Menstrual management in communal sanitation facilities: recommendations to eThekwini municipality

A growing body of research has shown that menstrual hygiene products (MHPs) are critical to gender equity, and South Africa has committed to providing free sanitary napkins to all indigent women. To address interim water and sanitation needs of its citizens living in informal settlements, South Africa’s eThekwini Water and Sanitation Unit (EWS) constructed community ablution blocks (CABs) that consist of gender-separated toilets, showers, and washbasins. The interactions between women, unfamiliar sanitation systems, and MHPs are likely to impact women and the sanitation systems they utilize. A larger case study led by PATH is evaluating these interactions, within which this sub-study aims to characterize the relationship between CABs and menstrual hygiene management in Durban’s informal settlements. Based on analysis of information gathered through interviews, photo documentation, and observations, we provide recommendations to EWS that we believe will improve women’s experiences at CABs and reduce negative impacts on the sanitation systems

Core components for effective infection prevention and control programmes: new WHO evidence-based recommendations

Abstract Health care-associated infections (HAI) are a major public health problem with a significant impact on morbidity, mortality and quality of life. They represent also an important economic burden to health systems worldwide. However, a large proportion of HAI are preventable through effective infection prevention and control (IPC) measures. Improvements in IPC at the national and facility level are critical for the successful containment of antimicrobial resistance and the prevention of HAI, including outbreaks of highly transmissible diseases through high quality care within the context of universal health coverage. Given the limited availability of IPC evidence-based guidance and standards, the World Health Organization (WHO) decided to prioritize the development of global recommendations on the core components of effective IPC programmes both at the national and acute health care facility level, based on systematic literature reviews and expert consensus. The aim of the guideline development process was to identify the evidence and evaluate its quality, consider patient values and preferences, resource implications, and the feasibility and acceptability of the recommendations. As a result, 11 recommendations and three good practice statements are presented here, including a summary of the supporting evidence, and form the substance of a new WHO IPC guideline

Use of cancer-specific yeast-secreted in vivo biotinylated recombinant antibodies for serum biomarker discovery

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Priority setting in health care: Lessons from the experiences of eight countries

All health care systems face problems of justice and efficiency related to setting priorities for allocating a limited pool of resources to a population. Because many of the central issues are the same in all systems, the United States and other countries can learn from the successes and failures of countries that have explicitly addressed the question of health care priorities