World Health Organization Department of Reproductive Health and Research
Brocher Foundation, Hermance, Geneva, Switzerland, 27–29 April 2016
Health care-associated infection (HCAI) places a serious disease burden and has a significant economic impact on patients and health-care systems throughout the world. Yet good hand hygiene, the simple task ...box">of cleaning hands at the right times and in the right way, can save lives. World Health Organization (WHO) has developed evidence-based WHO Guidelines on Hand Hygiene in Health Care to support health-care facilities to improve hand hygiene and thus reduce HCAI.
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The COVID-19 pandemic is a rapidly evolving global crisis and there
is much that is still emerging in terms of the psychosocial and mental
health consequences for the diverse populations affected by this
emergency. This toolkit is based on what i...s currently available and
will be updated as additional resources become available.
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This National Prevention Road Map addresses the above-mentioned challenges and aims to guide, focus and reinvigorate the HIV prevention response during the period 2018-2020. It also re...news the commitment of political leadership,
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No country can claim to be free from health-care associated infections, therefore, improvement of infection prevention and control (IPC) strategies is essential. WHO recommends the use ...attribute-to-highlight medbox">of multimodal improvement strategies to implement IPC interventions. These include each item of standard and transmission-based precautions according to national guidelines or standard operating procedures and under the coordination of the national IPC focal point (or team, if existing). This publication consists of three focused improvement tools, called “aide-memoires”, which focus on 1) respiratory and hand hygiene, 2) personal protective equipment, and 3) environmental cleaning, waste and linen management, all elements of standard, droplet/contact and airborne precautions.
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SARS-CoV-2 infections among children and adolescents cause less severe illness and fewer deaths compared to adults. While a less severe course of infection is a positive outcome, there are concerns that mild symptoms may have led to less testing, re...sulting in fewer identified cases of COVID-19 in children. If children with mild or no symptoms transmit the disease, they may act as drivers of transmission within their communities. Understanding symptoms, infectivity and patterns of SARS-CoV-2 transmission in children and adolescents is essential for developing, adapting and improving control measures for COVID-19 across all ages. This is a summary of the current knowledge around SARS-CoV-2 infection acquisition and transmission and COVID-19 disease symptoms in children and adolescents. It aims to inform decisions, based on local contexts, on how to best keep schools, kindergarten and day-care facilities open and what advice to apply to intergenerational mixing.
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Some observers have described the coronavirus pandemic as an 'Anthropocene disease,' thereby highlighting its connection with this new ecological era that is characterised by the considerable pressure human activities are exerting on ecosystems and ...the consequences on public health, society and the environment. This article focuses on the recent emergence of the 'Planetary Health' paradigm. Launched by the Rockefeller Foundation and the medical journal The Lancet, Planetary Health is one of the most ambitious attempts in recent years to systematize global health in the Anthropocene. While recognising the interest and necessity of reflecting on human health and the health of the planet, this article aims to show, however, that the Planetary Health paradigm is problematic and aporetic for two reasons. First, because it is based on a scientistic and depoliticised conception of the Anthropocene, which obscures capitalism's responsibility for the contemporary global and, especially, ecological crisis. Second, because this conception leads to a promotion of solutions that are essentially based on the financialization and technoscientific management of the living world - precisely the underlying cause of the degradation of ecosystems and living conditions that created the Anthropocene in the first place. A different kind of 'planetary health' remains possible and desirable.
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The Lancet Planetary Health Volume 5, ISSUE 7, e466-e478, July 01, 2021
Transmission of many infectious diseases depends on interactions between humans, animals, and the environment. Incorporating... these complex processes in transmission dynamic models can help inform policy and disease control interventions. We identified 20 diseases involving environmentally persistent pathogens (ie, pathogens that survive for more than 48 h in the environment and can cause subsequent human infections), of which indirect transmission can occur from animals to humans via the environment.
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Background: Community health worker (CHW) programmes are a valuable component of primary care in resource-poor settings. The evidence supporting their effectiveness generally shows improvements in disease<.../span>-specific outcomes relative to the absence of a CHW programme. In this study, we evaluated expanding an existing HIV and tuberculosis (TB) disease-specific CHW programme into a polyvalent, household-based model that subsequently included non-communicable diseases (NCDs), malnutrition and TB screening, as well as family planning and antenatal care (ANC).
Methods: We conducted a stepped-wedge cluster randomised controlled trial in Neno District, Malawi. Six clusters of approximately 20 000 residents were formed from the catchment areas of 11 healthcare facilities. The intervention roll-out was staggered every 3 months over 18 months, with CHWs receiving a 5-day foundational training for their new tasks and assigned 20–40 households for monthly (or more frequent) visits.
