first month after a potentially traumatic event;
posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD);
bereavement in the absence of a mental disorder.
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For humanitarian organisations to respond effectively to complex crises, they require access to up-to-date evidence-based guidance. The COVID-19 crisis has highlighted
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the importance of updating global guidance to context-specific and evolving needs in humanitarian settings. Our study aimed to understand the use of evidence-based guidance in humanitarian responses during COVID-19. Primary data collected during the rapidly evolving pandemic sheds new light on evidence-use processes in humanitarian response.
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