The World Health Report 2002


Book Description

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




The World Health Report 1999


Book Description

This report assesses world health trends over the past five decades, & presents projections up to 2025 regarding health conditions, diseases, & the tools for managing them.




Building Institutions for Markets


Book Description

"Institutions fix the confines of and impose form upon the activities of human beings."-Walton Hamilton, 'Institutions', 1932.The 'World Development Report 2002: Building Institutions for Markets' undertakes the complex issue of the basic institutions needed for markets to function properly. This year's 'World Development Report' goes beyond a simple examination of institutional structure and explores the functions of institutions. Recognizing that one size does not fit all, the report asks what do all institutions which support markets do?The answer is simple: Institutions channel information, define and enforce property rights, and increase or prevent competition. Understanding the functions that current institutions and their proposed replacements would provide is the first step. The report contends that once you have identified the institutional functions that are missing, you can then build effective institutions by following some basic principles:- Complement what exists already - in terms of other supporting institutions, human capacities, and technology.- Innovate to suit local norms and conditions. Experimenting with new structures can provide a country with creative solutions that work.- Connect communities of market players through open information flows and open trade. Open trade and information flows create demand for new institutions and improve the functioning of existing structures.- Compete among jurisdictions, firms, and individuals. Increased competition creates demand for new institutions as old ones lose their effectiveness. It also affects how people behave - improving institutional quality.These broad lessons and careful analyses, which links theory with pertinent evidence, are provided in the report. 'World Development Report 2002: Building Institutions for Markets' contains selected 'World Development Indicators'.




World Report on Violence and Health


Book Description

This report is part of WHO's response to the 49th World Health Assembly held in 1996 which adopted a resolution declaring violence a major and growing public health problem across the world. It is aimed largely at researchers and practitioners including health care workers, social workers, educators and law enforcement officials.




Weight Control and Physical Activity


Book Description

Avoiding overweight and obesity is the best-established diet-related risk factor for cancer. The proportion of people who are overweight/obese is increasing, and the amount of physical activity is decreasing in most populations, including urban populations in many developing countries. The increasing prevalence of overweight/obesity is presumably due to the increasing availability of highly palatable, high-energy foods, and an increasing sedentary lifestyle due to mechanisation of both workplace and leisure activities. Overweight/obesity and reduced physical activity increases the risk of cancers in various organs. Maintaining a healthy body weight and regular physical activity is the second most important way to prevent cancer, after tobacco control. The suggestions of possible public health actions to tackle these risk factors include the promotion of balanced diets, which are not excessive in energy, and broad education and planning to enable and encourage physical activity during work and leisure. Recommendations and a full discussion of these topics are included in the sixth volume in this series of Handbooks.




Global Information Technology Report, 2001-2002


Book Description

Very little has been written or published on the global experience vis-a-vis information technology that puts both developed and developing countries into a larger context from which lessons can be extrapolated. Within the IT and Development fields, there has been much talk and hyperbole about the power of IT to transform the economic development process, but very little rigorous analysis has been carried out to document the global situation. The frontier of the field is to explore and understand how IT is being used in the developing world, what the barriers to IT diffusion and adoption are in developing countries, and what the main lessons are from the developing world that can aid in designing policies and solutions that can overcome the international digital divide. The Global Information Technology Readiness Report 2001-2002 provides the first comprehensive and comparative analysis of the diffusion and use of information technology in 70 countries around the world. The Report consists of three main sections: a series of country rankings comparing the global experience of different nations based on various crieteria of IT readiness; a collection of essays by recognized experts on a series of IT-related subjects key to understanding the issues involved in extending the benefits of IT to the developing world; and country profiles that highlight the overall situation and major trends relating to IT within each country. The scope of the Report is quite ambitious, as is the methodology, as data has been generated through a series of surveys of global business leaders. Both the range and depth of the issues and data make the Global Information Technology Readiness Report 2001-2002 a unique and valuable publication.




Learning from SARS


Book Description

The emergence of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in late 2002 and 2003 challenged the global public health community to confront a novel epidemic that spread rapidly from its origins in southern China until it had reached more than 25 other countries within a matter of months. In addition to the number of patients infected with the SARS virus, the disease had profound economic and political repercussions in many of the affected regions. Recent reports of isolated new SARS cases and a fear that the disease could reemerge and spread have put public health officials on high alert for any indications of possible new outbreaks. This report examines the response to SARS by public health systems in individual countries, the biology of the SARS coronavirus and related coronaviruses in animals, the economic and political fallout of the SARS epidemic, quarantine law and other public health measures that apply to combating infectious diseases, and the role of international organizations and scientific cooperation in halting the spread of SARS. The report provides an illuminating survey of findings from the epidemic, along with an assessment of what might be needed in order to contain any future outbreaks of SARS or other emerging infections.




The World Health Report 2003


Book Description

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




The Global Competitiveness Report 2003-2004


Book Description

The Global Competitiveness Report 2003-2004 is the 24th of the World Economic Forum's annual rankings of the world's leading economies. Written in a non-technical language and style, this report aims to appeal to a broad audience consisting of policy makers, business leaders and academics.




World Report 2019


Book Description

The best country-by-country assessment of human rights. The human rights records of more than ninety countries and territories are put into perspective in Human Rights Watch's signature yearly report. Reflecting extensive investigative work undertaken by Human Rights Watch staff, in close partnership with domestic human rights activists, the annual World Report is an invaluable resource for journalists, diplomats, and citizens, and is a must-read for anyone interested in the fight to protect human rights in every corner of the globe.