scholarly journals Reducing tuberculosis transmission: a consensus document from the World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe

2019 ◽  
Vol 53 (6) ◽  
pp. 1900391 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giovanni Battista Migliori ◽  
Edward Nardell ◽  
Askar Yedilbayev ◽  
Lia D'Ambrosio ◽  
Rosella Centis ◽  
...  

Evidence-based guidance is needed on 1) how tuberculosis (TB) infectiousness evolves in response to effective treatment and 2) how the TB infection risk can be minimised to help countries to implement community-based, outpatient-based care.This document aims to 1) review the available evidence on how quickly TB infectiousness responds to effective treatment (and which factors can lower or boost infectiousness), 2) review policy options on the infectiousness of TB patients relevant to the World Health Organization European Region, 3) define limitations of the available evidence and 4) provide recommendations for further research.The consensus document aims to target all professionals dealing with TB (e.g. TB specialists, pulmonologists, infectious disease specialists, primary healthcare professionals, and other clinical and public health professionals), as well as health staff working in settings where TB infection is prevalent.

Author(s):  
Jean-Bosco Ndihokubwayo ◽  
Talkmore Maruta ◽  
Nqobile Ndlovu ◽  
Sikhulile Moyo ◽  
Ali Ahmed Yahaya ◽  
...  

Background: The increase in disease burden has continued to weigh upon health systems in Africa. The role of the laboratory has become increasingly critical in the improvement of health for diagnosis, management and treatment of diseases. In response, the World Health Organization Regional Office for Africa (WHO AFRO) and its partners created the WHO AFRO Stepwise Laboratory (Quality) Improvement Process Towards Accreditation (SLIPTA) program.SLIPTA implementation process: WHO AFRO defined a governance structure with roles and responsibilities for six main stakeholders. Laboratories were evaluated by auditors trained and certified by the African Society for Laboratory Medicine. Laboratory performance was measured using the WHO AFRO SLIPTA scoring checklist and recognition certificates rated with 1–5 stars were issued.Preliminary results: By March 2015, 27 of the 47 (57%) WHO AFRO member states had appointed a SLIPTA focal point and 14 Ministers of Health had endorsed SLIPTA as the desired programme for continuous quality improvement. Ninety-eight auditors from 17 African countries, competent in the Portuguese (3), French (12) and English (83) languages, were trained and certified. The mean score for the 159 laboratories audited between May 2013 and March 2015 was 69% (median 70%; SD 11.5; interquartile range 62–77). Of these audited laboratories, 70% achieved 55% compliance or higher (2 or more stars) and 1% scored at least 95% (5 stars). The lowest scoring sections of the WHO AFRO SLIPTA checklist were sections 6 (Internal Audit) and 10 (Corrective Action), which both had mean scores below 50%.Conclusion: The WHO AFRO SLIPTA is a process that countries with limited resources can adopt for effective implementation of quality management systems. Political commitment, ownership and investment in continuous quality improvement are integral components of the process.


2008 ◽  
Vol 13 (16) ◽  
Author(s):  
Collective WHO

The World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for Europe established the European Immunization Week (EIW, http://www.euro.who.int/vaccine) in 2005 for three reasons: 1) to raise public awareness of the benefits of immunisation, 2) to support national immunisation systems, and 3) to provide a framework for mobilising public and political support for governmental efforts to protect the public through universal childhood immunisation.


1949 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 546-548

On March 22, 1949 Costa Rica ratified the constitution of the World Health Organization and on April 13 WHO was joined by Honduras, thus bringing the membership of the organization to 61.The agreement by which the Pan American Sanitary Organization became the regional office for WHO in the western hemisphere was signed on May 24, 1949 in Washington by Dr. Brock Chisholm, Director General of WHO and Dr. Fred L. Soper, Director of the Pan American Sanitary Office. Under the agreement the office was to adopt and promote health and sanitary conventions and programs in the western hemisphere provided they were “compatible with the policy and programs of the World Health Organization and are separately financed.”


