Selected Topics - Population and Family Health

The WWW Virtual Library: Public Health

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Events

• School of Public Health and Community Medicine, UNSW - Upcoming Events

Global policies and related documents

• Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative (WHO/UNICEF)
  The aim of this organisation is to ensure all pregnant women are aware of the benefits and management of breastfeeding. This non-profit organisation is sponsered by UNICEF.
• Special Report on Maternal Mortality and Severe Morbidity in Canada “Enhanced Surveillance: The Path to Prevention”
  This report contains information on current provincial and territorial mechanisms to investigate and report on maternal deaths, analysis of maternal deaths occurring between 1997 and 2000, rates of severe maternal morbidity and recommendations to enhance the surveillance of maternal mortality and severe maternal morbidity in Canada.
• Progress for Children: Achieving the MDGs with Equity
  'Achieving the MDGs with Equity' is the focus of this ninth edition of Progress for Children, UNICEF’s report card series that monitors progress towards the MDGs. "This data compendium presents a clear picture of disparities in children’s survival, development and protection among the world’s developing regions and within countries. While gaps remain in the data, this report provides compelling evidence to support a stronger focus on equity for children in the push to achieve the MDGs and beyond." [United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Number 9, September 2010]
• Strengthening care of injured children globally
  "Part of the solution to the growing problem of child injury is to strengthen the care that injured children receive. This paper will point out the potential health gains to be made by doing this and will then review recent advances in the care of injured children in individual institutions and countries. It will discuss how these individual efforts have been aided by increased international attention to trauma care. Although there are no major, well-funded global programmes to improve trauma care, recent guidance documents developed by WHO and a broad network of collaborators have stimulated increased global attention to improving planning and resources for trauma care. This has in turn led to increased attention to strengthening trauma care capabilities in countries, including needs assessments and implementation of WHO recommendations in national policy. Most of these global efforts, however, have not yet specifically addressed children. Given the special needs of the injured child and the high burden of injury-related death and disability among children, clearly greater emphasis on childhood trauma care is needed. Trauma care needs assessments being conducted in a growing number of countries need to focus more on capabilities for care of injured children. Trauma care policy development needs to better encompass childhood trauma care. More broadly, the growing network of individuals and groups collaborating to strengthen trauma care globally needs to engage a broader range of stakeholders who will focus on and champion the improvement of care for injured children." [author abstract]
• Supporting efforts to end obstetric fistula: Report of the [UN} Secretary-General
  The present report was prepared in response to General Assembly resolution 63/158. Obstetric fistula is a devastating childbirth injury that leaves women incontinent and often isolated from their communities. It is a stark example of continued poor maternal and reproductive health services and an indication of high levels of maternal death and disability. The report outlines the efforts made at the international, regional and national levels, including by the United Nations system, to end obstetric fistula. It concludes with recommendations that efforts to end obstetric fistula be intensified as part of support for the achievement of Millennium Development Goal 5, on improving maternal health, including the strengthening of health-care systems and increasing the levels and predictability of funding. [publication summary] [United Nations General Assembly, Report A/65/268, August 2010]
• The State of the World’s Children 2008 – Child Survival
  "…The State of the World’s Children 2008 assesses the state of child survival and primary health care for mothers, newborns and children today. These issues serve as sensitive barometers of a country’s development and wellbeing and as evidence of its priorities and values. Investing in the health of children and their mothers is a human rights imperative and one of the surest ways for a country to set its course towards a better future…".
• The State of the World's Midwifery 2011: Delivering Health, Saving Lives
  "The report presents a body of knowledge to inform and accelerate the availability of quality midwifery services for women and newborns. It aims to make a valuable contribution both to strengthening the midwifery workforce around the world and to the critical planning that is needed to achieve the health Millennium Development Goals. The first ever State of the World’s Midwifery is focused on 58 countries with high rates of maternal, foetal and newborn mortality. Its content has been largely informed by responses to a detailed survey that was developed to collect new or updated data and information in six areas: the number and types of practising midwifery personnel, education, regulation, professional association, policies and external development assistance." Also available in French and Spanish. [United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), June 2011]
• United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child
  The United Nation's Convention on the Rights of the Child enshrines in a single legal instrument, approved by the international community and spelling out in an unequivocal manner the rights to which every child is entitled, regardless of where born or to whom, regardless of sex, religion, or social origin. The body of rights enumerated in the Convention are the rights of all children everywhere.
• World Health Organisation (WHO) International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes
  "The aim of this Code is to contribute to the provision of safe and adequate nutrition for infants, by the protection and promotion of breastfeeding, and by ensuring the proper use of breastmilk substitutes, when these are necessary, on the basis of adequate information and through appropriate marketing and distribution".

