Selected Topics - International/Global Health

The WWW Virtual Library: Public Health

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Categories

International/Global Health at UNSW Events Global policies and related documents Reports, guidelines and projects Educational resources Organisations and Networks European Commission Multinational General United Nations Government Non Government

Academic Institutions with particular focus in this area Key Conferences, conference and workshop reports Conference reports Journals, Newsletters, Forums Bibliographies, Libraries Public Health bookshop

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Studies on International/Global Health at UNSW

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Events

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

Global policies and related documents

• 15by2015 Quality health care for all
  With the “15by2015” campaign we ask that donor organisations allocate 15% of their vertical funding towards sustainable comprehensive primary health care that is accessible and affordable in all regions of the world. “15 by 2015” is a campaign calling for all major global health donors to allocate 15% of all their grants towards strengthening the primary health care system of the country they are working in. The target date is the same as with the globally known and used eight Millennium Development Goals, 2015.
• Bioethical Implications of Globalization: An International Consortium Project of the European Commission
  Published in PLOS Medicine, this article outlines the Bioethical Implications of Globalization (BIG) project, a 42 months provisional project that aims to anticipate the major reasons for bioethical concern surrounding globalisation, to forecast future scenarios and to formulate new policy options in this field. The project’s purpose is both to raise short-term, tactical considerations and to provide a longer-term, strategic perspective.
• Convention on Biological Diversity
  Signed by 150 government leaders at the 1992 Rio Earth Summit, the Convention on Biological Diversity is dedicated to promoting sustainable development. Conceived as a practical tool for translating the principles of Agenda 21 into reality, the Convention recognises that biological diversity is about more than plants, animals and micro organisms and their ecosystems – it is about people and our need for food security, medicines, fresh air and water, shelter, and a clean and healthy environment in which to live.
• Declaration of Santa Cruz de la Sierra
  Summit Conference on Sustainable Development, Santa Cruz, Bolivia, September 1996: Toward Sustainable Development in the Americas
• Delivering on the Global Partnerships for Achieving the Millennium Development Goal 8
  "The UN report Delivering on the Global Partnerships for Achieving the Millennium Development Goals highlights the existence of large gaps in the availability of medicines in both the public and private sectors, as well as a wide variation in prices which render essential medicines unaffordable to poor people. MDG 8, Target 8.E: In cooperation with pharmaceutical companies, provide access to affordable essential medicines in developing countries was measured using nine indicators for measuring access to medicines using data collected by WHO and its partners. The report found that in the public sector, generic medicines are only available in 34.9% of facilities, and on average cost 250% more than the international reference price. In the private sector, those same medicines are available in 63.2% of facilities, but cost on average about 650% more than the international reference price. While policies that promote access such as generic substitution are in place in many countries, additional national and international efforts are required to improve the availability and affordability of medicines." Also available in Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian and Spanish.
• Global Compact: Human Rights, Labor, and the Environment
  The United Nation's Global Compact was a direct initiative of the Secretary General Koffi Annan to bring companies together with UN agencies, labour and civil society to support universal environmental and social principles. The compact seeks to promote responsible corporate citizenship so that business can be part of the solution to the challenges of globalisation. In this way, the private sector – in partnership with other social actors – can help realise the vision of a more sustainable and inclusive global economy.
• Global Policy Forum
  "GPF is a non-profit, tax-exempt organization, with consultative status at the UN. Its mission is to monitor policy making at the United Nations, promote accountability of global decisions, educate and mobilize for global citizen participation, and advocate on vital issues of international peace and justice."
• Human Development Report 2004: Cultural Liberty in Today’s Diverse World
  "This report makes a case for respecting diversity and building more inclusive societies by adopting policies that explicitly recognise cultural differences. It argues that respecting cultural diversity does not result in fragmentation, conflict, weak development or authoritarian rule, but rather that such policies are both viable and necessary, for it often the suppression of culturally identified groups that leads to tensions."
• Human Development Report 2005: International Cooperation at a Crossroads - aid, trade and security in an unequal world
  The 2005 Human Development Report takes stock of human development, including progress towards the MDGs. Looking beyond statistics, it highlights the human costs of missed targets and broken promises. Extreme inequality between countries and within countries is identified as one of the main barriers to human development—and as a powerful brake on accelerated progress towards the MDGs.
• Human Development Report 2006: Beyond Scarcity: Power, poverty and the global water crisis
  "Throughout history water has confronted humanity with some of its greatest challenges. Water is a source of life and a natural resource that sustains our environments and supports livelihoods – but it is also a source of risk and vulnerability. In the early 21st Century, prospects for human development are threatened by a deepening global water crisis. Debunking the myth that the crisis is the result of scarcity, this report argues poverty, power and inequality are at the heart of the problem...."
• International Ministerial Conference on The Dialogue among Civilizations: Quest for New Perspectives New Delhi
  Attended by ministerial figures from over 40 nations, this conference defined global interaction through the lenses of intercultural dialogue and mutual interaction between cultures and civilisations. Experts and personalities from all walks of life – including government, parliaments, academia, the media, religious and spiritual communities, the private sector and civil society – contributed to the deliberations, and working groups."
• Maximizing positive synergies between health systems and Global Health Initiatives [GHIs]: Report on the expert consultation on positive synergies between health systems and Global Health Initiatives
  "In May 2008, the World Health Organization (WHO) convened a meeting that signaled the beginning of a broad-based, international consultative process for driving forward the rapid development of global guidance on maximizing positive synergies between health systems and Global Health Initiatives (GHIs). Around 150 representatives from health systems, GHIs, governments, policy makers, donors, funding and other technical experts from multilateral and bilateral agencies, as well as professional organizations, academic institutions, civil society and the private sector attended the two-day consultation in Geneva… There is little doubt that positive synergies exist between health systems and the GHIs. But are these synergies being vigorously exploited by all stakeholders to ensure maximum, mutual added value? Or are new opportunities for improved public health outcomes in low- and middle-income countries being missed?"
• Millennium Development Goals
  The eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) – which range from halving extreme poverty to halting the spread of HIV/AIDS and providing universal primary education, all by the target date of 2015 – form a blueprint agreed to by all the world’s countries and all the world’s leading development institutions. They have galvanised unprecedented efforts to meet the needs of the world’s poorest.
• Policy Brief: Cross-Border Health Care in Europe
  "This new policy brief provides a review of current information and issues relating to cross-border health care in Europe. The publication gives an overview of current patterns of patient mobility, then goes on to examine the legal framework for mobility, financial implications, approaches to quality monitoring and patients' rights and liability issues."
• Priority Medicines for Europe and the World Project
  The purpose of the Priority Medicines for Europe and the World Project has been to study pharmaceutical innovation from a public health perspective. The objective was to prepare a public-health-based medicines development agenda for support by the European Union and to develop a systematic methodology for this that can be replicated.perspective. The objective was to prepare a public-health-based medicines development agenda for support by the European Union and to develop a systematic methodology for this that can be replicated.
• Priority Setting for Health Research: Toward a management process for low and middle income countries
  This paper presents discussion of a think tank consultation by the Council on Health Research and Development and health research managers from Brazil, South Africa, The Netherlands, The Philippines, the private sector, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and the Global Forum for Health Research. Rather than having priorities ‘reviewed’ and ‘set’ through a workshop or national activity that produces a plan reflecting the situation at one point in time, the discussion in this think tank examined what process is needed so that national health research priorities are managed in a dynamic way, and are measured, updated and can evolve with the reality of the national, operational and political context.
• Projection of Global Mortality and Burden of Disease from 2002 to 2030
  This paper, published in PLOS Medicine (Vol.3, Issue.11 2006) has been prepared in order to address the widespread demand for information on likely future trends in global health, and thereby to support international health policy and priority setting. It includes new projections of mortality and burden of disease to 2030 starting from World Health Organization estimates of mortality and burden of disease for 2002. This paper describes the methods, assumptions, input data, and results.
• Reaching the Poor With Health Services: What Works, What Doesn't and Why
  Published by the World Bank, "Reaching the Poor with Health, Nutrition, and Population Services marshals the available evidence about pro-poor strategies that have proven to be effective and that can help in the development of programs to better assist disadvantaged groups. In doing so, it can serve as a resource for policy makers, development practitioners, and policy analysts concerned with health conditions among the poor."
• Real Determinants of Health
  This report discusses the conditions that are most conducive to good health and their policy implications. It examines factors such as the degree of income equity, the level of government financing of health care, the relationship between public investment in health and economic growth and more generally between health and wealth.
• Repositioning nutrition as central to development: A strategy for large scale development
  This World Bank Report examines malnutrition..."the world’s most serious health problem and the single biggest contributor to child mortality. Nearly one-third of children in the developing world are either underweight or stunted, and more than 30 percent of the developing world’s population suffers from micronutrient deficiencies. Unless policies and priorities are changed, the scale of the problem will prevent many countries from achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)—especially in Sub-Saharan Africa, where malnutrition is increasing, and in South Asia, where malnutrition is widespread and improving only slowly."
• WHO Essential Drugs and Medicines Policy (EDM)
  This site provides access to WHO documents on essential medicines policy. It includes a definition of essential medicines, a library of essential medicines, guides to selection and use and links to a wide array of policy documents.
• World Health Statistics 2008
  World Health Statistics 2008 presents the most recent health statistics for WHO’s 193 Member States. This fourth edition includes 10 highlights in health statistics, as well as an expanded set of over 70 key health indicators. It includes, for the first time, trend data where the statistics are available and of acceptable quality.

