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UNFPA hands over 1,200 PPE kits to Nepal government

by Public Health Update
written by Public Health Update

UNFPA hands over 1,200 PPE kits to Nepal government

20 April 2020

As part of the commitment to support the Government of Nepal in its efforts towards containing the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak in the country, the United Nations Population Fund today handed over 1,200 Personal Protective Equipment kits.

The PPE kits were donated by the Government of China under the Nepal, China and UNFPA south-south partnership initiative. The kits worth Rs 30.48 million include surgical masks, N95 masks, face shields, eye goggles, head and shoe covers, long-sleeve impervious gowns, disposable bags and gumboots.

After receiving the PPE kits, the Director of the Management Division, the Department of Health Services under the Ministry of Health and Population, Mr. Bhogendra Dotel said, “These PPE kits arrived in a timely manner and will greatly help in our response to the COVID-19 pandemic. We thank UNFPA and the Government of China.”

“With more people in need of testing and treatment amid the increasing number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the country, it is critical to protect the frontline health workers. Attention should be given to their work environment as well as their health and psychosocial needs at this time,” said UNFPA Country Representative for Nepal Ms. Lubna Baqi. “Alongside WHO and other UN agencies working in Nepal, UNFPA stands ready to support the Government of Nepal in its preparedness and response to this pandemic.”

UNFPA is calling on the government and partners to help ensure continuity of essential life-saving reproductive health services. In addition to the PPE kits, UNFPA has provided Dignity Kits to address the immediate hygiene and protection needs of women and girls in quarantine during the COVID-19 pandemic, in coordination with the government and local partners. These kits contain 14 different items such as soap, reusable menstrual pads, and other essential items for women and girls.

“In time of crisis such as this outbreak, women and girls are at a higher risk of intimate partner violence and other forms of domestic violence. Hence, life-saving care and support to gender-based violence survivors, such as the services offered by One Stop Crisis Management Centres, shelter and safe houses, helplines must be strengthened”, the UNFPA representative said.

NEWS RELEASE UNFPA

MoHP has confirmed one new case of COVID-19 in Nepal

WHO Director-General’s opening remarks at the media briefing on COVID-19 – 20 April 2020

Flattening the curve on COVID-19: What is the secret of Korea’s successful response?

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MoHP has confirmed eleven new case of COVID-19 in Nepal

by Public Health Update
written by Public Health Update

Ministry of Health and Population has confirmed eleven new case of COVID-19 in Nepal

April 21, 2020

Ministry of Health and Population has confirmed eleven new case of COVID-19 in Nepal. With this, the total number of COVID-19 cases in the Nepal has reached 42. There are now 38 active cases under treatment and four cases were recovered. 

MOHP press release

MOHP press release

A live repository and dash-board for COVID-19 in Nepal

A live repository and dash-board for COVID-19 in Nepal

Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) Resources: Guidelines, Recording and Reporting Formats

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WHO Director-General’s opening remarks at the media briefing on COVID-19 – 20 April 2020

by Public Health Update
written by Public Health Update

WHO Director-General’s opening remarks at the media briefing on COVID-19 – 20 April 2020

20 April 2020

Good morning, good afternoon and good evening.

First of all, I would like to wish all who have celebrated Orthodox Easter yesterday Happy Easter, including my own country Ethiopia.

Today is the first day our press conferences are being interpreted in all official United Nations languages: Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian and Spanish, and soon we will start Swahili and Hindi. We would like to make our UN truly UN, truly multilateral by including more languages and communicating with the whole world.

I’d like to welcome all journalists from around the world, and I invite you to ask questions in any of the six UN languages – for the time being of course, and we will keep opening up more languages.

I’d like to start by thanking the many musicians, comedians and humanitarians who made Saturday’s “One World, Together at Home” concert an enormous success. So humbled, and the whole WHO community is very grateful for the support that poured over 8 hours.

WHO is proud to have co-organized this event with Global Citizen, my brother Hugh Evans and Lady Gaga, and I also want to thank my colleague Paul Garwood who came up with the idea and has worked incredibly hard for several weeks to make it happen.

Paul Garwood is one of our colleagues in the front line. I ask my colleagues to give me crazy ideas, and he did. But as a boss I take all the credit and I shouldn’t do that. All the credit goes to my colleague Paul Garwood from our communications department. I hope all my staff will continue to give me crazy ideas. I’m proud to be WHO – very, very proud.

The event raised more than US$127 million to support several organizations responding to COVID-19, including US$55 million for WHO’s Solidarity Response Fund.