Reports, guidelines and projects

• A public health approach to cervical cancer control: Considerations of screening and vaccination strategies
  Cervical cancer remains a leading cause of cancer death among women living in low-resource settings. In the last 3 decades, cytologic screening has – in theory – been available and yet more than 6 million women have died of this preventable disease. The necessary resources, infrastructure, and technological expertise, together with the need for repeated screenings at regular intervals, make cytologic screening difficult to implement in poor countries. As noncytologic approaches for the detection of HPV, simple visual screening methods for anogenital lesions caused by HPV, and the availability of an HPV-16/18 vaccine will enhance the linkage between screening and treatment, multiple factors will need to be considered when designing new, or modifying existing prevention strategies. Country-specific decisions regarding the best strategy for cervical cancer control will need to rely on data from many sources and take into account complex epidemiologic, economic, social, political, and cultural factors, and be made despite uncertainty and incomplete information. A rigorous decision analytic approach using computer-based modeling methods enables linkage of the knowledge gained from empirical studies to real-world situations. This chapter provides an introduction to these methods, reviews lessons learned from cost-effectiveness analyses of cervical cancer screening in developed and developing countries, and emphasizes important qualitative themes to consider in designing cervical cancer prevention policies. [author abstract] [International Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics (2006) 94 (Supplement 1), S95-S105]
• A systematic review of inequalities in the use of maternal health care in developing countries: examining the scale of the problem and the importance of context
  In this October 2007 review paper, Lale Say & Rosalind Raine find that inequalities in the use of maternal care in developing countries vary widely, highlighting the need to investigate and assess context-specific causes of use of maternal health care.
• Abortion and Postabortion Care in Guatemala: A Report from Health Care Professionals and Health Facilities
  "In Guatemala, which has the highest fertility rate in Central America, women currently have more than four children; among the indigenous population, which accounts for 43% of the total population, women have more than six. Although the proportion of married women who use a modern contraceptive method has risen in recent years — it now stands at 34% — increases in use are not keeping pace with declines in desired family size. Nearly one-third of recent births to Guatemalan women were unintended, and 28% of women have an unmet need for contraception. Unfortunately, and sometimes with tragic results, many Guatemalan women turn to abortion when they lack the means to carry out their reproductive goals. Induced abortions are illegal in Guatemala, except for those that are necessary to save the life of the pregnant woman. As a result, women who resort to abortion to resolve an unwanted pregnancy do so secretly and under conditions that pose a grave risk to their health and future fertility. The procedure’s illegality means that no official data are available to measure its true extent; studies from other Latin American nations with similar cultural and legal contexts suggest that unsafe abortion contributes to unacceptable levels of maternal morbidity and mortality in Guatemala. The study reported on here represents a first attempt to grapple with clandestine abortion in Guatemala, a country that until recently did little to promote family planning and has the lowest prevalence of modern method use in Spanish-speaking Latin America. The current lack of information on the problem of unsafe abortion means that, as yet, essential details that are needed to plan effective solutions are also lacking. This report details the findings of a study that aimed to describe and quantify the level of a deliberately underground activity." [Guttmacher Institute, New York – Occasional Report No. 18, December 2005]
• Active Management of the Third Stage of Labor: Data obtained from National Health Network Hospitals in Guatemala
  "Postpartum hemorrhage is of the world’s leading causes of maternal mortality. Active management of the third stage of labor (AMTSL) is a feasible and inexpensive intervention that can help save thousands of women’s lives. AMTSL involves three basic procedures: the use of a uterotonic agent (preferably oxytocin) within one minute following the delivery of the baby, delivery of the placenta with controlled cord traction, and massage of the uterus after delivery of the placenta, with palpation of the uterus to assess the need for continued massage for the twohour period following delivery of the placenta. Based on conclusive evidence from clinical trials, the International Confederation of Midwives (ICM) and the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) issued a joint statement in 2003 stating that every woman should be offered AMTSL as a means of reducing the incidence of postpartum hemorrhage. The World Health Organization (WHO) Making Pregnancy Safer Technical Update on Prevention of Postpartum Haemorrhage by AMTSL recommends that “AMTSL should be practiced by all skilled attendants at every birth to prevent postpartum haemorrhage.” Currently, very little is known about the actual practice of AMTSL. The aim of this study is to provide ministries of health and their international partners with the descriptive information necessary to assess AMTSL practices and identify major barriers to its use." [Prevention of Postpartum Hemorrhage Initiative (POPPHI), Washington DC, July to August 2006]
• Associations between maternal experiences of intimate partner violence and child nutrition and mortality: findings from Demographic and Health Surveys in Egypt, Honduras, Kenya, Malawi and Rwanda
  Background: If effective interventions are to be used to address child mortality and malnutrition, then it is important that we understand the different pathways operating within the framework of child health. More attention needs to be given to understanding the contribution of social influences such as intimate partner violence (IPV). Aim: To investigate the relationship between maternal exposure to IPV and child mortality and malnutrition using data from five developing countries. Methods: Population data from Egypt, Honduras, Kenya, Malawi and Rwanda were analysed. Logistic regression analysis was used to generate odds ratios of the associations between several categories of maternal exposure to IPV since the age of 15 and three child outcomes: under-2-year-old (U2) mortality and moderate and severe stunting (<-2 Z-score height-for-age and <-3 Z-score height-for-age) in 6e59-month-old children. Analyses were adjusted for potential confounders, and the role of mediating factors was explored. Results: The prevalence of physical and/or sexual IPV since the age of 15 years ranged from 15.5% (Honduras) to 46.2% (Kenya). For child stunting, prevalence ranged from 25.4% (Egypt) to 58.0% (Malawi) and for U2 mortality from 3.6% (Honduras) to 15.2% (Rwanda). In Kenya, maternal exposure to IPV was associated with higher U2 mortality (adjusted odds ratio (OR)=1.42, 95% CI 1.18 to 1.71) and child stunting (adjusted OR=1.36, 95% CI 1.16 to 1.61). In Malawi and Honduras, marginal associations were observed between IPV and severe stunting and U2 mortality, respectively, with strength of associations varying by type of violence. Conclusion: The relationship between IPV and U2 mortality and stunting in Kenya, Honduras and Malawi suggests that, in these countries, IPV plays a role in child malnutrition and mortality. This contributes to a growing body of evidence that broader public health benefits may be incurred if efforts to address IPV are incorporated into a wider range of maternal and child health programmes; however, the authors highlight the need for more research that can establish temporality, use data collected on the basis of the study’s objectives, and further explore the causal framework of this relationship using more advanced statistical analysis. [author abstract] [J Epidemiol Community Health (2010), jech.2008.081810 - Published Online: 14 September 2010]
• Atlas of Child and Adolescent Mental Health Resources, Global Concerns and Implications for the Future
  The Child and Adolescent Mental Health Atlas project is a systematic attempt to collect information from countries on existing services and resources. This project is led by the World Health Organization,Geneva, in collaboration with the WHO Regional Offices and partner organizations and assisted through collaboration with the International Association for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Allied Professions and the World Psychiatric Association Global Presidential Programme on Child Mental Health.
• Averting maternal death and disability: Human rights, constructive accountability and maternal mortality in the Dominican Republic: a commentary
  "Amid grim accounts of conditions in public sector facilities, the report describes a process that gives reason for hope: here we see the early stages of a process that, whether explicitly and consciously or not, uses many of the techniques of a rights-based approach to reducing maternal mortality. At the heart of rights-based approaches lies a notion of accountability. All too often, accountability is used to mean simply blame and punishment. Here I use the phrase ‘constructive accountability’ to make clear that a rights-based approach to maternal mortality reduction is not primarily about enacting a system to find fault and pronounce punishment; rather it is about developing a dynamic of entitlement and obligation between people and their government and within the complex system of relationships that form the wider health system, public and private. It is about building health systems that function for the benefit of people." [International Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics 82 (2003) 111–114]
• Beyond Firewood: Fuel Alterntives and Protection Strategies for Displaced Women and Girls
  "...The environment that surrounds refugee or internally displaced persons (IDP) camps, particularly in situations of ongoing conflict, is notoriously dangerous. Yet every day, in hundreds of camps around the world, millions of women and girls venture out into this danger, risking rape, assault, abduction, theft, exploitation or even murder, in order to collect enough firewood to cook for their families..." Published by the Women's Commission for Refugee Women and Children, this report examines the plight of these women and children and offers various alternative strategies to reduce the risks.
• Beyond the Numbers: Reviewing maternal deaths and complications to make pregnancy safer
  This 2004 WHO report offers diagnostic tools that shed light on what needs to be done to prevent maternal deaths.
• Building multisectoral partnerships for population health and health equity
  Poor performance in achieving population health goals is well-noted — approximately 10% of public health measures tracked are met. Less well-understood is how to create conditions that produce these goals. This article examines some of the factors that contribute to this poor performance, such as lack of shared responsibility for outcomes, lack of cooperation and collaboration, and limited understanding of what works. It also considers challenges to engaging stakeholders at multiple ecologic levels in building collaborative partnerships for population health. Grounded in the Institute of Medicine framework for collaborative public health action, it outlines 12 key processes for effecting change and improvement, such as analyzing information, establishing a vision and mission, using strategic and action plans, developing effective leadership, documenting progress and using feedback, and making outcomes matter. The article concludes with recommendations for strengthening collaborative partnerships for population health and health equity. [Prev Chronic Dis Vol. 7: No. 6, November 2010 (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion)]
• Caring for Children affected by HIV and AIDS
  "Explores the options for the care of children in communities affected by the AIDS pandemic. Beginning with the premise that the parent-child bond is the basic building block of child development and that the family is the basic unit of society, the report first looks at ways to keep parents alive and the family together as long as possible. It then explores alternative care arrangements beyond the immediate family. Settings range from care by the extended family, through different forms of fostering in the community, to adoption and placement in residential institutions. The report highlights ways in which actors from outside the immediate community can help to sustain and improve the capacity of households and communities to care for the children left behind".
• Changing a Harmful Social Convention: Female Genital Mutilation/ Cutting
  This Innocenti Digest examines the prevalence of FGM/C and its social dynamics. It provides an explanation as to why the practice persists and of the elements necessary for its abandonment. It also takes stock of progress to date, identifies what works and what does not, and provides direction regarding the most successful strategies to promote the abandonment of FGM/C.
• Child and adolescent mental health: A guide for healthcare professionals
  "This report is aimed at healthcare professionals and policy makers. It examines the types of problems faced by children and young people aged five to 17 years and the prevalence of mental health problems among this age group. It discusses barriers to the necessary provision of treatment, including stigma and discrimination. It considers the strategies in place to provide care, looking at the situation in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, and how effective these strategies are proving in practice. It goes on to look at mental health promotion, and finally makes recommendations for action and lists sources of further information."
• Child Health Research Project
  The CHR aims to reduce childhood mortality and illness through health research. It identifies and evaluates new technologies for improving case management and prevention of disease; strengthens the problem-solving capacity of developing country institutions, and guides improvements in national health policies and professional practice
• Children Under Threat: State of the World's Children 2005
  Although there have been significant advances in the fullfillment of children's rights to survivial, health and education in recent decades, some of these gains seem to be under threat in several regions. UNICEF's 2005 report on the State of the World's Children addresses the growing impact of poverty, armed conflict and HIV/AIDS on the wellbeing of children throughout the world.
• Conducting a Participatory Situation Analysis of Orphans and Vulnerable Children Affected by HIV/AIDS: Guidelines and Tools
  This document by Renee DeMarco explains how to gather and analyze information to guide planning and action. It offers sample consent forms, baseline surveys, and interview guides, which can be adapted for local use. It also discusses the ethical considerations related to gathering information about children.
• Correlates of condom use in a sample of MSM in Ecuador
  Background: In Ecuador, the prevalence of HIV in the general population is approximately 0.3%. However, up to 17% prevalence has been reported among specific groups of homosexual and bisexual men. The objective of this study is to explore correlates of condom use among men who have sex with men (MSM) across eight cities in Ecuador. Methods: A cross-sectional survey design was used. A questionnaire including variables on sexual behaviour, demographics, and socio-economic characteristics was distributed to a sample of MSM in eight Ecuadorian cities. Results: Information was obtained for 2,594 MSM across the eight cities. The largest subcategory of self-identification was active bisexuals (35%), followed by those who described themselves as "hombrados" (masculine gays, 22%). The mean age was 25 years, and the majority were unmarried (78%), with a median of 10 years of schooling (IQR 7 – 12). Regarding condom use, 55% of those interviewed had unprotected penetrative sex with each of their last three partners, and almost 25% had never used a condom. The most important correlates of condom use were single status, high life-skills rating, and high socio-economic status (RP 5.45, 95% CI 4.26 – 6.37; RP 1.84, 95% CI 1.79 – 1.86, and RP 1.20, 95% CI 1.01 – 1.31, respectively). Conclusion: Our data illustrate the urgent need for targeted HIV-prevention programs for MSM populations in Ecuador. MSM have the highest HIV prevalence in the country, and condom use is extremely low. It is imperative that prevention strategies be re-evaluated and re-prioritized to more effectively respond to the Ecuadorian epidemic. [author abstract] [BMC Public Health 2006, 6: 152]
