The world is living dangerously - either because it has little choice or because it is making the wrong choices -- Dr Gro Harlem Brundtland WHO Director-General

This publication is the first to focus on the health of the 738 million people living in the 46 countries of the WHO African Region. Drawing on a comprehensive range of the latest regional health statistics, the report discusses the key public health and development challenges facing the continent, as well looking in more detail at the issues of maternal and child health; infectious diseases including HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria; health problems that are usually associated with developed countries, such as diabetes and hypertension, and other noncommunicable conditions such as mental illness and injuries; and the environmental causes of ill-health including pollution and armed conflict. The report explores the treatment, diagnostic and preventive methods that work in Africa and highlights the public health success stories that can serve as models for others in the continent. It finds that stronger health systems are the key to solving Africa's health problems and these can only achieved by strengthening governments' stewardship role in health, building on the lessons learnt from successful health-care interventions, and through closer collaboration between all partners.

The European Nutrition and Health Report is the first comprehensive assessment of the present status of nutrition and health in Europe, and of the available resources and requirements for compatible and representative data from different countries. 13 EU member states and Norway have participated in this project, pursuing three main goals: Compilation of available nutrient intake and health data Identification of major nutrition and health problems Identification of problems concerning the methods and compatibility of data collection The main topics include food supply and availability, energy and nutrient intake in different age groups, health indicators and status, obesity, physical activity and smoking. The Appendix offers a detailed publication of national reports and single projects. This book provides a solid basis for the planning of future projects in nutrition and health and should be of great interest to all professionals in the fields of nutrition, preventive medicine and public health as well as to health policy makers.

Since 1948, the World Health Organization (WHO) has launched numerous programs aimed at improving health conditions around the globe, ranging from efforts to eradicate smallpox to education programs about the health risks of smoking. In setting global health priorities and carrying out initiatives, the WHO bureaucracy has faced the challenge of reconciling the preferences of a small minority of wealthy nations, who fund the organization, with the demands of poorer member countries, who hold the majority of votes. In The World Health Organization between North and South, Nitsan Chorev shows how the WHO bureaucracy has succeeded not only in avoiding having its agenda co-opted by either coalition of member states but also in reaching a consensus that fit the bureaucracy’s own principles and interests. Chorev assesses the response of the WHO bureaucracy to member-state pressure in two particularly contentious moments: when during the 1970s and early 1980s developing countries forcefully called for a more equal international economic order, and when in the 1990s the United States and other wealthy countries demanded international organizations adopt neoliberal economic reforms. In analyzing these two periods, Chorev demonstrates how strategic maneuvering made it possible for a vulnerable bureaucracy to preserve a relatively autonomous agenda, promote a consistent set of values, and protect its interests in the face of challenges from developing and developed countries alike.

"We have a real opportunity now to make progress that will mean longer healthier lives for millions of people.

This report sets out a current review of the health situation in the 52 countries in the WHO Europe region, focusing particularly on child and adolescent health and development issues. It examines the major causes of the burden of disease and key preventable risk factors, as well as considering effective policy responses. The report also includes statistical tables used as the basis of its conclusions, as well as definitions of terms used.

The European health report responds to the statutory requirements to provide the member states with essential public health information. The report analyses a decade of evidence on health in the Region, which embraces 51 WHO Member States with some 870 million people. While overall levels of health in the Region are among the highest in the world, the report describes widening gaps between and within countries. It confirms the strong links between socioeconomic development, health and equity in the WHO European Region. The report builds on the view that health policies cannot be isolated from other policy sectors: One central task in improving health is to reduce socioeconomic inequalities, thus placing health in the context of human development. The link between health and employment, income maintenance, social welfare, housing and education is crucial in all European Member States. The report focuses on concrete evidence useful for decision-makers in public health. Its role is to summarize and feed back to Member States the information created, deposited and accredited during the Regional Office's work with Member States on key topics and issues in public health in Europe, in the context of the values and principles of WHO as one Organization.

The book thus serves as a comprehensive guide to key environmental and health issues confronting the planet, enumerates approaches and techniques to address these issues, and provides real-world examples of good corporate citizenship.

Despite sending huge sums of money on health every year the African region's burden of disease is persistently high. Most of the countries in the region are lagging behind in achieving the health-related United Nations Millennium Development Goals. The African region's dismal health situation has largely been blamed on weakness pertaining to such factors as health leadership and governance; service delivery; health workforce; medicines, vaccines, and health technologies; health information; and health system financing that have undermined the capacity of health systems of countries in the region to improve population health without wastage of resources. Institutionalising health system efficiency monitoring, as a basis for the design and implementation of appropriate policy interventions, has been proposed as an effective way of curbing wastage of health system inputs. Efficiency of Health System Units in Africa: A Data Envelopment Analysis is the first book of its kind on application of the data envelopment analysis technique to examine the efficiency of health system decision-making units in Africa. The book interlaces lecture notes with research articles and case studies to equip students and practitioners of economics, operations research, management science, and public health with knowledge and skills for undertaking technical efficiency, cost efficiency, and total factor productivity analyses.