The global pandemic has highlighted fragility in international supply chains and the dependency of many African countries on imported personal protective equipment (PPE). Market pressures have also increased prices for imported supplies and put additional pressure on areas with limited resources for... procurement. There is an urgent operational need to develop the domestic capacity to supply PPE from within the African continent. There is huge variation in Member
States industrial manufacturing capacity and the regulatory and testing capacity of government agencies at present. Growing number of companies, including micro- and small-medium enterprises, have responded by repurposing, albeit temporarily, to manufacture an assortment of PPEs. This workshop aims to bring together government representatives, industry, and subject matter experts on material testing and standards to promote the development of domestic production of safe and effective PPE made in Africa.
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MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. ePub: 4 December 2020. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm6949e2
From Participation to Partnerships (September 2020)
Despite the COVID-19 challenges, children around the world have found meaningful ways to support and protect their peers, families, and communities. Children are on the frontlines of innovative responses and are working closely with their adult al...lies. The leadership demonstrated through these child-adult partnerships is the underlying inspiration for this guide.
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Every year, nearly 250 million people move across borders temporarily or permanently for a job opportunity, studying, to flee a crisis back home, or for other reasons. Another 750 million move for similar reasons within the borders of their countries. With the understanding that human mobility affec...ts public health, and health affects human mobility and migrants, for decades, IOM has been providing critical health services to women, children and men on the move, while standing by governments for technical and operational support as needed. In 2019, in lower-income settings and in complex emergencies, along the world’s most perilous migration routes, in the aftermath of natural disasters or in response to disease outbreaks, IOM’s health teams have provided hundreds of thousands with primary health-care consultations, mental health and psychosocial support, sexual and reproductive health care, pre-migration health services, and much more.
This year, more than ever before, as the world reels from the socioeconomic impact of COVID-19, we have experienced that health is a cross-cutting component of overall human development and well-being.
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BMJ Global Health, Vol.5 No. 12Spatial subdivision of the camp (‘sectoring’) was able to ‘flatten the curve’, reducing peak infection by up to 70% and delaying peak infection by up to several months. The use of face masks coupled with the efficient isolation of infected individuals reduced t...he overall incidence of infection, and sometimes averted epidemics altogether. These interventions must be implemented quickly in order to be maximally effective. Lockdowns had only small effects on COVID-19 dynamics.
Conclusions
Agent-based models are powerful tools for forecasting the spread of disease in spatially structured and heterogeneous populations. Our findings suggest that feasible interventions can slow the spread of COVID-19 in a refugee camp setting, and provide an evidence base for camp managers planning intervention strategies. Our model can be modified to study other closed populations at risk from COVID-19 or future epidemics.
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Overview.
The COVID-19 pandemic is the latest crisis facing the world, but unless humans release their grip on nature, it won’t be the last, according to a new report by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), which includes a new experimental index on human progress that takes into acco...unt countries’ carbon dioxide emissions and material footprint.
The report lays out a stark choice for world leaders - take bold steps to reduce the immense pressure that is being exerted on the environment and the natural world, or humanity’s progress will stall.
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Lancet Glob Health 2020Published OnlineDecember 10, 2020 https://doi.org/10.1016/S2214-109X(20)30460-5
This article was published on December 10, 2020, and updated on December 16, 2020, at NEJM.org. DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa2034577
Available in English, French, Spanish, Chinese, Russian and Arabic
https://apps.who.int/iris/handle/10665/337832
An Evidence-Based Treatment Guide for Clinicians
MOH clinical practice guidelines
These WHO interim recommendations on the use of the Pfizer – BioNTech BNT162b2 vaccine against Covid-19 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 referenced below.
fir...st issued 8 January 2021, updated 15 June 2021, updated 19 November 2021, updated 21 January 2022, updated 18 August 2022. Available in other languages https://apps.who.int/iris/handle/10665/361720
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Eine kinderrechtliche Analyse basierend auf einer Befragung der 16 Bundesländer
Neben umfassenden Wanderungsdaten zu Deutschland enthält der Bericht einen europäischen Vergleich zum Migrationsgeschehen und zur Asylzuwanderung. Er behandelt das Phänomen der irregulären Migration und informiert über die Struktur und Entwicklung der Bevölkerung mit Migrationshintergrund in D...eutschland.
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14 January 2021
This practical guide can be used to help countries monitor and analyse the impact of COVID-19 on essential health services to inform planning and decision-making. It provides practical recommendations on how to use key performance indicators to analyse changes in access to and deliv...ery of essential health services within the context of the COVID-19 pandemic; how to visualize and interpret these data; and how to use the findings to guide modifications for safe delivery of services and transitioning towards restoration and recovery. The guide focuses on existing indicators and data that are captured in routine reporting systems and how they can be used by national and subnational authorities to understand specific contexts, challenges and bottlenecks. This guide supports Maintaining essential health services: operational guidance for the COVID-19 context, which provides an integrated framework to guide countries in their efforts to reorganize, adapt and maintain safe delivery of high-priority essential health services within the context of the pandemic.
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