2018 ◽  
Vol 48 (4) ◽  
pp. 716-734
Author(s):  
Socrates Litsios

Brock Chisholm, director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO) in the early 1950s, was heard to say that “one cultural anthropologist [Cora Du Bois] was worth one hundred malaria teams.” Paul Russell, the leading malariologist at the time, responded (privately in his diary) that Chisholm’s remark was the sort that “one might expect from a psychiatrist planning a world health program.” George Foster reported that Du Bois “was completely disgusted with” her stay at WHO. “They never asked her to do anything. She never followed up.” Chisholm was not the only one who appreciated her contribution to the work of WHO; other WHO programs and offices would have welcomed her contribution. However, by operating out of WHO’s South-East Asia Regional Office (SEARO), she found herself isolated with little chance of her work being reviewed favorably, i.e., the “wrong place.”


1949 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 163-164

The Executive Board of the World Health Organization met in Geneva for its second session from October 25 to November 11, 1948. Some of the more important matters considered from an agenda which comprised more than seventy items included: 1) allocation of $100,000 for an extensive research program on tuberculosis; 2) approval of the report of a committee of experts on venereal disease recommending the large-scale use of penicillin in the treatment of syphilis and calling for WHO to stimulate penicillin production and distribution; 3) authorization to the WHO Director-General to create a Bureau of Medical Supplies to coordinate information and to advise governments on questions concerning the procurement of essential drugs, biological products, and medical equipment; 4) allocation of nearly $1,500,000 for the purpose of giving more direct aid to governments in all parts of the world in the form of field demonstrations and the provision of fellowships for medical and public health personnel; 5) approval of research along lines suggested by the International Congress of Mental Health, including comparative studies, surveys and demonstrations in that field; 6) appointment of Lt. Col. Chandra Mani (India) as director of the WHO Regional Office for South East Asia which was to be established early in 1949 in New Delhi, and 7) authorization to the WHO Director-General to sign a working agreement with the Pan American Sanitary Organization to serve as the WHO regional organization for the Western Hemisphere as soon as fourteen of the twenty-one American republics had completed ratification of the WHO Constitution. The next session of the Executive Board was scheduled for February 21, 1949, also in Geneva.


1989 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 354-357
Author(s):  
IIIT - USA

The Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office of the World Health Organization,the Islamic Organization for Medical Sciences, and the Royal Academyfor Islamic Civilization Research (the Aal Al-Bayt Foundation) jointly sponsoreda seminar on “Islamic Lifestyles and their Impact on Health and theGeneral Development of Mankind” in order to put this Islamic heritage inthe service of all human beings.The idea of.holding this Seminar was first conceived by the EasternMediterranean Regional Office of the World Health Organization becauseof its profound conviction that:1. Health constitutes the physical, psychological, and social wellbeingof the individual.2. Particular lifestyles have a major impact on the health ofthe individual and the society at large.3. Islam views the concept of well-being as a pre-requisite of‘Aqidah (creed) and Shari’ah which the Muslims fully appliedand implemented in their Golden Age -thus, providingliving proof of its success in real life.The first task undertaken by the participants involved the exhaustive listingand description of Islamic lifestyles in all spheres, and, the determiningof their Islamic roots on the basis of evidence from the Qur’an and Hadith.The second task focused on exploring the benefits to be acquired and theharms to be avoided through the adoption of these Islamic lifestyles by theindividual, the family, the society, and all human beings especially in thespheres of mental and physical health, and the well-being of social and humanrelationships. The third task involved devising plans of action for utilizingand applying all or part of the knowledge gained about Islamic lifestylesin order to demonstrate their beneficial influence as a means of reforminglife and setting mankind on the straight path.The Seminar participants also formed a smaller committee to exatninethe results of its research and deliberations so as to prepare, as soon as possible ...


Author(s):  
Lily Schuermann ◽  
Silvia Martinez ◽  
Gloria Weddington ◽  
Linda I. Rosa-Lugo

This article will provide a discussion of the innovative ways ASHA is collaborating with the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) to improve the delivery of high quality SLP/A services in three of the most impoverished countries in Latin America, Guyana, El Salvador, and Honduras. The ASHA Board of Directors (BOD) established a Strategic Pathway to Excellence with an objective to “Strengthen Strategic Relationships” by engaging with organizations to support ASHA's mission and expand influence worldwide (ASHA, 2012). One priority was to identify opportunities to collaborate with the World Health Organization (WHO). Therefore, BOD approved a joint collaboration project between ASHA and the PAHO, Regional Office for the Americas of the World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO), known as the ASHA-PAHO/WHO project.


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