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HOLISTIC Approach To Medicine

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Most people seek better health, but, often, their fear of going to the doctor, or needles, or taking certain medicines, and / or, their desire to avoid what they might consider the risks / side effects, associated with some convention treatments, become a risk to their personal health, and well – being. In the United States, our system of medical treatment is often referred to, as allopathic , which focuses on treating diseases, as opposed to preventive medicine. In many / most of the rest of the world, the emphasis is on reducing illnesses, by enhancing / improving our resistance, and / or immunity, and avoiding taking chemical medicines, initially, but only, when other approaches, aren't indicated. With that in mind, this article will attempt to briefly, consider, review, examine, and discuss, the HOLISTIC alternative / approach, using the mnemonic method.

1. Healing; homeopathy; heart / head: Holistic practitioners, often focus on healing the entire / whole person, including balancing the emotional and logical considerations, in a head / heart balance, without resorting, first, to merely treating symptoms. Most nations use homeopathic medicine, in a thorough, wellness program, as well as many other modalities.

2. Options: The focus is on taking advantage of all, viable options and alternatives, used together, towards creating better health!

3. Listen; learn: Wellness medicine treatment takes the time, to ask lots of questions, and listen carefully, in order to learn more, and be best positioned, to better health!

4. Importance; ideology; ideas; investigate: Utmost importance, in an alternative regimen, is possessing an ideology, of considering the bigger – picture, and take advantage of the finest relevant ideas / alternatives. When one investigates the options, and alternatives, he places himself, in the best position, for a potentially, healthier life, etc.

5. Systems; stronger; sustain: When one focuses on the best way to sustain our existence, and proceed, in a stronger way, he accepts alternative systems, focused on a healthier lifestyle!

6. Timely; trends: Pay attention to the discoveries, trends, and new alternative techniques, with the focus, on the best. most relevant alternatives, might create a healthier – you! In every medically – related, instance, it's essential to pursue, well – considered, timely actions and treatments, while ruling out major illnesses, such as cancer, etc.

7. Imagination; insist; improve: If you hope to improve your health, you will have to work, on it, while maintaining the imagination, to consider options and alternatives, and insist, on doing everything, possible, to enhance your well – being.

8. Care; caring; coordinate: Coordinate your care, and know, when allopathic approaches are needed, and necessary, and when, holistic approaches and techniques, might be best, for you! Happy people are generally, best – positioned, to be healthier, and are often, the most caring individuals.

Wise people don't ignore the possibilities, and are ready, willing and able, to consider, when HOLISTIC medicine and techniques, are best – suited, for you. Will you maintain the open – mind, to be the healthiest, you might possibly, become.

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Source by Richard Brody

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July 26, 2022
Cure Stuttering Effectively With DAF And GILCU

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Stuttering as a speech disorder poses a lot of beliefs and theories concerning its origin and characteristics. One of them is the belief that stuttering is a result of the mismatch between a person's speech capacities and the demands the person receives from the environment. A person may constantly receive pressure around very fluent people. This may lead to the breakdown of his / her speech systems because the pressure he receives is just too much of what his speech system can accommodate. This makes concerned individuals look for ways on how to match these two factors and ways on how to cure stuttering.

There are a lot of myths and devices that promise instant cure for stuttering. Unfortunately, these are hoaxes and only provide temporary cure. But, with the help of techniques that are taught and implemented by certified speech pathologists, stutterers will be able to eliminate their moments of stuttering and communicate effectively. A lot of techniques are well-received by researchers in this field.

How To Cure Stuttering With GILCU?

Stutterers and concerned families have always been in the search for ways on how to cure stuttering. Speech pathologists incorporate different fluency techniques during therapies that promise to reduce and then completely eliminate the abnormal repetitions, prolongations and stoppages or blocks present in a stutterer's speech. With the help of the techniques, stutterers are also able to eliminate the physical concomitants or movements that they involuntarily do. Two of these techniques that aim to treat stuttering are Gradual Increase in Length and Utterance (GILCU) and Delayed Auditory Feedback (DAF).

How to cure stuttering with GILCU? GILCU, as what it stands for implies, involves the structured plan of the application of fluency techniques. The fluency techniques taught to patients are introduced and then applied in the patients' speech in a gradual manner. The patients will first apply the techniques with syllables then proceed with words, then to phrases and in turn to sentences. The patients, who seek ways of how to cure stuttering, will need to master first applying the techniques in the shortest utterances before proceeding to longer and more complex ones.

GILCU is incorporated in the Fluency Shaping treatment plan because it targets the over-all fluency of the person. This is also a convenient and effective technique because it doesn't bombard the stutterer with a lot of techniques at once. This gives the patient the chance to adapt and incorporate the techniques needed according to his / her own capacities. GILCU answers people over their concern on how to cure stuttering effectively.

How To Cure Stuttering With DAF?

DAF is another technique used by speech pathologists for people who are concerned on how to cure stuttering. Delayed Auditory Feedback, as the name implies, alters the auditory feedback system of the stutterer to lessen the dysfluencies. It is based on the belief that stutterers are not able to immediately implement corrections when what they wanted to say is different from what they have said. How to cure stuttering with DAF?

With DAF, a device is placed on the patient's ears. This device modifies the feedback system by delaying the sound heard by the stutterer by 50-75 milliseconds. This will make the stutterer prolong syllables and reduce the rate of utterances, thereby lessening the sudden dysfluencies created because of pressures for rapid speech. The delay caused by the DAF is decreased over the course of therapy to increase the pressure imposed on the stutterer. Its goal related to how to cure stuttering, is to practice the speaker to not hurry his / her speech and give him / her ample time to construct his ideas and produce them well.