The fund has now raised more than 194 million dollars from more than 270,000 individuals, corporations and foundations.

Yesterday I had the honour of addressing health ministers from the G20 countries.

I appreciate the expressions of support from many countries for WHO’s coordinating role and our technical guidance.

I also appreciate the statements of the G77 and the Non-Aligned Movement expressing their strong support for WHO.

As you know, the G77 – 133 countries and the Non-Aligned Movement, 120 countries. This is a big vote of confidence, and we thank NAM and we thank the G77 countries.

 

WHO’s commitment is to science, solutions and solidarity.

Our commitment is to supporting all countries to save lives. That’s it, that’s our intention. That’s what we’re for: saving lives.

We’ve spoken previously about the factors countries must consider as they plan to start lifting so-called lockdown restrictions.

We want to re-emphasize that easing restrictions is not the end of the epidemic in any country.

Ending the epidemic will require a sustained effort on the part of individuals, communities and governments to continue suppressing and controlling this deadly virus.

So-called lockdowns can help to take the heat out of a country’s epidemic, but they cannot end it alone.

Countries must now ensure they can detect, test, isolate and care for every case, and trace every contact.

We welcome the accelerated development and validation of tests to detect COVID-19 antibodies, which are helping us to understand the extent of infection in the population.

WHO is providing technical, scientific and financial support for the rollout of sero-epidemiologic surveys across the world.

Early data from some of these studies suggest that a relatively small percentage of the population may have been infected, even in heavily affected areas – not more than 2 to 3 percent.

While antibody tests are important for knowing who has been infected, tests that find the virus are a core tool for active case finding, diagnosis, isolation and treatment.

One of WHO’s priorities is to work with partners to increase the production and equitable distribution of diagnostics to the countries that need them most.

To achieve that, WHO has worked with FIND, the Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics, and the Clinton Health Access Initiative, to identify and validate five tests that can be manufactured in large quantities.

Working together with the Global Fund, UNICEF and Unitaid, we have now placed orders for 30 million tests over the next four months.

The first shipments of these tests will begin next week, through the United Nations Supply Chain we have established with the World Food Programme and other partners.

Solidarity flights continue to ship lifesaving medical supplies across Africa to protect health workers, who are on the frontlines in the effort to save lives and slow the pandemic. 

Over the past week, WHO has been working closely with the World Food Programme to deliver masks, goggles, test kits, face shields and other medical equipment to 40 countries.

This is part of the overarching drive to keep supply chains moving and ensure key supplies reach 120 priority countries.

Through April and May we intend to ship almost 180 million surgical masks, 54 million N95 masks and more than 3 million protective goggles to countries that need them most.

I also want to highlight the Jack Ma Foundation’s donation of 100 million masks, 1 million N95 masks and 1 million test kits to WHO.

We had a very productive discussion with Jack Ma yesterday and he would like to continue to support countries in need.

We are also continuing to lead research and development efforts.

So far, more than 100 countries have joined the Solidarity Trial to evaluate therapeutics for COVID-19, and 1200 patients have been randomized from the first 5 countries.

This week, we expect that more than 600 hospitals will be ready to start enrolling patients.

The faster we recruit patients, the faster we will get results.

===

Finally, yesterday marked one year since our colleague Dr Richard Mouzoko from Cameroon was killed while working on the Ebola response in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

After 54 days without a case, there have now been six cases of Ebola in the past 10 days. We are continuing to work hard with our partners to support the government to ensure that this spark does not become a larger fire.

Unfortunately, Richard is one of many health workers who have lost their lives in the line of duty globally in the past year.

Some have died in attacks on health facilities, some have lost their lives to COVID-19.

I would like to use this opportunity to pay tribute to Richard’s family and also to Cameroon.

I would like to also pay tribute to every health worker.

We salute you. And we are committed to supporting you. We don’t take your commitment and heroism for granted. Thank you for saving lives, and for putting your lives at risk.

There is nothing more blessed than what you’re doing. Please keep doing what you’re doing.

From WHO, you have the greatest respect and appreciation.

I thank you.

WHO

WHO advisory body(SAGme) releases malaria eradication report

PhD positions in the MSCA Innovative Training Network TIPAT – towards Innovative Personalized Antibiotic Therapy

Knowledge Management Specialist, Kathmandu-Nepal (Coordinator role for COVID-19)- UNICEF

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WHO advisory body(SAGme) releases malaria eradication report

by Public Health Update
written by Public Health Update

WHO advisory body(SAGme) releases malaria eradication report

After a 3-year study of trends and future projections, the WHO Strategic Advisory Group on Malaria Eradication (SAGme) has released a detailed report of its findings and recommendations. The report builds and expands on an executive summary published in August 2019.