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Reports, guidelines and projects

• Access to Essential Drugs
  A global campaign launched by Doctors Without Borders (Medicins Sans Frontiers) to guarantee access to essential medicines for all.
• Asymmetries of Poverty: Why Global Burden of Disease Valuations Underestimate the Burden of Neglected Tropical Diseases
  "The disability-adjusted life year (DALY) initially appeared attractive as a health metric in the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) program, as it purports to be a comprehensive health assessment that encompassed premature mortality, morbidity, impairment, and disability. It was originally thought that the DALY would be useful in policy settings, reflecting normative valuations as a standardized unit of ill health. However, the design of the DALY and its use in policy estimates contain inherent flaws that result in systematic undervaluation of the importance of chronic diseases, such as many of the neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), in world health".
• Beyond Poverty, Extended Measures of Well-Being
  This report from the U.S. Census Bureau goes beyond the usual measures of well-being (income and poverty, for example). The report concisely applies a number of perspectives to determine the well-being of three groups: the poor, the nonpoor, and persons whoparticipate in the Aid to Families With Dependent Children (AFDC) program.
• 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.
• DAC Guidelines and Reference Series: Harmonising Donor Practices for Effective Aid Delivery, OECD, Nov 2003
  These guidelines were designed to enable the development community to make more effective use of scarce aid resources by implementing improvements in aid practices that deliver more effective and harmonised support to the efforts of partner countries. The good practices presented represent a set of practical steps that if applied by development agencies should significantly improve the effectiveness of development assistance while maintaing the same standards of quality.
• Does it matter that we don't agree on the definition of Poverty? : a comparison of four approaches, (PDF) 41p.
  Caterina Ruggeri Laderchi, Ruhi Saith and Frances Stewart, May 2003. This working paper from Queen Elizabeth House, Unviersity of Oxford reviews four approaches to the definition and measurement of poverty - the monetary capability, social exclusion and participatory approaches. It points out the theoretical underpinnings of the various measures and problems of operationalising them.
• Fatal Indifference: The G8, Africa, and Global Health
  This book examines the aid, trade and investment practices of G8 member nations, providing a 'report card' of commitements over the three G8 summits form 1999-2000 and a preliminary assessment of the summit in 2002.
• Global Health Opportunities 2006: Update on Priorities and U.S. Investment
  The intention of this report is to "...highlight the priorities for improving health in the world'd poorest communities based on objective analyses: to identify best buys for addressing these priorities effectively and at reasonable cost; to lay out the global resources needed from all sources; and to identify concrete investments the United States should make to continue leading the global community into an era of improved health across the world.
• Global Burden of Disease and Risk Factors
  The Global Burden of Disease and Risk Factors is the definitive, scientific account of the health conditions of the world's population at the beginning of the 21st century. This book includes a full account of methods, the complete results of recent work, and an assessment of trends for total mortality and for major causes of death among children under five. In addition, two chapters cover sensitivity and uncertainty analyses in relation to a broad range of potentially important parameters.
• Global health diplomacy: training across disciplines
  “The interface between trade and health is on the cutting edge of global health diplomacy, write Ilona Kickbusch et al. in a perspective. Foreign policy is now being driven substantially by health to protect national security, free trade and economic advancement, they say. But this exciting new field of study requires conceptual development and practical training programmes….Some governments have taken purposeful strides to incorporate health as a foreign policy tool. Perhaps, however, it is the other way around: foreign policy is now being driven substantially by health to protect national security, free trade and economic advancement. We offer a few examples of this changing field of health and foreign policy as background to our academic response: The United Kingdom is attempting to establish policy coherence with the development of a central governmental global health strategy based on health as a human right and global public good. Rooted in the recognition of globalization and its effects on health, this new effort will bring together the United Kingdom’s foreign relations, international development, trade and investment policies that can affect global health”. (au)
• Global Health Watch
  Global Health Watch is an alternative to the World Health Report. It aims to promote human rights as the basis for health policy; Counter-balance liberal and market-driven perspectives; Shift the health policy agenda to recognise the political, social and economic barriers to better health; Improve civil society's capacity to hold national and international governments, global international financial institutions and corporations to account (including WHO and the World Bank); Strengthen the links between civil society organisations around the world and provide a forum for magnifying the voice of the poor and vulnerable.
• Globalization and the Social Determinants of Health
  This analytic and strategic paper was prepared by the Institute of Population Health at the University of Ottawa.The paper defines globalisation, the nature of the evidence base, how the global market place affects social determinants of health, environment and resources and finally the next steps needed to address the issues raised.
• Governance and Corruption in Public Health Care Systems
  This Working Paper by Maureen Lewis from the Center for Global Development examines the factors that influence health care delivery in the developing world. It emphasises the role that good governance can have on stemming problems such as absenteeism, corruption and mismanagement and the important role this can have on health care delivery.
• Globalism and Social Policy Program (GASPP)
  GASPP began in 1997 as an Anglo-Finnish collaboration investigating the impact of globalisation upon social policy. It is now an eight year (1997-2005) research, advisory education and public information programme which is networked globally through the Regional Editors and Editorial Board of the journal Global Social Policy which is published three times a year.
• Health and Foreign Policy in the UK : Experience since 1997
  This UK study published by the Nuffield Trust aims to examine the manner in which health and foreign policy have interacted over the years. The research focuses on UK policy and attempts to analyse how policy has developed; what have been the drivers in the development of that policy, in particular the role of security concerns; the impact both on and of public health; and the role of the UK internationally.
• Health and Hemispheric Security (PDF) - PAHO/WHO (2002)
  This report published by the Pan American Health Organization asserts that the recent changes in the global and regional political landscape have made it necessary to consider approaches to security that are beyond the traditional dependence on power to protect natural territorial integrity. This paper points out the importance of human security for national and hemispheric security and itemises the role and place of health in the preservation of such security.
• Health and the Millennium Development Goals
  WHO's report, Health and the Millennium Development Goals, presents data on progress on the health goals and targets and looks beyond the numbers to analyse why improvements in health have been slow and to suggest what must be done to change this. The report points to weak and inequitable health systems as a key obstacle, including particularly a crisis in health personnel and the urgent need for sustainable health financing.
• Health in an age of globalization (PDF) 46pg
  Angus Deaton, Research Program in Development Studies, Center for Health and Wellbeing, Princeton University, July 2004: Many see related threats to public health from current globalisation. Multilateral and bilateral trade agreements do not always adequately represent the interests of poor countries, the General Agreement on Trade in Services may restrict the freedom of signatories to shape their own health delivery systems. This paper addresses these issues from an economist's perspective.
• Health and Foreign Policy in the U.K.: The Experience since 1997
  This report focuses on UK foreign policy and health and attempts to analyse how policy has developed; what have been the drivers in the development of that policy, in particular the role of security concerns; the impact both on and of public health; and the role of the UK internationally. The project aims to draw out lessons for future policy and this paper summarises the findings of the case studies, and a number of tentative recommendations are made at the end of the paper.
• Health is Global: a UK Government strategy