• Diarrhoea: Why children are still dying and what can be done
  "Nearly nine million children under five years of age die each year. Diarrhoea is second only to pneumonia as the cause of these deaths. Why is diarrhoea, an easily preventable and treatable disease, one that in the developed world is considered little more than an inconvenience, causing an estimated 1.5 million under-five deaths every year?... This report sets out a 7-point strategy for comprehensive diarrhoea control that includes a treatment package to reduce child deaths, and a prevention package to reduce the number of diarrhoea cases for years to come. The report looks at treatment options such as low-osmolarity ORS and zinc tablets, as well as prevention measures such as the promotion of breastfeeding, vitamin A supplementation, immunization against rotavirus – a leading cause of diarrhoea – and proven methods of improving water, sanitation and hygiene practices… Saving the lives of millions of children at risk of death from diarrhoea is possible with a comprehensive strategy that ensures all children in need receive critical prevention and treatment measures." [The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) / World Health Organization (WHO), 2009]
• Disparities In Maternal And Infant Health: Are We Making Progress? Lessons From California
  This study documents the persistence of a range of maternal and infant health disparities across groups of differenct incomes, education levels and race.
• Early Childhood Interventions: Proven Results, Future Promise
  This study was conducted by RAND Labor and Population, and represents a thorough, objective review and synthesis of current research that addresses the potential for interventions of various forms in early childhood to improve outcomes for participating children and their families.
• Early termination of breast-feeding in periurban Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic: mothers’ community perceptions and personal practices
  Objectives: The objectives of this study were to determine: 1) whether mothers’ perceptions of typical community practice for breast-feeding duration influence their personal practices and 2) whether the mothers’ reports of community reasons for terminating breast-feeding identify barriers not elicited through self-report. Methods: The study was conducted in 1997 in a sample of poor neighborhoods in a periurban district of Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic. A representative sample of 220 mothers from these neighborhoods was interviewed with a structured questionnaire. Results: While the duration of breast-feeding was similar for self-report and for mothers’ perceptions of typical community practice, there was no statistically significant correlation between these two variables. 'Mother-driven' reasons for early termination of breast-feeding, such as 'fear of loss of figure or of breast shape' and 'not wanting to breast-feed,' were frequently perceived as community reasons but rarely given as personal reasons. Personal reasons were predominately 'child-driven,' including 'the child not wanting the breast,' or reasons beyond the mother’s control such as having 'insufficient' milk. Conclusions: Maternal report of community reasons for early termination may be a useful way to identify factors that would not otherwise be revealed on self-report. These additional reasons may guide health promotion efforts aimed at increasing breast-feeding duration. [author abstract] [Rev Panam Salud Publica/Pan Am J Public Health 9(6): 362-367, 2001]
• Evolving Capacities of the Child
  This report by Gerison Lansdown and published by UNICEF examines the evolving nature of childhood and the profound implications this has for the human rights of the child. It establishes that as children acquire enhanced competencies, there is a reduced need for direction and a greater capacity to take responsibility for decisions affecting their lives and recognises that children in different environments and cultures who are faced with diverse life experiences will acquire competencies at different ages.
• Experience of a pediatric HIV clinic in Guatemala City
  Objectives: To describe the clinical experience of a Guatemalan pediatric HIV clinic and referral center, and fill the gap in literature available on pediatric HIV in Guatemala, a country facing a growing HIV epidemic. Methods: Analyses were performed on data available from the clinical databases maintained by the Clínica Familiar Luis Ángel García within the Hospital General San Juan de Dios in Guatemala City, Guatemala. Results: From January 1997–June 2006, a total of 536 children (individuals under 13 years of age) were registered at the clinic, 54% of them female. At the initial visit, 241 were known to be HIV infected, while 295 were known to have been exposed to HIV, but were of undetermined infection status. Of the 295 with undetermined status, serostatus was determined in 173, and 57 (33%) were HIV positive. The patients came from all 24 departments of Guatemala, but the majority (64%) was from Guatemala City. Most had perinatal exposure; three patients had been sexually exposed to HIV (all male); and the mode of infection could not be determined for six children. In the cohort of children whose infection status was initially undetermined, the provision of antiretroviral (ARV) medication (both pre- and neonatal), in addition to Cesarean section, was associated with an odds ratio of 0.06 for HIV infection (P < 0.001) when compared to children who had no interventions. Highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) was administered to 167 HIV-infected children. There were 44 known deaths in this cohort; no deaths occurred among the children who were not infected. Conclusions: Pediatric HIV/AIDS is present in all parts of Guatemala. Programs to prevent mother to child transmission and to provide appropriate treatment to families living with HIV/AIDS must be a public health priority. [author abstract] [Rev Panam Salud Publica 2009; 25(1): 51–55]
• Fatherhood and health outcomes in Europe
  "…What is known about fatherhood and reproductive health? How can men, by being more involved in parenting, contribute to better health outcomes for themselves and their children and partners? What factors affect men’s involvement in parenthood and reproductive health positively? The report Fatherhood and health outcomes explores these issues. The report is based on a literature review with a special focus on fatherhood in Europe. Examination of the research literature shows, generally speaking, that increased involvement by men in fatherhood can benefit men, as well as women and children, in the form of better health. For example, men can give important psychological and emotional support to the woman during pregnancy and delivery. This, in turn, can reduce pain, panic and exhaustion during delivery. Studies have also shown that men’s involvement in maternal and child health programmes can reduce maternal and child mortality during pregnancy and labour by being prepared, for example, for obstetric emergencies. However, increased involvement in fatherhood can also benefit men’s own health and well-being."
• Fertility Regulation Behaviors and their Costs: Contraception and Unintended Pregnancies in Africa and Eastern Europe & Central Asia
  "The report consists of three parts: global trends in fertility, contraceptive use and unintended pregnancies; studies of two regions (Africa and Eastern Europe/Central Asia) and two countries (Nigeria and Kazakhstan) on the costs of fertility regulation behaviors and provider attitudes towards contraceptive use. Fertility levels have declined steadily over the last three decades but the pace of decline varies among regions. Countries that have achieved a high level of contraceptive use have reached a lower fertility level. A gap continues to exist between actual and desired family size, resulting in unintended pregnancies. More than one-third of the pregnancies that occur are unintended and one in five pregnancies ends in induced abortion. Almost half of all induced abortions are unsafe, and the proportion of all abortions that are unsafe has increased during the last decade. Sixty-six percent of unintended pregnancies occur among women who are not using any method of contraception."
• Financing Maternal and Child Health — What Are the Limitations in Estimating Donor Flows and Resource Needs?
  "How much donor assistance is currently available for maternal, newborn, and child health (MNCH) and how much additional financing will be needed? In this article, we examine the best estimates of current donor assistance to MNCH and of future funding that will be needed to reach MDGs 4 and 5. We lay out several limitations in these estimates. We end with our recommendations for improving the tracking of MNCH financing flows and estimating the costs of scaling up MNCH interventions." [PLoS Medicine, July 2010, Vol. 7, Iss. 7, e1000305]
• Generating political priority for public health causes in developing countries: Implications from a study on maternal mortality
  Why do some serious health issues — such as HIV/AIDS — get considerable attention and others — such as malaria and collapsing health systems — get very little? Why and under what conditions do political leaders consider an issue worthy of sustained attention, and back up that attention with money and other resources? In this CGD Brief, visiting fellow Jeremy Shiffman, an associate professor of public administration at the Maxwell School of Syracuse University, discusses nine factors that influenced the degree to which national leaders in five countries made one public health issue — maternal mortality — a political priority. Pregnancy-related complications are the leading cause of mortality globally among adult women of reproductive age, with more than half a million deaths annually. But in some countries maternal health has become a priority and maternal deaths have fallen, while in other countries this has not yet occurred. Drawing on his comparison of these countries, Shiffman offers recommendations for public health priority-setting in developing countries. His bottom line: attaining public health goals is as much a political as it is a medical or technical challenge; success requires not only appropriate technical interventions but also effective political strategies. [publication abstract] [CGD Brief, May 2007 (Center for Global Development)]
• Health Status Determinants: Lifestyle, Environment, Health Care Resources and Efficiency
  "This paper aims to shed light on the contribution of health care and other determinants to the health status of the population and to provide evidence on whether or not health care resources are producing similar value for money across OECD countries. First, it discusses the pros and cons of various indicators of the health status, concluding that mortality and longevity indicators have some drawbacks but remain the best available proxies. Second, it suggests that changes in health care spending, lifestyle factors (smoking and alcohol consumption as well as diet), education, pollution and income have been important factors behind improvements in health status. Third, it derives estimates of countries’ relative performance in transforming health care resources into longevity from two different methods – panel data regressions and data envelopment analysis – which give remarkably consistent results. The empirical estimates suggest that potential efficiency gains might be large enough to raise life expectancy at birth by almost three years on average for OECD countries, while a 10% increase in total health spending would increase life expectancy by three to four months."
• Housing and Population Health: The State of Current Research Knowledge
  "The mission of the Canadian Population Health Initiative (CPHI),the publisher of this report is to foster a better understanding of factors that affect the health of individuals and communities, and to contribute to the development of policies that reduce inequities and improve the health and well-being of Canadians".
• How can European health systems support investment in and the implementation of population health strategies?
  "Poor health in Europe has substantial health and socioeconomic costs. Much of this burden might be avoided by implementing effective population health strategies, both within and outside the health system. A broad approach to promoting population health requires a combination of upstream and downstream measures. Upstream measures may include measures that, among other goals, can help promote health, such as fiscal redistribution, improving the quality of housing and using incentives to encourage students to stay in school. Downstream measures include health promotion and primary disease prevention action, often targeting individual behaviour and lifestyle. To support investment in population health strategies, health systems must be able to identify not only what works and at what cost but also in what context. Mechanisms to allow such information to be fed into the policy deliberation process and also to facilitate the implementation of agreed population health strategies are then required."
• Huge poor–rich inequalities in maternity care: an international comparative study of maternity and child care in developing countries
  This October 2007 paper by Tanja A J Houweling et al. found that poor–rich inequalities in maternity care in general, and professional delivery care in particular, are much larger than those in immunisation coverage or treatment for childhood illnesses.
• Improving Population Health: The Uses of Systematic Reviews
  Evidence-based public/population health differs from evidence-based medicine because it bridges complex systems and populations rather than homogenous patient populations. Many methodological issues confront those who produce and use systematic reviews relevant to public/population health, and concerted efforts are under way to improve the quality of systematic reviews in this area. This report includes case studies — ranging from tobacco control to binge drinking among college students to the mental health challenges of the Indian Ocean tsunami — that bear many lessons for those seeking to improve population health and suggest there is significant room to enhance the role of evidence in policymaking.
• Incidence of Childhood Leukemia and Oil Exploitation in the Amazon Basin of Ecuador
  To determine whether there was any difference in childhood leukemia incidence rates between populations living in the proximity to oil fields and those living in areas free from oil exploitation in the Amazon basin of Ecuador, 91 cancer cases among children (0–14 years) from the provinces of Sucumbios, Orellana, Napo, and Pastaza during the period 1985–2000 were studied. The relative risks for all leukemias indicated significantly elevated levels in the youngest age group (0–4 years), both genders combined (RR 3.48, 95% CI 1.25–9.67), and in all age groups (0–14 years) combined for females (RR 2.60, 95% CI 1.11–6.08) and both genders combined (RR 2.56, 95% CI 1.35–4.86). There was no significant difference between the two groups in all other cancer sites combined. Study results are compatible with a relationship between childhood leukemia incidence and living in the proximity of oil fields in the Ecuadorian Amazon. [author abstract] [Int J Occup Environ Health, vol 10, no 3: 245-250, Jul/Sep 2004]
• Inconsistent Reporting of Female Genital Cutting Status in Northern Ghana: Explanatory Factors and Analytical Consequences
  "Although many cross-sectional social surveys have included questions about female genital cutting status and correlated personal characteristics, no longitudinal studies have been launched that permit investigation of response biases associated with such surveys. This study [by Elizabeth F. Jackson, Patricia Akweongo, Evelyn Sakeah, Abraham Hodgson, Rofina Asuru, and James F. Phillips] draws upon the findings of a longitudinal study of women aged 15 to 49 in rural northern Ghana. The self-reported circumcision status of women interviewed in 1995 was compared with the status they reported when they were interviewed again in 2000 after the government began enforcing a law banning the practice and public information campaigns against it were launched. In all, 13 percent of respondents who reported in 1995 that they had been circumcised stated that they had not been circumcised in the 2000 reinterview; this inconsistency reached 50 percent for the youngest age group. Analysis shows that women who said they had not been circumcised are significantly younger, more likely to be educated, and less likely to practice traditional religion than are women who reported that they were circumcised. Factors that may explain these correlates of denial are discussed, and implications for research are reviewed." [author abstract] [Studies in Family Planning 2003; 34(3): 200–210]
• Indicators of Health and Well-being for Children and Young People with Disabilities: Mapping the Terrain and Proposing a Human Rights Approach