 

Established in 2016 at the request of the former WHO Director-General, Dr Margaret Chan, SAGme was tasked with analysing future scenarios for malaria, including the feasibility of eradication. Its members commissioned analyses and consulted widely with malaria and global health experts throughout their tenure.

In the new report, SAGme reaffirms the WHO vision of a world free of malaria – a goal enshrined in World Health Assembly resolutions dating back to 1955. There is a consensus that eradicating malaria would result in millions of lives saved and generate a substantial return on investment.

“Ridding the world of a parasite that overwhelmingly affects the poor and vulnerable would be a remarkable step towards global health equity and improved economic conditions in the poorest parts of the world,” says the 13-member group of eminent public health leaders. “The SAGme unequivocally supports this goal.”

 

However, members of the advisory body recognize that the goal of eradication is still far from reach. “Even with our most optimistic scenarios and projections, we face an unavoidable fact: using current tools, we will still have 11 million cases of malaria in Africa in 2050,” they conclude.

Key findings

SAGme considered a broad set of factors that underpin malaria: biological, technical, financial, socio-economic, political, and environmental. Its members reviewed trends in poverty and population growth, mobility, agricultural development, climate change, and urbanization.

The group also analyzed likely threats to malaria eradication, including health emergencies, and concluded that while epidemics may cause short-term setbacks, malaria eradication could still be achieved. They examined the impact of global governance mechanisms, health system readiness, community engagement, and other disease eradication efforts.

After reviewing the findings of numerous analyses and debating the conclusions, SAGme identified 6 areas that would shore up a successful malaria eradication effort.

  • Reinforcing the global strategy: While the Global technical strategy for malaria 2016–2030 provides a comprehensive and flexible framework to guide countries in their efforts to control and eliminate malaria, it will require some refinement and updating to lay a strong foundation for the eventual launch of a time-limited eradication campaign.
  • Research & development for new tools: Although existing tools have achieved remarkable impact, the world currently lacks the transformative tools needed to achieve malaria elimination in the highest burden areas. One of the highest priorities for achieving a world free of malaria is a renewed research and development agenda that improves the knowledge base and products necessary for achieving eradication.
  • Access to affordable, high quality, people-centered health care and services: To eliminate malaria and contribute towards global eradication, a country requires strong political commitment and investment in universal health care, with a well-functioning primary health care system at its base. Health system quality is strongly correlated with malaria progress across the spectrum of malaria endemicity.
  • Adequate and sustained financing: Since 2010, global funding for malaria control and elimination has remained relatively stagnant at around US$ 3 billion per year, despite an estimated need of US$ 6.4 billion per year to meet the 2020 targets of the global strategy. Financing must be adequate and sustained to support countries to reduce the burden of malaria and achieve elimination.
  • Strengthened surveillance and response: Surveillance and response systems must be nimble, reliable, rapid and accurate to react to changing social and physical environments and provide data to drive better decision-making.
  • Engaging communities: Communities play an essential role in the push towards a malaria-free world. Affected communities must be effectively engaged in co-planning, co-implementing and co-evaluating malaria programme services and interventions.

 

 

Laying a foundation

SAGme members recognize that the world is currently off track to meet critical 2025 targets of the global malaria strategy – reductions of at least 75% in malaria morbidity and mortality compared to 2015 levels. They note that achieving the targets of the global strategy must be the first step in a “pragmatic, strategic and humanitarian approach” toward the longer-term goal of eradication.

National ownership of malaria elimination efforts, they say, is essential. “Countries must move under their own direction while being supported and encouraged by WHO and partners to progress as quickly as possible towards elimination and, eventually, eradication.”

The full report of the SAGme can be found at: https://www.who.int/publications-detail/malaria-eradication-benefits-future-scenarios-feasibility

PhD positions in the MSCA Innovative Training Network TIPAT – towards Innovative Personalized Antibiotic Therapy

Knowledge Management Specialist, Kathmandu-Nepal (Coordinator role for COVID-19)- UNICEF

WHO Myth busters: Taking a hot bath does not prevent the new coronavirus disease

The Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) Program Learning Hub

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WHO Myth busters: Taking a hot bath does not prevent the new coronavirus disease

by Public Health Update
written by Public Health Update

WHO Myth busters: Taking a hot bath does not prevent the new coronavirus disease

Taking a hot bath will not prevent you from catching COVID-19. Your normal body temperature remains around 36.5°C to 37°C, regardless of the temperature of your bath or shower. Actually, taking a hot bath with extremely hot water can be harmful, as it can burn you. The best way to protect yourself against COVID-19 is by frequently cleaning your hands. By doing this you eliminate viruses that may be on your hands and avoid infection that could occur by then touching your eyes, mouth, and nose.