  "Global health is determined by factors which themselves often show scant respect for national boundaries – such as international trade, climate change, pollution, conflict, environmental degradation and poverty… Because so many sectors affect health, and so many countries and agencies are involved in healthcare, improving health around the world requires co-operative actions and solutions. This means creative, joined-up partnership both between UK government departments, and between the UK Government and a host of other partners, ranging from the EU and the UN to non-governmental organisations (NGOs), foundations, academia and business. Such a co-operative vision demands a strategy for improving global health and, while the strategy we outline is for the next five years, its vision covers a 10- to 15-year period. The strategy sets out the breadth of global health issues and our plan for tackling them.”
• HIV and Global Health: global inequality of life expectancy due to HIV/AIDS
  This paper deals with the growth in global health inequality, particularly in the light of the enormous impact of HIV/AIDS in Africa, asserting that this trend is not inevitable and can be reduced.
• HIV and National Security: Where are the links?
  This report, by Laurie Garrett a Senior Fellow for Global Health at the Council for Foreign Relations discusses the effect of the HIV/AIDS pandemic on state security throughout the world. It empahsises the way in which the pandemic is weakening economies, government structures, miltary and police forces and social structures and in so doing the state of security in many countries.
• How have Global Health Initiatives impacted on health equity?
  "This review examines the impact of Global Health Initiatives (GHIs) on health equity, focusing on low- and middle-income countries. It is a summary of a literature review commissioned by the WHO Commission on the Social Determinants of Health. GHIs have emerged during the past decade as a mechanism in development assistance for health. The review focuses on three GHIs, the US President's Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the World Bank's Multi-country AIDS Programme (MAP) and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria. All three have leveraged significant amounts of funding for their focal diseases — together these three GHIs provide an estimated two-thirds of external resources going to HIV/AIDS. This paper examines their impact on gender equity. An analysis of these Initiatives finds that they have a significant impact on health equity, including gender equity, through their processes of programme formulation and implementation, and through the activities they fund and implement, including through their impact on health systems and human resources. However, GHIs have so far paid insufficient attention to health inequities. While increasingly acknowledging equity, including gender equity, as a concern, Initiatives have so far failed to adequately translate this into programmes that address drivers of health inequity, including gender inequities. The review highlights the comparative advantage of individual GHIs, which point to an increased need for, and continued difficulties in, harmonisation of activities at country level. On the basis of this comparative analysis, key recommendations are made. They include a call for equity-sensitive targets, the collection of gender-disaggregated data, the use of policy-making processes for empowerment, programmes that explicitly address causes of health inequity and impact assessments of interventions' effect on social inequities."
• Interim Report of Task Force 5 Working Group on Access to Essential Medicines
  This interim report was part of the Millennium Project Commissioned by the United Nation's Secretary General Kofi Annan. The report addresses the fact that a very large part of the world's population has inadequate or no access to often life-saving medicines, resulting in a vast loss of life and much suffereing particularly among the poor and underprivileged.
• International Institute for Sustainable Development
  The vision of the International Institute for Sustainable Development is to achieve better living for all - sustainably and to champion innovation that will enable societies to live sustainably. It contributes to sustainable development by advancing policy recommendations on international trade and investment, economic policy , climate change , measurement and assessment , and natural resources management .
• 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.
• Mass Gatherings and Public Health: The Experience of the Athens 2004 Olympic Games
  This 402-page PDF document tells us that “….Large-scale mass gatherings, such as the Olympic Games, represent significant challenges for the entire health sector of host countries. Emerging global public health threats of natural or deliberate nature increase considerably the health and safety vulnerability of mass gatherings. Major areas of public health responsibility include health care capacity and mass-casualty preparedness; disease surveillance and outbreak response; environmental health and food safety; public information and health promotion; public health preparedness and response to incidents potentially involving the deliberate use of explosives, biological and chemical agents or radio nuclear material; and leadership, operations and unified command. This book comprehensively and systematically presents the experience of and lessons learned from the public health aspects of the preparations and conduct of the Athens 2004 Olympic Games. Documenting this experience can be a source of valuable information and knowledge for governments at all levels and communities in building their capacity for not only large-scale events but also preparing to deal with the avian influenza pandemic threat or other emergencies such as flooding and phenomena often associated with climate change…”.
• Meeting Basic Survival Needs of the World's Least Healthy People - Toward a Framework Convention on Global Health
  This article firstly examines the compelling issue of global health equity, and inquires whether it is fair that people in poor countries suffer such a disproportionate burden of disease and premature death; secondly, the article explains a basic problem in global health: why health hazards seem to change form and migrate everywhere on the earth; thirdly, the article inquires why governments should care about serious health threats outside their borders, and explores the alternative rationales: direct health benefits, economic benefits, and improved national security; fourthly, the article describes how the international community focuses on a few high profile, heart-rending, issues while largely ignoring deeper, systemic problems in global health. By focusing on basic survival needs, the international community could dramatically improve prospects for the world's population; and finally, the article explores the value of international law itself, and proposes an innovative mechanism for global health reform a Framework Convention on Global Health.
• Metropolis International
  "The International Metropolis Project is a set of co-ordinated activities carried out by a membership of research, policy and non-governmental organizations who share a vision of strengthened migration policy by means of applied academic research."
• Millennium Project
  "At the United Nations Millennium Summit in September 2000 world leaders placed development at the heart of the global agenda by adopting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which set clear targets for reducing poverty, hunger, disease, illiteracy, environmental degradation, and discrimination against women by 2015. This site outlines those goals and progress made towards achieving them."
• Public Health and Emerging Risks: Emerging Countries' Responsibility and International Cooperation
  This paper by Jennifer Prah Ruger, presented at the High Level Workshop on Development Assistance, 7 and 8 March 2007, argues that "global problems require local solutions and outlines efforts to link health to foreign policy and to support countries' articulating their own needs. It also outlines the unique role emerging countries have to play in reducing global health inequalities and in assisting developing countries in improving the health of their populations…"
• SIGCO
  SIGCO - System for Handling Information on International Cooperation is a UN affiliated information management system dealing with programs involving the use of International Cooperation Mechanisms
• Sphere Handbook 2004
  The Sphere Handbook sets out what people affected by disasters have a right to expect from humanitarian assistance. The aim of the Project is to improve the quality of assistance provided to people affected by disasters, and to enhance the accountability of the humanitarian system in disaster response.
• State of Food Insecurity in the World 2005
  The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2005 was prepared as a collaborative effort within FAO led by the Economic and Social Department (ES). WFS), The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2005 focuses on the critical importance of reducing hunger, both as the explicit target of the WFS and MDG 1 and as an essential condition for achieving the other MDGs.
• State of the World's Children 2006: Excluded and Invisible
  UNICEF's flagship publication, 'The State of the World's Children' 2006, closely examines 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.
• The 'diagonal' approach to Global Fund financing: a cure for the broader malaise of health systems?
