Human resources for maternal, newborn and child health: from measurement and planning to performance for improved health outcomes

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>There is increasing attention, globally and in countries, to monitoring and addressing the health systems and human resources inputs, processes and outputs that impede or facilitate progress towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals for maternal and child health. We reviewed the situation of human resources for health (HRH) in 68 low- and middle-income countries that together account for over 95% of all maternal and child deaths.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We collected and analysed cross-nationally comparable data on HRH availability, distribution, roles and functions from new and existing sources, and information from country reviews of HRH interventions that are associated with positive impacts on health services delivery and population health outcomes.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Findings from 68 countries demonstrate availability of doctors, nurses and midwives is positively correlated with coverage of skilled birth attendance. Most (78%) of the target countries face acute shortages of highly skilled health personnel, and large variations persist within and across countries in workforce distribution, skills mix and skills utilization. Too few countries appropriately plan for, authorize and support nurses, midwives and community health workers to deliver essential maternal, newborn and child health-care interventions that could save lives.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Despite certain limitations of the data and findings, we identify some key areas where governments, international partners and other stakeholders can target efforts to ensure a sufficient, equitably distributed and efficiently utilized health workforce to achieve MDGs 4 and 5.</p

Importância do uso profilático de Ferro e Vitamina D em lactentes

Introdução: O aleitamento materno é a fonte primordial de nutrição para os recém-nascidos. Todavia, o leite materno possui um teor reduzido de vitaminas e sais minerais, sendo necessário a realização de suplementação. Objetivo: Compreender a importância do uso preventivo de ferro e vitamina D em lactentes externalizando os benefícios dessa prática. Método: Revisão bibliográfica da literatura realizada em janeiro de 2023 nas bases de dados BVS, MEDLINE, LILACS e Google Scholar através dos seguintes DeCS: “Suplementos Nutricionais”, “Fatores de Risco” e “Lactentes” combinados entre si pelo operador booleano AND. Foram encontrados 98 estudos e após aplicar os critérios de inclusão e exclusão, foram selecionados 8 estudos para compor a revisão. Utilizou-se como pergunta norteadora:“Qual a importância do uso preventivo de Ferro e Vitamina D em lactentes?” Resultados: É notório os benefícios da suplementação de ferro e de vitamina D não apenas para os lactentes, mas em diversas fases da vida, essa intervenção pontual pode trazer diversos benefícios para a saúde em geral. Visto que a falta de ferro durante a gravidez estabelece uma ameaça para o desenvolvimento saudável do feto, principalmente em relação ao cérebro. Além disso, compreende-se que a hipovitaminose é considerada uma problemática de saúde pública mundial. Conclusão: As deficiências ocasionadas pela falta de ferro e vitamina D ocorrem com frequência, principalmente nos lactentes que apresentam fatores de risco dietéticos e não necessariamente nutricionais, os quais geralmente ocasionam desfechos clínicos adversos que afetam em sua maioria o desenvolvimento neurológico, impactando consideravelmente a qualidade de vida

Global commitment towards sustainable energy

Energy is crucial to economic and social development and improves quality of life. However, fossil fuel energy produces greenhouse gases (GHGs) and cannot be sustained for a long time. It is essential to tackle these problems by moving towards renewable and sustainable energy. Some countries, including those in the Arabian Gulf region, are still in the appraisal stage of adopting different forms of renewable energy. This paper reviews the business potential and likely GHG reductions associated with adopting renewable energy in Oman. It is revealed that 1·9 Mt of annual carbon dioxide emissions could be cut by producing 10% of the country’s electricity from renewables. The paper further discusses the global sustainable energy commitment under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and reviews the 2030 targets of some countries that are high producers of GHGs. It is anticipated that if all these planned targets are achieved, the total sustainable energy contribution could grow by nearly 11 000 TWh by 2030. These plans provide guidance for those countries still preparing to submit their plans to the UN