Recommendations on the initiation and continuing use of nine common types of contraceptive methods are covered by ...ht medbox">the tool. In addition to looking at individual medical conditions or characteristics, users may also easily combine multiple conditions or characteristics and view the guidance on each condition separately or in combination.
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A Focus on the Journey to Self-Reliance for Preventing Child and Maternal Deaths . June 2018
The 2018 Acting on the Call report focuses on 25 ...countries’ journeys to self-reliance for preventing child and maternal deaths. Self-reliance is a country’s ability to finance and implement solutions to its own development challenges. Understanding where countries lie on this effort - known as the journey to self-reliance - helps USAID to best partner with countries and support their efforts.
The report looks at the health status of 25 priority countries as well as the current capacity of the health system to meet the needs of women and children. In the report, we recount progress since the 2012 Call to Action as well as identify gaps in order to inform future programming and areas that need strengthening during the journey to self-reliance. For the first time ever, we’ve calculated the return on our investment to eliminate bottlenecks to improving health services.
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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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The Early Childhood Development Policy and its Strategic Plan seek to provide a framework to ensure such a holistic and integrated approach to the development ...box">of young children. International research has demonstrated the high economic returns on ECD investment and its positive impact on health and education outcomes as well as the overall economic development of a nation. The implementation of the ECD Policy will thus provide Rwanda with the basis for achieving the objectives and goals of the EDPRS and Vision 2020.
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Circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 in Angola
Ebola virus disease in Democratic Republic of the Congo
Dengue fever in Côte... d’Ivoire
Humanitarian crisis in north-east Nigeria.
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The WHO Health Emergencies Programme is currently monitoring 118 events in the region. This week’s main articles cover ...highlight medbox">the following events:
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Togo
Measles in Chad
Ebola virus disease (EVD) in Équateur Province, Democratic Republic of the Congo.
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mhGAP is based on evidence-based technical guidelines (4) and provides a set of tools and
training packages to extend service provision. The mhGAP... Intervention Guide (mhGAP-IG)
for MNS disorders in non-specialized health settings (8) is a clinical decision-making tool
for assessing and managing priority MNS conditions (depression, psychoses, epilepsy, child
and adolescent mental and behavioural disorders, dementia, disorders due to substance
use, self-harm and suicide).
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This report provides a review and analysis of the research landscape for three diseases – Chagas disease, human African trypanosomiasis and leishmaniasis – that disproportionately afflict poor a...nd remote populations with limited access to health services. It represents the work of the disease reference group on Chagas Disease, Human African Trypanosomiasis and Leishmaniasis (DRG3) which was established to identify key research priorities through review of research evidence and input from stakeholders' consultations.
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This guidance is intended for use in developing standalone TB strategic plans, or TB interventions as part of multidisease or health sector plans. It describes key considerations and steps for strat...egic planning for TB in line with the World Health Organization’s End TB strategy, and the proposed structure of the NSP. The target audience of this publication are all stakeholders involved in national strategic planning for TB (e.g., ministry of health, other government ministries, private sector, civil society, affected communities, academic and research institutions, and technical and funding partners).
The current document is an update to the 2015 Toolkit to develop a national strategic plan for TB prevention, care and control.
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WHO today released its first roadmap to tackle postpartum haemorrhage (PPH) – defined as excessive bleeding after childbirth - which affects millions of women annually and is the world’s leading... cause of maternal deaths.
Despite being preventable and treatable, PPH results in around 70 000 deaths every year. For those who survive, it can cause disabilities and psychological trauma that last for years.
“Severe bleeding in childbirth is one of the most common causes of maternal mortality, yet it is highly preventable and treatable,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General. “This new roadmap charts a path forward to a world in which more women have a safe birth and a healthy future with their families.”
The Roadmap aims to help countries address stark differences in survival outcomes from PPH, which reflect major inequities in access to essential health services. Over 85% of deaths from PPH happen in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Risk factors include anaemia, placental abnormalities, and other complications in pregnancy such as infections and pre-eclampsia.
Many risk factors can be managed if there is quality antenatal care, including access to ultrasound, alongside effective monitoring in the hours after birth. If bleeding starts, it also needs to be detected and treated extremely quickly. Too often, however, health facilities lack necessary healthcare workers or resources, including lifesaving commodities such as oxytocin, tranexamic acid or blood for transfusions.
“Addressing postpartum haemorrhage needs a multipronged approach focusing on both prevention and response - preventing risk factors and providing immediate access to treatments when needed - alongside broader efforts to strengthen women’s rights,” said Dr Pascale Allotey, WHO Director for Sexual and Reproductive Health and HRP, the UN’s special programme on research development and training in human reproduction. “Every woman, no matter where she lives, should have access to timely, high quality maternity care, with trained health workers, essential equipment and shelves stocked with appropriate and effective commodities – this is crucial for treating postpartum bleeding and reducing maternal deaths.”
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Outstanding child and adolescent TB priorities include the need to: find the missing children with active TB and link them to TB care; prevent TB in children who are in contact with infectious TB ca...ses (through implementation of active contact investigation and provision of preventive treatment); and advance integration within general child health services, including maternal and child health/ reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health, HIV, nutrition and other programmes.
