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Showing results for tags 'Global health'.
Found 125 results
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News Article
‘Underhand’ formula milk ads stop millions from breastfeeding, experts say
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Exploitative and “underhand” marketing of formula milk is preventing millions of women from breastfeeding, according to a series of reports published in the Lancet. The reports, by 25 experts from 12 countries, including paediatricians, public health specialists, scientists, economists and midwives, finds that the commercial milk formula companies “exploit parents’ emotions and manipulate scientific information to generate sales at the expense of the health and rights of families, women and children”. Breastfeeding promotes brain development, protects infants against malnutrition, infectious diseases and death, while also reducing risks of obesity and chronic diseases in later life. It also helps protect mothers against breast and ovarian cancers. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends exclusively breastfeeding babies for the first six months and giving breast milk alongside solid food until the age of two or beyond. Over three reports, the series reveals how, more than 40 years since the World Health Assembly developed a voluntary international code prohibiting the marketing of infant formula, widespread violation of the code persists, with promotion of infant formula milk continuing in about 100 countries in every region of the world since the code was adopted. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 7 February 2023 -
Content Article
Lilian Chiwera is an independent surgical site infection (SSI) surveillance and prevention (SSISP) expert with experience setting up and coordinating a very successful SSI surveillance service at Guys & St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust from 2009–2022. Lilian shares the work she and her colleagues are doing around a surgical site infections patient safety initiative and explains why she wants to establish an annual Surgical Site Infections Prevention Day. -
News Article
Women’s healthcare in Britain ‘worse than in China and Saudi Arabia’
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Women’s healthcare in the UK is worse than that of China and Saudi Arabia, according to a global tracker. Poor efforts at prevention, diagnosis and treatment of health problems left the UK ranked lower than several countries with a troubling record on women’s rights. The research, which compared a wealth of data, found Britain fared worse than most comparable Western countries, including the United States, Australia, New Zealand, France and Germany. The UK was placed 30th out of 122 countries, in the 2021 Hologic Global Women’s Health Index published on Tuesday. The score – three points lower than when a similar exercise was carried out last year – places it on a par with Kazakhstan, Slovenia, Kosovo and Poland for women’s healthcare provision. Read full story Source: The Telegraph, 24 January 2023 -
Content Article
Hologic launched the Hologic Global Women’s Health Index — a multiyear, comprehensive global survey about women’s health — to help fill a critical gap in what the world knows about the health and wellbeing of the world’s women and girls. Conducted annually, the survey provides the most timely, globally comprehensive data from womens' perspectives on their health and wellbeing. The results from the 2021 Hologic Global Women’s Health Index, conducted with nearly 127,000 women and men in 122 countries and territories, show that leaders need this framework more than ever. Health situations for women and girls worldwide did not get better in 2021. The divide between women in high-income and low-income economies grew even larger than the year before. The findings in this year’s report provide a crucial update on the state of women’s health worldwide in the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic, as women around the world lived through an uneven economic recovery and a “hurricane of humanitarian crises.” This year’s report answers key questions about women’s knowledge, attitudes and behaviours regarding healthcare and, most importantly, whether women are getting preventive care and using health services. -
News Article
WHO urges action after cough syrups linked to more than 300 child deaths
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
The World Health Organization (WHO) has called for “immediate and concerted action” to protect children from contaminated medicines after a spate of child deaths linked to cough syrups last year. In 2022, more than 300 children - mainly aged under 5 - in the Gambia, Indonesia and Uzbekistan died of acute kidney injury, in deaths that were associated with contaminated medicines, the WHO said in a statement on Monday. The medicines, over-the-counter cough syrups, had high levels of diethylene glycol and ethylene glycol. “These contaminants are toxic chemicals used as industrial solvents and antifreeze agents that can be fatal even taken in small amounts, and should never be found in medicines,” the WHO said. As well as the countries above, the WHO told Reuters on Monday that the Philippines, Timor Leste, Senegal and Cambodia may be affected because they may have the medicines on sale. It called for action across its 194 member states to prevent more deaths. “Since these are not isolated incidents, WHO calls on various key stakeholders engaged in the medical supply chain to take immediate and coordinated action,” WHO said. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 24 January 2023 -
Content ArticleTo overcome this preventable disease we need to invest in failing infrastructure and tackle humanitarian crises at cholera’s roots, says Petra Khoury in this BMJ article. Once thought to be close to eradication, cholera is back—dehydrating and killing people within hours and ravaging communities across six continents. Despite the alarming numbers of cases and deaths over the past year, decision makers are averting their eyes, leaving people to die from a preventable and treatable disease. The healthcare community should sound the alarm for immediate actions. A strong and global emergency response is urgently needed, but it is only a first step. More than ever the world must invest in water and sanitation systems and prepare communities before outbreaks occur.