  The potentially destructive polarisation between 'vertical' financing (aiming for disease-specific results) and ‘horizontal’ financing (aiming for improved health systems) of health services in developing countries has found its way to the pages of Foreign Affairs and the Financial Times. The opportunity offered by 'diagonal' financing (aiming for disease-specific results through improved health systems) seems to be obscured in this polarisation. In April 2007, the board of the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria agreed to consider comprehensive country health programmes for financing. The new International Health Partnership Plus, launched in September 2007, will help low-income countries to develop such programmes. The combination could lead the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria to a much broader financing scope. This evolution might be critical for the future of AIDS treatment in low-income countries, yet it is proposed at a time when the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria is starved for resources. It might be unable to meet the needs of much broader and more expensive proposals. Furthermore, it might lose some of its exceptional features in the process: its aim for international sustainability, rather than in-country sustainability, and its capacity to circumvent spending restrictions imposed by the International Monetary Fund. The authors [Gorik Ooms, Wim Van Damme, Brook K Baker, Paul Zeitz and Ted Schrecker] believe that a transformation of the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria into a Global Health Fund is feasible, but only if accompanied by a substantial increase of donor commitments to the Global Fund. The transformation of the Global Fund into a ‘diagonal’ and ultimately perhaps ‘horizontal’ financing approach should happen gradually and carefully, and be accompanied by measures to safeguard its exceptional features. [Globalization and Health - March 2008, 4:6]
• Towards health-equitable globalization: rights, regulation and redistribution - Globalization Knowledge Network
  "…Globalization holds considerable potential for improving human health while presenting many challenges. The key challenge for the Commission is to understand how globalization affects people’s access to social determinants of health (SDH). The Globalization Knowledge Network (GKN) approaches this subject by emphasizing the economic aspects of globalization since the 1970s."
• UNFPA: State of the World Population 2004
  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 realising development goals.
• UNFPA: State of the World Population 2002
  This publication characterises poverty by reviewing its many dimensions and looks at several of the key issues including, poverty and gender, poverty and health and poverty and education. It outlines a framework and provides recommendations to meet the poverty eradication goal of reducing the number of poor in half, by 2015.
• UNDP - World Bank - WHO Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (TDR)
  TDR is a globally coordinated effort to bring the resources of modern science to bear on the control of ten major diseases that disproportionally affect poor and marginalised populations. It carries out research and development to improve existing and develop new approaches for preventing, diagnosing, treating, and controlling neglected infectious diseases which are applicable, acceptable and affordable by developing endemic countries, which can be readily integrated into the health services of these countries.
• UNOSAT User Interface
  UNOSAT is a United Nations initiative to provide the humanitarian community with access to satellite imagery and Geographic Information System (GIS) services. UNOSAT is implemented by the UN Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) and managed by the UN Office for Project Services (UNOPS).
• Virtual Diplomacy Initiative
  The mission of the Virtual Diplomacy Initiative is to explore the role of information and communications technologies (ICTs) in the conduct of diplomacy, particularly their effect upon international conflict management and resolution. The Initiative's practical objective is to extract lessons and insights for future training of international affairs specialists, whether in government, international organisations, or the private sector.
• WHO - World Report on violence and health, Oct. 3 2002
  Violence is a major public health problem worldwide. Each year, millions of people die as the result of injuries due to violence. Manymore survive their injuries, but live with a permanent disability. is among the leading causes of death among people aged 15-44 years violence worldwide, accounting for 14% of deaths among males and 7% of deaths among females. The Report examines a broad spectrum of violence including child abuse and neglect by caregivers, youth violence, violence by intimate partners, sexual violence, elder abuse, suicide, and collective violence.
• Winners and Losers over Two Centuries of Globalisation
  This 2002 WIDER lecture from Jeffrey Williamson reports on what we know about the winners and losers during the two global centuries, including aspects almost always ignored in modern debate - how prices of consumption goods on the expenditure side are affected, and how the economic position of the poor is influenced.
• Women and Peace and Security - Report of the Secretary General, UN Security Council, October 2004
  In October 2002, the Security Council adopted Presidential Statement 2002/32 which requested the preparation of a follow-up report on the full implementation of resolution 1325 (2000) on women, peace and security to be presented to the Security Council in October 2004. The Secretary General's Report provides illustrative examples of progress made and identifies gaps and challenges in the implementation of resolution 1325 as well as recommendations for further action which the Security Council and other actors may wish to consider.
• World Development Report 2005
  The World Bank's annual World Development Report for 2005 focuses on what governments can do to improve the investment climates of their societies to increase growth and reduce poverty.
• World Bank - World Development Report 2006 Protecting and assisting the internally displaced: the way forward
  The World Development Report for 2006 concludes that inequality of opportunity, both within and among nations, sustains extreme deprivation, results in wasted human potential and often weakens prospects for overall prosperity and economic growth.
• 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. "
• World Disasters Report 2004
  October 2004. This report from the International Red Cross / Red Crescent focuses on community resilience during disaster and the way in which aid organisations can strengthen rather than undermine this resilience. The report argues that a more developmental approach to creating disaster resilience is needed, which puts communities in charge of defining their needs and crafting the right solutions.
• World Education Report 2000
  The right to education is one of the most important rights proclaimed by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, because education is considered by the Declaration to be not only a right in itself but also a means of promoting peace and respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms generally. This UNESCO report provides an overview of international commitments to educational rights, analysis of progress toward achieving those commitments and as well as a full set of education indicators on key aspects of education in over 180 countries.
• World Health Report 2005
  The World Health Report for 2005 focuses on mothers and children. It indicates that this year more than 11 million children under five years of age will die from causes that are largely preventable. At the same time more than half a million women will die in pregnancy, childbirth or soon after. It suggests that reducing this toll depends largely on every mother and every child having right to access to health care from pregnancy through childbirth, the neonatal period and childbirth.
• World Health Report 2006
  "The World Health Report 2006 - Working together for health contains an expert assessment of the current crisis in the global health workforce and ambitious proposals to tackle it over the next ten years, starting immediately. Focusing on all stages of the health workers' career lifespan from entry to health training, to job recruitment through to retirement, the report lays out a ten-year action plan in which countries can build their health workforces, with the support of global partners."
• World Health Statistics 2006
  "World Health Statistics 2006 presents the most recent statistics since 1997 of 50 health indicators for WHO’s 192 Member States. This second edition of World Health Statistics includes an expanded set of statistics, with a particular focus on equity between and within countries. It also introduces a section with 10 highlights in global health statistics for the past year. World Health Statistics 2006 has been collated from publications and databases of WHO’s technical programmes and regional offices. The core set of indicators was selected on the basis of relevance for global health, availability and quality of data, and accuracy and comparability of estimates. The statistics for the indicators are based on an interactive process of data collection, compilation, quality assessment, and estimation between WHO technical programmes and its Member States."
• World Mortality Report 2005
  "The main objective of this United Nations report is to compile and summarize available information about levels and trends of mortality and life expectancy for national populations. A related goal is to compare estimates from various sources to those derived by the United Nations Population Division as the baseline for its mortality projections, which are a key input for its biennial assessment of population prospects."
• World Report on Knowledge for Better Health
  This report focuses on bridging of the 'know do' gap, the gulf between what we know and what we do in practice, between scientific potential and helalth related realisation. The bridging of this gap is central to achieving the health-related millennium development goals by 2015. The report expounds the message that health improvement through knowledge application is a critical factor in human development and alleviation of ill-health and poverty world-wide.