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Source by Samuel Keith

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July 26, 2022
BSE (Bombay Stock Exchange) – Online Trading System

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Gone are the days when you needed a broker to help you buy and sell stocks, shares and make stock market investments. Through online investment you can buy and sell shares with just a few clicks of the mouse. The economic and capital market in India cannot exist without a stock exchange; there are two main stock exchanges where transactions take place; the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) and the National Stock Exchange (NSE). While all the major transactions take place here, there are over 20 different stock exchanges located across the country.

Online trading in India has changed the meaning of trading in the country. With no requirement for a broker, trading has become easier, faster and far more convenient than earlier days. Some of the major financial products and services offered through online trading are mutual funds, equities, general insurance, life insurance, share trading, portfolio management, commodities trading and financial planning. In online trading, the investor has to pay less brokerage as compare to offline trading. There is no need for any paperwork through online investing and the need for a middle man is eliminated. All the stock accounts are stored in a Demat account where they can be viewed.

BSE online trading was established in 1995 and is the first exchange to be set up in Asia. It has the largest number of listed companies in the world and currently has 4937 companies listed on the Exchange with over 7,700 traded instruments.

The only thing that an investor requires for online trading through BSE is an online trading account. The trading can then be done within the trading hours from any location in the world. In fact, BSE has replaced the open cry system with automated trading. Open cry system is a common method of communication between the investors at a stock exchange where they shout and use hand gestures to communicate and transfer information about buy and sell orders. It usually takes place on the ‘pit’ area of the trading floor and involves a lot of face to face interaction. However, with the use of electronic trading systems trading is easier, faster and cheaper; and is less prone to manipulation by market makers and brokers/dealers.

The BSE provides an efficient and transparent market for trading in debt instruments, equity and derivatives. This is performed through a system known as BOLT – BSE’s Online Trading System.

In the stock exchange, a key index is used to keep track of the important or the most traded stocks in the exchange. The indice used at the BSE while trading is the SENSEX and is displayed in all major portals, newspapers and magazines. It is India’s first stock market index that enjoys an iconic stature and is tracked worldwide. It is conducted on a free-float methodology and is sensitive to market sentiments and realities.

There are also indices such as BSE small cap, BSE mid cap and BSE500 to take care of medium and small companies. Furthermore, India index services and Products Limited has indices such as CNX Nifty Junior, S&P CNX Nifty, CNX 100, S&P CNX 500 and CNX Mid cap. The BSE offers 22 indices to suit a multiplicity of needs, inclusive of 12 sectorial indices. For example, the BSE PSU Index tracks the performance of the listed PSY companies and also helps the Central Government to monitor its wealth on the bourses.

The BSE has become a completely ‘corporatised and demutualized stock exchange’ through the use of online exchanges. With partners such as Deutsche Borse (DB) and Singapore Stock Exchange (SGX) it has a global competitive force. BSE has strategic relationships in almost every part of the world- Europe (DB)), Hong Kong (ETF) and Asia (SGX), prominent public sector undertakings such as State Bank of India, Bank of India, Life Insurance Corporation of India and Central Bank of India.

Benefits of BSE trading system in India for share brokers or newbies

There are a number of attractive services to empower investors and facilitate smooth transactions. Some of these include:

1) Investor Services: A range of services are offered to investors. Being the first exchange in the country to provide an amount of INR 1 million towards the investor protection fund, the BSE had launched a nationwide investor awareness program; ‘Safe Investing in the Stock Market’ under which there were 264 programmes which were conducted in over 359 cities in India.

2) BSE has an Online trading BOLT system: the online-Trading system (BOLT) facilitates on-line screen based trading in securities. Currently it operates 25,000 Trader Workstations which are located across 359 cities in the country.

3) The BSE has the world’s first centralized exchange-based Internet trading system – BSEWEBX.com. This system helps the investors anywhere in the world to trade on the BSE platform.

4) The BSE has an online Surveillance system (BOSS) which monitors on a REAL-TIME basis the price movements, the volume positions and members’ positions as well as real time measurement of default risk, generation of cross market alerts and market reconstruction.

5) The BSE has a training institute – known as the Bombay Stock Exchange Training Institute (popularly known as the acronym BTI).The BTI imparts capital market training and certification; in collaboration with a number of reputed management institutes and universities. There are over 40 courses to choose from on different aspects of the capital market and the financial Bombay Stock Exchange market.

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Source by Monish P Kumar

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July 26, 2022
The Sorry State Of Nigeria’s Judiciary Among Others Makes The Battle Cry For A Revolution Inevitable By Francis Adewale

Lawyers

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.”
– President John F. Kennedy (1962)

This week may be one of the worst weeks for Nigerian judiciary and they might have made the much vaunted Sowore’s revolution inevitable. The first salvo was the list of judges released by the National Judicial Council replete with the names of their sons and daughters as well as hangers on. Second is the farcical decision in EFCC vs Kalu where the Supreme Court “suo motu” created a new section to the constitution of Nigeria by vacating a conviction duly given under an extant law. The strange rationale by the Supreme Court is that the presiding judge, now elevated to the Court of Appeal should not have pronounced the sentence. The Court conveniently ignored the fact that the accused counsel had invited the judge to come back and continue the hearing by a formal letter!

