Community health workers and communities as a whole often have key roles to play in health emergencies, such as disease outbreaks. Local knowledge and awareness of cultural and social contexts reinforce the role played by health workers who often find themselves on the frontline during health emergencies. Well-trained and knowledgeable health workers alleviate the strain and demand on health-care workers in hospitals, clinics and other institutions when the health system is overwhelmed or disrupted. Community health workers also have a part to play in improving access to prevention and treatment for influenza and other common illnesses, and in implementing public health programs and ensuring community participation.The training package seeks to build the capacity of community health workers in supporting communities to respond more effectively during an influenza outbreak, thereby reducing mortality from influenza and to alleviate the pressure on health services during health emergencies.Training material and formatThe training package comprises: Trainers guide Participant s handouts Flip book with illustrations to be used during the training and for community/individual health educationTraining content: The training package contains the following six modules: Influenza outbreak and its impact on the community Key information and messages for prevention and control of an influenza outbreak in the community and the home Assessment and treatment of diseases in the community and the home Community health education and social mobilization Protection of the community health worker A framework for monitoring and reporting of influenza"

This handbook for practitioners in environmental and public health, environmental management, toxicology and ecotoxicology has been prepared by an international group of experts from both developing and developed countries and covers a wide range of topics in both environmental impact assessment and environmental health impact assessment.

The third edition of "A Guide to Hygiene and Sanitation in Aviation" addresses water, food, waste disposal, cleaning and disinfection, vector control and cargo safety, with the ultimate goal of assisting all types of airport and aircraft operators and all other responsible bodies in achieving high standards of hygiene and sanitation, to protect travellers and crews engaged in air transport. Each topic is addressed individually, with guidelines that provide procedures and quality specifications that are to be achieved.The guidelines apply to domestic and international air travel for all developed and developing countries.

Diagnosis within psychiatry involves the consideration of a number of different features of mental state. In making a diagnosis, individual psychiatrists inevitably accord differing importance to certain features. By regulating the order and number of conditions to be recorded, a multiaxial framework provides for internationally comparable descriptions of mental state. This volume provides the psychiatric sections of ICD10 in a form that is adapted for ease of use of those dealing with mental disorders in childhood and adolescence. Descriptions have been grouped into axes which have been chosen to provide unambiguous information of maximum clinical usefulness in the greatest number of cases. Building on the popular original framework of four axes, the system has been greatly improved by the inclusion of a new axis for psychosocial situations and by the addition of a further sixth axis on adaptive level which enables clinicians to code an individual's current level of disability.

This book describes a unique study on the usefulness of benzodiazepine tranquilizers given in conjunction with and compared to therapeutic counselling for the treatment of minor psychiatric disorders. International collaboration under the sponsorship of the WHO made this first cross-cultural comparative study possible. Important methodological findings about measurement instruments, as well as data about the effects of different treatments, resulted from the study. It also demonstrated the possibility of using quantitative scientific methods to measure milder forms of psychiatric disorders and their changes.

A triaxial system (Axis I--Clinical diagnoses, Axis II--Disabilities, Axis III--Contextual factors) is intended for use in clinical, educational and research activities. It aims to ensure that disabilities and factors relevant to the management of a mentally ill patient's condition are systematically recorded. It has been prepared and trialed by an international team of experts and has proven easy to use, helpful and applicable to a wide range of cultures and settings. This comprehensive manual provides information on the development of the ICD-10 multiaxial system and describes its structure and use. It details ICD-10 categories for each axis of the system as well as instruments and instructions for their application. The instruments include the ICD-10 multiaxial diagnostic formulation form, WHO short disability assessment schedule (SHO DAS-S) and Axis III checklist.

In making a diagnosis, individual psychiatrists inevitably accord differing importance to various features in a patient's history. By regulating the order and number of conditions to be recorded, a multiaxial framework provides for internationally comparable descriptions of mental state. This volume provides the psychiatric sections of ICD-10 in a form that is adapted for ease of use by those dealing with mental disorders in childhood and adolescence. Descriptions have been grouped into axes that have been chosen to provide unambiguous information of maximum clinical usefulness in the greatest number of cases. Building on the popular original framework of four axes, the system has been greatly improved by the inclusion of a new axis for psychosocial situations and by the addition of yet another axis on adaptive level that enables clinicians to code an individual's current level of disability.

These specifications provide information on the identity and purity of food additives used directly in foods or in food production. The main objectives are to identify the food additives that have been subjected to testing for safety, to ensure that the additives are of the quality required for use in food or in processing, and to reflect and encourage good manufacturing practice. This publication and other documents produced by JECFA are is useful to all those who work with or are interested in food additives and their safe use in food.

