Archive
2005
Report on the Third Intercountry
Workshop on the IMCI Community Component available on-line
New section on pre-service education
launched on this website
Third Regional Infant
and Young Child Feeding Counselling Training Course, Aswan, Egypt,
17-22 December 2005
Second Workshop
on the Child Health Policy Initiative to be held in Cairo, Egypt,
13 – 16 November 2005
Progress of IMCI
implementation in Afghanistan
The Partnership for
Maternal, Newborn and Child Health
Building Iraq capacity
for IMCI training
MCI coverage data
updated for most countries up to mid-2005
Discussion papers on
Group A streptococcal diseases now available
Technical updates of
the guidelines on the IMCI: Evidence and recommendations for further
adaptations
Zinc now included in
the WHO Essential Medicines List for management of acute diarrhoea
WHO revises guidelines
for the control of dysentery
Iraq conducts first
national IMCI training course, May 2005
National Public Health
Forum on Maternal and Child Health, Islamabad
Pakistan, 1-2 April 2005
Child health policy initiative: Regional
Office document on Phase 1 (The Situation Analysis) now available in
Arabic and French
Saudi Arabia conducts first national IMCI training
course in March 2005
Intercountry workshop on IMCI
community component to be held in the Islamic Republic of Iran,
24-27 July 2005
Algorithm
on hydrocarbon poisoning expected to be ready for validation by mid-2005
Dr Gezairy visits IMCI-implementing
areas in Egypt, February 2005
Report on the Third Intercountry
Workshop on the IMCI Community Component available on-line
The report on the
Third Intercountry Workshop on the IMCI Community Component held in
Tabriz, Islamic Republic of Iran, from 24 to 27 July 2005, is now
available on-line. The report describes in detail progress in
implementation of the
IMCI
community component
in the Region, how to prioritize investments to promote
key
family child care practices
based on a review of the evidence, the communication design process, and
technical
updates on the IMCI clinical guidelines
and
developmental work undertaken by the Regional Office. It includes the
conclusions and recommendations made at the workshop. To view
information on the workshop and the report, click
here.
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New section on pre-service education
launched on this website
A new section on pre-service education has been added to our
website. This section provides information on IMCI pre-service
training, describing past and current experiences with the
integration of public child health approaches in teaching programmes
of medical schools and allied health professional schools. The
information contained in this section is based on the rich
experience acquired with over 20 medical schools in the Region over
the years, since IMCI pre-service training was introduced in
Alexandria University in 1998, pioneering global efforts in this key
area. The new section includes the following topics:
what is
pre-service education,
IMCI
pre-service training,
objectives of IMCI pre-service training,
rationale,
lessons
from the past,
phases
of IMCI pre-service training,
resources,
schools
involved in the Region,
Regional
events,
your views. The Regional strategy on IMCI pre-service training
is outlined, with a description of its main phases at national and
institutional level. To view the pre-service education section,
click on the item “Pre-service education” on the left menu.
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Third Regional Infant
and Young Child Feeding Counselling Training Course, Aswan, Egypt,
17-22 December 2005
The Third Regional Infant and Young Child Feeding Counselling
Training Course will be held in Aswan, Egypt, from 17 to 22 December
2005. The course aims to create a pool of regional facilitators from
the IMCI country teams in the area of child feeding and strengthen
the capacity of these teams in the area of child feeding counselling.
The course builds on the experience of two previous Regional
breastfeeding
counselling courses conducted in 2003; it makes use of the final
Arabic version of the training materials on
feeding counselling developed by the Regional Office through a
thorough adaptation of the generic breastfeeding counselling
training materials and integration of complementary feeding and
feeding in special circumstances into one training package. The
English version of this Regional training course is under
preparation and is expected to be available in 2006. Participants
will include 24 physicians from 11 Arabic-speaking countries in the
Region, namely Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Saudi
Arabia, Sudan, Syrian Arab Republic, Tunisia and Yemen. The training
course will be conducted by 11 facilitators from 4 countries in the
Region. Clinical sessions will be conducted in Aswan Teaching
Hospital and Primary Health Care facilities. Besides facilitating
the training course, the facilitators will also visit one of
Community Development Associations in Aswan, to share experience on
the breastfeeding community component.