  "This review of the literature has been prepared in the context of a research study which aims to investigate the development of a robust set of indicators to measure the health and well-being of children and young people with disabilities. Two approaches are being used in the study to inform the development of a set of indicators: the first approach takes a human rights perspective and utilises the United Nations (UN) Conventions, specifically the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) to conceptualise items relevant to children and young people with disabilities; the second approach is consumer and advocacy oriented and involves children and young people aged between seven and twenty-four years of age in focus groups discussing the topic of their health and well-being. This study arose against the background of children and youth with disabilities in Australia faring poorly compared to their non-disabled peers, a situation that is in direct contravention to Australia’s obligations under human rights conventions. Progress on developing indicators to monitor health and well-being for children and youth has not extended to those with disabilities and there is reason to believe that additional indicators may be appropriate. In particular, this review of the literature aims to develop an understanding of how studies into well-being have been formulated, what ways exist already to measure child health and well-being, and how health and well-being might be addressed in the context of children and young people with disabilities. As such, the review examines developing a framework for indicator development from a human rights perspective. By doing so, the literature review suggests a model that can be used to measure health and well-being across a broad population, but also disaggregated to specifically address the well-being of children and youth with disabilities in a way that is meaningful to them." [Prepared under Australian Research Alliance for Children and Youth (ARACY) Seeding Grant, 2009-2010]
• Inequalities in young people’s health
  "This international report is the fourth from the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) study, a WHO collaborative cross-national study, and the most comprehensive. It presents the key findings on patterns of health among young people aged 11, 13 and 15 years in 41 countries and regions across the WHO European Region and North America in 2005/2006. Its theme is health inequalities: quantifying the gender, age, geographic and socioeconomic dimensions of health differentials. Its aim is to highlight where these inequalities exist, to inform and influence policy and practice and to help improve health for all young people. The report clearly shows that, while the health and well-being of many young people give cause for celebration, sizeable minorities are experiencing real and worrying problems related to overweight and obesity, self-esteem, life satisfaction, substance misuse and bullying. The report provides reliable data that health systems in Member States can use to support and encourage sectors such as education, social inclusion and housing, to achieve their primary goals and, in so doing, benefit young people’s health. Policy-makers and professionals in the participating countries should listen closely to the voices of their young people and ensure that these drive their efforts to put in place the circumstances – social, economic, health and educational – within which young people can thrive and prosper."
• Injury prevention and the attainment of child and adolescent health
  "Urgent attention is required to tackle the problem of child and adolescent injury across the world. There have been considerable shifts in the epidemiological patterns of child deaths; while great progress has been made in preventing infectious diseases, the exposure of children and adolescents to the risks of injury appear to be increasing and will continue to do so in the future. The issue of injuries is too often absent from child and adolescent health agendas. In December 2008, WHO and the United Nations Children’s Fund published the World report on child injury prevention, calling global attention to the problem of child injuries. This article expands on the report’s arguments that child injuries must be integrated into child health initiatives and proposes initial steps for achieving this integration." [author abstract]
• Innovating for every woman, every child: thematic report – the global campaign for the Health Millennium Development Goals 2011
  "The Global Campaign for the Health Millennium Development Goals was launched at the Clinton Global Initiative by Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg of Norway and a group of world leaders in September 2007. The campaign brings together actions and initiatives with the common aim of fulfilling the promises for development – the eight Millennium Development Goals – made by world leaders 11 years ago. This thematic report, Innovating for Every Woman, Every Child, is published in support of the Every Woman, Every Child joint effort initiated by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. It is the first thematic report in a series from the Global Campaign that is intended to be both practical and inspirational.” The report demonstrates that there is a new narrative in the social and economic development of countries – one that does no longer rely solely on the supply of wealthy donor assistance, but more on ‘generating demand amongst people in developing countries.’ It is only by generating demand that goods and services to raise people’s living standards can be developed cost-effectively. In many low- and middle-income countries, the heath care sector continues to fall short when it comes to safeguarding women and children’s health… Although providers of health services try to bring the right people with the right skills and the right resources together in the right place to deliver essential interventions, the report finds that these providers are often obstructed by social and economic barriers excluding women and children from receiving life-saving support. The Global Strategy for Women’s and Children’s Health aims to close the gaps behind these high mortality rates as it sets out the key areas where action is urgently required to enhance financing, strengthen policy and improve service delivery. The report notes that the most effective initiatives to improve women’s and children’s health are those that are adjusted to local and country specific conditions and follow a clearly defined business models that are based on the identification of an intervention or product’s added value, beneficiaries/buyers, distribution channels; resource needs; organizational format and long-term viability. Moreover, it is about innovation... The report portrays (for-profit, non-profit or hybrid) ‘business models that innovators have used with success, as well as case studies of some of the most powerful and ingenious innovations in women’s and children’s health,’ including business models serving households, government health systems, and private companies. [publication overview] [The United Nations Non-Governmental Liaison Service (UN-NGLS), September 2011]
• Investing in Children's Health: What are the Economic Benefits?
  In this paper published by WHO the authors; Paolo C Belli, Flavia Buestro and Alexander Preker argue that investing in children's health is a sound economic decision for government's to take even if the moral justifications for such decisions are not considered.
• Male circumcision: Evidence and implications
  "This [World Bank Working Paper of August 2008] report summarizes the evidence linking male circumcision and HIV infection, and assesses the implications for HIV prevention programs. The practical implications are especially pertinent in countries with very high HIV prevalence and low circumcision rates - including South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland and Namibia."
• Marriage and Child Well Being
  This issue of The Future of Children features eight articles on marriage and its effects on children, presenting evidence that stable marriages can improve children's emotional, intellectual, and economic well-being, and that some well-designed marriage-promotion initiatives may benefit children and families.
• Malnutrition: Quantifiying the Health Impact at National and Global Levels
  In this guide the authors Monika Blossner and Mercedes de Onis outline a method for estimating the disease burden at national or local level that is associated with maternal and child malnutrition. The goal is to help policy-makers and others quantify the increased risk associated with malnutrition, in terms of attributable mortality and morbidity, at country or local levels and allow policy-makers to compare the disease burden of malnutrition and enable resources to be deployed more effectively.
• Maternal and childhood nutrition and later blood pressure levels in young Guatemalan adults
  Background: Low birth weight and subsequent rapid child growth are associated with later blood pressure levels. The role of maternal and child nutrition in this association remains unclear. Methods: We studied 450 men and women (ages 21–29 years) born during a randomized trial of protein-energy supplementation (Atole) vs low energy/no protein supplementation (Fresco) in pregnancy and early childhood in four rural Guatemalan villages from 1969 to 1977. Results: Protein-energy supplementation was not associated with differences in blood pressure in adulthood (diastolic blood pressure (DBP): β = 0.69 mm Hg, 95% confidence internal (CI) (–0.82–2.19); P = 0.37; systolic blood pressure (SBP): β = 0.17 mm Hg, 95% CI (–1.68–2.02); P = 0.86). Within the Atole group, maternal height was associated with later SBP (0.22 mm Hg/cm, 95% CI (–0.002–0.45); P = 0.05). No other associations between maternal nutritional status, birth size, child growth, or supplement intake were observed for adult blood pressure. Conclusions: Our data do not support the role of maternal nutrition during pregnancy, birth size, or early child growth in programming adult blood pressure. Likewise, we found no effect of protein-energy supplementation in pregnancy or in early childhood on blood pressure in young adults. [author abstract] [International Journal of Epidemiology 2005; 34: 898–904]
• Maternal Health: Fifth Report of Session 2007–08 Volume I
  This report of the UK House of Commons - International Development Committee by authority of the House of Commons London: The Stationery Office, published on 2 March 2008, states: "Millennium Development Goal 5 (MDG 5), which seeks to reduce by three-quarters the level of maternal mortality by 2015, has seen the least progress of all the MDGs. A key factor in this collective failure has been insufficient political will to drive actions to improve the health of women, both at the international and national levels. The [UK] Department for International Development (DFID) has been a leading donor to maternal health programmes. It deserves credit for its creation of international partnerships, its willingness to address sensitive issues such as abortion, its support to research and its consistent focus on strengthening health systems. Major challenges remain. Only two in five women in sub-Saharan Africa deliver their babies with the assistance of a skilled attendant and this is largely unchanged since the early 1990s. Addressing the huge shortage of midwives worldwide and increasing the availability of emergency obstetric care to all women has been and must remain at the centre of DFID’s approach. Increasing access to basic drugs and equipment — including family planning supplies — is also vital… DFID cannot single-handedly bring about the progress needed to reach MDG 5. It needs to step back and prioritise carefully in order to maximise the series of crucial opportunities offered in 2008. The Department must play to its strengths and support other actors, especially the UN, in playing their part. Only then will maternal health receive the urgent political commitment that it deserves."
• Measuring maternal mortality: An overview of opportunities and options for developing countries
  "There is currently an unprecedented expressed need and demand for estimates of maternal mortality in developing countries. This has been stimulated in part by the creation of a Millennium Development Goal that will be judged partly on the basis of reductions in maternal mortality by 2015. Since the launch of the Safe Motherhood Initiative in 1987, new opportunities for data capture have arisen and new methods have been developed, tested and used. This paper provides a pragmatic overview of these methods and the optimal measurement strategies for different developing country contexts. There are significant recent advances in the measurement of maternal mortality, yet also room for further improvement, particularly in assessing the magnitude and direction of biases and their implications for different data uses."
• Measuring Progress in Healthy People 2010
  "This U.S. report describes the measurement of progress toward the attainment of the Healthy People targets for the objectives of increasing years and quality of life. It also describes the decisions that have been made concerning the measurement of disparities."
• Mobilizing for Impact: Engaging Guatemalan Communities to Save Mothers
  "Guatemalan women, their families, and their neighbors exposed to an innovative safe motherhood program now know what to do in case something goes wrong during pregnancy, childbirth, or postpartum… Taking action in a timely manner helps save women’s lives and reduce maternal mortality." [Johns Hopkins University, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Center for Communication Programs and the Ministerio de Salud Pública y Asistencia Social de Guatemala, Programa Nacional de Salud Reproductiva, May 2004]
• New Frontiers in Contraceptive Research: A blueprint for action- open book
  This blueprint for action, edited by Sharyl J. Nass and Jerome F. Strauss III addresses the need for greater research into the development and use of contraceptives throughout the world.
• Nutrition Education in Primary Schools - A Planning Guide for Curriculum Development
  This 2007 report is a "wide-ranging new guide on teaching good eating habits to primary school children in an effort to reduce malnutrition and diet-related diseases. The agency notes that one of the most effective strategies for overcoming malnutrition and chronic diet-related diseases, such as excess weight and obesity, diabetes, hypertension and cardiovascular diseases, is educating school children in healthy nutrition."
• Outdoor Air Pollution, Low Birth Weight, and Prematurity
  This study tested the hypothesis, suggested by several recent reports, that air pollution may increase the risk of adverse birth outcomes. This study analyzed all singleton live births registered by the Czech national birth register in 1991 in 67 districts where at least one pollutant was monitored in 1990-1991 (n = 108,173). Maternal exposures to sulfur dioxide (S02), total suspended particles (TSP), and nitrous oxides (NO.) in each trimester of pregnancy were estimated as the arithmetic means of all daily measurements taken by all monitors in the district of birth of each infant. Odds ratios of low birth weight (< 2,500 g), prematurity (< 37 weeks of gestation), and intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR; < 10th percentile of birth weight for gestational age and sex) were estimated by robust logistic regression. The median (and 25th and 75th percentile) trimester exposures were 32 (18, 56) pg/m3 for S02; 72 (55, 87) pg/m3 for TSP; and 38 (23, 59) pg/m3 for NOx. Low birth weight (prevalence 5.2%) and prematurity (prevalence 4.8%) were associated with S02 and somewhat less strongly with TSP. IUGR was not associated with any pollutant. The effects on low birth weight and prematurity were marginally stronger for exposures in the first trimester, and were not attenuated at all by adjustment for socioeconomic factors or the month of birth. Adjusted odds ratios of low birth weight were 1.20 [95% confidence interval (CI), 1.11-1.30] and 1.15 (CI, 1.07-1.24) for a 50 pg/m3 increase in SO2 and TSP, respectively, in the first trimester; adjusted odds ratios of prematurity were 1.27 (CI, 1.16-1.39) and 1.18 (CI, 1.05-1.31) for a 50 pg/m3 increase in SO2 and TSP, respectively, in the first trimester. Low gestational age accounted for the association between SO2 and low birth weight. These findings provide further support for the hypothesis that air pollution can affect the outcome of pregnancy. [author abstract] [Environmental Health Perspectives, Vol. 108, No. 2, pp.173-176, February 2000]
• Pattern and determinants of BCG immunisation delays in a sub-Saharan African community
