November 06, 2024 08:39 (IST)
Follow us:
facebook-white sharing button
twitter-white sharing button
instagram-white sharing button
youtube-white sharing button
Union Minister HD Kumaraswamy booked for threatening cop probing into mining case | Supreme Court upholds validity of Uttar Pradesh Madrasa Education Act | Not all private properties are community resources that govt can take over: Supreme Court | Pakistan's Lahore has become world's most polluted city with an AQI of 1900 on Sunday | Indian Army 'successfully completes' patrolling to a key point in Ladakh's Depsang region
New Zika response strategy to focus on preventing, managing medical complications – UN health agency

New Zika response strategy to focus on preventing, managing medical complications – UN health agency

| | 18 Jun 2016, 06:55 am
New York, June 18 (Just Earth News):The United Nations health agency on Friday issued a revised strategic response plan for the next one and a half years to combat the transmission of the Zika virus, which has now spread to 60 countries.


The Zika Strategic Response Plan from July 2016 to December 2017 would place a greater focus on preventing and managing medical complications caused by Zika virus infection, requiring $121.9 million for its effective implementation, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

“Much has been learned about Zika virus infection [...] This Zika virus strain and its complications represent a new type of public health threat which requires a unique and integrated strategy that places support for women and girls of child-bearing age at its core,” said WHO Director-General Dr. Margaret Chan in a news release on the strategy.

In an interconnected world characterized by profound mobility, Zika has spread dramatically across central and southern America and more recently to other regions, including Asia and Africa, she said.

“Its risk profile has changed from a mild threat to one with serious consequences,” Dr. Chan stressed, noting that there is now scientific consensus that Zika virus is a cause of microcephaly and Guillain-Barré syndrome.

Its risk profile has changed from a mild threat to one with serious consequences

The previous response plan was put in place in February, but at the time there had not been as much knowledge about Zika as there was now. The link between Zika and neurological disorders had not yet been established then.

“Knowing now that Zika could have long-term consequences, it was necessary to work with countries to have enough capacities to counsel couples before the pregnancy, to monitor and follow pregnancies, and to provide medical support if needed to babies,” WHO spokesperson Tarik Jasarevic told reporters in Geneva.

Risk communications targeting pregnant women, their partners, households and communities will be central to prevention efforts to ensure they have the information they need to protect themselves.

Other elements include integrated vector management, sexual and reproductive health counselling as well as health education and care within the social and legal contexts of each country where Zika virus is being transmitted.

The plan highlights several specific characteristics of the Zika outbreak that require a collaborative, global response and support. These include:

the potential for further international spread of Zika virus given the wide distribution of Aedes mosquitoes that are capable of transmitting Zika virus;
the lack of population immunity in areas where Zika virus is circulating for the first time and which allows the disease to spread quickly;
the absence of vaccines, specific treatments and rapid diagnostic tests; and
inequalities in access to sanitation, information and health services in affected areas.

Significant funding gaps existed for the full implementation of the previous plan, and coherent funding mechanisms are essential for successful implementation of the revised plan.

In May, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon established a UN Zika response multi-partner trust fund, to generate and ensure the effective use of the resources necessary to implement this revised Zika strategic response plan.

Photo: WHO/PAHO

Source: www.justearthnews.com

Support Our Journalism

We cannot do without you.. your contribution supports unbiased journalism

IBNS is not driven by any ism- not wokeism, not racism, not skewed secularism, not hyper right-wing or left liberal ideals, nor by any hardline religious beliefs or hyper nationalism. We want to serve you good old objective news, as they are. We do not judge or preach. We let people decide for themselves. We only try to present factual and well-sourced news.

Support objective journalism for a small contribution.
Related Images
Xi Jinping, Putin in Russia 22 Mar 2023, 02:56 pm
Related Videos