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Second Workshop
on the Child Health Policy Initiative to be held in Cairo, Egypt,
13 – 16 November 2005
The
Child Health Policy Initiative (CHPI)
was launched by the Regional Office in October 2003. Five countries,
namely Egypt, Morocco, Sudan, Syrian Arab Republic and Tunisia, joined
the
first phase, during which a
thorough situation analysis was carried out to identify key policy
issues to be addressed in the national child health policy document. A
first workshop on CHPI was held
in Damascus in July 2004 to review progress of work in those five
countries.
As part of the Initiative, the Regional Office developed the document "Development
of National Child Health Policy - Phase 1: The Situation Analysis".
This second workshop aims to review the child health situation analysis
reports developed by the 5 countries and plan for the next steps leading
to the development of the national child health policy documents. The
experience will be shared with other countries in the Region which have
expressed interest in joining the Initiative, namely Iraq, Jordan, Oman
and Pakistan.
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Progress of IMCI
implementation in Afghanistan
The
“Early Implementation Phase” of the IMCI strategy was completed in
Afghanistan in October 2004 and the experience was formally reviewed in
collaboration with WHO in December 2004. Since then, IMCI implementation
has been expanding at a fast speed in the first 6 months of 2005, with
IMCI training provided to health providers of almost a third of
outpatient health facilities in the country. Many partners are involved
in this effort. To read more about IMCI implementation in Afghanistan,
click
here.
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The Partnership for
Maternal, Newborn and Child Health
On 12
September 2005, a new partnership was formally launched, the Partnership
for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (PMNCH). This partnership, hosted
in the World Health Organization premises in Geneva, brought together
the three main partnerships which dealt with maternal, newborn and child
health, namely the Partnership for Safe Motherhood and Newborn Health,
the Healthy Newborn Partnership and the Child Survival Partnership. With
the creation of PMNCH, the previous three partnerships were dissolved.
To read more about PMNCH, visit its
website.
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Building Iraq capacity
for IMCI training
Following the standard
IMCI training course
for 24 Iraqi physicians held in Amman last May using the
Iraq adapted
version of IMCI clinical guidelines and materials, a number of
events were organized by the Child and Adolescent Health and
Development unit (CAH) of the Regional office, in close
collaboration with Iraqi Ministry of Health and the WHO country
office for Iraq and assistance from the Ministry of Health and
Population, Egypt, to develop local capacity for conducting IMCI
training courses and follow-up visits after training in Iraq. A
total of 11 Iraqi participants, selected among those who had
attended the standard IMCI course in May, from 5 governorates in
Iraq attended an intensive 5-day training course on facilitation
skills to master IMCI training techniques, in Cairo, from 11 to 15
September 2005, followed by a 2-day training course on IMCI
follow-up visit methodology and field visits to IMCI-implementing
facilities in Egypt. To learn more about IMCI implementation in
Iraq, click
here.
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MCI coverage data
updated for most countries up to mid-2005
Information on IMCI coverage up to mid-2005 has been
updated for most countries implementing IMCI in the Region.
Information on IMCI implementation in Palestine has also been added.
Updated IMCI coverage data up to mid-2005 is available on this
website for most countries implementing IMCI, namely: Djibouti,
Egypt, Islamic Republic of Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Morocco, Pakistan,
Palestine, Sudan, Syrian Arab Republic, Tunisia and Yemen. Updated
information from Afghanistan and Oman is expected soon. Currently,
information on IMCI coverage refers to indicators related to IMCI
training coverage, presented by level (national,
governorate/province, district and health facility), and for
selected countries also to the under-five population. To view
information on IMCI coverage by country in the Region, click
here. To view
IMCI training coverage in the Region, click
here.
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Discussion papers on
Group A streptococcal diseases now available
Most countries in the Region have included management of
a “throat problem”—including streptococcal pharyngitis—in their
adaptation of the
IMCI clinical guidelines. A series of discussion papers has recently
been developed by the Department of Child and Adolescent Health and
Development (CAH/HQ) on Group A Streptococcus (Streptococcus
pyogenes) disease burden estimates, possible control strategies and
current vaccine development status. The papers include: “The current
evidence for the burden of group A streptococcal diseases”, “A
review of the technical basis for the control of conditions
associated with GAS infections”, and “Group A streptococcal vaccine
development: current status and issues of relevance to less
developed countries”. The documents can be accessed on the CAH/HQ
website clicking
here.