Findings: The intervention resulted in a decrease of approximately 20% in the rate of patients defaulting from chronic NCD care each month (−0.8 percentage points (pp) (95% credible interval: −2.5 to 0.5)) while maintaining the already low default rates for HIV patients (0.0 pp, 95% CI: −0.6 to 0.5). First trimester ANC attendance increased by approximately 30% (6.5pp (−0.3, 15.8)) and paediatric malnutrition case finding declined by 10% (−0.6 per 1000 (95% CI −2.5 to 0.8)). There were no changes in TB programme outcomes, potentially due to data challenges.
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This interim guidance is aimed at assisting organizers of international meetings attended by individuals from EVD-affected countries and individuals with a travel history to EVD-affected countries within the previous 3 weeks.
The first part is int...ended for organizers of international meetings, to safely plan and conduct these events. The second part is addressed to public health authorities directly involved in supporting such international meetings.
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The flip book is for pre-deployment trainings for Ebola response, and is based on frequently asked questions about Ebola virus disease (EVD):
What is Ebola virus disease?
How do people bec...ome infected with EVD?
Why WHO is focusing on safe and dignified burials of people who have died from Ebola?
Who is most at risk?
What are the symptoms of Ebola infection?
What treatment is available for Ebola?
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This revised Emergency Appeal will support 400,000 of the most vulnerable people in these areas for six months, and will also undertake preparedness and prevention work in Equateur’s four neighbou...ring Provinces.
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Poverty, HIV and other disease burdens, coupled with common mental disorders including alcohol and other substance use disorders, posttraumatic stress disorder, clinical and postnatal depression, distress, and anxiety, impact how caregivers meet the... needs of children. When mental health is not considered or addressed, there can be a significant impact on an individual, their family and the community.
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The COVID-19 pandemic is rapidly spreading across the world and including countries affected by other infectious disease epidemics, such as HIV, tuberculosis (TB) and malaria. Over the past three decades, the global HIV response has gained experienc...e in developing effective prevention approaches. This brief seeks to provide a summary for decision makers and health programme implementers in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) to help them make the best possible choices in preventing the virus responsible for COVID-19.
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Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) are a worldwide epidemic. Particularly, the most common diseases - Cardiovascular diseases, ... Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Diseases (COPD), Chronic Kidney Diseases, Cancer, Diabetes, injuries and disabilities, EMT, oral, eye greatly contribute to the morbidity and mortality accounting for around 60% of all deaths worldwide. The disease pattern is also changing from infectious to chronic in Rwanda like other developing countries due to the epidemiological transition.
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The latest update (28 January 2021) includes the following addition and revision:
biosafety aspects for working with antigen-detecting rapid diagnostic test;
handling new variants of SARS-CoV-2 in the laboratory;
updated assay decon...tamination before disposal;
personal protective equipment (PPE) for specimen collection;
addressing chemical hazards and their safe disposal; and
the fourth edition of the WHO Laboratory Biosafety Manual (LBM4) is now available and the terminology in this guidance was aligned with the LBM4.
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Throughout the gestational period, it is important for obstetric health care facilities to strengthen health counselling, screening, and follow-ups for pregnant women, while incorporating screening, hand hygiene practice, good respiratory etiquette and infection ...edbox">prevention control precautions. These screening procedures will help determine individualised precautions necessary, such as the wearing of face masks during consultations.
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This document provides interim guidance on the prevention, identification and management of health worker infection in the context of COVID-19. It ...is intended for occupational health departments, infection prevention and control departments or focal points, health facility administrators and public health authorities at both the national and facility level.
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SARS-CoV-2 infections among children and adolescents cause less severe illness and fewer deaths compared to adults. While a less severe course of infection is a positive outcome, there are concerns that mild symptoms may have led to less testing, re...sulting in fewer identified cases of COVID-19 in children. If children with mild or no symptoms transmit the disease, they may act as drivers of transmission within their communities. Understanding symptoms, infectivity and patterns of SARS-CoV-2 transmission in children and adolescents is essential for developing, adapting and improving control measures for COVID-19 across all ages. This is a summary of the current knowledge around SARS-CoV-2 infection acquisition and transmission and COVID-19 disease symptoms in children and adolescents. It aims to inform decisions, based on local contexts, on how to best keep schools, kindergarten and day-care facilities open and what advice to apply to intergenerational mixing.
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The Onchocerciasis Control Programme in West Africa (OCP) undertook regional and large scale frght against onchocerciasis in West Africa in 1974 using a vector control strategy. By 2002 OCP had succeeded in eliminating the disease as a public health..., socio-economic and development problem in 10 out of I I countries. This campaign was highly technical and expensive. ln 1987, Merck & Co.,lnc. committed themselves to provide ivermectin free of charge for as long as needed to onchocerciasis endemic countries. This made it possible to envrsage the extension of onchocerciasis control activities to the remaining endemic countries in Africa.
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