WHO consolidated guidelines on tuberculosis Module 2: Screening – Systematic screening for tuberculosis disease

Background Tuberculosis (TB) is a leading cause of death from a single infectious agent, despite being largely curable and preventable. In 2019 an estimated 2.9 million of the 10 million people who fell ill with TB were not diagnosed or reported to the World Health Organization. The Political Declaration adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in September 2018 commits, amongst others, to diagnosing and treating 40 million people with TB by 2022. In order to achieve this ambitious target, there is an urgent need to deploy strategies to improve diagnosis and initiation of care for people with TB. One of them is systematic screening for TB disease, which is included in the End TB Strategy as a central component of its first pillar to ensure early diagnosis for all with TB. To help facilitate the implementation of TB screening at the country level, WHO published guidelines on screening for TB in 2013. Since then, there have been important new studies evaluating the impact of screening interventions on both individual-level and community-level outcomes related to TB, as well as new research evaluating innovative tools for screening for TB among important populations at high risk for TB disease. Overview In view of these new developments and upon demand by countries for more guidance, WHO convened a Guideline Development Group (GDG) in 2020 to examine the evidence and prepare WHO consolidated guidelines on tuberculosis. Module 2: Screening - Systematic screening for tuberculosis disease. As a result of this process a set of 17 new and updated recommendations for the screening of TB disease have been developed. These recommendations identify contacts of TB patients, people living with HIV, people exposed to silica, prisoners and other key populations to be prioritized for TB screening. The new guidance also recommends different tools for screening, namely symptom screening, chest radiography, computer-aided detection software, molecular WHO-approved rapid diagnostic tests, and C-reactive protein. The new recommendations are being released as part of a modular series of WHO guidance on TB and are accompanied by a complementary implementation guide

Advancing Evaluation Practices in Philanthropy

In recent years, the philanthropic sector has neared consensus on the need to improve measurement and evaluation of its work. Although the philanthropies they lead use different methods, members of the Aspen Philanthropy Group (APG) have agreed that basic principles and practices can inform efforts to monitor performance, track progress, and assess the impact of foundation strategies, initiatives, and grants. They hope to build a culture of learning in the process

Development that works, March 31, 2011

This repository item contains a single issue of the Pardee Conference Series, On March 31, 2011, more than 100 people participated in a conference titled “Development That Works,” sponsored by Boston University’s Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future in collaboration with the BU Global Development program. In the pages that follow, four essays written by Boston University graduate students capture the salient points and overarching themes from the four sessions, each of which featured presentations by outstanding scholars and practitioners working in the field of development. The conference agenda and speakers’ biographies are included following the essays.The theme and the title of the conference—”Development That Works”—stemmed from the conference organizers’ desire to explore, from a groundlevel perspective, what programs, policies, and practices have been shown—or appear to have the potential—to achieve sustained, long-term advances in development in various parts of the world. The intent was not to simply showcase “success stories,” but rather to explore the larger concepts and opportunities that have resulted in development that is meaningful and sustainable over time. The presentations and discussions focused on critical assessments of why and how some programs take hold, and what can be learned from them. From the influence of global economic structures to innovative private sector programs and the need to evaluate development programs at the “granular” level, the expert panelists provided well-informed and often provocative perspectives on what is and isn’t working in development programs today, and what could work better in the future

Évaluation d’impact visant à améliorer le développement (EIAD) : repenser, remanier et réformer

Version anglaise disponible dans la Bibliothèque numérique du CRDI: Impact evaluation for improving development (IE4ID ): rethinking, reshapin

Digital voices: Posthumanism and the generation of empathy

This chapter investigates digital technologies that variously assist, enable or simulate musical praxis. The first section sets up an opposition between the idea of the digital tool that augments human agency, and the machinic automatism predicated on the idea that reality is fundamentally number (dataism) and ticks along without the need for human consciousness. This gives rise to the idea that mechanical automatism is also intrinsic to human agency, a strand of posthuman thought on which the rest of the chapter turns. Accordingly, the second section shows how posing algorithmic composition as an expression of the posthuman is problematic. The final section focuses on the synthetic voices of digital assistants from online service providers that generate empathy at the price of a surrogate ‘conscience’. Accommodating this within a humanistic model is possible, but a closing case study of Tod Machover’s futurist opera, Death and the Powers (2010), raises the prospect of what might be called a ‘dark ontology’ of the digital

Traditional knowledge for health

The objective of this research is strengthening Nłeʔkepmx Traditional Food Relationships (NTFR) for community health, education and self-sufficiency and ultimately self-determination of Siska community members. Upholding the interconnected Nłeʔkepmx worldview, the research became known as “Traditional Knowledge for Health”. Research took place at Siska within the Nłeʔkepmx Nation Territory. Siska Traditions Society led this research in partnership with University of British Columbia- Faculty of Land and Food Systems. This partnership made explicit respectful research processes in the Siska-UBC Traditional Knowledge Protocol (TKP), an ethical research agreement. The principles of the agreement were enacted through community-directed Indigenous action research processes. This strength-based approach led to achieving self-determined control and application of Nłeʔkepmx knowledge systems through two main research activities: 1) The Siska Traditions Ethical Picking Practices- Harvest Training and Certification Program (STEPP) set a precedent for self-determined Indigenous education and policy creation for Nłeʔkepmx traditional food relationships (NTFR). The STEPP training resulted in hands-on culturally relevant traditional food workshops. Community members unanimously agreed the workshops are an effective way to pass on NTFR knowledge, practices and values. Following the training, participants increased their traditional food use and time spent on the land base. STEPP participants demonstrated their role as NTFR stewards and managers. The Siska community policy creation process provided clear direction for jurisdiction and management of NTFR. Indigenous title and jurisdiction will guide NTFR management. 2) The Youth-Elder Traditional Food Interviews reinstated the honourable roles of Nłeʔkepmx Elders as educators and youth as self-determined leaders of tomorrow. The Youth-Elder Interviews arose from Elders’ recommendation that technology may be part of the solution to getting youth to engage actively and passionately with the traditional teachings about food and health. The interviews resulted in the youth-directed documentary, “Traditional Foods of the Nłeʔkepmx Territory”. In this documentary, Elders’ share stories about Nłeʔkepmx traditional food relationships’ interconnectedness with: spiritual, cultural, educational practices; overall community health and strength; as well as impacts of colonization and ecological degradation. Overall this research has led to sustained community actions to strength Nłeʔkepmx traditional food relationships and ultimately contributes to Nłeʔkepmx Peoples’ self-determination.Land and Food Systems, Faculty ofGraduat

Reshaping development evaluation: Meeting the challenges of a changing context

No abstract available