mb hot bath

Exposing yourself to the sun or to temperatures higher than 25C degrees DOES NOT prevent the coronavirus disease (COVID-19)

You can catch COVID-19, no matter how sunny or hot the weather is. Countries with hot weather have reported cases of COVID-19. To protect yourself, make sure you clean your hands frequently and thoroughly and avoid touching your eyes, mouth, and nose.

mb sun exposure scaled

Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) advice for the public: Myth busters

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The Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) Program Learning Hub

by Public Health Update
written by Public Health Update

The Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) Program Learning Hub

The DHS Program’s Learning Hub provides DHS data users worldwide with online learning resources to support capacity strengthening activities. Specifically, it is designed for survey implementing organizations and members of the public who are participating in DHS workshops and online courses.

The DHS Program Learning Hub  makes learning opportunities available to a global audience. The Learning Hub uses the latest technologies and eLearning tools to increase capacity for data collection and use. The Learning Hub is user-friendly, versatile, and works seamlessly on mobile devices with a visually appealing style.

Registration process

Registration is easy and free.

The DHS Program Learning Hub To access available courses, please click “Create an Account” or “Log In” in the top right corner of the screen. 

Explore the Learning Hub to discover available courses.

The DHS Program Learning Hub

WHO Online Course! COVID-19: How to put on and remove personal protective equipment

Online Course on: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) transmission, complications, diagnosis, and more

Online Course on: Research Ethics Training Curriculum (RETC)

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WHO Director-General’s opening remarks at the media briefing on COVID-19 – 17 April 2020

by Public Health Update
written by Public Health Update

WHO Director-General’s opening remarks at the media briefing on COVID-19 – 17 April 2020

17 April 2020
Good morning, good afternoon and good evening.

Tomorrow, WHO is joining forces with many of the world’s leading musicians, comedians and humanitarians for the “One World, Together At Home” virtual global special.

This is the result of a close collaboration with my good friend Hugh Evans from Global Citizen, and the inspirational Lady Gaga, to bring entertainment, joy and hope into the homes of people all around the world, whose lives have been turned upside down by the COVID-19 pandemic.

I would also like to use this opportunity to thank Lady Gaga’s mother Cynthia Germanotta, who is our Goodwill Ambassador, and is doing a great job advocating for mental health around the world – thank you so much Lady Gaga and Cynthia for your continued support and help. This is a family project and we appreciate your leadership and contribution.

This is an opportunity to express our solidarity with frontline workers, and to mobilize philanthropists, the private sector and governments to support the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund, powered by the United Nations Foundation and the Swiss Philanthropy Foundation.

So far, the Solidarity Response Fund has generated more than US$150 million from more than 245,000 individuals, corporations and foundations.

These funds are helping us to buy personal protective equipment, laboratory diagnostics and other essential supplies for the countries that need it most.

I would like to say thank you so much, thank you from our heart to those who have contributed.

For further details about tomorrow’s events, I’m delighted to welcome once again my friend and my brother Hugh Evans to say a few words, to be followed by the amazing Lady Gaga.

Hugh, over to you.

[HUGH EVANS AND LADY GAGA ADDRESSED THE MEDIA]

Thank you so much, Lady Gaga and thank you Hugh. I look forward to joining you and millions of people all over the world tomorrow for what I’m sure will be a wonderful event.

I share what Lady Gaga said: what the world needs is love and solidarity. So please accept much gratitude and much love from myself, Lada Gaga and Hugh Evans, and all our colleagues here. That’s what the world needs: love and solidarity to defeat this dangerous enemy.

More than 2 million cases of COVID-19 have now been reported to WHO, and more than 135,000 people have lost their lives.

While we mourn for those we’ve lost, we also celebrate those who have survived, and the thousands of people who are now recovering.

WHO is updating our guidance to include recommendations for caring for patients during their recovery period and after hospital discharge.

We’re encouraged that several countries in Europe and North America are now starting to plan how to ease social restrictions.

We have said previously that easing these measures must be a gradual process, and we’ve spoken about the criteria that countries should consider.

Yesterday we published our guidance on considerations in adjusting public health and social measures, which we encourage countries to read and apply.

But although we see encouraging signs in some countries, there are worrying trends in others.

