C Napoli1, M Fabiani1, C Rizzo ([email protected])1, M Barral2, J Oxford3, J M Cohen4, L Niddam5, P Goryński6, A Pistol7, C Lionis8, S Briand9, A Nicoll10, P Penttinen10, C Gauci11, A Bounekkar12, S Bonnevay12, A Beresniak13 1. Istituto Superiore di Sanità (ISS), Rome, Italy 2. Basque Institute for Agricultural Research and Development, Biscay, Spain 3. Retroscreen Virology, London, United ...

The World Federation of Public Health Associations held its 44th Annual Meeting in Geneva on 16 May 2010. In his final speech to the WFPHA General Assembly, immediate Past-President, Dr Paulo Buss, reflected on 2008–2009. He discussed the Federation’s most important challenges and accomplishments during the last 2 years of his presidency: its most difficult challenges included the worldwide fin...

The global burden of influenza is unknown but thought to be considerable. In 2008, the global estimate of influenza-associated severe acute lower respiratory illness in children <5 years was 1 million cases1 , and the World Health Organization (WHO) suggests that 3-5 million severe cases occur in persons of all ages each 2 . In temperate regions, influenza usually causes annual outbreaks during...

May 2003 marked a critical achievement in efforts to stem the global tobacco epidemic, as the member states of the World Health Organization unanimously endorsed the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). However, the adoption of the FCTC signifies only the end of the beginning of effective global action to control tobacco. Over the next several years the utility of the FCTC process an...

October 2006 | Volume 3 | Issue 10 | e436 Recognizing the potential severe impact of pandemic infl uenza, the World Health Organization (WHO) urges every country to develop or maintain an upto-date national infl uenza preparedness plan, and provides guidance on plan content [1]. WHO guidance focuses on numerous issues, from surveillance and communications to prioritization of vaccine. Despite t...

BACKGROUND Assessing the state of country readiness for the introduction of new, child-friendly anti-tuberculosis formulations can highlight potential bottlenecks, facilitate early planning, and accelerate access to appropriate treatment for children with tuberculosis (TB). METHODS To understand pathways and potential obstacles to the introduction of new pediatric formulations, we performed a...

BACKGROUND Heat-waves present severe dangers to populations' health. Due to climate change, an increase in the frequency and intensity of heat-waves is to be expected. Public health measures to prevent negative health effects have been developed in several member states of the World Health Organization (WHO) European Region over the past decade. METHODS This study presents the first comprehen...

Sir, Leprosy is a chronic infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium Leprae. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines elimination as less than 1 case/10,000 population. In 2000, WHO declared the elimination of leprosy as a global public health problem when the global prevalence of leprosy fell below the defined level. Unfortunately, the incidence of leprosy as indicated by the number of new ...

The International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) defines disability as a complex phenomenon, reflecting the interaction between features of a person’s body and features of the society in which he or she lives (World Health Organization [WHO] 2002:2). Based on the ICF definition of disability, over a billion people worldwide and 19% of the Ugandan population are estim...

This Summary Report was prepared for Agenda item 13.3 for the meeting of the World Health Assembly convened at the World Health Organization (WHO) Headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland on 20 May 2005. It was in part, prepared from the Reports generaged by the Conference, Health Actions in Relation to Crises and Disasters, convened by the WHO in Phuket, Thailand, 04-06 May 2005.