  Background: Childhood immunisation is recognised worldwide as an essential component of health systems and an indispensable indicator of quality of care for vaccine-preventable diseases. While performance of immunisation programmes is more commonly measured by coverage, ensuring that every child is immunised at the earliest/ appropriate age is an important public health goal. This study therefore set out to determine the pattern and predictors of Bacille de Calmette-Guérin (BCG) immunisation delays in the first three months of life in a Sub-Saharan African community where BCG is scheduled at birth in order to facilitate necessary changes in current policy and practices for improved services. Methods: A cross-sectional study in which immunisation delays among infants aged 0-3 months attending community-based BCG clinics in Lagos, Nigeria over a 2-year period from July 2005 to June 2007 were assessed by survival analysis and associated factors determined by multivariable logistic regression. Population attributable risk (PAR) was computed for the predictors of delays. Results: BCG was delayed beyond three months in 31.6% of all eligible infants. Of 5171 infants enrolled, 3380 (65.4%) were immunised within two weeks and a further 1265 (24.5%) by six weeks. A significantly higher proportion of infants born in hospitals were vaccinated in the first six weeks compared to those born outside hospitals. Undernourishment was predictive of delays beyond 2 and 6 weeks while treated hyperbilirubinaemia was associated with decreased odds for any delays. Lack of antenatal care and multiple gestations were also predictive of delays beyond 6 weeks. Undernourishment was associated with the highest PAR for delays beyond 2 weeks (18.7%) and 6 weeks (20.8%). Conclusions: BCG immunisation is associated with significant delays in this setting and infants at increased risk of delays can be identified and supported early possibly through improved maternal uptake of antenatal care. Combining BCG with subsequent immunisation(s) at 6 weeks for infants who missed the BCG may be considered. [author abstract] [Health Research Policy and Systems 2010, 8: 1]
• Planning and Implementing Cervical Cancer Prevention and Control Programs: A Manual for Managers
  "The World Health Organization (WHO) welcomes this initiative from the Alliance for Cervical Cancer Prevention (ACCP) to provide a manual for program managers at regional and local levels in developing countries. It draws upon their collective experience from implementing research and demonstration projects using new approaches to screening and treatment, and it does so in a variety of geographic and sociocultural settings and for a range of resource levels. This general, how-to manual responds to the fundamental challenge of moving from policy to actually organizing, implementing, and monitoring newly developed programmes or strengthening existing cervical cancer prevention and control programs. It complements WHO’s managerial guidelines for National Cancer Control Programs, and WHO publications on Cervical Cancer Screening in Developing Countries, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC)/WHO Handbooks of Cancer Prevention, Volume 10: Cervix Cancer Screening, and the upcoming WHO Comprehensive Cervical Cancer Control: A Guide for Essential Practice for health care providers." [Alliance for Cervical Cancer Prevention (ACCP), Seattle, 2004]
• Population Health Policy: Issues and Options
  This report purpose is to: outline the major issues facing the development of population health policy in Canada; present policy options to a) improve overall health status, and b) reduce health disparities; and launch a public debate on the role of the federal government in the development and implementation of population health policy.
• Progress for Children: A Report Card on Immunization
  This Sept. 2005 paper provides an report card on immunization in countries throughout the world. It asserts that although substantial progress has been made in many countries, there is still an enormous amount of work still to be done.
• Progress of the World's Women 2005: Women, Work and Poverty
  This report from UNIFEM makes the case that strengthening women's economic security is critical to efforts to reduce poverty and promote gender equality, and that decent work is basic to economic security. It argues for an increased focus on women's informal employment as a key pathway to reducing poverty and strengthening women's economic security.
• Safe Passages to Adulthood
  All over the world, young people experience a disproportionate share of unplanned pregnancies, sexually transmitted infections, including HIV/AIDS, and other sexual and reproductive health problems. Developed with the support of the UK Department for International Development (DfID), Safe Passages to Adulthood is a programme of research into young people’s sexual and reproductive health in poorer country settings. Programme activities aim to increase the capacity of developing country partners to generate new knowledge and develop systematic guidelines for action at programme and policy levels.
• School feeding for improving the physical and psychosocial health of disadvantaged students (Review)
  Background: Early malnutrition and/or micronutrient deficiencies can adversely affect physical, mental, and social aspects of child health. School feeding programs are designed to improve attendance, achievement, growth, and other health outcomes. Objectives: The main objective was to determine the effectiveness of school feeding programs in improving physical and psychosocial health for disadvantaged school pupils . Search strategy: We searched a number of databases including CENTRAL (2006 Issue 2), MEDLINE (1966 to May 2006), EMBASE (1980 to May 2006), PsycINFO (1980 to May 2006) and CINAHL (1982 to May 2006). Grey literature sources were also searched. Reference lists of included studies and key journals were handsearched and we also contacted selected experts in the field. Selection criteria: Data from randomized controlled trials (RCTs), non-randomised controlled clinical trials (CCTs), controlled before and after studies (CBAs), and interrupted time series studies (ITSs) were included. Feeding had to be done in school; the majority of participants had to be socio-economically disadvantaged. Data collection and analysis: Two reviewers assessed all searches and retrieved studies. Data extraction was done by one of four reviewers and reviewed by a second. Two reviewers independently rated quality. If sufficient data were available, they were synthesized using random effects meta-analysis, adjusting for clustering if needed. Analyses were performed separately for RCTs and CBAs and for higher and lower income countries. Main results: We included 18 studies. For weight, in the RCTs and CBAs from Lower Income Countries, experimental group children gained an average of 0.39 kg (95% C.I: 0.11 to 0.67) over an average of 19 months and 0.71 kg (95% C.I.: 0.48 to 0.95) over 11.3 months respectively. Results for weight were mixed in higher income countries. For height, results were mixed; height gain was greater for younger children. Attendance in lower income countries was higher in experimental groups than in controls; our results show an average increase of 4 to 6 days a year. Math gains were consistently higher for experimental groups in lower income countries; in CBAs, the Standardized Mean Difference was 0.66 (95% C.I. = 0.13 to 1.18). In short-term studies, small improvements in some cognitive tasks were found. Authors’ conclusions: School meals may have some small benefits for disadvantaged children. We recommend further well-designed studies on the effectiveness of school meals be undertaken, that results should be reported according to socio-economic status, and that researchers gather robust data on both processes and carefully chosen outcomes. [publication abstract] [The Cochrane Collaboration. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., 2009]
• Shared Principles of Ethics for Infant and Young Child Nutrition in the Developing World
  Background: The defining event in the area of infant feeding is the aggressive marketing of infant formula in the developing world by transnational companies in the 1970s. This practice shattered the trust of the global health community in the private sector, culminated in a global boycott of Nestle products and has extended to distrust of all commercial efforts to improve infant and young child nutrition. The lack of trust is a key barrier along the critical path to optimal infant and young child nutrition in the developing world. Discussion: To begin to bridge this gap in trust, we developed a set of shared principles based on the following ideals: Integrity; Solidarity; Justice; Equality; Partnership, cooperation, coordination, and communication; Responsible Activity; Sustainability; Transparency; Private enterprise and scale-up; and Fair trading and consumer choice. We hope these principles can serve as a platform on which various parties in the in the infant and young child nutrition arena, can begin a process of authentic trust-building that will ultimately result in coordinated efforts amongst parties. Summary: A set of shared principles of ethics for infant and young child nutrition in the developing world could catalyze the scale-up of low cost, high quality, complementary foods for infants and young children, and eventually contribute to the eradication of infant and child malnutrition in the developing world. [author abstract] [BMC Public Health 10: 321, 2010]
• Social cohesion for mental well-being among adolescents
  The WHO/HBSC Forum 2007 process engaged intersectoral policy-makers, researchers and programme managers from 17 Member States in considering the following issues: translating research into policies and action; intersectoral action; addressing health inequities; and involving young people. The Forum process also included the preparation of background papers on: cross-national HBSC data on mental well-being in school-aged children in Europe; socioeconomic inequalities in mental health among adolescents in Europe; and economic aspects of mental health in children and adolescents. National and subnational case studies were a core component of the WHO/HBSC Forum 2007 process. The aim of the case studies is not to record best practices, but to document experiences in relation to enabling and restraining factors in building social cohesion for mental well-being among adolescents.
• Solving the Problem of Childhood Obesity Within a Generation
  "The childhood obesity epidemic in America is a national health crisis. One in every three children (31.7%) ages 2-19 is overweight or obese. The life-threatening consequences of this epidemic create a compelling and critical call for action that cannot be ignored. Obesity is estimated to cause 112,000 deaths per year in the United States, and one third of all children born in the year 2000 are expected to develop diabetes during their lifetime. The current generation may even be on track to have a shorter lifespan than their parents. Along with the effects on our children’s health, childhood obesity imposes substantial economic costs. Each year, obese adults incur an estimated $1,429 more in medical expenses than their normal-weight peers. Overall, medical spending on adults that was attributed to obesity topped approximately $40 billion in 1998, and by 2008, increased to an estimated $147 billion. Excess weight is also costly during childhood, estimated at $3 billion per year in direct medical costs." [US White House Task Force on Childhood Obesity, Report 11 May 2010]
• Special Report on Maternal Mortality and Severe Morbidity in Canada “Enhanced Surveillance: The Path to Prevention”
  This report contains information on current provincial and territorial mechanisms to investigate and report on maternal deaths, analysis of maternal deaths occurring between 1997 and 2000, rates of severe maternal morbidity and recommendations to enhance the surveillance of maternal mortality and severe maternal morbidity in Canada.
• State of the World's Children 2006: Excluded and Invisible
  UNICEF's flagship publication, 'The State of the World's Children' 2006, closely examine key issues affecting children who are excluded and invisible as a result of armed conflict, poverty, HIV/AIDS, discrimination and inequalities. The report includes supporting data and statistics and is available in French and Spanish language versions.
• State of the World’s Children 2007 – Women and Children: The Double Dividend for Gender Equality
  The State of the World’s Children 2007 reports on the lives of women around the world for a simple reason: Gender equality and the well-being of children go hand in hand. When women are empowered to live full and productive lives, children prosper. UNICEF’s experience also shows the opposite: When women are denied equal opportunity within a society, children suffer.
• State of the World's Population 2004: The Cairo Consensus at Ten
  This report outlines the progress made throughout the world in carrying out the action plan linking global poverty alleviation to women's rights and reproductive health, which came out of the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in Cairo. It asserts that the quality and reach of family planning programmes have improved, safe motherhood and HIV prevention efforts are being scaled up, and governments embrace the ICPD Programme of Action as an essential blueprint for realizing development goals.
• Summary Measures of Population Health: Concepts, Ethics, Measurement and Applications
  Edited by Christopher J.L. Murray, Joshua A. Salomon, Colin D. Mathers and Alan D. Lopez, this book addresses a wide array of critical issues regarding the measurement of population health using comprehensive indices combining information on mortality and ill-health. Link takes you to order page for this book (no longer available online).
• The Economics of Early Childhood Policy: What the Dismal Science Has to Say About Investing in Children
  "…Scientific discoveries over the past two decades have transformed the way in which researchers, policymakers, and the public think about early childhood. For example, recent research in brain science has provided a biological basis for prevailing theories about early child development, and cost-benefit analysis has reoriented some of the discussion about early childhood toward prevention programs. Several recent reports have been particularly helpful in translating research findings into practical information that improves policy. This paper [by M. Rebecca Kilburn and Lynn A. Karoly] summarizes the contributions from the field of economics, which has played an increasingly prominent role in recent discussions about early childhood policy. The insights from economics also have broader implications for social programs focused on prevention, especially during childhood, rather than later-in-life remediation. This research will be of value to individuals who are interested in early childhood policy, including decision makers in the public and private sectors, service providers, and the public more generally."
• The prevalence and social patterning of chronic diseases among older people in a population undergoing health transition. A 10/66 Group cross-sectional population-based survey in the Dominican Republic
  Background: Very little of the increased attention towards chronic diseases in countries with low and middle incomes has been directed towards older people, who contribute 72% of all deaths, and 14% of all Disability Adjusted Life Years linked to this group of conditions in those regions. We aimed to study the prevalence of physical, mental and cognitive diseases and impairments among older people in the Dominican Republic, their social patterning, and their relative contributions to disability. Methods: A cross-sectional catchment area one-phase survey of chronic disease diagnoses, physical impairments, risk factors and associated disability among 2011 people aged 65 years and over (of whom 1451 gave fasting blood samples) in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Results: The most prevalent diagnoses were hypertension (73.0%), anaemia (35.0%), diabetes (17.5%), depression (13.8%) and dementia (11.7%), with 39.6% meeting criteria for metabolic syndrome. After direct standardization (for age and sex) the prevalences of stroke (standardized morbidity ratio [SMR] 100) and hypertension (SMR 108) were similar to those in the United States of America National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES reference SMR 100), while those of diabetes (SMR 83) and metabolic syndrome (SMR 72) were somewhat lower. Anaemia was three times more common than in the USA (SMR 310). Diabetes, hypertension, dyslipidaemia, obesity and the metabolic syndrome were associated with affluence and female sex. Arthritis, anaemia, dementia and stroke were strongly age-associated and these conditions were also the main independent contributors to disability. Conclusions: The prevalence of many chronic diseases is similar in predominately low socioeconomic status neighbourhoods in the Dominican Republic to that in the USA. Prevalence of age-associated conditions is likely to increase with demographic ageing. There is also scope for increases in cardiovascular disease prevalence, if, as observed in other settings undergoing the epidemiologic transition, the burden of risk factors shifts towards the less affluent. Monitoring future trends in the prevalence and social patterning of chronic diseases may help to assess the effectiveness and equity of primary and secondary prevention strategies. Specific recommendations from our research include identifying and targeting the causes of anaemia among older people, and addressing women's health disadvantages. [author abstract] [BMC Public Health 2010, 10: 344]