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Interim rapid response guidance, 10 June 2022.
It includes considerations for certain populations such as patients with mild disease with considerations for community care, patients with moderate to severe disease, sexually active persons, pregnant or breastfeeding women, children and young persons.... The guidance also addresses considerations for clinical management such as the use of therapeutics, nutritional support, mental health services, and post-infection follow-up.
The document provides guidance for clinicians, health facility managers, health workers and infection prevention and control practitioners including but not limited to those working in primary care clinics, sexual health clinics, emergency departments, infectious diseases clinics, genitourinary clinics, dermatology clinics, maternity services, paediatrics, obstetrics and gynaecology and acute care facilities that provide care for patients with suspected or confirmed monkeypox
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After introducing Ethiopia's WASH sector challenges and trends, the plan describes IRC Ethiopia's vision and strategy which draws from IRC and Water For People's joint framework - Destination 2030. It then details ... medbox">the organisational changes and business development needed to implement the strategic plan. Detailed targets are provided in the annexes.
At IRC, we believe that turning on a working tap should not be a surprise or cause for celebration. We believe in a world where water, sanitation and hygiene services are fundamental utilities that everyone is able to take for granted. For good.
We face a complex challenge. Every year, thousands of projects within and beyond the WASH sector fail – the result of short-term targets and interventions, at the cost of longterm service solutions.
This leaves around a third of the world’s poorest people without access to the most basic of human rights, and leads directly to economic, social and health problems on a global scale. IRC exists to continually challenge and shape the established practices of the WASH sector.
Through collaboration and the active application of our expertise, we work with governments, service providers and international organisations to deliver systems and services that are truly built to last.
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Barriers to HIV Services and Treatment for Persons with Disabilities in Zambia
The 80-page report documents the obstacles faced by people with dis...abilities in both the community and healthcare settings. These include pervasive stigma and discrimination, lack of access to inclusive HIV prevention education, obstacles to accessing voluntary testing and HIV treatment, and lack of appropriate support for adherence to antiretroviral treatment. The report also describes the sexual and intimate partner violence women and girls with disabilities face, and the need for the government and international donors to do more to ensure inclusive and accessible HIV services.
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These guidelines are informed by evidence of ‘what works’ and lessons learned in the field. They are designed to accelerate UNICEF regional and country offices’ programming on social ...ss="attribute-to-highlight medbox">service workforce strengthening, and support work to better plan, develop and support the social services workforce with national and regional partners.
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A guide to increasing coverage and equity in all communities in the African Region
Expanded Programs on Immunization (EPI) is responsible for vaccines and vaccination to control, eliminate and eradicate vaccine preventable diseases (VPDs). Havi...ng strong immunization systems to deliver vaccines to those who need them most will play a significant role in achieving the health, equity and economic objectives of several global development goals.
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An output of a series of workshops on psychosocial support held in 2004-2005 by the Bernard van Leer Foundation and ...ight medbox">the Coalition on Children Affected by AIDS. Authors Linda Richter, Geoff Foster and Lorraine Sherr discuss the issues surrounding psychosocial care and support for children made vulnerable by the HIV/AIDS pandemic and make recommendations for future priorities and programming directions. Includes the ""Call To Action"" for Toronto 2006.
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The Second Economic Development and Poverty Reduction Strategy (EDPRS 2) is a launch into the home straight of our Vision 2020. We are faced with n...ew challenges of ensuring greater self-reliance and developing global competitiveness. Conscious of these challenges, we forge ahead knowing that by working together, we always overcome. The EDPRS 2 period is the time when our private sector is expected to take the driving seat in economic growth and poverty reduction. Through this strategy we will focus government efforts on transforming the economy, the private sector and alleviating constraints to growth of investment. We will develop the appropriate skills and competencies to allow our people particularly the youth to become more productive and competitive to support our ambitions. We will also strengthen the platform for communities to engage decisively and to continue to develop home grown solutions that have been the bedrock of our success. These are fundamental principles as we work to improve the lives of all Rwandans in the face of an uncertain global economic environment.
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These WHO guidelines which were updated in 2018, are valid for any country and suitable to local adaptations, and take account of the strength of a...vailable scientific evidence, the cost and resource implications, and patient values and preferences.
The 2018 edition of the guidelines includes the revision of the recommendation regarding the use of 80% fraction of inspired oxygen (high FiO2) in surgical patients under general anaesthesia with tracheal intubation and the update of the section on implementation. Between 2017 and 2018, WHO re-assessed the evidence on the use of high FiO2 by updating the systematic review related to the effectiveness of this intervention to reduce SSI and commissioning an independent systematic review on adverse events potentially associated with it. Based on the updated evidence, the GDG decided to revise the strength of the recommendation from strong to conditional.
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This report describes findings from a telephone survey with 1,316 people conducted in February 2021. The survey examined how people respond to public health and social measures (PHSMs) to prevent CO...VID-19. The sample is representative of households with access to a landline or cell phone, but does not include people without access to phones. As phone penetration varies by country, findings should be interpreted with caution.
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