Gone are the days when Nigerian judiciary is famously celebrated as the last bastion of defense for the common man. The days of Kayode Esho, Chukwudifu Oputa, Muhammed Uwais is long gone. Our judiciary is no more like Caesar’s wife, above board. The problem however is not necessarily down to the hydra headed monster of corruption alone but a more sinister evil called, nepotism. It is my humble opinion that an opaque process for selection of judges led us to where we found ourselves this week. And the problem did not start with the current chief justice. The dysfunction and bastardization have been long in coming, and as we will find out in this piece, the cancer has eaten deep into the fabric of this nation. The revolution is inevitable.

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What precipitate this write up is a social media post by a good friend of mine and I obtained his permission to repost his comment with my personal edits:
“It took Orji Kalu only 4 months including Covid lockdown challenge to move from the High Court to Supreme Court to get his so called sound judgment from Supreme Court while it took ten years to get his case completed at the High Court level. Ten good years! And we are told justice in Nigeria is not cash and carry? The Supreme Court is preparing the ground for a revolution and very soon something extraordinary will take place. The same Supreme Court that will give 2021 and 2022 court date for poor defendants, sat and summarily decide a case within 4 months while cases of those facing a life sentence languish in the labyrinth of jungle justice!”

My first response to the post, is to retort that the problem did not start with judiciary, but they seem to have led the “nunc dimitis” for the internment of democracy in Nigeria. The judiciary may have pushed us to the praecipe but they were not the only one. We all recalled the impunity days of PDP rule and how they ride roughshod on people’s right, celebrating acquisition of jets obtained from corrupt practices while hordes of masses suffer the indignity of scrapping for foods from the gutter. Towards the end of that era, we all thought, if we can just get a man of integrity into Aso Rock, someone who will brook no atom of corruption, we will change the country. The election of 2015 seems to have lulled Nigerians into thinking that all we need is someone or a duo with integrity, so we elect Buhari and Osinbajo, a puritan and a pastor and went home satiated. What we were not prepared for or more appositely choose to ignore is the fact that the vehicle that brought them into governance is none other than the decrepit system that PDP used to feather their nest. In the first 4 years, we were told that the problem is with the National Assembly where the legistlooters shifted their control of the vortex of power in Abuja, opposing every anti-corruption moves of the executives. Then come the last election where the ruling party now controls the executive and legislative arm, but corruption runs through the gamut of the judiciary and Aso Rock looks the other way while nepotism festers in its rank.

It is as if the cancer has completely swallowed up the entire fabric of the nation. Cases involving the poor dragged on for years while those who can afford senior advocate can get quick justice. Many warned that this will sound the death knell of democracy in Nigeria. Every attempt to even build on free and fair election has been truncated by the judiciary. What with the recent confounding judgment from Imo and Bayelsa. Our two gargantuan political parties now owned our judiciary lock, stock and barrel. They sit in smoke filled rooms to determine who will be governors, legislators and judges, and those who will play ball are readily appointed as pawns in the chest board of the Nigerian ruling class, wives, nephews, cousins, sons and daughters are made judges and senior advocates overnight without recourse to any modicum of meritocracy. A friend of mine recently quipped that the problem of nepotism is not just that it defeats meritocracy and breeds mediocrity but that it infects the entire body politics and renders it comatose. Corruption can be traced, and ill-gotten wealth recovered but nepotism is more sinister. Those who obtain position of power and authority through nepotism hold fealty only to their masters who appointed them. Such appointee will readily twist the constitution, made up section that does not exist all at the behest of their “godfather”. It is insidious and evil.

I graduated from Nigerian Law School 30 years ago, after an excellent stint at Great Ife. My class at Ife, drawn from the north, east, west middle belt and south-south has in its rank some of the best legal minds any country will be proud of. We graduated with high hopes to take on the world and change the land. Few of us found ourselves abroad on scholarship where we flourish and excel. Those in legal practice in Nigeria, either at the federal or state ministry of justice or private practice are the ones my heart bleeds for, especially those without access to members of the National Judicial Council. I have had the privilege to advance my career abroad as an attorney and public defender. I frequently sit on panels that recommend colleagues for appointment as judges in a fair, open and transparent process; something my colleagues in Nigeria could only dream of.

When I look at the state of Nigerian legal practice my heart bleeds. The career growth of colleagues in the legal profession in Nigeria is stunted not for lack of excellence but influence in the right place. Influence peddling is an art form in Nigeria and politicians used to have the exclusive preserve of selling it to the highest bidder, but our Judicial Council seems to have mastered the art. The problem will not be this pronounced if the sons and daughters they are foisting on Nigerian judiciary are steeped in the Nigerian experience or have a modicum of merit. As many of my colleagues are apt to complain, majority of the recent appointees hardly spend few years in Nigeria. They all went to schools abroad. Totally devoid of the Nigerian experience, and constantly removed from the everyday life Nigerians suffers under. Majority of them lives in the gilded mansions of their forbears in Abuja and other state capitals, where they are rarely touched by the “better angels of our nature” to use the phrase coined by Abraham Lincoln. It is therefore no surprise that they care only for what their “godfather” demand.

Let me however warns that the biggest mistake we could make is to think that the rot is only in the heart of our judiciary. Think again. Nepotism is next door, next street, next town and everywhere in Nigeria. It rampages through the land, be it North, East or West. Just look at our churches and mosques, who do you see minister or lead the prayers when the founder/visioner is not around? You guess right, if you say their sons and daughters. Gone are the days when Pa Fadayomi push to have a meritorious doctor of aerodynamics succeed him. Gone are the days when the leader of the faithful in Nigeria is selected by their aptitude in the knowledge of the Quaran. Nowadays, the exit of the leader is the beginning of the reign of the progeny. It has infected our colleges and universities, scholarship and opportunities that used to be available on merit are now exclusive preserve of the vice chancelor’s children and family members. Woe betide the school senate members that dare ask questions. Advertisement for jobs that has already been reserved for the children of the privileged are means to extort money in the form of application fees a la Abba Moro immigration recruitment scheme. A recent recruitment without advertisement at our apex bank reported by Sahara Reporters shows that successful applicants names were picked out of the rolodex of the governor. Commercial Banks staff are not an exemption, they are either recruited based on sex appeal or influential ministers/senators’ “recommendation” which doesn’t come easy for the educated but less privileged applicants.