Worldwide, the application of information and communication technologies to support national health-care services is rapidly expanding and increasingly important. This is especially so at a time when all health systems face stringent economic challenges and greater demands to provide more and better care, especially to those most in need.The "National eHealth Strategy Toolkit" is an expert, practical guide that provides governments, their ministries and stakeholders with a solid foundation and method for the development and implementation of a national eHealth vision, action plan and monitoring framework. All countries, whatever their level of development, can adapt the "Toolkit" to suit their own circumstances.Representing one of the most significant collaborations in recent years between the World Health Organization and the International Telecommunication Union, the "Toolkit" is a landmark in understanding what eHealth is, what it can do, and why and how it should be applied to health care today.

This "Environmental Health Criteria" (EHC) series publication describes a generic human health risk assessment model which can be used for risk assessment of exposure to insecticides which are used for disease vector control on board aircraft (the process known as aircraft disinsection). It aims to provide information to national regulatory authorities to assist in conducting risk assessments of such insecticides, including worked examples of typical products.

The second edition of this popular textbook provides an introduction to the principles and methods of epidemiology. Since publication of the first edition in 1993, Basic epidemiology has become a standard reference for education, training and research in the field of public health and has been translated into more than 25 languages. It is used widely, for training public health and environment professionals, undergraduate medical students, and students in other health professions. The second edition provides updated examples of how and why the basics of epidemiology are essential to anyone who is required to understand and apply the principles of disease causation and prevention. The book has a particular emphasis on modifiable environmental factors and encourages the application of epidemiology to the prevention of disease and the promotion of health, including environmental and occupational health. It prepares members of the health-related professions to respond to the need for health services to address all aspects of the health of populations, and to ensure that health resources are used to the best possible effect. It shows how good clinical practice is informed by clinical epidemiology; and its lively, concise style is designed to stimulate a continuing interest in the subject. This edition includes comprehensive chapters on the nature and uses of epidemiology; the epidemiological approach to defining and measuring the occurrence of health-related states in populations; the strengths and limitations of epidemiological study designs, causation, the contribution of epidemiology to the prevention of disease, the promotion of health and the development of health policy, and the role of epidemiology in evaluating the effectiveness and efficiency of health care. It enables students to describe the common causes of death, disease and disability in her or his community; outline appropriate study designs to answer specific questions concerning disease causation, natural history, prognosis, prevention, and the evaluation of therapy and other interventions to control disease, and critically evaluate the literature.

Since its first publication in 2002, the "WHO Model Formulary" has become an indispensable source of independent information on essential medicines for pharmaceutical policy-makers and prescribers worldwide. The "Model Formulary" is the authoritative guide on how to make effective use of the medicines on the WHO Model List of Essential Medicines, so improving patient safety, and limiting unnecessary medical spending. For each medicine the "Model Formulary" provides information on use, dosage, adverse effects, contraindications and warnings, supplemented by guidance on selecting the right medicine for a range of conditions.The new edition, "WHO Model Formulary 2008," details changes made to the WHO Model List of Essential Medicines in 2007, with updated therapeutic information on existing medicines reflecting new clinical knowledge.

Provides clinical descriptions, diagnostic guidelines, and codes for all mental and behavioural disorders commonly encountered in clinical psychiatry. The book was developed from chapter V of the Tenth Revision of the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD-10). The clinical descriptions and diagnostic guidelines were finalized after field testing by over 700 clinicians and researchers in 110 institutes in 40 countries, making this book the product of the largest ever research effort designed to improve psychiatric diagnosis. Every effort has been made to define categories whose existence is scientifically justifiable as well as clinically useful. The classification divides disorders into ten groups according to major common themes or descriptive likeness, a new feature which makes for increased convenience of use. For each disorder, the book provides a full description of the main clinical features and all other important but less specific associated features. Diagnostic guidelines indicate the number, balance, and duration of symptoms usually required before a confident diagnosis can be made.Inclusion and exclusion criteria are also provided, together with conditions to be considered in differential diagnosis. The guidelines are worded so that a degree of flexibility is retained for diagnostic decisions in clinical work, particularly in the situation where provisional diagnosis may have to be made before the clinical picture is entirely clear or information is complete. "...As befitting a publication of considerable influence, the amount of work that went into preparing ICD-10 has been formidable..." - The International Journal of Social Psychiatry

