Poor quality health services are holding back progress on improving health in countries at all income levels.
Today, inaccurate diagnosis, medication errors, inappropriate or unnecessary treatm...ent, inadequate or unsafe clinical facilities or practices, or providers who lack adequate training and expertise prevail in all countries.
The situation is worst in low and middle-income countries where 10 percent of hospitalized patients can expect to acquire an infection during their stay, as compared to seven percent in high income countries. This is despite hospital acquired infections being easily avoided through better hygiene, improved infection control practices and appropriate use of antimicrobials.. At the same time, one in ten patients is harmed during medical treatment in high income countries.
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The Global Vaccine Action Plan (GVAP) 2011-2020, endorsed by Member States during the May 2012 World Health Assembly, has set ambitious targets to ...improve access to immunization and tackle vaccine-preventable diseases. This responsibility has been translated into firm commitments in February 2016, through the signature of the Addis Declaration on Immunization (ADI) by African Ministers and subsequently endorsed by the Heads of States from across Africa at the 28th African Union Summit held in January 2017. This commitment from the highest level of government comes as a catalyst to immunization efforts on the continent to deliver on the promise of universal immunization
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This preliminary report summarizes the impact of the Ebola epidemic on the ...e-to-highlight medbox">health workforce of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. It investigates the determinants of infection and describes safe practices put in place to protect health workers during the epidemic. The report covers the period from 1 January 2014 to 31 March 2015 and is presents findings from the 815 confirmed and probable cases for whom individual case reports were available.
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2018 monitoring report: current status and strategic priorities
The report sets out the status of women’s, children’s and adolescents’ <...span class="attribute-to-highlight medbox">health, and on health systems and social and environmental determinants. Regional dashboards on 16 key indicators highlight where progress is being made or lagging. There is progress overall, but not at the level required to achieve the 2030 goals. There are some areas where progress has stalled or is reversing, namely neonatal mortality, gender inequalities and health in humanitarian settings.
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The brief concludes that sustaining the continuity of EHS requires policies that ensure a whole-society and systems strengthening approach. This in...volves increased health care investment, community engagement, disease control regulations, and multisector approaches to improve resilience, EHS quality, and equity.
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An Overview of Current Evidence with Recommendations for Strengthening Community Health Worker Programs to Accelerate Progress in Achieving the ...an class="attribute-to-highlight medbox">Health-related Millennium Development Goals
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Moving from accelerated burden reduction to malaria elimination in Zambia
Data on the essential building blocks of mental health systems, including mental health
governa...nce, financing, service delivery, human resources and information, are reported. For
mental health planning, it is important to know not only the level of resources in these six areas,
but also how those resources are being organized and utilized. Thus, data on efficiency, access,
equity, linkages with other sectors and respect for human rights are reported as well.
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The new WHO Guidelines on Sanitation and Health summarize the evidence on the effectiveness ...n class="attribute-to-highlight medbox">of a range of sanitation interventions and provide a comprehensive framework for health-protecting sanitation, covering policy and governance measures, implementation of sanitation technologies, systems and behavioural interventions, risk-based management, and monitoring approaches. Critically, the guidelines articulate the role of the health sector in maximizing the health impact of sanitation interventions.
The guidelines also identify gaps in the evidence-base to guide future research efforts to improve the effectiveness of sanitation interventions.
(French, Spanish, Russian, Arabic in production)
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2nd edition. Known as “Community Case Management of Sick Children” (CCM), this approach sends community-based health workers out to find, diagnose, and successfully treat sick children, in partn...ership with their families. Inspired by the classic “Immunization Essentials”, this guide methodically documents what is known about CCM and how to make it work. First, health program managers are introduced to the basics. Then, CCM Essentials walks its readers through the process of designing and managing a high-quality CCM program. The ultimate result: lives of newborns, infants and children saved around the world
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Pregnancy and childbirth during adolescence profoundly affects the lives of millions of girls worldwide, and is a leading cause ...ute-to-highlight medbox">of maternal mortality and morbidity, and infant and child mortality. Every year, an estimated 21 million girls aged 15–19 years old in low- and middle-income countries become pregnant, and approximately 12 million give birth.
For many adolescent girls, the ability to control their sexual lives remains limited. Long-standing gender inequalities and discrimination, marginalization, harmful social and gender norms, and denial of rights, compounded by poverty and violence, render them vulnerable to early pregnancy, HIV and other health threats. Lack of age-appropriate sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) information and services create additional barriers to care and support; as a result, adolescent girls who become pregnant are much more likely to go on to have rapid repeated births.
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This toolkit aims to provide you with a brief introduction of what SA and its core principles are, and how you as a student can apply several of ...x">the existing tools for your own school to really make a difference.
French, Spanish and Arabic Version available: https://ifmsa.org/social-accountability/
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Each humanitarian setting provides distinct opportunities and challenges for actors to coordinate and collaborate at strategic and operational levels. The Health and Protection Joint Operational Fra...mework has been developed to ensure that the health and protection response during humanitarian emergencies can adapt to each environment and is adequately coordinated to ensure high-quality services to meet the needs of affected individuals and at-risk groups based on their situation or vulnerabilities.
The Health and Protection JOF was conceived in 2019 as a collaboration between the Global Health Cluster (GHC), the Global Protection Cluster (GPC) and its Areas of Responsibility (AoRs), the Inter-Agency Standing Committee Reference Group on Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Emergency Settings (IASC MHPSS RG), and the Inter-Agency Working Group for Reproductive Health in Crisis (IAWG), in addition to key technical experts.
A Steering Group (SG) comprised of representatives from each of these entities guided the framework through a joint global analysis of good practices, gaps, and barriers to integrated and inter-sectoral response coordination. This included a mixed methods review of policy and practice, a survey of humanitarian experts, multiple case studies, structured stakeholder interviews, and field visits. This exercise produced a zero-draft which was then reviewed by field practitioners in three operational contexts to clarify and fully coordinate its operationally focused lens. Finally, the JOF was reviewed by the SG including via a series of consultations in early 2023 to consolidate the current framework.
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