VISTA GRACE

Key facts about TB:

🦠 Caused by bacteria that mainly affects the lungs
🗣 Spreads through the air when infected people cough, sneeze or spit
🤒 Symptoms include cough, fever, and weight loss
💉 It is preventable and curable
💊 It is treated with antibiotics

🧠💬 Let's Talk Mental Health!
How can we normalize discussions about mental health among adolescents?
Encourage open conversations, share relatable stories, and emphasize that everyone experiences mental health challenges at some point in their lives.
"Remember, it is normal to feel intense emotions as a teenager."

🎅🏻 December is here! 🧸 We want to make sure our children have fun, but we also want to keep them safe.

Here are a few tips to help you choose and use toys safely:
1. When you're shopping for a toy, keep your child's age in mind. 👶🏻👧🏻 Read the instructions and warning labels carefully to make sure the toy is a good fit. 🧩
2. Before you buy a toy, check to make sure there aren't any small parts or other things that could be a choking hazard. 🚫🍒
3. Keep toys for different ages separate. 🧸🎁 Pay close attention to small game pieces that little kids might choke on. 👶🏻 Toys for older children can be dangerous for curious younger siblings. 👧🏻👦🏻
4. When playtime is over, put toys away in a bin or container. 📦🧺 Make sure there aren't any holes or hinges that could hurt your child's fingers. 🤕
5. Keep dangerous things like candles, matches, chemicals, and poisons out of reach of children. 🚫🔥🧪
Let's all work together to keep our children safe and have a happy holiday season! 🎄🎁

LearnECD e-learning platform in support of Early Childhood Development

Malaria Malaria

Malaria is caused by parasites transmitted through the bite of an infected female anopheles mosquito. It is one of the leading killers of children under five and disproportionately affects vulnerable communities. Malaria also has severe economic ramifications for families, causing an estimated $12 billion in productivity losses annually, as parents are forced to take time off work for treatment and care.

Unfortunately, cases of malaria have been on the rise since 2015, with a sharp increase during the COVID-19 pandemic. Declining investments in malaria programmes, overstretched health systems, disruptions caused by conflict and displacement and the spread of invasive mosquito species have all contributed to this devastating trend. Climate change, which in many cases will create ideal conditions for mosquitos to breed, is predicted to only worsen the situation.

Violence to women

Overview

The United Nations defines violence against women as "any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual, or mental harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life" (1).

Intimate partner violence refers to behaviour by an intimate partner or ex-partner that causes physical, sexual or psychological harm, including physical aggression, sexual coercion, psychological abuse and controlling behaviours.

Sexual violence is "any sexual act, attempt to obtain a sexual act, or other act directed against a person’s sexuality using coercion, by any person regardless of their relationship to the victim, in any setting. It includes r**e, defined as the physically forced or otherwise coerced pe*******on of the v***a or a**s with a p***s, other body part or object, attempted r**e, unwanted sexual touching and other non-contact forms.

HIV/AIDS continues
Signs and symptoms
The symptoms of HIV vary depending on the stage of infection.

HIV spreads more easily in the first few months after a person is infected, but many are unaware of their status until the later stages. In the first few weeks after being infected people may not experience symptoms. Others may have an influenza-like illness including:

fever
headache
rash
sore throat.
The infection progressively weakens the immune system. This can cause other signs and symptoms:

swollen lymph nodes
weight loss
fever
diarrhoea
cough.
Without treatment, people living with HIV infection can also develop severe illnesses:

tuberculosis (TB)
cryptococcal meningitis
severe bacterial infections
cancers such as lymphomas and Kaposi's sarcoma.
HIV causes other infections to get worse, such as hepatitis C, hepatitis B and mpox.

HIV/AIDS
Overview
Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a virus that attacks the body’s immune system. Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) occurs at the most advanced stage of infection.

HIV targets the body’s white blood cells, weakening the immune system. This makes it easier to get sick with diseases like tuberculosis, infections and some cancers.

HIV is spread from the body fluids of an infected person, including blood, breast milk, semen and vaginal fluids. It is not spread by kisses, hugs or sharing food. It can also spread from a mother to her baby.

HIV can be prevented and treated with antiretroviral therapy (ART). Untreated HIV can progress to AIDS, often after many years.

WHO now defines Advanced HIV Disease (AHD) as CD4 cell count less than 200 cells/mm3 or WHO stage 3 or 4 in adults and adolescents. All children younger than 5 years of age living with HIV are considered to have advanced HIV disease.

COPING WITH STRESS

Learning how to cope with stress can help us feel less overwhelmed and support our mental and physical well-being. Here are some tips on how to cope with stress:

💡 Learn stress management
⏰ Keep a daily routine
💤 Get plenty of sleep
👩🏼‍🤝‍👩🏽 Connect with others
🥑 Eat healthy
🚴 Exercise regularly
📰 Limit the time you spend consuming news

Stress What is stress? How can we manage it? Find out in these Q and As.

Mr Stress
😰 Stress is a natural human response that prompts us to address challenges and threats in our lives.

Everyone experiences stress to some degree. The way we respond to stress, however, makes a big difference to our overall wellbeing.

➡️ A little bit of stress is good and can help us perform daily activities. Too much stress can cause physical and mental health problems.

Physical signs of stress include:

❤️‍🩹 Headaches
❤️‍🩹 Neck and shoulder pain
❤️‍🩹 Lack of appetite
❤️‍🩹 Back pain
❤️‍🩹 A heavy chest
❤️‍🩹 Tight muscles
❤️‍🩹 An upset stomach

Stress What is stress? How can we manage it? Find out in these Q and As.

DIABETIS
KEY FACTS
The number of people living with diabetes rose from 200 million in 1990 to 830 million in 2022. Prevalence has been rising more rapidly in low- and middle-income countries than in high-income countries.
More than half of people living with diabetes did not take medication for their diabetes in 2022. Diabetes treatment coverage was lowest in low- and middle-income countries.
Diabetes causes blindness, kidney failure, heart attacks, stroke and lower limb amputation.
In 2021, diabetes and kidney disease due to diabetes caused over 2 million deaths. In addition, around 11% of cardiovascular deaths were caused by high blood glucose.
A healthy diet, regular physical activity, maintaining a normal body weight and avoiding to***co use are ways to prevent or delay the onset of type 2 diabetes.
Diabetes can be treated and its consequences avoided or delayed with diet, physical activity, medication and regular screening and treatment for complications.

Overview
Diabetes is a chronic disease that occurs either when the pancreas does not produce enough insulin or when the body cannot effectively use the insulin it produces. Insulin is a hormone that regulates blood glucose. Hyperglycaemia, also called raised blood glucose or raised blood sugar, is a common effect of uncontrolled diabetes and over time leads to serious damage to many of the body's systems, especially the nerves and blood vessels.