Educational resources

• 17 October - World Day To Overcome Extreme Poverty
  This site is dedicated to October 17, The World Day to Overcome Extreme Poverty. Officially recognised in 1992, the day was born from the initiative of thousands of people who gathered at the Human Rights Plaza in Paris, France in 1987.
• Associated Schools Project Network
  UNESCOs Associated Schools Project Network is committed to promoting the ideals of UNESCO by conducting pilot projects in favour of better preparing children and young people to meet effectively the challenges of an increasingly complex and interdependent world. The new ASPnet Strategy and Plan of Action (2004-2009) places emphasis on reinforcing the four pillars of Learning for the 21st Century (learning to know, to do, to be and to live together) and promoting quality education as outlined in the Dakar Framework of Action.
• Community Tool Box
  Provided by the University of Kansas, the mission of the Community Tool Box is to promote community health and development by connecting people, ideas and resources.
• Development and Peace Foundation (Germany)
  "Founded in 1986, on the initiative of Willy Brandt. As a cross-party, non-profit-making organisation the foundation argues for the creation of a new political order in a world that is increasingly dominated by economic and technological globalisation and where democratically grounded politics is in danger of disappearing. The work of the Foundation is based on three principles: global responsibility, an interdisciplinary perspective, and cross-party dialogue."
• DFID Health Resource Centre
  The Health Resources Centre's mission is based on the need to develop national and international responses and interventions that directly improve the health and well-being of individuals living in the poorest countries of the world. To this end the HRC provides technical assistance, rapid resonse policy briefings and knowledge support on all aspects of international public health to the UK Department for International Develoment and its partners in developing countires.
• Directory of Grants and Fellowships in Global Health Sciences
  "The beginning of the 21st century has witnessed a tremendous expansion and vitalization of the field of global health. Organizations never before engaged in the endeavor of global health research have entered the field, while long-standing supporters have redoubled their efforts. The interest of undergraduate students, graduate students, and incipient researchers, both in the U.S. and abroad, is perhaps at its greatest ever. The Fogarty International Center (FIC) of the U.S. National Institutes of Health has compiled this directory as a service to students and researchers around the world."
• Drugs and Devices Information Line
  This service is provided by the Pharmacoepidemiology programme at Harvard School of Public Health.
• Education for Sustainable Development Kit
  The Education for Sustainable Development Toolkit is a manual for individuals and organisations from both the education and community sectors. This resource addresses the potentially powerful alliance of school systems and communities working together to reach local sustainability goals.
• Earth Council
  The Earth Council is an international non-governmental organisation (NGO) created in 1992 as a direct result of the Earth Summit. Its mission is to support and empower people in building a more secure, equitable and sustainable future.
• ELDIS Poverty Resources
  Part of the Institute of Development Studies, Sussex, ELDIS is an internet-based information source filtering, structuring and presenting development information via the web and email. Its library includes selected and abstracted on-line documents, and an organisational directory of development-related internet resources.
• Forced Migration Online
  Forced Migration Online is a comprehensive website that provides access to a diverse range of relevant information resources on forced migration. It is a technically and intellectually administered resource, combining specialist subject knowledge with high standards of information management.
• Global Health E-Learning Center
  USAID's Global Health E-learning Center provides Internet based courses that enable useful and timely continuing education for health professionals, Offer state-of-the-art technical content on key public health topics and Serve as a practical resource for increasing public health knowledge.
• GlobalHealthFacts.org
  GlobalHealthFacts.org, a project of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation and companion site to GlobalHealthReporting.org, provides free, up-to-date and easy-to-access data by country on HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and other key health and socio-economic indicators.
• Global Health Library (GHL)
  The Global Health Library (GHL) provides access to information and scientific evidence on health, particularly in developing regions. The GHL is designed to create a global space to promote and connect local, national, regional and international flows of information on health.
• HEALTHmap: Global Disease Alert Mapping System
  HEALTHmap brings together disparate data sources to achieve a unified and comprehensive view of the current global state of infectious diseases and their effect on human and animal health. This freely available Web site integrates outbreak data of varying reliability, ranging from news sources (such as Google News) to curated personal accounts (such as ProMED) to validated official alerts (such as World Health Organization).
• Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre
  The Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC), established in 1998 by the Norwegian Refugee Council, monitors conflict-induced internal displacement worldwide. Through its work, the Centre contributes to improving national and international capacities to protect and assist the millions of people around the globe who have been displaced within their own country as a result of conflicts or human rights violations. The IDMC runs an online database providing comprehensive information and analysis on internal displacement in some 50 countries.
• Learning for Sustainability (LfS)
  "This guide to on-line resources (formerly NRM-changelinks) is designed for government agency staff, NGOs and other community leaders wanting to improve social learning and collective action initiatives to support sustainable development. It is relevant for those working in a number of sectors such as environment, public health and education. The site also aims to provide links to resources that can be used across sectors."
• PharmWeb
  PharmWeb is a portal to an extensive range of pharmaceutical and health care related internet resources. It includes links to conferences and meetings, worldwide pharmacy colleges, departments and schools, discussion forums and chat sessions, job vacancies, statistics and government bodies.
• Pocket book of hospital care for children: Guidelines for the management of common illnesses with limited resources
  This Pocket Book presents up-to-date clinical guidelines which are based on a review of the available published evidence by subject experts, for both inpatient and outpatient care in small hospitals where basic laboratory facilities and essential drugs and inexpensive medicines are available. It focuses on the inpatient management of the major causes of childhood mortality, such as pneumonia, diarrhoea, severe malnutrition, malaria, meningitis, measles, HIV infection and related conditions. It covers neonatal problems and surgical conditions of children which can be managed in small hospitals
• PRAXIS: Social policy and development
  This site provides access to a vast array of archival resources on international and comparative social development in order to further the promotion of positive social change through informed action.
• Refugee Law Reader
  This is the third edition of the Refugee Law Reader. It provides a comprehensive on-line curriculum for the study of international asylum and refugee law. The Reader also offers access to the complete texts of up-to-date core legal materials, instruments and academic commentary
• Research Matters in Governance Equity and Health Videos
  This page provides access to videos produced by International Development Research Centre, Canada's Research Matters in Governance, Equity and Health. The first video 'Does Research Matter?' was filmed at the 2004 Global Forum for Health Research. "Making Research Matter" and "Researching the Rollout" examine the project " Public Sector Anti-Retroviral Therapy" currently underway in the Free State, South Africa.
• RRojas Databank
  The purpose of this site is to publish electronic versions of of books, papers, notes and statistical and analytical material related to economics and development studies and to facilitate easy access to major sources of academic information for development studies.
• Scalabrini Migration Center (Philippines)
  The Scalabrini Migration Center (SMC) is a non-profit research institute established in 1987 and based in Manila, Philippines. SMC is dedicated to encourage and facilitate the study of socio-demographic, economic, political, psychological, historical, legislative and religious aspects of human migration and refugee movements from and within Asia
• Sustainable Development Reference Link
  This site has been developed to help government officials, students, researchers and others interested in development issues to find sources of national economic and social data online. It also examines some of the issues which complicate the work of anyone wanting to use this data.
• Sierra Club of Canada: Common Front on the WTO
  Sierra Club of Canda's mission is to develop a diverse, well-trained grassroots network working to protect the integrity of our global ecosystems. Sierra Club of Canada’s mission focuses on five overriding threats: loss of animal and plant species; deterioration of the planet’s oceans and atmosphere; the ever-growing presence of toxic chemicals in all living things; destruction of our remaining wilderness and spiralling population growth and over consumption
• Sustainable Measures
  Sustainable Measures develops indicators that measure progress towards a sustainable economy society and environment
• United Nations (UN) Cyberschoolbus
  The United Nations Cyberschoolbus was created in 1996 as the online education component of the Global Teaching and Learning Project, whose mission is to promote education about international issues and the United Nations. The Global Teaching and Learning Project produces high quality teaching materials and activities designed for educational use (at primary, intermediate and secondary school levels) and for training teachers.
• Virtual Library on International Development
  The Virtual Library on International Development is a collection of links to international development-related sites and documents on the internet. It is maintained by the International Development Information Centre, Canadian International Development Agency.
• Water for Life: Making it Happen
  This report published by WHO as we enter the International Decade for Action Water for Life 2005-2015 asserts that every day, diarrhoeal diseases from easily preventable causes claim the lives of approximately 5 000 people, most of them young children. Sufficient and better quality drinking water and basic sanitation can cut this toll dramatically, and simple, low-cost household water treatment has the potential to save further lives.
• WWW Virtual Library: Migration and Ethnic Relations
• WWW Virtual Library: Sustainable Development