• The Quality of Death: Ranking end-of-life care across the world
  "'Quality of life' is a common phrase. The majority of human endeavours are ostensibly aimed at improving quality of life, whether for the individual or the community, and the concept ultimately informs most aspects of public policy and private enterprise. Advancements in healthcare have been responsible for the most significant quality-of-life gains in the recent past: that humans are (on average) living longer, and more healthily than ever, is well established. But 'quality of death' is another matter. Death, although inevitable, is distressing to contemplate and in many cultures is taboo. Even where the issue can be openly discussed, the obligations implied by the Hippocratic oath — rightly the starting point for all curative medicine — do not fit easily with the demands of end-of-life palliative care, where the patient’s recovery is unlikely and instead the task falls to the physician (or, more often, caregiver) to minimise suffering as death approaches. Too often such care is simply not available… Few nations, including rich ones with cutting-edge healthcare systems, incorporate palliative care strategies into their overall healthcare policy—despite the fact that in many of these countries, increasing longevity and ageing populations mean demand for end-of-life care is likely to rise sharply. Globally, training for palliative care is rarely included in healthcare education curricula. Institutions that specialise in giving palliative and end-of-life care are often not part of national healthcare systems, and many rely on volunteer or charitable status. Added to this, the availability of painkilling drugs — the most basic issue in the minimisation of suffering—is woefully inadequate across much of the world, often because of concerns about illicit use and trafficking. The result of this state of affairs is an incalculable surfeit of suffering, not just for those about to die, but also for their loved ones. Clearly, the deeper inclusion of palliative care into broader health policy, and the improvement of standards of end-of-life care — raising the 'quality of death' — will also yield significant gains for humanity’s quality of life. With this in mind, the Economist Intelligence Unit was commissioned by the Lien Foundation, a Singaporean philanthropic organisation, to devise a 'Quality of Death' Index to rank countries according to their provision of end-of-life care." [The Economist Intelligence Unit, 2010]
• Understanding and Improving Aboriginal Maternal and Child Health in Canada
  "Our goal was to capture on-the-ground information about what’s working from people in the field. A summary of all proceedings follows in the second part of this report, and an online compendium of promising practices is available at www.healthcouncilcanada.ca. In this commentary, we offer a window into the experiences and insights of many people who provide care to Aboriginal women and their children. What they said complemented and sometimes questioned current thinking about the best way to approach Aboriginal maternal and child health issues across Canada." [Health Council Canada, 2011]
• UNFPA Annual Report 2005
  This report provides an overview of UNFPA challenges and achievements throughout the year, in policy and programming and in efforts to harmonize cooperation with United Nations partners. The report presents UNFPA response to the tsunami and earthquake disasters in Asia, features efforts to end obstetric fistula and expand access to reproductive health, and addresses work with governments to integrate population trends and dynamics into their development plans. It also notes UNFPA endorsement of the Global Task Team’s recommendations and an intensified HIV/AIDS response, and introduces the new global Partnership for Maternal, Newborn & Child Health.
• Using human rights to improve maternal and neonatal health: history, connections and a proposed practical approach
  “We describe the historical development of how maternal and neonatal mortality in the developing world came to be seen as a public-health concern, a human rights concern, and ultimately as both, leading to the development of approaches using human rights concepts and methods to advance maternal and neonatal health. We describe the different contributions of the international community, women’s health advocates and human rights activists. We briefly present a recent effort, developed by WHO with the Harvard Program on International Health and Human Rights, that applies a human rights framework to reinforce current efforts to reduce maternal and neonatal mortality.”
• Vitamin A deficiency and child mortality in Mozambique
  Background: In areas where vitamin A deficiency (VAD) is prevalent, vitamin A repletion reduces child mortality by 23% on average. Objectives: To estimate the potential child survival benefits of policies and programmes aimed at controlling VAD in Mozambique, and to make policy and programme recommendations. Methods: The potential contribution of VAD to child mortality in Mozambique was estimated by combining the observed VAD prevalence in the under-5s (71.2%), the measured child mortality effects of VAD (risk of death in children with VAD = 1.75 times higher than in children without VAD) and the observed under-5 mortality rate in the country (210 per 1000 live births). Results: In Mozambique, an estimated 2.3 million children below the age of 5 years are vitamin-A-deficient. In the absence of appropriate policy and programme action, VAD will be the attributable cause of over 30 000 deaths annually in the under-5s. This represents 34.8% of all-cause mortality in this age group. Discussion: Vitamin A supplementation (VAS) has been adopted as a short- to medium-term strategy to control VAD in children, and is integrated into routine child health services. However, the last VAS coverage survey showed that only 46% of children received a vitamin A supplement in the 6 months preceding the survey. If VAS coverage is to increase significantly in the foreseeable future, four areas appear to be of paramount importance: (1) reduce missed opportunities for VAS such as visits of sick children to child health services and community outreach activities; (2) take advantage of all potential opportunities for accelerating VAS coverage, such as additional vaccination campaigns and emergency response activities; (3) strengthen health workers’ training, supervision and monitoring skills; and (4) increase community demand for VAS of children. Biannual VAS, as the primary component of an integrated strategy for VAD control in children, has the promise to be among the most cost-effective/high-impact child survival interventions in Mozambique. [author abstract] [Public Health Nutrition, 2005: 8(1), 29–31]
• Water, sanitation and hygiene interventions to combat childhood diarrhoea in developing countries
  "This report is a synthetic review of impact evaluations examining effectiveness of water, sanitation and hygiene (WSH) interventions in reducing childhood diarrhoea. The review has been conducted to Campbell/Cochrane Collaboration standards of systematic review, as well as employing mixed methods of data analysis to assess not only which interventions are effective, or not, but why and under what circumstances… The results challenge the notion that water quality treatment in the household (at point-of-use) and sanitation ‘software’ (hygiene) interventions are necessarily the most efficacious and sustainable interventions for promoting reduction of diarrhoea… The study highlights the importance of behavioural factors in determining up-take and sustainable adoption of WSH technologies. Insights from diffusion theory suggest that preventive interventions tend to be adopted more slowly as benefits are difficult to observe and users presumably discontinue treatment as they perceive that the costs of using the intervention outweigh the benefits. These problems are more relevant for interventions aiming to reduce disease prevalence which do not have additional benefits, for example time savings. Unfortunately, few impact evaluations addressing sustainability collect data on the reasons for the levels of compliance and acceptance found among beneficiaries. This information is an essential guide to fostering long-term impact." [The International Initiative for Impact Evaluation (3ie), 2009]
• Weight of nations: a socioeconomic analysis of women in low- to middle-income countries
  Background: The increasing trend in body mass index (BMI) and overweight in rapidly developing economies is well recognized. Objective: We assessed the association between socioeconomic status and BMI and overweight in low- to middle-income countries. Design: We conducted a cross-sectional analysis of nationally representative samples of 538,140 women aged 15–49 y drawn from 54 Demographic and Health Surveys conducted between 1994 and 2008. BMI, calculated as weight in kilograms divided by height squared in meters, was specified as the outcome, and a BMI (in kg/m²) of ≥ 25 was additionally specified to model the likelihood of being overweight. Household wealth and education were included as markers of individual socioeconomic status, and per capita Gross Domestic Product (pcGDP) was included as a marker of country-level economic development. Results: Globally, a one-quartile increase in wealth was associated with a 0.54 increase in BMI (95% CI: 0.50, 0.64) and a 33% increase in overweight (95% CI: 26%, 41%) in adjusted models. Although the strength of this association varied across countries, the association between wealth and BMI and overweight was positive in 96% (52 of 54) of the countries. Similar patterns were observed in urban and rural areas, although SES gradients tended to be greater in urban areas. There was a positive association between pcGDP and BMI or overweight, with only weak evidence of an interaction between pcGDP and wealth. Conclusion: Higher BMI and overweight remain concentrated in higher socioeconomic groups, even though increasing BMI and overweight prevalence are important global public concerns. [author abstract] [Am J Clin Nutr 2011; 93: 413–421]
• What Is Population Health?
  This article, by David Kindig and Greg Stoddart reprinted from the Journal of Population Health, defines the term 'population health' as "the health outcomes of a group of individuals, including the distribution of such outcomes within the group". The authors present a rationale for this defintion and invite critisism and discussion of the concept.
• What is the Impact of HIV on Families
  This Health Evidence Network (HEN) evidence report examines how HIV influences family lives and how families deal with the HIV/AIDS.In the context of an increasing number of HIV positive people in Europe. The report highlights several policy considerations including promotion of primary and secondary HIV prevention with specific efforts directed at the group of people below 30 years of age; environmental changes likely to reduce the risk of HIV, such as the reduction of poverty; and the establishement of family-based services, possibly integrated into family planning, antenatal care and obstetric and child health services, aimed at the specific needs of living with HIV.
• Women and health: today's evidence tomorrow's agenda
  "Despite considerable progress in the past decades, societies continue to fail to meet the health care needs of women at key moments of their lives, particularly in their adolescent years and in older age. These are the key findings of the WHO report Women and health: today's evidence tomorrow's agenda. WHO calls for urgent action both within the health sector and beyond to improve the health and lives of girls and women around the world, from birth to older age. The report provides the latest and most comprehensive evidence available to date on women's specific needs and health challenges over their entire life-course. The report includes the latest global and regional figures on the health and leading causes of death in women from birth, through childhood, adolescence and adulthood, to older age." Executive summary [WHO, November 2009]
• Women on the Front Lines of Health Care: State of the World's Mothers 2010
  "The focus is on the critical shortage of health workers in the developing world and the urgent need for more female health workers to save the lives of mothers, newborn babies and young children. Every year, 50 million women in the developing world give birth with no professional help and 8.8 million children and newborns die from easily preventable or treatable causes. This report identifies countries that have invested in training and deploying more female health workers and shows how these women are delivering lifesaving health care to some of the poorest and hardest-to-reach mothers and babies. It identifies strategies and approaches that are succeeding in the fight to save lives, and shows that effective solutions to this challenge are affordable – even in the world’s poorest countries." [Save the Children]
• Women's Health Australia
  The Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health - widely known as Women's Health Australia - is a longitudinal population-based survey, which examines the health of over 40,000 Australian women over a 20 year period. It was first funded in 1995. The project was designed to explore factors that influence health among women who are broadly representative of the entire Australian population.
• Women’s Health Research: Progress, Pitfalls, and Promise
  Even though slightly over half of the U.S. population is female, medical research historically has neglected the health needs of women. However, over the past two decades, there have been major changes in government support of women’s health research—in policies, regulations, and the organization of research efforts. To assess the impact of these changes, Congress directed the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to ask the IOM to examine what has been learned from that research and how well it has been put into practice as well as communicated to both providers and women. In this report, the IOM finds that women’s health research has contributed to significant progress over the past 20 years in lessening the burden of disease and reducing deaths from some conditions, while other conditions have seen only moderate change or even little or no change. Gaps remain, both in research areas and in the application of results to benefit women in general and across multiple population groups. Given the many and significant roles women play in our society, maintaining support for women’s health research and enhancing its impact are not only in the interest of women, they are in the interest of us all. [publication abstract] [Institute of Medicine (IOM) (US), September 2010]
• Womens' [sic] opinions on antenatal care in developing countries: results of a study in Cuba, Thailand, Saudi Arabia and Argentina
  Background: The results of a qualitative study carried out in four developing countries (Cuba, Thailand, Saudi Arabia and Argentina) are presented. The study was conducted in the context of a randomised controlled trial to test the benefits of a new antenatal care protocol that reduced the number of visits to the doctor, rationalised the application of technology, and improved the provision of information to women in relation to the traditional protocol applied in each country. Methods: Through focus groups discussions we were able to assess the concepts and expectations underlying women's evaluation of concepts and experiences of the care received in antenatal care clinics. 164 women participated in 24 focus groups discussion in all countries. Results: Three areas are particularly addressed in this paper: a) concepts about pregnancy and health care, b) experience with health services and health providers, and c) opinions about the modified Antenatal Care (ANC) programme. In all three topics similarities were identified as well as particular opinions related to country specific social and cultural values. In general women have a positive view of the new ANC protocol, particularly regarding the information they receive. However, controversial issues emerged such as the reduction in the number of visits, particularly in Cuba where women are used to have 18 ANC visits in one pregnancy period. Conclusion: Recommendations to improve ANC services performance are being proposed. Any country interested in the application of a new ANC protocol should regard the opinion and acceptability of women towards changes. [author abstract] [BMC Public Health 2003, 3: 17]
• World Development Report 2007
  "The theme of the World Development Report (WDR) 2007 is youth, aged 12 to 24. It focuses on decisions concerning the five phases with the biggest long-term impact on how human capital is kept safe, developed, and deployed. For each phase (continuing to learn, starting to work, developing a healthful lifestyle, beginning a family, and exercising citizenship) governments must increase investments directly and cultivate an environment for young people and their families to invest in themselves. "