The "Guidelines for Drinking-water Quality" is one of the longest-standing normative publications of WHO. They provide an evidence-based point of departure for standard setting and regulation as a basis for health protection. They include an assessment of the health risks presented by the various microbial, chemical, radiological and physical constituents that may be present in drinking-water. Where applicable, they derive maximum concentration guideline values for these hazardous constituents.In the spirit of primary prevention, the "Guidelines" recommend pro-active efforts to assess and reduce health risks. They have evolved from a prescriptive document, which established international standards for end-of-pipe water quality, into a normative best practice manual on drinking-water management.The "Guidelines for Drinking-water Quality" are recognized as the UN system's official position on drinking-water quality. The European Commission and Japan use the "Guidelines" as the scientific point of departure for their drinking-water directive and drinking-water quality standards, respectively; the Australian Drinking Water Guidelines are based on the WHO guidelines, while the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) and Canada's Health Canada actively observe and participate in the WHO guidelines development and updating process.This fourth edition of the "Guidelines" focuses primarily on consolidating and clarifying the changes introduced in the third edition and its addenda, especially those aspects on good management practices, as well as incorporating revised or new risk assessments for various chemical and microbial hazards.

Neonatal seizures represent one of the most frequent neurological events in newborn infants, often reflecting a variety of different pre-, peri-, or postnatal disorders of the central nervous system (CNS). They are also a common manifestation of metabolic abnormality in newborn period and often represent the first sign of neurological dysfunction in neonates. They may be symptomatic or cryptogenic, herald subsequent epilepsy, can be associated with potential morbidity and mortality, and may be used as a factor in considering long-term prognosis. Despite the enormous clinical significance of these events, many aspects of their management are not well supported with evidence- based recommendations.These guidelines are intended to be of use for neonatologists, paediatric neurologists, paediatricians, general practitioners, nurse practitioners, nurses and other health professionals who may be in contact with infants experiencing seizures within the first 28 days of life (age up to 44 weeks postconception). The guidelines are framed so as to be applied by health care providers practicing in a wide range of health care facilities, from those with limited resources to tertiary care centers.

The first edition of this book "Assessing Tuberculosis Prevalence Through Population-Based Surveys" was published by the World Health Organization in 2007. Its aim was to provide guidance to countries about how to estimate the prevalence of tuberculosis (TB) disease through population-based surveys. Designed for TB experts, survey investigators, researchers and advisers at national and international levels, the "red book" (as it soon came to be known) explained the core survey methods, including calculation of sample sizes, strategies for screening and diagnosis, case definitions, field operations, and how to analyse and report results. This second (lime) edition will help users to justify, design, fund, implement and analyze a high-quality national TB prevalence survey; to repeat surveys that allow comparisons with earlier surveys; to maximize the value of the data collected during surveys; and to ensure standardization of methods across multiple surveys in more than 20 countries in WHO s African, Eastern Mediterranean, South-East Asia and Western Pacific regions.

A triaxial system (Axis I--Clinical diagnoses, Axis II--Disabilities, Axis III--Contextual factors) is intended for use in clinical, educational and research activities. It aims to ensure that disabilities and factors relevant to the management of a mentally ill patient's condition are systematically recorded. It has been prepared and trialed by an international team of experts and has proven easy to use, helpful and applicable to a wide range of cultures and settings. This comprehensive manual provides information on the development of the ICD-10 multiaxial system and describes its structure and use. It details ICD-10 categories for each axis of the system as well as instruments and instructions for their application. The instruments include the ICD-10 multiaxial diagnostic formulation form, WHO short disability assessment schedule (SHO DAS-S) and Axis III checklist.

This guide describes in detail the current challenges and activities needed to interrupt measles transmission, to prevent and respond rapidly to emerging measles outbreaks, and to ensure sensitive surveillance is in place. It is presented in a form that can be readily adapted by national immunization managers to suit country situations.

The objectives of this Code are to establish voluntary standards of conduct for all public and private entities engaged in or associated with the management of pesticides, particularly where there is inadequate or no national legislation to regulate pesticides.

The longstanding debate over the optimal duration of exclusive breastfeeding has centered on the so-called "weanling's dilemma" in developing countries: the choice between the known protective effect of exclusive breastfeeding against infectious morbidity and the (theoretical) insufficiency of breast milk alone to satisfy the infant's energy and micronutrient requirements beyond 4 months of age. The primary objective of this review is to assess the effects on child health, growth, and development, and on maternal health, of exclusive breastfeeding for 6 months vs exclusive breastfeeding for 3-4 months with mixed breastfeeding (introduction of complementary liquid or solid foods with continued breastfeeding) thereafter through 6 months.