Organisations and Networks

European Commission

• Centre for European Union Studies (Hull, UK)
  The Centre for European Studies at the University of Hull has been designated by the European Commission to promote academic excellence in research, publications and education on EU-related issues and wider Europe; provide a stimulating interdisciplinary research environment for staff and students; foster understanding of the EU in the region.
• Commission of the European Union
  This site offers a daily selection of the latest features and documents available on the European Union websites. It also provides direct links to the "What's new?" section of the European institutions and agencies websites. Chronological entries can be retrieved from 1997 onwards.
• Development
  DG Development's mandate is to enhance the development policies in all developing countries world-wide. DG Development provides policy guidance on development policy and oversees the programming of aid in the ACP countries (Africa, Caribbean and Pacific) and the Overseas Countries and Territories.
• Education and Culture
  The EU's Directorate General for Education and Culture supports a wide range of programmes to encourage European cooperation in the areas of Education and Training, Culture, Youth, Languages, Sport and Civil Society. This page outlines the Directorate General's programmes and acts as a portal to web based information in these areas.
• Environment
  The European Commission's Environmental Portal is designed to inform visitors about all relevant issues pertaining to the environment. It provides up-to-date information on the state of our environment, policy initiatives
• European Documentation Centres
  The primary purpose of this homepage is to help researchers and students to find reliable information about the European Union - both official and non-official. It has been created by the staff of European Documentation Centres using their expertise in European information. European Documentation Centres are a network of information centres which were established by the European Union in 1963 to support study, teaching and research at university level.
• European Environment Agency
  The EEA aims to support sustainable development and to help achieve significant and measurable improvement in Europe's environment through the provision of timely, targeted, relevant and reliable information to policy making agents and the public. es and legislative issues.
• European University Institute, Florence (Italy)
  The European University Institute was created in 1972 by the Member States of the founding European Communities. Its main objective is to provide advanced academic training to Ph.D students and to promote research at the highest level. It carries out research in a European perspective (fundamental research, comparative research and Community research) in history, law, economics, political and social science.
• European Parliament
  The European Parliament is the world's biggest multinational parliament. Its 732 members are drawn from 45 nationalities, representing 455 million citizens.
• Europa Portal
  This is the European Union's Web portal, it contains links to all Eu web pages and documents.
• Eurostat
  Eurostat is the Statistical Office of the European Communities, established in 1953. Its mission is to gather and analyse figures from the different European statistics offices in order to provide comparable and harmonised data to the European Institutions so they can define, implement and analyse Community policies. Data cover the European Union, its Member States and its partners, and are published under a variety of Themes and Collections.
• Health and Consumer Protection Directorate
  The EU Health and Consumer Protection Directorate General was established to help make Europe's citizens healthier, safer and more confident. Over the years the European Union has established EU laws on the safety of food and other products, on consumers' rights and on the protection of people's health.The Health and Consumer Protection Directorate General has the task of keeping these laws up to date. Its work is divided into three main areas; public health, food safety and consumer affairs.
• Terminological Information System
  TIS on the Web is a simplified version of the terminological database used by terminologists and translators working in The General Secretariat of the Council of the European Union.

Multinational General

• ASEAN
  The Association of Southeast Asian Nations or ASEAN was established on 8 August 1967 in Bangkok by the five original Member Countries, namely, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand. Brunei Darussalam joined on 8 January 1984, Vietnam on 28 July 1995, Laos and Myanmar on 23 July 1997, and Cambodia on 30 April 1999.
• Asian Development Bank
  The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is a multilateral development finance institution owned by 63 members, 45 from Asia and the Pacific and 18 from other parts of the globe. The overarching goal of ADB is to reduce poverty. To achieve this, ADB supports activities in its developing member countries to promote pro-poor economic growth, inclusive social development, and good governance. Its three crosscutting themes are private sector development, regional cooperation, and environmental sustainability.
• Asia Regional Information Center
  The Asia Regional Information Center provides a clearinghouse of information on economic and social developments, financial and corporate restructuring initiatives, and structural reforms. ARIC monitors economic and financial indicators to identify vulnerabilities as an early warning device against potential fiscal, banking or currency crises, and helps identify the risks of external shocks from the globalised economic environment. It also provides resources on major development and emerging policy issues.
• Council of Europe
  The Council of Europe is the continent's oldest political organisation, founded in 1949. The Council was set up to: defend human rights, parliamentary democracy and the rule of law, develop continent-wide agreements to standardise member countries' social and legal practices, and promote awareness of a European identity based on shared values and cutting across different cultures.
• European Centre for Social Welfare, Policy, and Research (Vienna, Austria)
  The European Centre is an international centre for social research, policy information and training. It is an intergovernmental organisation focused on social welfare, affiliated to the United Nations. The European Centre expertise includes issues of demographic development, work and employment, incomes, poverty and social exclusion, social security, migration and social integration, human security, care, health and well-being through the provision of public goods and personal services.
• European Science Foundation
  The European Science Foundation promotes high quality science at a European level. It acts as a catalyst for the development of science by bringing together leading scientists and funding agencies to debate, plan and implement pan-European initiatives.
• International Civil Aviation Organization
  The International Civil Aviation Organization has six strategic aviation objectives; Safety, Security, Environmental Protection, Efficiency, Continuity and Rule of Law. The strategic objectives are action oriented and present a range of activities which include development, implementation and technical support.
• International Atomic Energy Agency
  The IAEA is the world's center of cooperation in the nuclear field. The Agency works with its Member States and multiple partners worldwide to promote safe, secure and peaceful nuclear technologies.
• ICRC - International Committee of the Red Cross
  The International Committee of the Red Cross is an impartial, neutral and independent organisation whose humanitarian mission is to protect the lives and dignity of victims of war and internal violence and to provide them with assistance. It directs and coordinates the international relief activities conducted by the Movement in situations of conflict. It also endeavours to prevent sufferening by promoting and strengthening humanitarian law and universal humanitarian principles.
• International Fair Trade Association
  A federation of producers and "alternative" trading organisations (ATOs). In IFAT, producers of handicrafts and food products from the developing countries come together directly with buyers and managers of ATOs as friends and partners in a spirit of mutual trust. They cast aside the traditional trading system of middlemen and create an "alternative" way of doing business that is beneficial and fair.
• International Federation of Workers' Education Associations
  IFWEA is the international organisation responsible for the development of workers' education. It brings together national and international trade unions, workers' education associations, NGOs and social-democratic foundations engaged in the provision of adult education opportunities for workers and the communities in which they live throughout the world
• International Forum on Globalization
  The International Forum on Globalization (IFG) is a North-South research and educational institution formed in 1994. The organisation is composed of activists, economists, scholars, and researchers providing analyses and critiques on the cultural, social, political, and environmental impacts of economic globalisation.
• International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED)
  IIED is an independent, non-profit organisation promoting sustainable patterns of world development through collaborative research, policy studies, networking and knowledge dissemination.
• International Maritime Organization (IMO)
  The purpose of this organisation is to provide machinery for cooperation among Governments in the field of governmental regulation and practices relating to technical matters of all kinds affecting shipping engaged in international trade; to encourage and facilitate the general adoption of the highest practicable standards in matters concerning maritime safety, efficiency of navigation and prevention and control of marine pollution from ships.
• International Monetary Fund (IMF)
  "The IMF is an organization of 184 countries, working to foster global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate international trade, promote high employment and sustainable economic growth, and reduce poverty."
• International Organization for Migration (IOM)
  IOM is committed to the principle that humane and orderly migration benefits migrants and society. IOM acts with its partners in the international community to; assist in meeting the growing operational challenges of migration management, advance understanding of migration issues, encourage social and economic development through migration, and uphold the human dignity and well-being of migrants.
• International Telecommunication Union (ITU)
  This UN organisation is concerned with the coordination, development, regulation and standardisation of telecommunications and organisation of regional and world networks
• International Union for Health Promotion and Education
  The mission of The International Union for Health Promotion and Education (the IUHPE) is to promote global health and to contribute to the achievement of equity in health between and within countries of the world
• Union of International Association
  The Union of International Associations (UIA), is a nonprofit clearing house for information on over 40,000 international organisations and constituencies. This site provides databases on paper, on-line and on CD-Rom that serve as tools for a wide variety of users and tasks, whether focused on action, research or decision-making.
• World Bank
  The World Bank Group’s mission is to fight poverty and improve the living standards of people in the developing world. It is a development Bank which provides loans, policy advice, technical assistance and knowledge sharing services to low and middle income countries to reduce poverty. The Bank promotes growth to create jobs and to empower poor people to take advantage of these opportunities.
• World Trade Organization (WTO)
  The World Trade Organization (WTO) is the only global international organisation dealing with the rules of trade between nations. At its heart are the WTO agreements, negotiated and signed by the bulk of the world’s trading nations and ratified in their parliaments. The goal is to help producers of goods and services, exporters, and importers conduct their business
• World Trade Point Federation(WTPF)
  The World Trade Point Federation (WTPF), an international non-governmental organisation established in 2000, grew out of an innovative programme of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). Through a network of more than 120 trade information and facilitation centres, known as Trade Points, the WTPF assists small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in over 90 countries worldwide to trade internationally through the use of electronic commerce technologies.

