Makerere University College of Health Sciences,
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News and Updates

A healthy Adolescent, ........A healthy nation

12 August 2018 ¦ International Youth Day is an opportunity to celebrate young people, as well as to raise awareness of the challenges and problems young people around the world face.

Assuring safe and secure physical spaces for young people is a key priority.

Equally as important is assuring them safe and secure environments for them to meaningfully participate in research and programs that affect them. Researchers, among others, have an obligation to cultivate safe environments for young people. Within the research context, this begins first and foremost with ethical practice.

The ages 10 to 14 are among the most critical for human development, yet one of the most poorly understood stages of the life course. While biological processes are universal, the social contexts within which they occur vary considerably.

The Global Early Adolescent Study (GEAS) aims to understand the factors in early adolescence that predispose young people to subsequent sexual health risks and promote healthy sexuality in diverse contexts, so as to provide the information needed to promote sexual and reproductive well-being. In some sites, it includes an intervention to assess impact.

 

Responding to children and adolescents who have been sexually abused

19 October 2017 Millions of children and adolescents across the globe are subjected to sexual abuse, including sexual assault or rape.

A 2011 study estimates that 18% of girls, and 8% of boys worldwide have experienced sexual abuse. This abuse is a major public health problem and a grave violation of human rights. Health care providers have an important role in identifying abuse and providing child or adolescent-centred care to disclosure of abuse. They also have an important role in connecting survivors to other services that they may need

Special supplement on the Global Early Adolescent Study published by the Journal of Adolescent Health

20 September 2017: When children move into early adolescence, they begin to take on new gender roles associated with femininity and masculinity, often reinforcing socially and culturally conventional gender norms related with being women or men

These gender roles have an impact upon the decisions that young people in early adolescence make, and therefore upon their health and well-being. They have an impact on the choices young adolescents make in relation to sexual and inter-personal relationships, which can have an effect on their health and well-being throughout the rest of their lives.

1 million

About 1 million girls under 15 give birth every year—most in low- and middle-income countries.

3 million

Every year, some 3 million girls aged 15 to 19 undergo unsafe abortions

39,000

Child marriages: 39,000 every day. More than 140 million girls will marry between 2011 and 2020

What’s new?

WHO Regional Director Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh awarded the certificate of “Elimination of Mother to Child Transmission of HIV and Syphilis to Vice President of the Maldives

Maldives eliminates mother-to-child transmission of HIV and Syphilis

15 July 2019 | Maldives has eliminated mother-to-child transmission of HIV and syphilis, joining first few countries in the world to ensure a generation free of these deadly diseases. Maldives is the second country in WHO South-East Asia Region to achieve this feat, after Thailand. Globally, congenital syphilis is the second leading cause of preventable still births while mother-to-child transmission of HIV accounts for 9% new infections.

Antenatal care consultation, Cambodia

Positive experiences, key to antenatal care uptake and quality

26 June 2019 | Results from a Cochrane qualitative evidence synthesis suggests that women use antenatal care if they see it as a positive experience that fits with their beliefs and values, is easily accessible and affordable and treats them as an individual. The review, covering 85 studies and published in the Cochrane Library, shows that women want care that makes them feel that they and their baby are safe, and is provided by kind, caring, culturally sensitive, flexible, and respectful staff that give support and reassurance about their health and of their babies.

 
A woman attends a health education session in northern Nigeria

Maternal health in Nigeria: generating information for action

25 June 2019 | Information is essential for change, but in settings where information is not readily available, epidemiological research becomes one of the most powerful sources of information for change. A supplement by the British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology (BJOG) titled “Application of maternal near-miss approach to audits of severe maternal complications in a low-resource country” reinforces this message.

 
Close of up woman's hands holding self-administered injectable contraceptive

Expanding access to health services with self-care interventions

24 June 2019 │ At least 400 million people worldwide lack access to the most essential health services. By 2035, there will be an estimated shortage of nearly 13 million healthcare workers. Around 1 in 5 of the world’s population will be living in settings that are experiencing humanitarian crises. At the same time, new diagnostics, devices, drugs and digital innovations are transforming how people interact with the health sector.

 
A community health worker providing family planning services and options to women in the community, Uganda.

New study finds no link between HIV infection and contraceptive methods

13 June 2019 │ A large clinical research study conducted in four African countries found no significant difference in risk of HIV infection among women using one of three highly effective, reversible contraceptive methods. Published today in the Lancet, the study showed that each method had high levels of safety and effectiveness in preventing pregnancy, with all methods well-accepted by the women using them.

 
Community outreach on the beach, distribution of condoms, Kenya.

Four curable sexually transmitted infections still affect millions worldwide

6 June 2019 | Published online by the Bulletin of the World Health Organization, the research shows that among men and women aged 15–49 years, there were 127 million new cases of chlamydia in 2016, 87 million of gonorrhoea, 6.3 million of syphilis and 156 million of trichomoniasis. These STIs have a profound impact on the health of adults and children worldwide.

 
Image of the framework document

RESPECT women: preventing violence against women

29 May 2019 | WHO with UNWomen, together with OHCHR, UNFPA, UNODC, UNDP, UKaid, USAID, SIDA, the government the Netherlands, and the World Bank Group, have developed RESPECT women: Preventing violence against women. The framework contains a set of action-oriented steps that enables policymakers and health implementers to design, plan, implement, monitor and evaluate interventions and programmes using seven strategies to prevent VAW. The strategies are summarized in RESPECT, with each letter representing one strategy.

 
Illustration

WHO releases first guideline on digital health interventions

17 April 2019 | WHO today released new recommendations on 10 ways that countries can use digital health technology, accessible via mobile phones, tablets and computers, to improve people’s health and essential services. WHO systematically reviewed evidence on digital technologies and consulted with experts from around the world to produce recommendations on 10 different ways that digital technologies may be used for maximum impact on health systems.