In the past week there has been a 51% increase in the number of reported cases in my own continent, Africa, and a 60% increase in the number of reported deaths.

With the current challenge of obtaining testing kits, it’s likely that the real numbers are higher than reported.

With WHO support, most countries in Africa now have the capacity to test for COVID-19, but there are still significant gaps in access to testing kits. We’re working with partners to fill those gaps and help countries find the virus.

The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced yesterday that more than 1 million tests for COVID-19 will be rolled out across the continent starting next week.

Strengthening and supporting African institutions like the Africa CDC will help now and fur the future.

To further strengthen support for Africa, earlier this afternoon I spoke with President Ramaphosa of South Africa, Moussa Faki Mahamat, the Chairperson of the African Union Commission, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, Kristalina Georgieva, and the President of the World Bank, David Malpass.

===

In addition to tests, we’re also working hard to accelerate the development, production and equitable distribution of a vaccine.

Yesterday I spoke to President Emmanuel Macron of France, Bill Gates and other partners to discuss how to prevent another pandemic by getting vaccines from labs to people as fast as possible and as equitably as possible. The commitment from President Macron, from Bill Gates and also from Prime Minister Boris Johnson is heart-warming.

I also spoke to the Prime Minister of Barbados and the current chair of Caribbean countries about the challenges faced by small island developing states in gaining access to test kits and other supplies. No country should be left behind.

I would like to use this opportunity to appreciate the strong leadership of the Prime Minister of Barbados steering the response in the Caribbean.

Today I also spoke to the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and the Prime Minister of Finland, Sanna Marin, about continuing efforts across Europe to fight the pandemic and support lives and livelihoods.

The commitment of both leaders, President Von der Leyen and Prime Minister Marin is very heartwarming again.

I would like to clarify WHO’s position on “wet markets”.

Wet markets are an important source of affordable food and livelihood for millions of people all over the world.

But in many places, they have been poorly regulated and poorly maintained.

WHO’s position is that when these markets are allowed to reopen, it should only be on the condition that they conform to stringent food safety and hygiene standards.

Governments must rigorously enforce bans on the sale and trade of wildlife for food.

WHO has worked closely with the World Organization for Animal Health and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, to develop guidance on the safe operation of markets.

Because an estimated 70% of all new viruses come from animals, we also work together closely to understand and prevent pathogens crossing from animals to humans.

Finally, WHO is committed to keeping the world informed in as many ways as possible, in as many languages as possible.

Our Viber chatbot is now reaching 2.6 million people with reliable, evidence-based information, and is available in 16 languages.

This week we launched Tamil, Sinhala, Bulgarian, Greek, Italian and Hungarian, and we plan to launch Polish and Bangla next week.

I’m pleased to say that from Monday, we will be providing simultaneous interpretation for these press conferences in all official UN languages: Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian and Spanish.

We’re also planning to expand to include other languages like Swahili and Hindi.

We look forward to having more journalists join us from all over the world.

I thank you.

WHO

WHO Director-General’s opening remarks at the media briefing on COVID-19 – 17 April 2020

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Flattening the curve on COVID-19: What is the secret of Korea’s successful response?

by Public Health Update
written by Public Health Update

Flattening the curve on COVID-19: What is the secret of Korea’s successful response?

With the spread of COVID-19, the world is facing an unprecedented economic, social and political crisis. Global leaders and experts said COVID-19 is and will be “the gravest challenge since the World War II.” The number of new coronavirus cases increases exponentially peaking at 909 new infections on February 29 in Korea. But new case has dropped significantly. Korea was able to successfully flatten the curve on COVID-19 in only 20 days without enforcing extreme draconian measures that restrict freedom and movement of people. Following activities were implemented to Flattening the curve on COVID-19 in Korea. 

Mobile devices

ICTs played a vital role in fighting COVID-19 in Korea. Mobile devices were used to support early testing and contact tracing. Advanced ICTs were particularly useful in spreading key emergency information on novel virus and help to maintain extensive ‘social distancing’. The testing results and latest information on COVID-19 was made available via national and local government websites. The government provided free smartphone apps flagged infection hotspots with text alerts on testing and local cases.

ICT helps social distancing

  • Emergency broadcasting service (CBS, cellular broadcasting service): The Cellular Broadcasting Service, or CBS, enables government agencies to transmit emergency alert text messages on natural or manmade disasters to cell phones through mobile telecom carriers in Korea.

