Three different approaches for establishing guidelines for the microbiological quality of treated wastewater that is reused for agriculture are reviewed. These approaches have different objectives as their outcomes: the absence of faecal indicator organisms in the wastewater, the absence of a measurable excess of cases of enteric disease in the exposed population and a model-generated estimated...

Malnutrition in children is widely prevalent in India. It is estimated that 57 million children are underweight (moderate and severe). More than 50% of deaths in 0-4 years are associated with malnutrition(1). The median case fatality rate is approximately 23.5% in severe malnutrition, reaching 50% in edematous malnutrition(2). There is a need for standardized protocol-based management to improv...

The special needs of specific populations, such as people co-infected with HIV, children and adolescents, and pregnant women are also considered. Existing recommendations for the prevention of HBV transmission from relevant WHO guidelines are also summarised in the newly published guidelines and include prevention of perinatal and early childhood HBV infection through infant hepatitis B vaccina...

In recent years, the number of mathematical modelling studies has increased steeply. Many of the questions addressed in these studies are relevant to the development of World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines, but modelling studies are rarely formally included as part of the body of evidence. An expert consultation hosted by WHO, a survey of modellers and users of modelling studies, and lite...

The new guidelines promote initiating ARVs with a CD4þ T-cell threshold of 500 cells/ml or less for adults, adolescents, and older children [1]. These guidelines further recommend ARVs, regardless of CD4þ T-cell count, for patients with active tuberculosis (TB), pregnant and breastfeeding women, and children younger than 5 years of age [1]. This is a call for action to countries to further scal...

Using data from India's first National Family Health Survey (NFHS-1), this study examines breast-feeding practices and their effect on infant mortality in India. Conducted in 1992-93, NFHS-1 collected complete birth histories from a probability sample of 89,777 ever-married women aged 13-49 years. In the study, the breast-feeding status of infants at ages 2,7, and 11 months and the effects of...

This paper describes the activity of the World Health Organization in the field of drinking water quality, particularly the revision of the Guidelines for drinking water quality published in 1984. This process will be completed with the publication of new guidelines in 1993. The paper reports the physical, chemical and biological agents considered in the revision process, the procedure used to ...