Constituting the fourth part of the World Drug Report 2022, this booklet focuses on the market d
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ynamics of various stimulants – cocaine, amphetamines and “ecstasy” – and of NPS.
The first chapter contains an analysis of the global market for cocaine, starting with a review of cocaine supply, including trends in the cultivation of coca bush and in the manufacture of and trafficking in cocaine at the global level and in the various regions. An analysis of different eradication strategies is included, as well as of the role of women in the cocaine supply chain. The chapter also presents the latest estimates of and trends in cocaine use, including a brief introduction to the various cocaine consumer products. Finally, it reviews the trends in the use of cocaine and the impact of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic in different regions
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Building on our decades of commitment to human rights in medicine and healthcare, we have published a new report on emerging threats in health-related human rights both globally and in the UK.
'H
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ealth and human rights in the new world (dis)order' outlines a shifting rights landscape in which new technologies, environmental change and geopolitical reconfigurations are putting renewed and at times intense stress on human rights, both in medicine and healthcare more broadly.
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This third booklet of the World Drug Report 2022 has a dual focus: opioids and cannabis.
The first chapter
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of the booklet provides an overview of opioids as a group of substances and their patterns of non-medical use at the global level. It also reviews the latest trends in the global supply of opiates and synthetic opioids and the availability of pharmaceutical opioids for medical consumption. Issues specific to regional patterns and trends in opioid markets are also analysed, including the opioid crisis in North America and in Africa and the Middle East. The chapter also includes a discussion of the potential impact, in the region and worldwide, of changes in opium poppy cultivation and opium production in Afghanistan. reireg
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War Trauma Foundation strengthens mental health care and psychosocial support through capacity building and development and dissemination of expertise through the implementation
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of programmes in (post) conflict areas. We develop and evaluate new methods in close cooperation with (local) partner organisations ensuring the inclusion of cultural and context aspects as well as long term sustainability. A couple of programmes will always be highlighted on our website.
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The booklet starts with a general overview of how illicit drugs and the environment are linked within t
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he bigger picture of the Sustainable Development Goals, climate change and environmental sustainability. It highlights direct and indirect linkages and gives examples of the significant local and individual-level impact that drugs can have on the environment. This is followed by a more in-depth overview of the latest scientific evidence for plant-based drugs and for synthetic drugs. For plant-based drugs, for example, this includes an analysis of the relationship between illicit crop cultivation and deforestation. For synthetic drugs, it includes an analysis of waste composition, volumes, and dumping and discharge, as well as the relation with wastewater treatment.
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13 May 2021
To avoid a reversal of progress from the adverse impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic,
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new knowledge and lessons from successful programmatic innovations are urgently needed to improve TB prevention and care. Experience can provide evidence for innovative approaches and strategies to maintain and scale up high-quality TB services. WHO therefore called for case studies on programmatic innovations that address emerging challenges in TB prevention and care during the pandemic in order to collect and disseminate the findings to the TB community. Between November 2020 and February 2021, a total of 23 case studies relevant to the call were accepted from 19 countries in the six regions of WHO. The lessons learnt from these country activities to ensure the continuity of essential services like TB care in the face of the crippling crisis may also inform strategies for minimizing the impact of future emerging pathogens on health services.
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Slavery on fishing vessels, degradation of ecosystems, overfishing, debt bondage, human trafficking and child labour in peeling sheds – the scandals surrounding
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the Thai fishery and shrimp industries have garnered international censure. Farmed and processed at the cost of extreme exploitation of both people and the planet, Thai shrimp ends up on plates around the world. The former delicacy can now be bought cheaply everywhere. But how high is the price really? And who has to pay it?
This report by seeks to remind governments in the countries of production that it is their duty to enforce human rights and living wages, rather than to compete for the favour of large companies to the detriment of people and the environment. It also appeals to consumers and their governments – and to importers – to send a clear message to suppliers in Thailand and elsewhere: If you want to survive on the global market, you need to respect human rights and child rights, and uphold social and environmental standards.
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39 examples of field practices, and learnings from 20 countries, for all phases of humanitarian response. The report shows that deliberate and proa
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ctive action is required to ensure that persons with disabilities from all constituencies are systematically included and meaningfully participate in DRR and humanitarian preparedness, response and recovery. It draws lessons from field practices, but does not provide technical guidance. The newly published IASC Guidelines are the reference document to seek in-depth theoretical and technical information.
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To support countries in adapting their response to different COVID-19 scenarios, the World Health
Organization (WHO) Department of Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health and Ageing commissi
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oned this scoping review of published and grey literature. The objective was to identify interventions implemented to maintain the provision and use of essential services for MNCAAH during disruptive events and to summarize lessons learned during these interventions. The review included outbreaks of Ebola virus disease (EVD), severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), Zika virus disease (ZVD), the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, and natural disasters and humanitarian emergencies that caused disruption to services, transport and other activities.
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The report highlights key trends and developments in laws affecting people living with HIV and key populations in Asia and the Pacific over the fiv
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e-year period 2014–2019. It updates the legal and policy review conducted in 2016 for UNAIDS, UNDP and the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP). A database of laws of the 38 Member States of ESCAP was created as part of this review. The database identifies laws that are either punitive or enabling for people living with HIV and key populations in Asia and the Pacific.
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The UNAIDS 2020 global report is a call to action. It highlights the scale of the HIV epidemic a
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nd how it runs along the fault lines of inequalities.