A friend concluded an animated discussion on social media on this issue with a distinctively Nigerian resignation: “It is clear that those who do not want things to work properly in Nigeria are more powerful than those who are working towards finding solutions to our problems.” Again, my response is what do we have to lose if we embrace Omoyele Sowore’s revolution, even with its youthful disdain for experience? Especially when our current experienced leadership seems to treat the Nigerian masses with contempt. Look at it this way: They do not need our votes to win election, as they could procure midnight judgment in Abuja a la Bayelsa and Imo. They do not need to legislate to fill any lacunae in our constitutional experience as the Supreme Court proved in Kalu’s case. In fact, as long as oil flows and they have the means to fill their Cayman Island bank accounts, we may as well not exist. Greed and avarice have become the directive principle of Nigerian ruling class. To rescue ourselves from their vice grip, we need revolution now!

Francis Adewale
Tioluwanimi@gmail.com

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May 9, 2020
A large chunk of Mercury may have been blown away by the sun

Mercury is much denser than the other rocky planets in the solar system, and that may be because a collision vaporised its surface and the debris was blown away by the sun

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May 9, 2020
The ROI of Marketing Automation

Today’s fastest growing companies are using repeatable marketing and sales 2.0 techniques to grow revenue predictably and reliably. Download this paper and learn why companies that implement a marketing automation system to support their marketing and sales efforts are better equipped to manage lead flow and process leads more efficiently. This paper outlines how marketing automation optimizes marketing programs and can help companies.

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http://www.associationofmarketing.org/whitepapers/view.php?whitepaper_id=149

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May 9, 2020
Medical Product Alert N°5/2020 – 7 May 2020
Falsified and contaminated Defibrotide identified in WHO regions of Western Pacific, Europe and Eastern Mediterranean

This alert relates to falsified DEFIBROTIDE 200MG VIALS OF 2.5ML (80MG/ML) CONCENTRATE FOR SOLUTION FOR INFUSION identified in Australia, Latvia and Saudi Arabia. This product is sold under the brand name Defitelio.

On 13 March 2020, the WHO Global Surveillance and Monitoring System on Substandard and Falsified (SF) Medical Products was informed that falsified DEFIBROTIDE 200MG vials were identified at patient level in Australia, displaying batch number 0286 (see Table 1 below for full details).

Following enquiries with stakeholders, on 8 April 2020, WHO was informed that falsified DEFIBROTIDE 200MG vials had also been supplied to Saudi Arabia, displaying batch number 0286 and 0126 (see Table 1 below for full details).

Following enquiries with stakeholders, on 9 April 2020, WHO was informed that falsified DEFIBROTIDE 200MG vials, displaying batch number 0126, had also been identified in Australia and Latvia.

DEFIBROTIDE is used to treat hepatic veno-occlusive disease, in which the blood vessels in the liver become damaged and obstructed by blood clots. This can be caused by treatments prior to a stem cell transplantation.

Laboratory analyses, conducted by national medicines regulatory authorities and the manufacturer of the genuine product, established that these falsified products do not contain any of the expected active ingredient. The solution in the vials is also contaminated with mould (Cladosporium sp. and Aspergillus niger).

Information available to WHO indicates that both batches of falsified DEFIBROTIDE 200MG vials were present within the regulated supply chain in Latvia as early as January 2020 and were also handled by medicine wholesalers in the United Kingdom in February 2020. It is important to note that widespread vigilance is required from all countries, regardless of where the product was originally identified.

Table 1: falsified defibrotide subject of WHO Alert n°5/2020, identified in Australia, Latvia and Saudi Arabia

The two products listed in Table 1 are confirmed falsified, on the basis that there is deliberate misrepresentation of their identity, composition and source.

The genuine manufacturer of Defibrotide, GENTIUM S.R.L has also confirmed to WHO that:
- They did not manufacture the above products.
- Authentic DEFIBROTIDE 200MG VIALS with batch number 0286 were supplied to Argentina, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore and Turkey.
- Authentic DEFIBROTIDE 200MG VIALS with batch number 0126 were supplied to Australia, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, New Zealand, Qatar, Singapore, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates.
  For guidance and photographs, please refer to page 2 of this Alert n°5/2020.
Photos of Falsified DEFIBROTIDE Batch number: 0286, with expiry date: 09/2021

Sample from Latvia Sample from Latvia

Photos of Falsified DEFIBROTIDE Batch number: 0126, with expiry date: 08/2021

Sample from Australia Sample from Australia

WHO requests increased vigilance within the supply chains of countries likely to be affected by these falsified products. Increased vigilance should include hospitals, clinics, health centres, wholesalers, distributors, pharmacies and any other suppliers of medical products.

If you are in possession of the above products, please do not use them. If you have used these falsified products, or if you suffer an adverse reaction/event having used these products, you are advised to seek immediate medical advice from a qualified healthcare professional, and to report the incident to the National Regulatory Authorities/National Pharmacovigilance Centre.