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EventuntilJoin a moderated panel discussion with IQVIA leaders following the release of the IQVIA Institute’s annual global trend report on The Global Use of Medicines 2023. The webinar will look closely at: Global outlook drivers The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on medicine use, market growth, and vaccines and therapeutics. Total global market size and growth in spending and defined daily doses. Innovation from the R&D pipeline, including the number of and type of expected drug launches. Therapy area market size and growth. Highlights from key regions globally Market size and elements of growth 2023-27. Therapy area highlights. Health system drivers of medicine demand and spending. Major uncertainties and the wild cards to watch. Register
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Content Article
OECD work on patient safety
Patient Safety Learning posted an article in International patient safety
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is an intergovernmental organisation with 38 member countries. While healthcare quality is improving across many OECD members countries, patient safety remains a central policy concern. The OECD has worked for several years with countries to identify and promote strategies to support cross-national sharing and learning of patient safety. The OECD collaborate with the World Health Organization and other key international bodies concerned with improving patient safety globally. This brochure highlights key areas of OECD work on patient safety. -
News Article
Racism poses public health threat to millions worldwide, finds report
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Racism is a “profound” and “insidious” driver of health inequalities worldwide and poses a public health threat to millions of people, according to a global review. Racism, xenophobia and discrimination are “fundamental influences” on health globally but have been overlooked by health researchers, policymakers and practitioners, the series published in the Lancet suggests. Inaccurate and unfounded assumptions about genetic differences between races also continue to shape health outcomes through research, policy and practice, the review of evidence and studies found. “Racism and xenophobia exist in every modern society and have profound effects on the health of disadvantaged people,” said the lead author, Prof Delan Devakumar of University College London. “Until racism and xenophobia are universally recognised as significant drivers of determinants of health, the root causes of discrimination will remain in the shadows and continue to cause and exacerbate health inequities.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 8 December 2022 -
Content ArticleThe BMJ, in partnership with the Choosing Wisely international collaboration, led by the Choosing Wisely Canada campaign, has introduced a “Change” series in the Education section. Articles in the series highlight evidence based strategies and tools to help change practice and reduce unnecessary tests, treatments, and procedures. The articles indicate why and how practice needs to change, usually focusing on one aspect of care, and are aligned with recommendations made by national Choosing Wisely campaigns.
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News Article
Measles now an 'imminent' global threat due to pandemic, say WHO and CDC
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
There is now an "imminent threat" of measles spreading in every region of the world, the World Health Organisation and the US public health agency has said. In a joint report, the health organisations said there had been a fall in vaccines against measles and less surveillance of the disease during the COVID pandemic. Measles is one of the most contagious human viruses but is almost entirely preventable through vaccination, though it requires 95% vaccine coverage to prevent outbreaks. A record high of nearly 40 million children missed a dose last year because of hurdles created by the pandemic, according to the report by the WHO and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This has left millions of children susceptible to the disease. "We are at a crossroads," Patrick O'Connor, the WHO's measles lead, said. "It is going to be a very challenging 12-24 months trying to mitigate this." Read full story Source: Sky News, 24 November 2022 -
Content ArticleIt is time to end all forms of stigma and discrimination against people with mental health conditions, for whom there is a double jeopardy: the impact of the primary condition itself and the severe consequences of stigma. Many people describe stigma as ‘worse than the condition itself’. This Lancet Commission report is the result of a collaboration of more than 50 people globally. It brings together evidence and experience on the impact of stigma and discrimination and successful interventions for stigma reduction. The report is co-produced by people who have lived experience of mental health conditions and includes material to bring alive the voices of people with lived experience. The voices whisper or speak or shout in the poems, testimonies and the quotations that are featured.
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Content Article
We should be! The NHS has declared climate change a health emergency, but are trust leaders and healthcare staff talking and acting on this? In her second blog for the hub, Angela Hayes, Clinical Lead Sustainability at the Christie Foundation Trust, discusses why as healthcare professionals we have a duty to care, to protect and promote public health, and why nurses are ideally placed to deliver this vital climate emergency health message. -
Content ArticleAs of May 31, 2022, there were 6·9 million reported deaths and 17.2 million estimated deaths from COVID-19, as reported by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation. The Lancet COVID-19 Commission was established in July 2020, with four main themes: developing recommendations on how to best suppress the epidemic; addressing the humanitarian crises arising from the pandemic; addressing the financial and economic crises resulting from the pandemic; and rebuilding an inclusive, fair, and sustainable world. It has now published it's key findings and recommendations.
