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Key Documents archive results 1-20 of 40 in Latin America & Caribbean
Malaria and its vectors in the Caribbean: The continuing challenge of the disease forty-five years after eradication from the islands
This journal article, written by three researchers in Trinidad and Tobago, looks at malaria in the Caribbean. It asks why there are still outbreaks -- including a big one in Jamaica in 2006/2007 -- when the disease was allegedly eliminated in the late 1950s. The authors review malaria and vector...
KEY DOCUMENT | Publication date: November 2008 | EN
El Niño Southern Oscillation and vegetation dynamics as predictors of dengue fever cases in Costa Rica
This journal article describes the first climate-based model used to predict outbreaks of dengue fever. Researchers from the University of Miami and the University of Costa Rica used climate data and vegetation indices from Costa Rica to predict disease outbreaks with 83 per cent accuracy. ...
KEY DOCUMENT | Publication date: March 2009 | EN
The road to REDD
This feature article, published in the Environmental Science and Technology journal, uses the Cordillera Azul national park in Peru as an example to introduce mechanisms for reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD) that are under global discussion. The author discusses...
KEY DOCUMENT | Publication date: January 2009 | EN
Swine influenza frequently asked questions
This fact sheet from the WHO outlines the basics about swine influenza, or "swine flu", including what it is, what its implications are for human health and how people become infected. Swine flu is a highly contagious acute respiratory disease of pigs. It can sometimes cause disease in humans --...
KEY DOCUMENT | EN
How to save the Amazon rainforest
This article, published by Mongabay.com, discusses the use of forest conservation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation in the Amazon. The author describes the 'reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation' (REDD) mechanism included in the Bali roadmap for international...
KEY DOCUMENT | EN
Carbon and biodiversity: A demonstration atlas
This report, published by the UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre, highlights areas where high carbon content and high biodiversity overlap. The authors argue that by identifying target areas, such spatial analyses can help tropical countries reduce greenhouse gas emissions from land-use...
KEY DOCUMENT | Publication date: 2008 | EN
Global environmental change research: empowering developing countries
This paper discusses ways of reconciling the Millennium Development Goals with environmental sustainability. Using an example from Brazil -- the Large Scale Biosphere-Atmosphere Experiment in Amazonia (LBA) -- the authors examine why researchers aiming to produce sound scientific understanding to...
KEY DOCUMENT | Publication date: September 2008 | EN
Expanding priorities — confronting chronic disease in countries with low income
Cardiovascular disease accounts for 30% of deaths worldwide and 10% of all years of healthy life lost to disease, and the figures are nearly as high in developing countries -- 27 per cent and 9 per cent respectively. This compares with 10% of lives lost worldwide from HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria put...
KEY DOCUMENT | Publication date: January, 2007 | EN
Therapeutic vaccination for chronic diseases: a new class of drugs in sight
Vaccination for infectious diseases is a vital method of prophylaxis, and has transformed modern medicine. By contrast, research into vaccines against chronic diseases has been less successful, in part because of the increased complexity involved. In this opinion piece, the authors outline the...
KEY DOCUMENT | Publication date: January, 2004 | EN
Achieving the millennium development goals: does mental health play a role?
The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) practically define health efforts in the 21st century, but they virtually ignore non-communicable diseases such as mental health, say these authors. This is despite evidence that mental health disorders are among the most important cause of sickness and...
KEY DOCUMENT | Publication date: September 2007 | EN
What is the best approach to treating schizophrenia in developing countries?
Schizophrenia is relatively rare -- affecting 1% of the world's population -- but is arguably one of the most severe mental illnesses. Diagnosing and treating it can be hard enough in developed countries; the challenges are magnified in developing nations with inadequate health systems; few trained...
KEY DOCUMENT | Publication date: June 2007 | EN
Cancer control: knowledge into action
In 2005, the World Health Assembly called on WHO member states to tackle their growing rates of cancer by developing rigorous cancer control programmes. To help guide the process, the WHO developed a series of six modules that provide practical advice for programme managers and policy-makers on how...
KEY DOCUMENT | EN
The challenge of cancer control in Africa
Worldwide, cancer kills more people than HIV/AIDS, malaria and TB put together. In developing countries where chronic diseases are now growing alongside infectious diseases, new strategies need to be developed. This article outlines how to develop an effective cancer strategy in African...
KEY DOCUMENT | EN
Grand challenges in chronic non-communicable diseases
In 2003, the Gates foundation infused new vigour into global health efforts by declaring that the 21st century's "grand challenges" included developing new vaccines and overcoming drug resistance. This new grand challenges initiative, launched by a collaboration of top global chronic disease...
KEY DOCUMENT | Publication date: November 2007 | EN
Obesity and diabetes in the developing world — a growing challenge
Global health experts have watched with increasing alarm as the waistlines of people in developing countries have started to widen with the adoption of a "Western" lifestyle. Obesity is of such concern because of its heightened risks for other diseases, such as heart disease, cancer, and diabetes. ...
KEY DOCUMENT | Publication date: January 2007 | EN
World Health Statistics 2008 report
This report is the WHO's official record of data produced by its technical programmes and regional offices in close consultation with countries and in collaboration with researchers and development agencies. The WHO produces the statistics to provide an evidence base for strategies to improve...
KEY DOCUMENT | Publication date: May 2008 | EN
Research capacity for mental health in low- and middle-income countries: Results of a mapping project
This joint publication between the World Health Organization and the Global Forum for Health Research reveals mental health research capacity in 114 low-income and middle-income countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America and the Caribbean. The extensive review identified over 10,000 articles,...
KEY DOCUMENT | Publication date: 2007 | EN
The SuRF Reports
These consist of two reports: SuRF1(Surveillance of risk factors related to non-communicable diseases: current status of global data) and SuRF2 (Surveillance of chronic disease risk factors: country-level data and comparable estimates). These reports are the result of a large WHO project to set...
KEY DOCUMENT | Publication date: 2003 & 2005 | EN
Lancet chronic disease series
This series of five articles outlines new challenges and unsolved problems since the journal's last series in 2005. The first articlehttp://www.scidev.net/uploads/File/pdffiles/Lancet_series1.pdf ([189kB]) predicts the disease burden and economic losses that developing countries would face from...
KEY DOCUMENT | Publication date: December 2007 | EN
Projections of Global Mortality and Burden of Disease from 2002 to 2030
1990 saw the first major effort to estimate the main causes of illness and the biggest killer diseases in different countries. The data are important for public-health officials to allocate their resources wisely but also for feeding into estimates to plan for the future. Importantly, these need to...
KEY DOCUMENT | Publication date: January 2005 | EN