All medical products must be obtained from licensed, authorized and reliable sources. Their authenticity and condition should be carefully checked. Seek advice from a healthcare professional in case of doubt.

National regulatory/health authorities are advised to immediately notify WHO if these falsified products are identified in their country(ies). If you have any information concerning the manufacture, distribution, or supply of these products, please contact rapidalert@who.int.

WHO Global Surveillance and Monitoring System for Substandard and Falsified Medical Products

For further information, please visit our website: https://www.who.int/medicines/regulation/ssffc/en/

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May 9, 2020
WHO and European Investment Bank strengthen efforts to combat COVID-19 and build resilient health systems to face future pandemics
- WHO and the European Investment Bank enhance cooperation to support countries in addressing the health impact of COVID-19
- The first phase will address urgent needs and strengthen primary health care in ten African countries
- Enhanced WHO-EIB partnership will scale up financing to assure the chain of essential supplies, including personal protective equipment, diagnostics and clinical management
- New initiative will accelerate investment in health preparedness and primary health care with a focus on health work force, infrastructure, and water, sanitation and hygiene
- The initiative involves measures to address the growing threat of antimicrobial resistance
The World Health Organization and the European Investment Bank will boost cooperation to strengthen public health, supply of essential equipment, training and hygiene investment in countries most vulnerable to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The new partnership between the United Nations health agency and the world’s largest international public bank, announced at WHO headquarters in Geneva earlier today, will help increase resilience to reduce the health and social impact of future health emergencies.

“Combining the public health experience of the World Health Organization and the financial expertise of the European Investment Bank will contribute to a more effective response to COVID-19 and other pressing health challenges,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General.

“WHO looks forward to strengthening cooperation with the EIB to improve access to essential supplies including medical equipment and training, and deliver better water, sanitation and hygiene where most needed. New initiatives to improve primary health care in Africa and support the EU Malaria Fund hint at the potential impact of our new partnership,” Dr Tedros concluded.

“The world is facing unprecedented health, social and economic shocks from COVID-19. The European Investment Bank is pleased to join forces with the World Health Organization as a key part of Team Europe’s efforts to address the global impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The EU Bank’s new partnership with the WHO will help communities most at risk by scaling up local medical and public health efforts and better protect people around the world from future pandemics. This new cooperation will enable us to combat malaria, address anti-microbial resistance and enhance public health in Africa more effectively,” said Werner Hoyer, President of the European Investment Bank.

Improving local public health efforts to tackle coronavirus

The WHO and the EIB will increase cooperation to help governments in low- and middle-income countries to finance and secure access to essential medical supplies and protective equipment through central procurement.

Building resilient health systems in vulnerable countries across Africa

The WHO and the EIB will reinforce cooperation to support immediate COVID-19 needs and jointly develop targeted financing to enhance health investment and build resilient health systems and primary health care to address public health emergencies as well as accelerate progress towards Universal Health Coverage.

The partnership will benefit from the EIB’s planned 1.4 billion EUR response to address the health, social and economic impact of COVID-19 in Africa.

This will address immediate needs in the health sector and provide both technical assistance and support for medium-term investment in specialist health infrastructure.

The collaboration envisages rapid identification and fast-track approval of financing for health care, medical equipment and supplies.

The first phase of the collaboration will see public health investment in ten African countries.

Long-term collaboration to overcome market failures in global health

The agreement signed today establishes a close collaboration to overcome market failure and stimulate investments in global health, accelerating progress towards Universal Health Coverage. Increased cooperation between the WHO and the EIB will strengthen the resilience of national public health systems and enhance preparedness of vulnerable countries against future pandemics, thanks to investments in primary care infrastructure, health workers and improved water, sanitation and hygiene.

Future cooperation will strengthen the EIB’s 5.2 billion EUR global response to COVID-19 outside the European Union.

Scaling up investment to tackle antimicrobial resistance

The two organisations will also cooperate in an initiative to address investment barriers hindering development of new antimicrobial treatment and related diagnostics. Antimicrobial resistance is amongst the most significant global health threats.

The WHO and the EIB are working on a new financing initiative to support development of novel antimicrobials and address the estimated 1 billion EUR needed to provide medium-term solutions to antimicrobial resistance. Other crucial partners have been invited to join this discussion.

Improving the effectiveness of malaria treatment

Under the new agreement the EIB and WHO will support development of the EU Malaria Fund, a new 250 million EUR public-private initiative intended to address market failures holding back more effective malaria treatment.

Strengthening EIB support for healthcare, life science and COVID-19 investment

In recent years the European Investment Bank has provided more than 2 billion EUR annually for health care and life science investment.

In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, the EIB is currently assessing over 20 projects in the field of vaccine development, diagnostic and treatment, leading to potential investments in the 700 million EUR range. The EIB will also take part in the EU’s rolling pledging effort for the coronavirus global response that is taking place on May 4th.

Background information

The European Investment Bank (EIB) is the long-term lending institution of the European Union owned by its Member States. It makes long-term finance available for sound investment in order to contribute towards EU policy goals.

The World Health Organization provides global leadership in public health within the United Nations system. Founded in 1948, WHO works with 194 Member States, across six regions and from more than 150 offices, to promote health, keep the world safe and serve the vulnerable. Our goal for 2019-2023 is to ensure that a billion more people have universal health coverage, to protect a billion more people from health emergencies, and provide a further billion people with better health and wellbeing. For updates on COVID-19 and public health advice to protect yourself from coronavirus, visit www.who.int and follow WHO on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, Pinterest, Snapchat, YouTube

WHO’s information site on the COVID-19 pandemic

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May 9, 2020
Statement on the third meeting of the International Health Regulations (2005) Emergency Committee regarding the outbreak of coronavirus disease (COVID-19)
The third meeting of the Emergency Committee convened by the WHO Director-General under the International Health Regulations (2005) (IHR) regarding the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), took place on Thursday, 30 April 2020, from 12:00 to 17:45 Geneva
time (CEST).

