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Irrational use of medicines is one of the most serious global public health problems we face today. Improving use requires regular monitoring and application of effective interventions, both of which are often not done, particularly in many lower income countries. To address this issue, WHO created a database of medicines use in in primary care settings in developing and transitional countries. Quantitative information has been extracted from 679 studies conducted in 97 countries and on 386 interventions (from 313 studies). The medicines use database has allowed the first systematic quantitative review of studies measuring medicines use in developing and transitional countries and the results are now presented

"The health worker shortage in sub-Saharan Africa derives from many causes, yet the dynamics of entry into and exit from the health workforce in many of these countries remain poorly understood. This limits the capacity of national governments and their international development partners to design and implement appropriate intervention programmes. This paper provides some of this information through the first systematic estimates of health worker inflow and outflow in selected sub-Saharan African countries"

This is the annual report of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) measuring progress made in 2008 against the objectives of the GPEI Strategic Plan 2004-2008 and against milestones set for the current Intensified Eradication Effort 2007-2008. Set up in 1988, the GPEI is spearheaded by WHO, Rotary International, CDC and UNICEF

This handbook aims strengthen the technical capacity of health managers, researchers and policy makers, to monitor and evaluate their health workforce accurately . It brings together an analytical framework for strategy options for improving the health workforce information and evidence base, as well as country experiences to highlight approaches that have worked

The purpose of this operational tool is to: raise awareness of how gender inequalities affect women’s access to and experience of HIV and AIDS programmes and services; and offer practical actions on how to address or integrate gender into specific types of HIV and AIDS programmes and services. The vulnerability of women, their risk of HIV infection and the impact of the epidemic on them are heightened by many factors, including: the low status accorded to women in many societies, their lack of rights, their lack of access to and control over economic resources, the violence perpetrated against them, the norms related to women’s sexuality, and women’s lack of access to information about HIV. This tool is primary aimed at primarily programme managers and health-care providers involved in setting up, implementing or evaluating HIV and AIDS programmes

This third report knits together earlier work by accelerating a more realistic understanding of what works in strengthening health systems, for whom and under what circumstances. Its primary goal is to catalyse new conceptual thinking on health systems, system-level interventions, and health system strengthening

This handbook focuses on residential radon exposure from a public health point of view and provides detailed recommendations on reducing health risks from radon and policy options for preventing and mitigating radon exposure. The material reflects the epidemiological evidence that indoor radon exposure is responsible for a substantial number of lung cancers in the general population

The objective of this instrument is to help stakeholders carry out assessments to measure the level of transparency and the vulnerability to corruption in selected areas of the public pharmaceutical sector. It provides an assessment methodology together with a questionnaire for national assessors to systematically collect information and perceptions through interviews of relevant health professionals in the public and private sectors