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UNAIDS report on the global AIDS epidemic shows that 2020 targets will not be met because of deeply unequal success; COVID-19 risks blowing HIV progress way off course. Missed targets have resulted
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in 3.5 million more HIV infections and 820 000 more AIDS-related deaths since 2015 than if the world was on track to meet the 2020 targets. In addition, the response could be set back further, by 10 years or more, if the COVID-19 pandemic results in severe disruptions to HIV services.
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This short paper aims to identify key evidence gaps in our knowledge of livestock- and fisheries-linked antimicrobial resistance in the developing world, and to document on-going or planned research
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initiatives on this topic by key stakeholders.
The antimicrobial resistant (AMR) infections in animals that are of most potential risk to human health are likely to be zoonotic pathogens transmitted through food, especially Salmonella and Campylobacter. In addition, livestock associated methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (LA MRSA) and extended spectrum beta lactamase E. coli (ESBL E. coli) are emerging problems throughout the world.
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Almost 30 countries vulnerable to a new Ebola-style Epidemic, jeopardising the future of millions of Children.
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The report ranks the world’s poorest countries on the state of their public health systems, finding that 28 have weaker defences in place than Liberia where, alongside Sierra Leone and Guinea, the current Ebola crisis has already claimed 9,000 lives, and provoked an extraordinary international response to help contain it.
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The WHO End TB Strategy aims to end the global TB epidemic by 2030, in alignment with Goal 3 of the
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United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Member States of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the UN committed to ending the TB epidemic through adoption of WHO’s End TB Strategy and the UN SDGs in 2014 and 2015, respectivel
Almost half of the deaths worldwide caused by TB in 2019 occurred in the WHO South-East Asia Region, home to around a quarter of the global population. Maintaining robust progress in this Region is therefore essential if the global goal of ending the TB epidemic is to be realized. Despite substantial gains made in the Region, the threat to
health worldwide posed by the COVID-19 pandemic has the potential to reverse these gains and eclipse the focus on the global TB emergency.
While continuing to tackle COVID-19-related challenges, countries will need to rapidly and urgently deploy supplementary measures to address the large numbers of missed cases, poor treatment outcomes and, potentially, a higher TB burden.
The Regional Strategic Plan towards Ending TB in the Region 2021–2025 clearly articulates priority interventions, analyses the challenges, bottlenecks and opportunities, and focuses on implementation considerations in the Region.
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Spread of resistance to antimicrobial agents (AMR) does not know national borders and has reached dimensions, which require immediate actions at the national, regional and global levels.
Antibiotic
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resistance is a natural biological response to improper use of antimicrobial agents (AMA); increasing number of essential drugs, which become ineffective, contributing to selection, survival and replication of resistant strains of microorganisms. When chosen antimicrobials prove to be ineffective, the second- or third-line drugs need to be used although
in the majority of cases these drugs are more expensive, less safe and not always available.
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At the World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul in May 2016, leaders made over 3,700 commitments to advance the Agenda for Humanity. In their first self-reports against these commitments, 142 stakehold
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ers described the efforts they made from June to December 2016 to realize this ambitious vision.
The 2017 annual synthesis report on progress provides a summary of their collective achievements around the 5 Core Responsibilities and 24 Transformations of the Agenda for Humanity.
Executive summary in
English: https://www.agendaforhumanity.org/sites/default/files/asr/2017/Nov/No%20time%20to%20retreat%20Executive%20Summary_NEW_web_nov27.pdf;
French: https://www.agendaforhumanity.org/sites/default/files/asr/2018/Jan/No%20time%20to%20retreat_Executive%20summary_FRENCH_Final_web.pdf
Spanish: https://www.agendaforhumanity.org/sites/default/files/asr/2018/Jan/No%20time%20to%20retreat_Executive%20summary_Spanish_final_web.pdf
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Vitamin A supplementation (VAS) programs targeted at children aged 6–59 months are implemented in many countries. By improving immune function, vitamin A (VA) reduces mortality associated with measles, diarrhea, and other illnesses. There is currently a debate regarding
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the relevance of VAS, but amidst the debate, researchers acknowledge that the majority of nationally-representative data on VA status is outdated. To address this data gap and contribute to the debate, we examined data from 82 countries implementing VAS programs, identified other VA programs, and assessed the recentness of national VA deficiency (VAD) data.
Article published in: Nutrients, 2017, 9, 190
https://doi.org/10.3390/nu9030190
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WHO-OHCHR launch new guidance to improve laws addressing human rights abuses in mental health care
Ahead of World Mental Health Day, the World Health Organization (WHO) and
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the Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights (OHCHR) are jointly launching a new guidance, entitled "Mental health, human rights and legislation: guidance and practice", to support countries to reform legislation in order to end human rights abuses and increase access to quality mental health care.
Human rights abuses and coercive practices in mental health care, supported by existing legislation and policies, are still far too common. Involuntary hospitalization and treatment, unsanitary living conditions and physical, psychological, and emotional abuse characterize many mental health services across the world.
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Since the start of the pandemic, the region has been hit by multiple natural and biological disa
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sters. At the same time, climate change has continued to warm the world, exacerbating the impacts of many of these disasters. The *Asia-Pacific Disaster Report 2021, *also launched today, shows that the pandemic, combined with the persistent reality of climate change, has reshaped and expanded the disaster “riskscape” in Asia and the Pacific.
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