Proceedings of the meeting

Members and advisors of the Emergency Committee were convened by teleconference. Membership of the Emergency Committee was expanded
to reflect the nature of the pandemic and the need to include additional areas of expertise.

The Director-General welcomed the Committee, thanked them for their commitment to enhancing global public health, and provided an overview of the major achievements in the COVID-19 response since the last Emergency Committee meeting on 30 January 2020.
Representatives of the legal department and the Department of Compliance, Risk Management, and Ethics (CRE) briefed the members on their roles and responsibilities.

The Ethics Officer from CRE provided the members and advisers with an overview of the WHO Declaration of Interest process. The members and advisers were made aware of their individual responsibility to disclose to WHO, in a timely manner, any interests
of a personal, professional, financial, intellectual or commercial nature that may give rise to a perceived or direct conflict of interest. They were additionally reminded of their duty to maintain the confidentiality of the meeting discussions and
the work of the committee. Only those committee members and advisers who were not considered to have any perceived or direct conflict of interest participated in the meeting.

The Secretariat turned the meeting over to the Chair, Professor Houssin. He also welcomed the Committee and reviewed the objectives and agenda of the meeting.

The WHO Regional Emergency Directors and the Executive Director of the WHO Health Emergencies Programme (WHE) provided regional and the global situation overview. After ensuing discussion, the Committee unanimously agreed that the outbreak still constitutes
a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC) and offered advice to the Director-General.

The Director-General declared that the outbreak of COVID-19 continues to constitute a PHEIC. He accepted the advice of the Committee to WHO and issued the Committee’s advice to States Parties as Temporary Recommendations under the IHR.

The Emergency Committee will be reconvened within three months or earlier, at the discretion of the Director-General. The Director-General thanked the Committee for its work.

Advice to WHO

Coordination, planning, and monitoring
- Continue to lead and coordinate the global response to the COVID-19 pandemic in collaboration with countries, the United Nations (UN), and other partners.
- Work with fragile states and vulnerable countries that require additional technical, logistical and commodity support.
- Establish mechanisms to compile lessons learned from country and partner experiences and WHO missions and share the best practices and updated recommendations.
- Provide further guidance to countries about adjusting public health measures, taking into account the different epidemiological situations of the pandemic.
- Promote the inclusion of all interested countries, including low- and middle-income countries from all regions, in the Solidarity clinical trials for therapeutics and vaccines.
- Continue efforts with partners to obtain equitable access to personal protective equipment, diagnostics, and biomedical equipment essential to the pandemic COVID-19 response.
- Continue to coordinate global expert networks in epidemiology, laboratory, vaccines, clinical care, infection prevention and control, social sciences, and operational research; modelling; and other technical support.
One Health
- Work with the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), and countries to identify the zoonotic source of the virus and the route of introduction to the human population, including
  the possible role of intermediate hosts. This should be accomplished through efforts such as scientific and collaborative field missions, which will enable targeted interventions and a research agenda to reduce the risk of similar events.
- Work closely with OIE and FAO to provide guidance on how to prevent SARS-CoV-2 infections in animals and humans and prevent the establishment of new zoonotic reservoirs.
- Work with partner organizations and countries to strengthen the global food supply chain, protect food workers, properly manage food markets, and mitigate possible disruptions to the food supply.
Essential Health Services
- Support countries to assess and manage the unintended consequences of public health measures implemented to control the COVID-19 pandemic, including gender-based violence and child neglect.
- Support countries to monitor their ability to provide and strengthen essential health services throughout a likely extended COVID-19 response. This should include, but is not limited to, essential prevention for communicable diseases, particularly
  vaccination; services related to reproductive health, including care during pregnancy and childbirth; care of vulnerable populations, such as young infants and older adults; provision of medications and supplies for the ongoing management of chronic
  diseases, including mental health conditions; continuity of critical inpatient therapies; management of emergency health conditions and common acute presentations that require time-sensitive intervention; and auxiliary services, such as basic
  diagnostic imaging, laboratory services, and blood bank services.
- Support countries to address shortages of essential medicines and health products, personal protective equipment, and other medical supplies and to establish sustainable risk management practices to prevent future shortages.
Risk communication and community engagement
- Continue risk communications and community engagement activities through the WHO Information Network for Epidemics (EPI-WIN) and other platforms to counter rumours and misinformation.
- Continue to regularly communicate clear messages, guidance, and advice about the evolution of the COVID-19 pandemic, how to reduce transmission, and save lives.
- Work with partners and countries to articulate potential long-term consequences of COVID-19 pandemic, emphasizing the need for strengthened cross-sectoral preparedness, transparency and global coordination.
Surveillance
- Clarify the testing strategy, support countries to increase testing capacity, and aim to provide equitable access to diagnostic tests and supplies in light of market failures and global shortages.
- Continue to provide guidance on monitoring disease trends using Severe Acute Respiratory Infections (SARI) and Influenza Like Illness (ILI) surveillance systems in anticipation of the co-circulation of influenza viruses.
- Develop qualitative and quantitative indicators that countries can use to assess and monitor SARS-CoV-2 transmission at all levels of public health response.
- Continue to support countries and partners by providing technical and operational guidance, training platforms, and tools such as Go.Data,to enhance case identification and contact tracing capacity, strengthen the public health workforce, and engage
  communities for contact tracing.
- Provide clear qualitative and quantitative indicators to monitor SARS-CoV-2 transmission to inform the adjustment of public health and social measures.
Travel and Trade
- Continue working with countries and partners to enable essential travel needed for pandemic response, humanitarian relief, repatriation, and cargo operations.
- Develop strategic guidance with partners for the gradual return to normal operations of passenger travel in a coordinated manner that provides appropriate protection when physical distancing is not feasible.
- Update recommendations on appropriate travel measures and analyze their effects on international transmission of COVID-19, with consideration of the balance between benefits and unintended consequences, including entry and exit screening, education
  of travelers on responsible travel behaviour, case finding, contact tracing, isolation, and quarantine, by incorporating evidence on the potential role of pre-symptomatic and asymptomatic transmission.
To all States Parties

