May 17,2022 MEDBOX Issue Brief no.21
WHY THIS GUIDE?
Because, in the face of crises and emergencies, it is vital to include a human rights perspective in responses. Vulnerable groups face major obstacles to accessing and benefiting from prevention, mitigation, and health care policies due to structural barriers of inequality. To offer
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guidelines to the countries of the Americas for crafting and implementing inclusive and accessible, human rights-based responses to a pandemic that is unprecedented in the region and in the world as a whole.
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The Lancet Planetary Health Volume 6, ISSUE 5, e388-e390, May 01, 2022. As the Stockholm Declaration on the Human Environment turns 50, the role of the health stakeholder community in forward-looking environmental agendas is more important than ever. Breathing air, drinking water, and eating food i
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s a daily requirement for healthy human bodies. These basic needs inextricably link human health to the health of our environment. Hence, core elements of the global environmental movement were built on concern for the negative impact of pollution on human and ecosystem health.
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Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) & injuries and mental health conditions constitute a serious impediment to achieving the vision of Agenda 2063 to build an integrated, prosperous, and peaceful Africa driven by its own citizens. Each year, these conditions cause millions of premature deaths and disab
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led lives across Africa. These conditions also lead to annual economic loss of multiple billion US-Dollars. Their burden both in terms of disease morbidity/mortality and socio-economic impact is increasing.
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Die Versorgung von schutzbedürftigen Geflüchteten ist eine moralische Verpflichtung, der Deutschland nicht gerecht wird.
Wie groß die Bereitschaft in Deutschland ist, Geflüchtete aufzunehmen, hat die Reaktion der Bevölkerung auf die humanitäre Krise, ausgelöst durch den Angriffskrieg
Russla
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nds auf die Ukraine, gezeigt. In der Verteidigungs- und Außenpolitik haben
wir einen Paradigmenwechsel gesehen. Notwendig ist ein solcher Paradigmenwechsel
auch bezüglich der Verantwortung gegenüber Überlebenden von Krieg, Folter und
Flucht allgemein.
Gesundheit ist ein Menschenrecht. Doch werden Menschen mit Fluchterfahrung
häufig mit ihren Belastungen alleingelassen, obgleich zahlreiche völkerrechtliche
Übereinkommen Deutschland verpflichten, bei Bedarf eine psychosoziale Beglei-
tung und/oder therapeutische Behandlung bereitzustellen
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Consultancy Report May 2022
Despite the continuing war in Ukraine, the Government is preparing for the country’s recovery and reconstruction. Given the magnitude of the attacks on the health infrastructure and consequent disruption to health system functioning, reconstruction of the health system is integral to the country
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s recovery. The immediate priorities are to restore essential services, respond to new physical and mental health needs, protect public health, and provide a secure and attractive environment for the return of both health professionals and the general population. This policy note identifies strategic directions for post-war health system recovery in the short and longer terms, while sustaining essential health services during the ongoing invasion
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It explains the importance of faecal sludge management in urban areas in which many people rely on on-site and decentralized sanitation facilities and emphasizes the place of treatment in the overall sanitation service chain. It defines terms used throughout the book, explains why faecal sludge and
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septage treatment is important, and identifies broad treatment objectives.
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The escalation of the war in Ukraine began on 24 February 2022, causing thousands of civilian
casualties; destroying civilian infrastructure, including hospitals, and triggering the fastest-
growing displacement crisis in Europe since World War II. The demographic profile of Ukraine,
combined wit
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h the implementation of martial law and conscription policies, led to an awareness
of gender- and age-related factors within the regional humanitarian response that recognised
the pre-crisis situation of persons of all genders and diversities and how the war and subsequent
regional crisis were compounding the risks that they face.
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SAMS team rose to meet these challenges, delivering world class COVID treatment with four newly established COVID hospitals complete with 100 ICU beds and state of the art equipment like ventilators, monitors, and oxygen generators. By using innovative technologies, SAMS’ physicians were able to s
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hare the knowledge they gained treating
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Cotonou Declaration oBuruli Ulcer
Cotonou, Benin, 30 March 2009
Neglected tropical diseases kill, weaken or incapacitate millions of people every year, causing permanent physical suffering, social stigmatization and reduced productive capacity. Buruli ulcer, one such disease, causes immense suffer
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ing and disabilities, especially among children. Delayed schooling and loss of productivity are considerable among the affected populations. These adverse consequences tend to aggravate poverty in affected communities. Globally, the disease has been reported in 30 countries. In WHO’s African Region, Buruli ulcer has been confirmed in 12 countries and is suspected in 10 others.
Significant progress has been made in the past 10 years in knowledge of Buruli
ulcer, investments in related research, control of the disease, and improvement
of tools for case diagnosis and development of treatment protocols. Substantial achievements have been made in diagnosis, treatment, immunology and epidemiology. Despite these achievements, little is known about the exact mode of transmission of the disease, and there is no simple diagnostic test usable in the field.