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Content ArticleMonthly publications from the Joint Commission that outlines an incident, topic or trend in healthcare that could compromise patient safety.
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Content ArticleThis consensus statement is founded on the policies articulated in numerous global and regional resolutions and decisions on patient safety adopted by governing bodies of the World Health Organization (WHO) and other international organisations. It is based on the proceedings of the WHO Policy Makers’ Forum, highlighting the central and specific role of policy-makers and healthcare leaders in implementation of the Global Patient Safety Action Plan 2021–2030 at all levels in all countries. Approximately 310 participants from around 90 countries across the world – including senior policy-makers, healthcare leaders, patient safety experts at national, subnational, regional, organisational and healthcare facility levels, patient safety advocates, and representatives of key international organisations – met (virtually) on 23–24 February 2022 to participate in the Policy Makers’ Forum organised by the Patient Safety Flagship unit, WHO headquarters, Geneva, Switzerland.
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Content ArticleThe COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the need for a stronger and more inclusive health emergency preparedness, response, and resilience (HEPR) architecture. At the 150th meeting of the Executive Board in January, the Director-General committed to develop proposals, in consultation with Member States, on strengthening the architecture for HEPR, and present these to the Seventy-fifth Health Assembly. Following the Concept note published on 24 March 24, this draft white paper outlines the Director-General’s proposals for strengthening HEPR, ahead of the World Health Assembly.
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Content Article
This blog is written in time for the WHO's World Immunisation Week. It explores vaccination programmes, in particular that for COVID-19 – it's uptake, both in the UK and globally, and the negative impact the pandemic has had on vaccination programmes for other diseases. -
Content ArticleThis systematic analysis in The Lancet used data covering 471 million individual records from systematic literature reviews, hospital systems, surveillance systems and other sources. The authors, an international research collective called the Antimicrobial Resistance Collaborators, used this data to estimate deaths and disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) that have come about as a result of bacterial antimicrobial resistance (AMR). They estimated that, in 2019, 1.27 million deaths were directly attributable to AMR, with the three primary infections involved being lower respiratory and thorax infections, bloodstream infections and intra-abdominal infections. Their analysis shows that AMR death rates were highest in some lower- and middle-income countries, making AMR not only a major health problem globally, but a particularly serious problem for some of the poorest countries in the world.
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Content ArticleThe brief focuses on the nursing workforce at a time when a global pandemic is raging across the world. The year just ended—2021— has seen unprecedented damage inflicted on health systems and on the nursing workforce. The year just begun—2022— marks no change in the continuing relentless pressure of the pandemic on individual nurses, and on the global nursing workforce. This brief was commissioned by the International Centre for Nurse Migration (ICNM). It provides a global snapshot assessment of how the COVID-19 pandemic is impacting on the nursing workforce, with a specific focus on how changing patterns of nurse supply and mobility will challenge the sustainability of the global nursing workforce. It also sets out the urgent action agenda and global workforce plan for 2022 and beyond which is required to support nurse workforce sustainability, and therefore improve health system responsiveness and resilience in the face of COVID-19.
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Content ArticleThe Ipsos Global Health Service Monitor is an annual study that explores the biggest health challenges facing people today and how well-equipped people think their country’s healthcare services are to tackle them. It ran the survey in 30 countries between 30 August and 3 September 2021. The survey found that public perceptions of healthcare services have not been adversely affected by the pandemic, according to our 30-country survey. Britons are generally happy with the quality of healthcare but are acutely aware of the challenges facing healthcare services.
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Content ArticleThis paper, published in HEC Forum, focuses on undergraduate student involvement in short term medical volunteer work in resource poor countries, a practice that has become popular among pre-health professions students. Authors argue that the participation of undergraduate students in global health experiences raises many of the ethical concerns associated with voluntourism and global health experiences for medical students. They propose a framework for guidelines and curricula, argue that universities should be the primary point of delivery even when they are not organising the trips, and recommend that curricula should be developed in light of additional data.
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Content ArticlePatient safety is one of the five priorities of the G20 Health Ministers' Declaration. Read the patient safety section of the Declaration below.
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Content ArticleThe World Health Organization (WHO) is actively exploring the role of compassion in quality health care. This Global Health Compassion Rounds (GHCR) highlighted the compelling evidence around compassion and quality care—not only for patients, but also for providers and health care organisations. Respondents offered their views of the implications of this evidence at national, district, and community levels of care.
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Content Article
Bulletin of the World Health Organization
Patient Safety Learning posted an article in WHO
The Bulletin of the World Health Organization is a fully open-access monthly journal of public health with a special focus on low and middle-income countries.