Coordination and Collaboration
- Support WHO leadership and continue to collaborate with WHO at all levels of the organization and with other countries to enable effective global COVID-19 pandemic preparedness and response.
- Participate in global solidarity efforts to enable access to essential supplies for all.
- Document and share lessons learned from efforts to control the pandemic, including the timing, pace, and sequencing of the application and lifting of public health measures.
Preparedness
- Strengthen preparedness for health emergencies, and build resilient health systems, incorporating lessons learned during different stages of the pandemic, and sharing experiences with other countries.
Surveillance
- Work with WHO and multisectoral partners to interrupt transmission by maintaining robust surveillance systems; enhancing capacities for case detection, testing, isolation of cases, contact tracing, quarantine of contacts, and rapid response; strengthening
  the public health workforce; and actively engaging communities for contact tracing, with a particular focus on high risk areas.
- In settings where testing a large proportion of suspected cases is not possible, monitor overall trends; undertake early detection through laboratory confirmation of a limited number of cases with a focus on health workers; and rapidly implement
  public health measures.
- Share with WHO all data necessary to conduct global risk assessments through data platforms, such as the Global Influenza Surveillance and Response System and the IHR mechanism. These data should include SARI and ILI where available.
- Use the WHO qualitative and quantitative indicators to assess and monitor SARS-CoV-2 transmission at all levels of public health response.
Additional Health Measures
- Avoid restrictions on international transport of food, medical and other essential supplies and permit the safe movement of essential personnel required for an effective pandemic response.
- Implement appropriate travel measures with consideration of their public health benefits, including entry and exit screening, education of travelers on responsible travel behaviour, case finding, contact tracing, isolation, and quarantine, by
  incorporating evidence on the potential role of pre-symptomatic and asymptomatic transmission.
- Implement and monitor case finding and contact tracing of travellers, using digital tools where appropriate.
- Continue to review travel and trade measures based on regular risk assessments, transmission patterns at origin and destination, cost-benefit analysis, evolution of the pandemic, and new knowledge of COVID-19.
- Engage in global efforts to respond to the challenges of COVID-19 in managing maritime vessels.
- Do not implement trade restrictions beyond those considered to be of public health importance in accordance with relevant international agreements.
- Continue to provide appropriate public health rationale to WHO for additional health measures in accordance with IHR.
Health Workers
- Prioritize the protection of the health workforce through access to training and provision of personal protective equipment, infection prevention and control measures, improved working conditions, application of WHO recommended testing strategies,
  and prevention of stigma and attacks on health workers.
Food Security
- Work with WHO and partners to strengthen the global food supply chain, protect food workers, properly manage food markets, and mitigate possible disruptions to the food supply, especially for vulnerable populations.
One Health
- Promote sound practices to manage risks of trade of live animals in food markets and regulate trade of exotic wildlife.
Risk Communications and Community Engagement
- Continue to engage communities to address rumours and misinformation and keep the public informed, with a focus on vulnerable populations.
Research and development
- Address research gaps such as: routes of transmission, including the role of asymptomatic and pre-symptomatic infection droplet, contact, fomite and aerosol transmission; and viral shedding; and animal source and intermediate hosts, in collaboration
  with partners.
- Continue to support and conduct COVID-19 research, in line with the WHO Research and Development Blueprint, and the road map for COVID-19 vaccines, diagnostics, and therapeutics.
- Continue sharing full genome sequences to increase global understanding of virus evolution and phylogenetics and their application to public health practices.
Essential Health Services
- Maintain essential health services throughout a likely extended COVID-19 response. This should include essential prevention for communicable diseases, particularly vaccination; services related to reproductive health, including care during pregnancy
  and childbirth; care of vulnerable populations, such as young infants and older adults; provision of medications and supplies for the ongoing management of chronic diseases, including mental health conditions; continuity of critical inpatient
  therapies; management of emergency health conditions and common acute presentations that require time-sensitive intervention; and auxiliary services, such as basic diagnostic imaging, laboratory services, and blood bank services.
- Continue to track and document the impact of COVID-19 on essential health services.
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May 9, 2020
Indonesia firmly committed to eliminating lymphatic filariasis as a public health problem

Indonesia recently completed the last of its annual large-scale treatment for lymphatic filariasis (also known as elephantiasis or Penyakit Kaki Gajah) in Malaka District located in its southernmost province, East Nusa Tenggara. Unprecedented
progress by the National Lymphatic Filariasis Elimination Programme has strongly placed the country on the path to achieving the elimination of lymphatic filariasis as a public health problem.

“We reached an estimated number of 40.7 million people living in the 118 high-risk districts during this month-long treatment campaign in October 2019” said Dr Anung Sugihantono, who recently retired as Director General of Diseases
Prevention and Control, Ministry of Health Indonesia. “Single doses of diethylcarbamazine citrate and albendazole facilitated by WHO were delivered to all eligible populations.”