The use of antibiotics has revolutionized treatment and contributed to reducing the need for surgery by half. However, efforts are still needed to develop simple diagnostic tools usable in the field as well as disability prevention methods. The Global Buruli Ulcer Initiative has adopted the strategy recommended by WHO. The strategy is based on early diagnosis of the disease and the use of antibiotics for treatment upon the onset of the first signs by improving access to screening and case management at the most peripheral level of the health system.
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In January 2021, the World Health Organization (WHO) published a new road map to address the burden of disease and death imposed by neglected tropical diseases (NTDs). The end of the first year of the 2021-2030 NTD road map is an opportunity to take stock of where we stand and how we plan to move fo
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rward.
Considerable progress has been made since 2012 when the first road map was adopted. As of 6 June 2022, forty-six countries have eliminated at least one NTD, while 600 million people no longer require treatment because they are no longer exposed to risks associated with the pathogens that previously harmed them. In some cases, diseases that have plagued humanity for centuries, such as sleeping sickness and Guinea worm disease, are at an all-time low. Less tangible, but also important, there has been significant progress in the way NTDs are viewed. Additionally, the disruptive impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on NTD programmes is evident.
This brochure is the first in a series of advocacy briefs for the new NTD road map presenting highlights of success and challenges towards attaining the 2030 goals.
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The Return Counselling Toolkit is a capacity-building instrument aimed at providing a harmonized and coherent approach to return counselling, based on key migrant-centred principles while protecting migrants’ rights. Mindful of the specific needs and rights pertaining to children, this additional
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module on counselling children and families further complements the first five modules of the Return Counselling Toolkit. It provides specialized guidance on how to prepare and deliver return counselling to accompanied, unaccompanied and separated children while upholding child rights and safeguards.
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The domestic regulation of public health emergencies (PHEs) is inextricably linked to the regulation of other types of disaster. PHEs are usually governed at least partly by general disaster and emergency laws. Moreover, there is significant overlap in the legal mechanisms used to respond to PHEs an
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d other types of disaster, including the declaration of a state of disaster or emergency and the use of emergency powers. Even where PHEs are regulated by separate instruments, those instruments must surmount many of the same policy and practical challenges as general disaster laws, such as finely balancing competing considerations (e.g. speedy response versus due process), facilitating the coordination of a multitude of actors, and protecting the most vulnerable within society. Finally, many contemporary developments in disaster risk management (DRM), such as a greater emphasis on risk reduction and preparedness, are just as pertinent to PHEs as to other types of disaster.
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Female Genital Schistosomiasis (FGS) is a gynaecological disease caused by Schistosoma haematobium, a parasitic worm that is acquired by skin contact with freshwater contaminated by schistosome cerceriae. Communities in which the infection is most endemic have limited access to clean water and healt
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hcare services. Up to 150 million adolescent girls and women are estimated to be at risk of FGS and about 16–56 milion womens are living with FGS, with the majority of these in sub-Saharan Africa. The variability of these estimates points to the fact that this neglected tropical disease is not well studied and frequently not prioritized by local, regional, and global health policy makers.
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On 6 February at 4:17 am, a 7.8 degrees magnitude earthquake struck southern Turkey near Syria’s
northern border. The US Geological Survey said the earthquake was centered about 33 km (20 miles)
from Gaziantep, a major city and provincial capital. Tremors were felt as far away as Lebanon, Greece
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Palestine, and the island of Cyprus. Another big earthquake was felt on the same day at around 1:24
pm local time, largely in the same affected areas. Aftershocks will continue to shake the area as fault
lines adjust to such a huge initial tremor. There’s even a risk—albeit a small one—of an aftershock
bigger than the original quake.
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Nigeria reported its first case of COVID-19 at the end of February 2020 and subsequently experienced
four waves, with peaks in June 2020 and January, August and December 2021. The COVID-19 pandemic
severely impacted the economy of Nigeria and caused disruption of health services nationwide. During
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the crisis, many Nigerians failed to access routine health
services due to decreased income and lockdown
restrictions. The most significant service disruptions
were in maternal and newborn health, vaccination,
sick childcare, family planning and noncommunicable
disease treatment services (1). Pregnant women
were anxious about contracting COVID-19 during
2020, and as a result, many avoided attending health
facilities for antenatal (ANC) and postnatal care (PNC).
Disruptions in the medical supply chain and diversion
of resources to COVID-19 management impacted on
essential health services. Health workers were often
unable to go to work because of transport disruptions
or illness
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Burden of T. solium: Neurocysticercosis is a disease induced by T. solium larvae penetrating human tissues, especially the nervous system. Neurocysticercosis burdens economies, societies and individuals because of the impact of epilepsy on wages, health costs and social stigmatization of sufferers.
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Health systems are also burdened as treatments must be tailored to individual needs.
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Rabies is entirely preventable, and vaccines, medicines, tools and technologies have long been available to prevent people from dying of dog-mediated rabies. Nevertheless, rabies still kills about 60 000 people a year, of whom over 40% are children under 15, mainly in rural areas of economically dis
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advantaged countries in Africa and Asia. Of all human cases, up to 99% are acquired from the bite of an infected dog.
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