Smart Working

  • A special website providing information of solution companies for remote working
    As services not requiring in-person contact are on the rise due to COVID-19, solutions needed for remote working and remote learning will be provided. The Korean government opened a website to provide information about companies providing solutions for remote working and education and their products; related support will also be provided. Information about free solutions is also available so that they can be utilized for remote learning and remote working.
  • Smart working and social distancing (Holding virtual video conferences)
  • Cyber Security Guidelines for Staff Working Remotely
Remote Education
  • Providing educational contents by the central government
  • Korean government created a general information page on the science portal website, ScienceAll, to introduce diverse online science content, which contains educational content for science, mathematics and software; immersive content for learning science (AR, VR); video clips, comics and quizzes about science.
  • EBS (Korea Educational Broadcasting System) and educational websites
  • Korea’s pay TV providers, including the three major IPTV companies (KT, SKB, LGU+), cable TV and satellite TV, are providing real-time educational content such as EBS live lectures for primary and secondary school students on their channels.

Remote Medicare

  • The Korean government has temporarily permitted doctors to perform telemedicine from the end of February as part of preventive measures to avoid group contagion in vulnerable facilities including medical institutions and nursing homes. In other words, patients can receive phone consultations and have medicine prescribed without visiting medical institutions when the doctor considers it safe.
  • Remote medicine targeting confirmed coronavirus patients: The Moongyeong Seoul National University Hospital relies on video calls and electronic systems more safely and efficiently to monitor coronavirus patients hospitalized with mild symptoms.

 

Telemedicine using apps

Patients can log onto the Medihere app, select the hospital they want to visit, and make an appointment to see a doctor. They can receive remote medical advice via video call using the Telemedicine Treatment Room menu provided by the app. Prescriptions are sent to the pharmacy designated by the patient. Odoctor provides a service called Coronavirus 119 where self-reporting their symptoms allows patients to receive medical treatment and prescriptions. If a pharmacy has been designated beforehand, the hospital sends the prescription to the pharmacy. Medicine can be delivered by proxy or directly to the patient. 

 

Predictive Research on the Spread of COVID-19

The government is making full use of Korea’s research capabilities to support the decision-making process of the infection control authorities, such as, sharing data, for accurate and reliable prediction of the spread of COVID-19. The Korean government is supporting predictive research on the spread of COVID-19 carried out by Korean researchers using diverse methods, by identifying and sharing data that can be used by researchers within the scope of data protection and also by helping researchers establish a professional network among them. Such support will be useful for forecasting the macroscopic spread of COVID-19 and the effectiveness of response measures, which will be helpful when making decisions needed for infection control. 

Creating apps related to COVID-19

  • The app “Now and Here” calculates a mix of risk factors in surrounding areas when users enter their commuting routes.
  • The app Cobaek (an alert for coronavirus within 100 meters) sends an alarm when users are within 100 meters of a place that a confirmed patient visited.
  • Alerts for the availability of publicly provided masks at pharmacies.
  • The number of masks currently available at a given location is announced by color: green (more than 100), yellow (between 30 and 99), red (below 30), and grey (none available), and the information on mask sellers is automatically updated in accordance with the materials publicly released by the National Information Society Agency (NIA).

ICT locates COVID-19 with speedy TESTS

Developing the test-kit: A COVID-19 diagnostic kit was developed by a Korean biotech company using ICT, AI
and high-performance computing technology. It quickly became widely available and played a major role in eliminating uncertainties in the early stages of the viral spread. One of the reasons behind Korea’s rapid development of diagnostic kits is because companies invest in fostering an R&D environment based on ICT such as big data and AI, which allowed the use of research resources available on global online platforms of the WHO and other international organizations.

AI based patient examination: Korea’s AI-based medical image analysis specialists, Companies Vuno, Lunit and JLK Inspection, train their AI algorithms with large- scale chest X-ray photographic data, and detect abnormal findings such as pneumonia – a major symptom of COVID-19 patients – with high accuracy in just a few seconds.

Initiating AI devices at medical sites such as public health centers and local hospitals to relieve the burden of healthcare workers and improve the efficiency of diagnosis.

 

Walk-thru testing: K-Walk-Thru is a collective name for testing facilities adopted by Korea for the first time in
the world to quickly and safely collect samples for COVID-19. A walk-thru testing station allows quick collection of samples as subjects walk through the station with minimal contact.

Drive-thru Testing Centers

 

ICT & Tracing COVID-19

  • Self-diagnosis APP: The mobile application connects the user directly to the call center and social media channels in order to provide medical answers against suspected symptoms and allow early treatment.