In 2010, an estimated 125 million Indonesians were still at risk of the disease and required treatment.

But things changed considerably in 2015 when Indonesia mounted an annual national campaign to resolutely address transmission of the disease and to tackle the morbidity and disability associated with it. The results were apparent as early as 2017, with
remarkable progress.

In Indonesia, LF is considered a significant public health concern. In 2009, risk mapping identified a population of 124.5 million people needing treatment for LF. The country initiated a national level LF elimination campaign in 2015, addressing both
disease prevention and management.

“In 2017 and in just two years we managed to achieve 100% geographical coverage of all people requiring treatment” said Dr Sugihantono. “It meant achieving more than 78% epidemiological coverage – much higher than the generally recommended 65% to stop transmission.”

Transmission of lymphatic filariasis can be stopped through large-scale treatment (or mass drug administration – MDA) of entire at- risk communities with recommended medicines once a year. These medicines kill the microfilariae in an infected patient’s
blood preventing mosquitoes to transmit¹ the disease to others. Through mass treatment, the aim is to reduce the reservoir of microfilariae in the blood to a level insufficient to maintain transmission by the mosquito vector.

This strategy to interrupt transmission is the corner-stone of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Global Program to Eliminate Lymphatic Filariasis (GPELF). Indonesia has been using the GPELF’s strategy since 2002 using a district or city
as its implementation unit.

In 2005, it listed the elimination of LF as a national priority for controlling infectious diseases and the medicines it has been using in large-scale treatment programmes are diethylcarbamazine citrate (DEC) and albendazole² which are
largely distributed by volunteer community health workers³.

“Community health volunteers are themselves members of the community and know how to reach people effectively to improve compliance” said Dr. Stefanus Bria Seran, the Regent of Malaka District, one of LF endemic district in Indonesia. “Besides ensuring every single person ingests the medicine given to them, these community workers help in disseminating information well before a large-scale treatment campaign and also assist in reporting activities related to each treatment campaign”.

Indonesia’s efforts to eliminate lymphatic filariasis began in the 1970s but faced numerous challenges including programme coordination in the many inhabited islands, conducting information, education and awareness programmes, lack of capacity and
insufficient medicines.

Furthermore, the situation in Indonesia is unusual than in many other countries endemic for lymphatic filariasis as the country is endemic for all three species of thread-like filarial worms – Brugia malayi, Brugia timori, and Wuchereria bancrofti –
that cause the disease. Most of the infections in Indonesia, however, are caused by B. malayi.

In the past, some of the factors that prevented access to the medicines (DEC and albendazole) were social stigmatization linked to the disease, the vast geography of the territory and challenges in reaching remote populations.

With an estimated population of 242 million, Indonesia is the world’s largest island nation and consists of approximately 17,000 islands, of which 5,000–6,000 are inhabited. It is the fourth most populated nation behind China, India, and the United
States.

Indonesia is endemic for many other neglected tropical diseases and an estimated 110 million Indonesians are believed to suffer from at least one neglected tropical disease (NTD), including lymphatic filariasis and soil-transmitted helminth infections.
Leptospirosis (not classified as NTD) is also widespread.

Indonesia is the only country of WHO’s South East Asia Region with endemic schistosomiasis. Like many other countries of the Region, it also faces recurrent threats of dengue outbreaks.

Global progress

The world has made significant progress towards the elimination of lymphatic filariasis as a public health problem.

Sixteen countries⁴ and one territory are now acknowledged by WHO to have achieved elimination of lymphatic filariasis as a public health problem.

Seven additional countries have successfully implemented recommended strategies, stopped large-scale treatment and are under surveillance to demonstrate that elimination has been achieved.

The disease

Lymphatic filariasis is caused by infection with parasitic worms living in the lymphatic system. The larval stages of the parasite (microfilaria) circulate in the blood and are transmitted from person to person by mosquitoes.

Infection involves asymptomatic, acute, and chronic conditions. Most infections are asymptomatic, showing no external signs while contributing to transmission of the parasite. Although asymptomatic, these infections still cause damage to the lymphatic
system and the kidneys and alter the body’s immune system.

When lymphatic filariasis develops into chronic conditions it leads to lymphoedema (tissue swelling) or elephantiasis (skin/tissue thickening) of limbs and hydrocele (scrotal swelling). Involvement of breasts and genital organs are common.

Manifestation of the disease after infection takes time and can result in an altered lymphatic system, causing abnormal enlargement of body parts, and leading to severe disability and social stigmatization of those affected.

¹Lymphatic filariasis is transmitted by different types of mosquitoes – e.g the Culex mosquito which widespread across urban and semi-urban areas; Anopheles, mainly found in rural areas; and, Aedes, mainly
in endemic islands in the Pacific.

²In 2017, WHO recommended an alternative three drug treatment to accelerate the global elimination of lymphatic filariasis. The treatment, known as IDA, involves a combination of ivermectin, diethylcarbamazine citrate and albendazole.
It is recommended annually in settings where its use is expected to have the greatest impact.

³Community health workers, also called ‘cadres’, are volunteers who form part of the communities they serve and work with local
communities to educate families. Their contribution in promoting health has been significant in the country.

⁴Cambodia, The Cook Islands, Egypt, Kiribati, Maldives, Marshall Islands, Niue, Palau, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Togo, Tonga, Vanuatu, Viet Nam, Wallis and Futuna, and Yemen

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May 9, 2020