Educational resources

• Advocacy for Immunization
  This step-by-step guide to advocacy for immunisation is publsihed by the Global Alliance for Vacines and Immunization. It covers preparation (building a plan, gathering information, creating messages and materials), outreach (building a coalition, engaging policymakers, working with the media, involving the public) and monitoring and evaluating. It includes a brief section of further sources of information (manuals, guides and websites) as well as examples and case studies.
• AVERT
  Based in the UK, AVERT provides resources on sex education with a special focus on the prevention and control of HIV/AIDS
• Australian National Clearinghouse for Youth Studies
  ACYS provides information products and services for those working in the youth field and for anyone with an interest in youth. This includes practitioners in areas such as health and education, researchers, policy-makers, youth workers and youth service providers, as well as students and parents.
• BBC Health - Men's Health
  "This site offers Information and advice on the most common health issues affecting men today"
• Children's Cancer Web
  Children's Cancer web is an independent non-profit site, providing a directory of childhood cancer resources.
• Children's House in Cyberspace
  An international cooperative initiative dedicated to supporting the generation and dissemination of knowledge about children's issues, Children's House facilitates the translation of the benefits of research and programming into policy and practice
• Child and Family WebGuide
  "The Child and Family WebGuide is a directory that evaluates, describes and provides links to hundreds of sites containing child development research and practical advice, they cover all ages, from early child development through adolescence".
• Child Welfare.com
  "The focus of Child Welfare.com is to insure that all children have opportunity and a fair start in life. This site examines the opportunities available to children and to further and enrich public discussion of this issue"
• Dental Hygiene Education
  This page, presented by Margaret J. Fehrenbach a Dental Hygiene Educational Consultant contains information on a variety of dental complaints, an internet guide to dental hygiene resources, links to relevant reports and access to a dental hygiene forum.
• Children, Youth and Family Consortium
  "The Children, Youth and Family Consortium's web site is a bridge to a wide range of information and resources about children and families. It connects research, teaching, policy, and community practice".
• GenderStats
  GenderStats is an electronic database of gender statistics and indicators provided by the World Bank. It offers statistical and other data in modules on several subjects. The data in each module is presented in ready-to-use format. Users have the option of saving the country views in Excel (or another spreadsheet software) to customize them for their own reports. Data sources for GenderStats include national statistics, United Nations databases, and World Bank-conducted or funded surveys.
• Go Ask Alice! HomePage
  This site provides health questions and answers for students at Columbia University.
• Growing Healthy Canadians. A Guide to Positive Child Development
  Growing Healthy Canadians: A Guide for Positive Child Development, was created to promote and illustrate the idea that the healthy development of children and youth is a responsibility shared by everyone inlcuding families, communities, workplaces and governments.
• Healia
  "Healia is the premier consumer health search engine for finding high quality and personalized health information on the Web. It serves as an independent, unbiased gateway to the highest quality health information resources. Searching for health information is much more complex and dependent on individual needs than searching for other types of information. Healia is optimized for health search by integrating cutting-edge technology including health "intelligence" to provide the best results for health queries. The Healia health search engine was developed over a span of more than four years under a multiyear competitive [US] Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) award from the [US] National Cancer Institute, part of the [US] National Institutes of Health, the focal point for health research in the United States."
• KidsHealth
  This site provides information about growth, food and fitness, childhoood infections, immunizations and much more with links to a parents site and a teens site.
• Medicating Kids
  In "Medicating Kids" the U.S. Public Broadcasting Service examines the dramatic increase in the prescription of behavior modifying drugs for children who have been diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).
• Medicines in my Home
  Medicines in My Home is an interactive and educational program about the safe and effective use of over-the-counter medicines. This program was developed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration with Maryland's Montgomery County Public School system and in cooperation with the National Council On Patient Information and Education. It is aimed at children around the age of 11-12 years and teaches students about the safe use of over-the-counter, or non-prescription, medicines.
• Medline Plus - Men's Health Topics
  MedlinePlus' Men's Health Topic page brings together authoritative information from NLM, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and other government agencies and health-related organizations.
• National Women's Health Information Center (USA)
  This site provides health information for women. It includes resources on topics such as heart disease, disabilities and pregnancy.
• Reach Out! (Australia)
  "Reach Out is a web-based service whose aim is to improve young people’s mental health and well being by providing support information and referrals in a format that appeals to young people".
• Research on Cardiovascular Disease in Women
  Findings from current research projects of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) focusing on cardiovascular disease in women are summarized in these factsheets.
• TUNZA Magazine for Youth (UNEP)
  TUNZA is a magazine published by the United Nation's Environment Programme aimed specifically at young people. It addresses environmental issues that interest and affect the lives of youth throughout the world.
• Virtual Dental Center
  This site contains links to a variety of on-line dental and oral health resources including links to dental news and journals, guidelines and case studies, dental atlases, courses and textbooks, teaching modules and videos and movies.
• Voices of Youth
  UNICEF's Voices of Youth is a global website for young people to explore, discuss and take action on issues that affect them.
• Women Facing War Video Series
  A series of short films presented by the International Committee of the Red Cross, in which women describe the effect of war on their lives.
• WomenWatch
  "WomenWatch is a central gateway to information and resources on the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women throughout the United Nations system, including the United Nations Secretariat, regional commissions, funds, programmes, specialized agencies and academic and research institutions. It also provides information on the outcomes of, as well as efforts to incorporate gender perspectives into follow-up to global conferences".
• Youth at The UN
  This page focuses on the UN's Programme on Youth, which was set up to enhance awareness of the global situation of youth and increase recognition of the rights and aspirations of youth
• Youth Peer Education Toolkit: Theatre-Based Techniques for Peer Youth Education: A training manual
  This training manual provides an overview of using theatre in health education. It contains four peer theatre training workshops, a series of theater games and exercises that can be used in trainings, and information on developing and building a peer theater program. A collaboration between the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and Family Health International, this tool was produced for the Youth Peer Education Network (Y-PEER), a project coordinated by UNFPA.

Organisations and Networks

UN and multinational

• Children's Vaccine Program
  The mission of this program is to promote equal access to new and lifesaving vaccines worldwide. Its strategy is to link with the world’s leading immunization experts and national partners to repair crumbling immunization programs, build human and financial capacity within countries, and introduce new vaccines and immunization technologies.
• GAVI Alliance
  "The GAVI Alliance is a unique organisation that aligns public and private resources in a global effort to create greater access to the benefits of immunisation. It does this with precision and in creative, innovative ways to ensure that donor contributions efficiently save lives and help build self-sufficiency in the world’s poorest communities and regions."
• International Center for Research on Women
  "ICRW is a private, nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the lives of women in poverty, advancing equality and human rights, and contributing to broader economic and social well-being. ICRW accomplishes this, in partnership with others, through research, capacity building and advocacy on issues affecting women's economic, health and social status in low- and middle-income countries".
• International Labor Organization (ILO) - Gender Equality Tool
  "The primary goal of the ILO is to promote opportunities for women and men to obtain decent and productive work in conditions of freedom, equity, security and human dignity. The main focus of the ILO on gender equality coincide with the organization's four strategic goals, which are to: promote fundamental principles and rights at work; create greater employment and income opportunities for women and men; enhance the coverage and effectiveness of social protection; and strengthen social dialogue and tripartism."
• International Women's Health Coalition
  "IWHC works to generate health and population policies, programs and funding that promote and protect the rights and health of girls and women worldwide."
• INSTRAW
  INSTRAW, the International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women is the UN organisation mandated to promote and undertake research and training programmes to contribute to the advancement of women and gender equality worldwide.
• UNDP India Children and Poverty
  The UNDP India's Chidren and Poverty website is a forum to encourage debate and discussion on the issue of Children, Poverty, Work and Education. Its main focus is the link between child labour, poverty and education.
• Tunza Youth Advisory Council (UNEP)
  "The Tunza Youth Advisory Council (TYAC) was launched in February 1999 at the 20th Session of the UNEP Governing Council. The Council comprises 12 Advisors, two per UNEP region. Members of the Advisory Council are elected at the Tunza International Youth Conference to serve for a period of two years. The Council advises UNEP on better ways of engaging young people in its work and represents youth in international environmental negotiations. The Council also seeks to increase youth involvement in UNEP's work by informing youth groups in the regions about UNEP's programmes for young people."
• WHO, Child Health and Development
  "Child and Adolescent Health Development (CAH) is responsible for interventions concerning health, growth and development outcomes for the group from birth to 19 years.The main objectives of the Department is to reduce illness and death among children and adolescents and to improve their health and development".
• WHO Collaborating Centre for Education, Training and Research in Oral Health
  "The objective of CAPP - the WHO Oral Health Country/Area Profile Programme is to present global information on dental diseases and oral health services".
• Youth (UNESCO)
  The object of UNESCO's Youth programme is to help empower young people, reaching out to them, responding to their expectations and ideas and fostering useful and long-lasting skills.

Government

• CDC Men's Health (USA)
  CDC's Office of Men's Health provides information on the health of American men, including statistics and links to CDC research, tips for healthy living and programs focusing on men's health issues.
• CDC National Immunization Program (USA)
  The National Immunization Program (NIP) is a part of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, located in Atlanta, Georgia. As a disease-prevention program, NIP provides leadership for the planning, coordination, and conduct of immunization activities nationwide.
• CDC Oral Health Program (USA)
  This site outline's the US Centers for Disease Control oral health program as well as providing links to a variety of oral health resources including information on infection control, water fluoridation, links to fact sheets and journal articles and guidelines and recommendations.
• CDC Women's Health
  CDC's Office of Women's Health works to inform women, public health practitioners, workplace health and safety professionals, health care providers, and others about matters related to women's health; communicates information and research findings to raise awareness about issues and populations with public health needs; and participates in campaigns and other activities to encourage healthful behaviors by women.