United Nations

• United Nations Homepage
  This is the homepage of the United Nations. It provides information on, and links to all United Nation's programmes.
• Cartographic Section
  This site provides access to maps and geographic information resources. General maps and deployment maps of peace keeping operations are available to save or print. All country profile maps made by the Cartographic Section are posted on the Internet, with a focus on developing countries and/or countries where political situation requires U.N. actions/operations. Maps are added and updated regularly.
• Centre for Human Settlement (UNCHS) - Habitat
  The United Nations Human Settlements Programme, UN-HABITAT, is the United Nations agency for human settlements. It is mandated by the UN General Assembly to promote socially and environmentally sustainable towns and cities with the goal of providing adequate shelter for all.
• Centre for Regional Development (UNCRD)
  The UNCRD conducts research and training in local and regional development targeting developing and transitional economies. The Centre's programmes are focused on socially and environmentally sustainable development. Research themes cover human security, environment, and disaster management which serve as guides for the Centre's training and research activities.
• Commission on Economic and Social Development for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP)
  The functions of UNESCAP include Promoting economic and social development through regional and subregional cooperation and integration; Serving as the main economic and social development forum within the United Nations system for the UNESCAP region; Formulating and promoting development assistance activities and projects commensurate with the needs and priorities of the region while acting as an executing agency for relevant operational projects and Providing substantive and secretariat services and documentation for the Commission and its subsidiary bodies.
• Commission on Economic and Social Development for Latin America and the Caribbean
  ECLAC, which is headquartered in Santiago, Chile, is one of the five regional commissions of the United Nations. It was founded for the purposes of contributing to the economic development of Latin America, coordinating actions directed towards this end, and reinforcing economic relationships among the countries and with the other nations of the world. The promotion of the region's social development was later included among its primary objectives.
• Decolonization
  When the United Nations was established in 1945, 750 million people - almost a third of the world's population - lived in Territories that were non-self-governing, dependent on colonial Powers. Today, fewer than 2 million people live in such Territories. The United Nations has played a crucial role in that historical change. This site describes that role and the UN's continuing efforts to ensure recognition that the interests of dependent Territories are paramount, and that administering powers agree to promote social, economic, political and educational progress in the Territories and to assist in developing appropriate forms of self-government .
• Development Programme (UNDP)
  UNDP is the UN’s global development network, an organisation advocating for change and connecting countries to knowledge, experience and resources to help people build a better life. It presently operates in 166 countries, working with them on their own solutions to global and national development challenges. As they develop local capacity , they draw on the people of UNDP and our wide range of partners.
• Division for the Advancement of Women (UNDAW)
  UNDAW advocates the improvement of the status of women of the world and the achievement of their equality with men. Aiming to ensure the participation of women as equal partners with men in all aspects of human endeavour, the Division promotes women as equal participants and beneficiaries of sustainable development, peace and security, governance and human rights.
• Division for Sustainable Development (UNDSD)
  The Division for Sustainable Development provides leadership and is an authoritative source of expertise within the United Nations system on sustainable development. It promotes sustainable development as the substantive secretariat to the UN Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) and through technical cooperation and capacity building at international, regional and national levels.
• Earth Summit +5
  This is the official website of the United Nation's Earth Summit which was held in New York in 1997. It proves all documents and materials from the conference.
• Economic Commission for Europe
  UNECE strives to foster sustainable economic growth among its 55 member countries. To that end UNECE provides a forum for communication among States; brokers international legal instruments addressing trade, transport and the environment; and supplies statistics and economic and environmental analysis
• Educational Portal
  The United Nation's Education al Portal provides links to all education web sites within the UN system, education institutes, educational initiatives as well as education resources at the World Bank, UNESCO, ILO and additional resources for children and youth.
• Environment Programme (UNEP)
  The mission of UNEP is to provide leadership and encourage partnership in caring for the environment by inspiring, informing, and enabling nations and peoples to improve their quality of life without compromising that of future generations.
  - Islands web-site
  Environmentally, islands are noted for their unique fauna and flora which are particularly vulnerable to disturbance and destruction by human activities. This site, assembled by Arthur Dahl, Consultant Adviser to the United Nations Environment Programme, provides access to a number of resources concerning islands, primarily from within the United Nations system.
  - EarthPrint
  Earthprint is the official online bookshop of the United Nations Environment Programme. It provides access and ordering information to all environmental publications from UNEP as well as other key international organisations.
• Food and Agriculture Organization
  The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations leads international efforts to defeat hunger. Serving both developed and developing countries, FAO acts as a neutral forum where all nations meet as equals to negotiate agreements and debate policy. FAO is also a source of knowledge and information. It helps developing countries and countries in transition modernise and improve agriculture, forestry and fisheries practices and ensure good nutrition for all.
  - World Agricultural Information Centre of FAO (WAICENT)
  WAICENT's aim is to contribute to FAO's mandate to collect, analyse, interpret and disseminate information related to nutrition, food and agriculture by enhancing access to timely and relevant technical information by FAO Member Nations and the general public; and the encouragement of FAO Member Nations to utilise information as a key resource for development.
• High Commissioner for Human Rights(UNHCR)
  The High Commissioner works to encourage the international community and its member States to uphold universally agreed human rights standards by alerting Governments and the world community to the daily reality that these standards are too often ignored or unfulfilled, and to be a voice for the victims of human rights violations everywhere.
• Human Development Report Office
  The Human Development Report (HDR) was first launched in 1990 with the single goal of putting people back at the center of the development process in terms of economic debate, policy and advocacy. Each Report also focuses on a highly topical theme in the current development debate, providing both analysis and policy recommendations. The Report is translated into more than a dozen languages and launched in more than 100 countries annually.
• Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO)
  UNIDO's vision is to improve the living conditions of people and promote global prosperity through offering tailor-made solutions for the sustainable industrial development of developing countries and countries with economies in transition.
• Information Technology Services (UNITeS)
  In his Millennium Report, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan stressed the importance for developing countries to benefit from opportunities emerging from the digital revolution, and stressed the vital role volunteers are playing in helping to bridge the digital divide between industrialised and developing countries. UNITeS, the United Nations Information Technology Service, promotes volunteer involvement in efforts focused on information and communications technologies for develop
• Institute for Training and Development
