On August 13, 2024, the Africa CDC declared the mpox outbreak a Public Health Emergency of Continental Security (PHECS). The following day, the WHO
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declared it a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC). A coordinated, continent-wide response is essential, co-led by the African Union (AU) through the Africa CDC and the World Health Organization (WHO), in close collaboration with global partners working under a unified plan, budget, and monitoring framework.
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The African Regional Convening of the Global Initiative to Support Parents (GISP) stimulated the interest or engagement of almost 1500 individuals from 742 unique organizations in the fields
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of health, education, social welfare, women’s affairs, early childhood, water and sanitation, mental health, violence prevention, innovative finance, climate, and many others. The convening united representatives across governments, civil society organizations, programme implementers, philanthropies, multilateral organizations, bilateral funders, private companies, universities, schools and day care centres, and hospitals around the common cause of supporting parents and caregivers.
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Following the declaration of the 9th Ebola Disease Outbreak (EVD) on 8 May 2018 by the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) Ministry
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of Health, the WHO has raised the alert for neighbouring countries of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) which share extensive borders, hosting DRC refugees and are used as corridors for DRC population movement. On 1 August 2018, just one week after the declaration of the end of the Ebola outbreak in Equator province, the 10th Ebola epidemic of the DRC was declared in the provinces of North Kivu and Ituri, which are among the most populated provinces in the DRC that also share borders with Uganda and Rwanda.
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This document contains a series of desk reviews for the eight ENGAGE-TB priority countries supported by the Global Fund (DRC, Kenya, Indonesia, Mozambique, Myanmar, Nigeria, Pakistan
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and Tanzania). The document provides a situation assessment and gap analysis about the state of community based TB activities in these countries. The focus on these eight countries was justified by the high prevalence of TB and the very high number of missed/unreported cases.
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Safe sanitation is essential for health, from preventing infections to improving and maintaining mental
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and social
well-being. Lack of adequate sanitation contributes to diarrhoeal diseases, parasitic infections, and undernutrition, as
well as posing significant risks and causing anxiety, especially for women and girls. Achieving universal access to safe
sanitation, which protects health, privacy, and dignity, is a global development goal and a recognized basic human right.
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Since the last situation report on the multi-country outbreak of cholera was published on 1 June 2023 (covering data reported until 15 of May), no new country reported a cholera outbreak. In total,
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24 countries have reported cases since the beginning of 2023. The WHO African Region remains the most affected region with 14 countries reporting cholera cases since the beginning of the year. The overall capacity to respond to the multiple and simultaneous outbreaks continues to be strained due to the global lack of resources, including shortages of the Oral Cholera Vaccine (OCV) and cholera supplies, as well as overstretched public health and medical personnel, who are dealing with multiple parallel disease outbreaks and other health emergencies. Based on the large number of outbreaks and their geographic expansion, as well as a lack of vaccines and other resources, WHO continues to assess the risk at global level as very high.
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Expanding access to quality health services through task sharing
Cholera remains an issue of major public health importance in Kenya.
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Kenya has in recent years experienced outbreaks affecting different parts of the country
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Sierra Leone Trial to Introduce a Vaccine against Ebola (STRIVE)
Community Health Volunteers
The World Health Organization (WHO)6, the Civil Society Action Committee and the Lancet Migration global collaboration are amongst many organisations that have advised governments against ret
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urning irregular migrants during the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. The expulsion of irregular migrants to under-prepared countries puts migrants and communities at risk, and is against the principles of solidarity and public health that should inspire action during these challenging times. It also puts at risk the staff who implement these policies. Detention, overcrowded conditions and lack of hygiene all render irregular migrants more vulnerable to the impact of COVID-19. Irregular laborers, agricultura land food workers, cleaners and caregivers are all essential in the response to the pandemic, there fore the temporary or longer term regularisation of migrants to facilitate their access to health, social services and employment should be considered as a humane, practical and self-interested alternative to forcible return.
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The report examines how people with mental health conditions are often shackled by families in their own homes or in overcrowded and unsanitary institutions, against their will, due to widespread st
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igma and a lack of mental health services.
Many are forced to eat, sleep, urinate, and defecate in the same tiny area. In state-run or private institutions, as well as traditional or religious healing centers, they are often forced to fast, take medications or herbal concoctions, and face physical and sexual violence. The report includes field research and testimonies from Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, China, Ghana, Indonesia, Kenya, Liberia, Mexico, Mozambique, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Palestine, the self-declared independent state of Somaliland, South Sudan, and Yemen.
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An approach to emergency situations. Relief workers face rapidly changing and complex environments, new disease patterns, enormous humanitarian needs and relatively limited resources. The authors
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of this book use their experience in the area to produce an operational manual of the issues involved in refugee health programs. This book is aimed at professionals involved in public health assistance to refugees and displaced persons. It deals with a variety of specific refugee health issues at the decisional level, and discusses the priorities of intervention during the different phases of a refugee crisis, from emergency to repatriation.
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The Standard consists of nine key inclusion standards, and seven sets of sector-specific inclusion standards for protection – water,
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sanitation and hygiene, food security and livelihoods, nutrition, shelter, settlement and household items, health and education. Each standard comes with key actions, guidance, tools and resources.
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The WHO Quality Health Services: a planning guide focuses on actions required at the national, district and facility levels to enhance quality of
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health services, providing guidance on implementing key activities at each of these three levels. It highlights the need for a health systems approach to enhance quality of care, with a common understanding on the activities needed by all stakeholders. The guide articulates the key actions required to improve the quality of health services for the entire population. It recognizes that the path varies for each country, district and facility – stimulating the reader to consider multiple factors and entry points for action. This planning guide is for staff working at all levels of the health system (i.e. national, district and facility) who have a role in enhancing the quality of health services. It is also relevant to all stakeholders initiating and supporting action at facility, district and/or national levels both in the public and private sectors.
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This document adopts a health determinants framework for examining the evidence related to women’s poor mental health. From this perspective, public
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policy including economic policy, socio-cultural and environmental factors, community and social support, stressors and life events, personal behaviour and skills, and availability and access to health services, are all seen to exercise a role in determining women’s mental health status. Similarly, when considering the differences between women and men, a gender approach has been used. While this does not exclude biological or sex differences, it considers the critical roles that social and cultural factors and unequal power relations between men and women play in promoting or impeding mental health. Such inequalities create, maintain and exacerbate exposure to risk factors that endanger women’s mental health, and are most graphically illustrated in the significantly different rates of depression between men and women, poverty and its impact, and the phenomenal prevalence of violence against women.
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The WHO/UNICEF JMP report, WASH in Health Care Facilities, is the first comprehensive global assessment of water, sanitation
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and hygiene (WASH) in health care facilities. It also finds that 1 in 5 health care facilities has no sanitation service*, impacting 1.5 billion people. The report further reveals that many health centres lack basic facilities for hand hygiene and safe segregation and disposal of health care waste.
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