Non Government

• Aboriginal Youth Network (Canada)
  The Aboriginal Youth Network is a network that runs across Canada connecting Aboriginal youth. This site provides information specifically designed for Aboriginal youth regarding programs, services, youth news, bulletins, art and literature, events, chat lines, e-mail hook ups and listings as well as a health info site for teens.rt of research that ultimately helps to promote change in the client.
• Alan Guttmacher Institute (USA)
  The Alan Guttmacher Institute (AGI) is a nonprofit organization focused on sexual and reproductive health research, policy analysis and public education. AGI publishes Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health, International Family Planning Perspectives, The Guttmacher Report on Public Policy and special reports on topics pertaining to sexual and reproductive health and rights. The Institute's mission is to protect the reproductive choices of all women and men in the United States and throughout the world.
• AusEinet - Australian Early Intervention Network for Mental Health in Young People
  Auseinet informs, educates and promotes good practice in a range of sectors and the community about mental health promotion, prevention, early intervention and suicide prevention across the lifespan.
• American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children (APSAC)
  APSAC seeks to improve the quality of practice provided by professionals who work in child abuse and neglect through: Providing professional education that promotes effective, culturally sensitive, and interdisciplinary approaches to identification, intervention, treatment, and prevention of child abuse and neglect
• Center for Adolsecent and Family Studies
  The Center for Adolsecent and Family studies is a research institute at Indiana University. The Center is commited to identifying practice that is effective through research that is relevant to practitioners as well as clients. Researchers are clinicians working with mental health practioners who want to be a part of research that ultimately helps to promote change in the client.
• Centre for Children at Risk in the Baltic Region
  The Child Centre is the web support of a regional cooperation to raise the level of knowledge and to coordinate the activities targeting children at risk in the Baltic Sea Region. The five areas prioritised in the co-operation are: Child sexual abuse and exploitation, children in the street, children in institutions, young perpetrators of crimes and child trafficking and unaccompanied children.
• Canadian Women's Health Network
  " Based on the visions, hopes and needs of women working in the women's health movement, Canadian Women's Health Network (CWHN) strives to provide easier access to health information, resources and research. It aims to produce user-friendly materials and resources, promote and develop links to information and action Networks as well as act as a "watchdog" on emerging issues and trends that may affect women's health and work to change inequitable health policies and practices."
• Carers Australia - "Carers Australia provides a national voice for carers... - usually family members who provide support to children or adults who have a disability, mental illness, chronic condition or who are frail aged." The organisation "advocates for carers interests in the public arena,... networks and forms strategic partnerships with other organisations to achieve positive outcomes for carers, ...provides carers with information and education resources, ...undertakes community awareness raising activities and coordinating and facilitating joint work between the state and territory organisations on matters of national significance."
• Child Health Informatics Centre (UK)
  The Child Health Informatics Centre (CHIC) is an organisation dedicated to promoting good practice in the management of child health information. The new Child Health Informatics Centre is developing its services to include the following activities; Expertise and Networking, Standards and Accreditation and Resources and Tools
• Child Rights Information Network
  "The Child Rights Information Network (CRIN) is a global network that disseminates information about the Convention on the Rights of the Child and child rights amongst non-governmental organisations (NGOs), United Nations agencies, inter-governmental organisation (IGOs), educational institutions, and other child rights experts. The Coordinating Unit is based in London, UK".
• Childnet International
  "Childnet works in 3 main areas of Access, Awareness, Protection & Policy. Helping children and young people to use the net constructively, showcase quality content and enable others to use our resources and develop new projects. Helping children and young people acquire new “net literacy” skills and giving advice to industry, organisations, parents, teachers and carers about Internet and mobile safety. "
• Children's Health Environmental Coalition Network (USA)
  "CHEC is a national non-profit organization dedicated to educating the public, specifically parents and caregivers, about environmental toxins that affect children's health".
• Children Now (USA)
  Advocacy group for children in the USA, Children Now champions the needs of children with a combination of research and advocacy.
• Children's Aid Society of Metropolitan Toronto (Canada)
  "Children's Aid Society of Toronto mission is to protect abused and neglected children and youth, strengthen and support families and communities, provide safe and nurturing care. Prevent situations that lead to child abuse and neglect. They do put the child’s best interests first, champion enduring relationships for children and youth".
• Children's Defense Fund (USA)
  "The mission of the Children's Defense Fund is to Leave No Child Behind, by ensuring every child a Healthy start, a Head start, a Fair start, a Safe start and a Moral start in life and a successful passage to adulthood with the help of caring families and communities".
• Children's Environmental Health Network (USA)
  "The Children's Environmental Health Network is a multi-disciplinary organization whose mission is to protect the fetus and the child from environmental health hazards and promote a healthy environment. This Web site provides information on the network, the issue of children's environmental health, and links to sources of information and resources in the field".
• Centre for Adolescent Health, University of Melbourne (Australia)
  "The vision of the Centre for Adolescent Health is to make the difference to young people’s health and advance adolescent health knowledge, practice and policy".
• Consultative Group on Early Childhood Care and Development
  The Consultative Group on Early Childhood Care and Development, is a diverse consortium of agencies, donors, NGOs and foundations that links with regional-based Early Childhood Care and Development networks comprising individuals and organisations involved in programming, research, policy-advocacy, monitoring and evaluation for young children (0-8) at risk.
• European Institute of Women's Health
  The European Institute of Women's Health is a non-governmental organisation and registered charity working to make the health and well being of women a priority for the European Commission and Member States of the European Union.
• European Association for Dental Public Health
  The EADPH was founded in 1996 as an international and independent science-based forum for professionals having a special interest in dental public health and community dentistry. Dental Public Health is the science and art of preventing oral diseases, promoting oral health, and improving quality of life through the organised efforts of society.
• EngenderHealth
  EngenderHealth is an international nonprofit organization that works to make reproductive health services safe, available, and sustainable for women and men worldwide. It works around the globe in partnership with local governments and nongovernmental agencies to help health care workers, administrators, physicians, hospital staff, and counselors deliver high-quality health care services in some of the world's poorest countries.
• European Association for Children in Hospital (EACH)
  "EACH is the umbrella organisation for member associations involved in the welfare of all children before, during or after a hospital stay. Presently, associations from sixteen European countries are members of EACH"
• European Children's Network EURONET
  EURONET is a coalition of networks and organizations campagning for the rights and interests of children.
• Family Care International
  FCI seeks to ensure that women and adolescents have access to the high quality information and services they need to improve their sexual and reproductive health, experience safe pregnancy and childbirth and avoid unwanted pregnancy and HIV infection. FCI works with governments, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), professional groups, and international agencies to improve sexual and reproductive health in developing countries.
• INFACT - Infant Feeding Action Coalition Canada
  "INFACT Canada is a national non-governmental organization that works to protect infant and young child health as well as maternal well-being through the promotion and support of breastfeeding and optimal infant feeding practices".
• Institute for Women's Policy Research (USA)
  "The Institute for Women's Policy Research (IWPR) is a public policy research organization dedicated to informing and stimulating the debate on public policy issues of critical importance to women and their families. IWPR focuses on issues of poverty and welfare, employment and earnings, work and family issues, health and safety, and women's civic and political participation".
• International Planned Parenthood Federation
  The International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) is a non-governmental provider and advocate of sexual and reproductive health and rights. It works in five priority areas: Adolescents, HIV/AIDS, Abortion, Access and Advocacy enabling people to make informed choices about their sexual lives and to receive care, counselling, diagnosis and treatment.
• La Leche League
  The La Leche League International mission is: To help mothers worldwide to breastfeed through mother-to-mother support, encouragement, information, and education and to promote a better understanding of breastfeeding as an element in the healthy development of the baby and mother.
• Manager's Electronic Resource Center
  This site provides management tools and strategies for improving health program effectiveness and sustainability. The ERC is produced by The Family Planning Management Development (FPMD) project, implemented by Management Sciences for Health (MSH)
• Murdoch Children's Research Institute
  MCRI conducts life-saving medical research and community health research for babies, children and adolescents. Located at the Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne and affiliated to the University of Melbourne, the Institute is well placed to translate world-class paediatric research into better treatments, community education, prevention and care.
• National Breast Cancer Centre (Australia)
  "The National Breast Cancer Centre (NBCC) strive to reduce mortality and improve the well-being of women diagnosed with breast or ovarian cancer"
• National Centre for Maternal and Child Health (USA)
  "The National Center for Education in Maternal and Child Health provides national leadership to the maternal and child health community in three key areas--program development, education, and state-of-the-art knowledge--to improve the health and well-being of the nation's children and families."
• North American Research Centre for Child Welfare
  The North American Resource Center for Child Welfare (NARCCW) is an umbrella organization for a group of child welfare agencies, providing a comprehensive array of child welfare services that assure protection and permanence for abused, neglected, and sexually abused children
• Parents Helping Parents (USA)
  "Parents Helping Parents (PHP) mission is to help children with special needs receive the resources, love, hope, respect, health care, education, and other services they need to reach their full potential by providing them with strong families, dedicated professionals, and responsive systems to serve them".
• PATH
  The Program for Appropriate Technology in Health (PATH) is an international, non-profit organization. Its mission is to improve health, especially the health of women and children. PATH works in partnership with host-country governments and local agencies to assess health problems and identify and implement creative and effective user-based solutions. PATH programs address a wide variety of topic areas: child and maternal health, reproductive health and family planning, communicable diseases, and financing.
• Pathfinder
  Pathfinder International is a non profit organisation working with institutions throughout the world to create and improve access to the fullest possible range of quality information and services to enable individuals and couples to make informed reproductive choices.
• Population Services International
  "PSI is a nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C. that harnesses the vitality of the private sector to address the health problems of low-income and vulnerable populations in 70 developing countries. PSI, with programs in safe water/oral rehydration, malaria, nutrition/ micronutrients, family planning and HIV/AIDS, deploys commercial marketing strategies to promote health products, services and healthy behavior that enable low-income and vulnerable people to lead healthier lives."
• Rural Youth Development (FAO)
  "The mission of FAO's rural youth development work is to strengthen and expand existing government and non-government rural youth programmes and help set up new ones that enable girls and boys and young women and young men to become productive and contributing citizens of their local communities."
• Safe Motherhood.org
  Safe Motherhood was established with the aim of promoting the health of women and newborns, especially the most vulnerable. The organisation works to strengthen maternal and newborn health efforts at the global, regional, and national levels, in the context of equity, poverty reduction, and human rights.
• Save The Children
  "Save the Children is the leading independent organization creating real and lasting change for children in need in the United States and around the world. It is a member of the International Save the Children Alliance, comprising 27 national Save the Children organizations working in more than 100 countries to ensure the well-being of children"
• Sex Education Forum (UK)
  Based at the National Children's Bureau, the forum is an umbrella body bringing together national organisations representing children, health, education, religion and parents. It works to promote the teaching of effective and appropriate sex education and ensure that all children receive their entitlement to sex education.
• Sexual Health and Family Planning Australia
  Sexual Health and Family Planning Australia provides a wide range of sexual and reproductive health services that focus on prevention, early intervention, diagnosis and treatment, community and professional education for a large number of Australians.
• SIECUS: Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States
  A national, private, nonprofit advocacy organization which affirms that sexuality is a natural and healthy part of living. SIECUS develops, collects, and disseminates information, promotes comprehensive education about sexuality, and advocates the right of individuals to make responsible sexual choices.
• State of the World's Population 2006 - A Passage to Hope: Women and International Migration
  "This year’s UNFPA State of World Population report, A Passage to Hope: Women and International Migration, examines the scope and breadth of female migration, the impact of the funds they send home to support families and communities, and their disproportionate vulnerability to trafficking, exploitation and abuse. The report, produced and published every year by UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, reveals that although migrant women contribute billions of dollars in cash and services, policymakers continue to disregard both their contributions and their vulnerability — even though female migrants tend to send a much higher proportion of their lower earnings back home than their male counterparts….".
• The Kaiser Family Foundation
  The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation is a non-profit, private operating foundation focusing on the major health care issues facing the nation. The Foundation is an independent voice and source of facts and analysis for policymakers, the media, the health care community, and the general public. Its work is focused in three main areas: Health Policy, Media and Public Education, and Health and Development in South Africa.
• WAVE (Women Against Violence Europe)
  WAVE is a network of European women's non-governmental organisations working in the field of combating violence against women and children (women's refuges, counselling centres, SOS hotlines/helplines, organisations focusing on prevention and training, etc.). Currently the network focuses specifically on violence in the family and in intimate relationships.
• Widows Rights International
  Widows Rights International aims to raise awareness and understanding of the problems encountered by widows in developing countries by promoting the status of widows' rights on the international human rights agenda and to assist developing country organizations which support widows in fighting for their rights.
• Womankind Worldwide
  Womankind is a UK charity working in partnership with women and men globally to achieve lasting improvement in women’s lives – financially, socially and in terms of their health and participation in society. This includes both working at grassroots level and influencing policy at national and international level."
• Women's Human Rights Net
  "Project developed by an international coalition of women's organizationsm. WHRnet aims to strengthen advocacy for women's human rights through the effective utilization of information and communication technologies".
• YouthNet
  "YouthNet is a global program to improve reproductive health and prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS among people 10 to 24 years old. Most importantly, it is a collaboration with the young people whose lives it is designed to improve. But it also includes the energy, insight, and experience of parents, schoolteachers, employers, policymakers, the media, health professionals, nongovernmental organizations, religious and community leaders, and other youth networks"
• ZERO TO THREE - National Center for Infants, Toddlers and Families (USA)
  "ZERO TO THREE's mission is to promote the healthy development of our nation's infants and toddlers by supporting and strengthening families, communities, and those who work on their behalf. We are dedicated to advancing current knowledge; promoting beneficial policies and practices; communicating research and best practices to a wide variety of audiences; and providing training, technical assistance and leadership development".

Academic Institutions with particular focus in this area

• School of Public Health and Community Medicine, UNSW
• The Australian Research Centre for Population Oral Health (ARCPOH)
  ARCPOH is Australia's pre-eminent population oral health research body undertaking dental research and providing a broad range of dental and oral health statistics for Australia.
• Center for Gender in Global Context (GenCen)
  The Center for Gender in Global Context (GenCen) at Michigan State University has taken over the role formerly played by The Women and International Development Program (WID) at Michigan State University and its website. It promotes teaching, research, and action on international development and global transformation as they affect women and gender relations.

Conference reports

• Cairo Conference
  The United Nations International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) was held from 5-13 September 1994 in Cairo, Egypt. During this two week period world leaders, high ranking officials, representatives of non-governmental organizations and United Nations agencies gathered to agree on a Programme of Action. This site provides links to documentation that came out of the conference as well as providing an historical record of the conference.
• Second World Congress Against Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children
  This conference was held in Yokohamo in 2001. The Congress aimed to draw attention to the plight of children in the world sex trade, review progress made since the first World Congress Against Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children and devise further methods to protect children from sexual exploitation.

Journals, Newsletters, Forums

• Future of Children
  Published twice annually by The David and Lucile Packard Foundation, Los Altos, The Future of Children seeks to promote effective policies and programs for children by providing policymakers, service providers, and the media with timely, objective information based on the best available research.

Bibliographies, Libraries

• Jan Ritchie's personal page

Public health bookshops

• Public Health bookshop