Self-quarantine Safety APP

  • The Korean government has developed the Self-quarantine Safety Application to effectively support the monitoring of those under self-quarantine. 
  • The application largely has 3 key functions: a self-diagnosis for the users to conduct and submit the results with the assigned government officers; a GPS-based location tracking to prevent possible violation of self-quarantine orders; and providing necessary information including self-quarantine guidelines and the contact info of the assigned government case officers.
  • Two types of the application were developed: one for the users under self-quarantine and the other for the assigned government case officers. Those under self-quarantine use the application twice a day to monitor oneself concentrating on four symptoms: fever, cough, sore throat, and respiratory difficulties. Once submitted, the self-diagnostic data will automatically be shared with an assigned case officer, who will be notified if the user does
    not submit the self-diagnostic data or becomes symptomatic. The case officer is also notified when quarantine is disobeyed, in which cases, the case officer takes appropriate measures to have the subject return to the quarantine area.

 

Data Based Epidemiological Investigation

  • Epidemiological Investigation Support System: The COVID-19 Data Platform is designed to support epidemiological surveyors to quickly identify the transmission routes and places that the infected has visited by using real-time analysis of data such as GPS, mobile information and credit-card transaction history to conduct a spatial-temporal analysis. The platform supports health officials in confirming the interview results of patient transmission routes with the data on the system. Moreover, the big data analysis allows officials real-time data feeds on COVID-19 patients, including their whereabouts and the time spent on each location. From these multiple data points, the system can detect incidents of cluster infection and show the source of transmission.
  • Integrated Disease and Health Management System
  • Guide to record location history: (Jeju-do Island) voluntarily record their whereabouts on their smartphones using Google Timeline. By turning on ‘My Timeline’ function on Google Map application, the user whereabouts and routes are recorded automatically. If ever necessary, the data on Google Timeline can be captured as screenshots and shared with the epidemiological investigators, who will use the data to trace contacts and patient routes.

ICT facilitates COVID-19 TREATMENT

  • Research to facilitate drug repurposing
  • Developing medicine using AI
  • Developing medicine using platform

 

ICT FLATTENS the curve on COVID-19

  • Key information such as the accumulated count by region and number of tests performed is summarized and provided as visualization data on the main page of the website. Information on providing overseas travel history, finding COVID-19 screening centers, early-detecting of patients, using epidemiologic surveys and isolating the close contacts of a patient are also provided accordingly. Real-time data of publicly-distributed face masks is provided to people through mobile applications and web services, reducing confusion and inconvenience while raising distribution efficiency.
  • Release of COVID-19 open government data.
  • Information on providing overseas travel history, finding COVID-19 screening centers, early- detection of patients, using epidemiologic surveys and isolating the close contacts of a patient are also provided accordingly.
  • Ministry of Health and Welfare and the Health Insurance Review & Assessment Service(HIRA)

Publicly Distributed Mask Information Service

Policy-making using big data

Online sales of agricultural products

Response to Telecom Scams

Innovative Enterprise: A comprehensive situation map marking patient routes, screening centers, COVID-19
safe health clinics, mask vendors, early-voting locations, educational institutions, and places related to Shincheonji (A map of patient counts for cities and provinces, A graph of patient counts for cities and provinces, Graph of COVID-19 situation)

Clova CareCall Service

Source of information: A report prepared by joint collaboration of Korean government ministries and agency including Ministry of Economy and Finance, Ministry of Science and ICT, Ministry of the Interior and Safety, Ministry of Health and Welfare, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and Korean Intellectual Property Office.

WHO’s polio surveillance team, other field staff join COVID19 fight

WHO Online Course! COVID-19: How to put on and remove personal protective equipment

WHO Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) Situation dashboard

COVID-19 Dashboard by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE)

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Global Health NewsOutbreak NewsPublic HealthPublic Health News

WHO’s polio surveillance team, other field staff join COVID19 fight

by Public Health Update
written by Public Health Update

WHO’s polio surveillance team, other field staff join COVID19 fight

15 April 2020, News release SEAR/PR/1729

New Delhi – Tapping into the best practices and key resources that helped India win its war against polio, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and World Health Organization today initiated a systematic engagement of WHO’s national polio surveillance network, and other field staff, for COVID19 response.

“Time and again the Government of India and WHO together have shown our ability, competence and prowess to the whole world. With our combined meticulous work, done with full sincerity and dedication, we were able to get rid of polio. Today I would like to remind you of your potential and ability, and the big things we can do together. All of you in the field – IDSP, state rapid response teams and WHO – are our ‘surveillance corona warriors’. With your joint efforts we can defeat the coronavirus and save lives,” said Dr Harsh Vardhan, Minister of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India.