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Technical updates of
the guidelines on the IMCI: Evidence and recommendations for further
adaptations
Since the IMCI
guidelines were first introduced, new evidence has become available
from research, including studies coordinated by the Department of
Child and Adolescent Health and Development (CAH/HQ), which has led
to new IMCI recommendations. The
updates concern the management of
pneumonia, diarrhoeal diseases, malaria, ear infections and
helminthiasis, and infant feeding (more)
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Zinc now included in
the WHO Essential Medicines List for management of acute diarrhoea
Zinc sulphate, tablet or syrup in 10 mg per unit dosage forms, has
been included in the 14th edition (March 2005) of the WHO Model List
of Essential Medicines, under “17.5.2 Medicines for diarrhoea for
children”, with the specification that “in acute diarrhoea zinc
sulphate should be used as an adjunct to oral rehydration salts”. To
view the model list click
here . To read more about zinc supplementation as one of the key
child care family practices,
click here. The WHO/UNICEF joint statement on “Clinical
management of acute diarrhoea”, which includes the recommendation on
zinc supplementation, is available
here, while to see the revised guidelines on the treatment of
diarrhoea (2005), click
here. For policy implications, click
here. WHO is developing additional briefing materials on zinc,
including on policies and strategy to introduce it in a country.
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WHO revises guidelines
for the control of dysentery
WHO has published the "Guidelines for the control of shigellosis,
including epidemics due to Shigella dysenteriae type 1". Among the
major changes are the recommendations that fluoroquinolones should
be used as the first-line treatment for all patients of all age
groups with bloody diarrhoea, who should also receive zinc
supplementation. The new recommendation is based on the widespread
resistance of Shigella to ampicillin, co-trimoxazole and nalidixic
acid, which are no longer recommended. Where susceptibility data are
available, these should guide the choice of the antibiotic. More
information and the electronic copy of the Guidelines can be found
on the CAH/HQ website. (more)
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Iraq conducts first
national IMCI training course, May 2005
The Ministry of Health of Iraq conducted, in
collaboration with the World Health Organization, a national IMCI
Case Management Training Course, in Amman, Jordan, from 8 to 19 May
2005, using the
Iraq IMCI
adapted guidelines and materials for the first time. The course
aimed to train Iraqi physicians in IMCI using the Iraq version,
review the adapted training materials during the course and
strengthen national trainers’ facilitation skills. H.E. the Minister
of Health, Iraq, visited the participants during the course to
become acquainted with the course methodology, appreciating the high
quality standards of training and expressing his support to the
implementation of the IMCI strategy needed to reduce mortality in
under-five children in Iraq. (more)
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National Public Health
Forum on Maternal and Child Health, Islamabad
Pakistan, 1-2 April 2005
A maternal and child health strategic framework was presented at a
high-level National Public Health Forum in Islamabad, Pakistan, just
few days before the celebration of the World Health Day. (more)
Top
Child health policy initiative: Regional
Office document on Phase 1 (The Situation Analysis) now available in
Arabic and French
The document "Development of National Child Health Policy - Phase 1:
The Situation Analysis" is now available on-line also in Arabic and
French. (more)
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Saudi Arabia conducts first national IMCI training
course in March 2005
Saudi Arabia carried out its first national IMCI training course using the
country adaptation of the clinical guidelines, from 27 February to 10
March 2005. This national course had participants from 5 regions in
the country and
aimed to build the capacity for training in those regions (course
for facilitators). (more)
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Intercountry workshop on IMCI
community component to be held in the Islamic Republic of Iran,
24-27 July 2005
The status of implementation of the IMCI community component in
selected countries in the Region is to be reviewed in this
intercountry workshop, which is a follow-up to other 2 workshops
held previously. (more)
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Algorithm
on hydrocarbon poisoning expected to be ready for validation by mid-2005
Data analysis from a pilot study on hydrocarbon poisoning supported by
the Regional Office is progressing as scheduled and a draft algorithm
for the outpatient management of hydrocarbon poisoning in children
underfive at primary health care level is expected to be ready for validation by the end of June
2005.
(more)
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Dr Gezairy visits IMCI-implementing
areas in Egypt, February 2005
Dr Gezairy, the Regional Director for the WHO Eastern Mediterranean
Region, visited health facilities
implementing the Integrated Management of Child Health strategy (IMCI)
in Alexandria on 7 and 8 February 2005. He also visited Alexandria
University which has spearheaded the enhancing of teaching of
paediatrics based on the IMCI approach. This visit underlines the
priority assigned by the Regional Office to child health. Read more
about the Egypt success story.
(more)
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