The Minister, along with Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh, Regional Director, WHO South-East Asia, was addressing WHO and other field staff, simultaneously connected from over 1 000 sites all over the country – from capital cities to the remotest corners.

 “The National Polio Surveillance Project (WHO-NPSP) played a critical role in strengthening surveillance for polio that generated useful, timely and accurate data to guide policies, strategies and interventions until transmission of the poliovirus was interrupted in the country,” Dr Khetrapal Singh said, adding that the other WHO field staff involved with elimination of TB and neglected tropical diseases and hypertension control initiative were also significant resources.

The Regional Director said, “it is now time to use all your experience, knowledge and skills, with the same rigor and discipline that you showed while monitoring polio activities, to support districts with surveillance, contact tracing and containment activities.” She urged the field staff to support the state and district governments.

In the fight against the COVID-19, we have entered a stage where surveillance is going to play a vital role in making future strategies for containment, she said.

The strengths of the NPSP team – surveillance, data management, monitoring and supervision, and responding to local situations and challenges – will be utilized to supplement efforts of NCDC, IDSP and ICMR to strengthen Covid-19 surveillance.

The NPSP team will also support in sharing information and best practices and help states and districts calibrate their response based on transmission scenarios and local capacities.

Most importantly, the WHO field staff will continue to support immunization and surveillance and elimination of TB and Neglected Tropical Diseases, the Regional Director said, adding, “disease outbreaks can negatively impact progress in a range of areas, from maternal and child mortality to vaccine-preventable diseases and other treatable conditions. India had been making stupendous progress in these areas and we cannot afford for India’s remarkable progress to be set back or reversed.”

Dr Khetrapal Singh said India has its unique challenges and also the capacity to overcome them, an example being elimination of polio in 2014. She complimented Dr Harsh Vardhan for introducing several of the key polio elimination initiatives as health minister of Delhi in 1994. Many of his initiatives were scaled up across the country and also adopted by other countries.

India’s WHO National Surveillance Project, renamed as National Public Health Surveillance Project post-polio elimination, has supported a number of public health emergency responses, including Ebola, with 50 of its surveillance medical officers deployed to Africa. 

15 April 2020, News release SEAR/PR/1729

WHO Online Course! COVID-19: How to put on and remove personal protective equipment

COVID-19 Dashboard by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE)

Statement by the Secretary-General on the World Health Organization

Nepal Government COVID19 DASHBOARD

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CoursesOnline CoursesOutbreak NewsPublic HealthSchool of Public Health

WHO Online Course! COVID-19: How to put on and remove personal protective equipment

by Public Health Update
written by Public Health Update

WHO Online Course! COVID-19: How to put on and remove personal protective equipment

ENROLL NOW

Overview

This is a guide for healthcare workers involved in patient care activities in a healthcare setting. It aims to show the type of personal protective equipment or PPE needed to correctly protect oneself. Based on the current available evidence, the WHO recommended PPE for the care of COVID patients are CONTACT and DROPLET precautions, with the exception of aerosol producing procedures, which require CONTACT and AIRBORNE (hence, a respirator mask such as N95, FFP2, FFP3). Keeping in mind, PPE is part of a larger infection prevention and control bundle of measures and should be implemented as part of a multimodal strategy of management of COVID-19 patients. Only clinical staff who are trained and competent in the use of PPE should be allowed to enter the patient’s room.

Learning objectives

By the end of this course, participants should be able to:

  • demonstrate the correct way to put on PPE;
  • demonstrate the correct way to remove PPE; and
  • demonstrate the correct way to perform hand hygiene with an alcohol-based hand rub (ABHR), according to the WHO-recommended method.

Course duration: Approximately 15 minutes.

Certificate: No certificate available at this time.

Course contents

  • Module 1: How-to-guide for putting on and removing PPE according to droplet/contact precautions for COVID-19:
  • By the end of this module, participants should be able to demonstrate the correct way to put on personal protective equipment according to the WHO-recommended method for COVID-19 droplet/contact precautions.
  • Module 2: How-to-guide for putting on and removing PPE according to airborne/contact precautions for COVID-19 aerosol generating procedures:
  • By the end of this module, participants should be able to demonstrate the correct way to put on personal protective equipment according to the WHO-recommended method for COVID-19 airborne/contact precautions.

ENROLL NOW

Online course on ”Health Cluster Coordination”- OpenWHO

WHO launches “Open WHO” MOOCs – start to enjoy learning now !!

COVID-19 Dashboard by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE)

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