  UNITAR is an autonomous body within the United Nations. Its function include conducting training programmes in multilateral diplomacy and international cooperation for diplomats accredited to the United Nations and national officials involved in work related to United Nations activities. It also carries out a wide range of training programmes in the field of social and economic development and result-oriented research.ment.
• Intellectual History Project
  UNIHP aims to conduct a comprehensive study of the origins and evolution of the economic and social activities of the UN, and the ideas developed through the United Nations and their impact on international discourse and action. The UNIHP has two main components, a series of books on specific topics and a series of oral history interviews.
• International Civil Service Commission
  The International Civil Service Commission (ICSC) is an independent expert body established by the United Nations General Assembly. Its mandate is to regulate and coordinate the conditions of service of staff in the United Nations common system, while promoting and maintaining high standards in the international civil service.
• International Labour Organization (ILO)
  The International Labour Organization is the UN specialised agency which seeks the promotion of social justice and internationally recognised human and labour rights. It was founded in 1919 and is the only surviving major creation of the Treaty of Versailles which brought the League of Nations into being and it became the first specialised agency of the UN in 1946.
  - International Training Center of ILO
  Located in Turin (Italy), the Center "assists ILO member States in their development efforts by providing training and learning opportunities in human resource development for representatives of governments, workers' and employers' organizations and civil society".
• Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute
  UNIDO's vision is to improve the living conditions of people and promote global prosperity through offering tailor-made solutions for the sustainable industrial development of developing countries and countries with economies in transition.
• NGOs and the United Nations Department of Public Information
  The DPI/NGO Section provides "DPI/NGOs" with a number of services including access to information about global issues on the United Nations agenda. A DPI/NGO Executive Committee(EXECOM), composed of eighteen elected NGO representatives, collaborates with the DPI/NGO Section on events, programmes and initiatives of mutual interest, including organisation of the Annual DPI/NGO Conference
• Office of the Department of Humanitarian Affairs
  The mission of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs is to mobilise and coordinate effective and principled humanitarian action in partnership with national and international actors in order to alleviate human suffering in disasters and emergencies; advocate for the rights of people in need; promote preparedness and prevention and facilitate sustainable solutions.
• Office on Drugs and Crime
  The UNODC conducts research and analytical work to increase knowledge and understanding of drugs and crime issues and expand the evidence-base for policy and operational decisions. It also undertakes normative work to assist states in the ratification and implementation of the international treaties and the development of domestic legislation on drugs, crime and terrorism.
• Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD)
  UNRISD is an autonomous United Nations agency that carries out research on the social dimensions of contemporary problems affecting development.
• Staff College
  The UN System Staff College is the United Nations institution created by the General Assembly to strengthen the performance of the UN system. Through its programmes and services, the College can help UN organisations and UN staff to develop the skills and competencies necessary to fulfil their mandates more effectively.
• Statistics Division
  The Statistics Division compiles statistics from many international sources and produces global updates, including the Statistical Yearbook , World Statistics Pocketbook and yearbooks in specialised fields of statistics. It also provides to countries, specifications of the best methods of compiling information so that data from different sources can be readily compared.
• System Pathfinder
  "The purpose of this site is to identify major publications of the organizations comprising the United Nations system. Material selected includes global studies and reports, handbooks and guides, bibliographies and indices, international statistical publications, compilations of treaties, resolutions and documents as well as annual reports of UN bodies and specialized agencies"
• UNAIDS
  UNAIDS is the joint United Nation's programme on HIV/AIDS. It is an advocate for global action on HIV/AIDS, leading, strengthening and supporting an expanded response to the epidemic.
• UNESCO
  UNESCO is the United Nation's Educatonal, Scientific and Cultural Organisation. UNESCO promotes international co-operation among its 191 Member States and six Associate Members in the fields of education, science, culture and communication.
  -Asia-Pacific Migration Research Network
  APMRN is an initiative of the Managment of Social Transformations (MOST) programme of UNESCO and the Centre for Asia Pacific Social Transformation Studies (CAPTRANS). It coordinates activities of migration scholars in Australia, Bangaldesh, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Republic of Korea, Singapore, South Pacific, Sri Lanka, Thialand and Vietnam.
  -Culture Link
  Culturelink, the Network of Networks for Research and Cooperation in Cultural Development, was established in 1989 by UNESCO and the Council of Europe with the view to strengthen the communication between networks, institutions and professionals in the field of culture, the exchange of cultural information, ideas and knowledge, and the development of research cooperation.
  - International Bureau of Education
  The main function of UNESCO's IBE is to gather, disseminate and share a wide range of resources on educational structures. The aim is to provide support to policy-makers and practitioners in the identification of priorities, best practices and innovations with a view to buttressing education strategies and reforms.
  - International Centre for Technical and Vocational Education and Training - Management of Social Transformations Programme (MOST)
  MOST is a research programme, designed by UNESCO, to promote international comparative social science research. Its primary emphasis is to support large-scale, long-term autonomous research and to transfer the relevant findings and data to decision-makers.
  - Observatory on the Information Society
  The Observatory on Information Society is UNESCO's international mechanism for monitoring new information and communication technologies. This site provides an Internet-based gateway to online resources on ethical, legal, socio-cultural and policy issues of the Information Society. It identifies new trends and contexts; shares information about the challenges of the Information Society and advances in ICT; and provides a joint platform for UNESCO’s clearing houses related to the Information Society issues.
• UNFPA
  UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, is an international development agency that promotes the right of every woman, man and child to enjoy a life of health and equal opportunity. UNFPA supports countries in using population data for policies and programmes to reduce poverty and to ensure that every pregnancy is wanted, every birth is safe, every young person is free of HIV/AIDS, and every girl and woman is treated with dignity and respect.
• UNHCR
  UNHCR is the United Nation's Refugee Agency. It is mandated to lead and co-ordinate international action to protect refugees and resolve refugee problems worldwide.
• UNICEF
  UNICEF is the United Nations Childrens Fund. Its programmes focus on education, particularly for girls; immunisation, reaching every child with life saving vaccines; child protection, building a better environment for children; HIV/AIDS, prevention, parent-to-child transmission, care and support for orphaned children and early childhood, ensuring the best start in life, survival, growth and early learning.
  - Innocenti Research Centre
  UNICEF's Innocenti Research Centre (IRC) works to strengthen the capacity of UNICEF and its cooperating institutions to respond to the evolving needs of children and to develop a new global ethic for children. It promotes the effective implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, in both developing and industrialised countries, thereby reaffirming the universality of children’s rights and of UNICEF’s mandate.
• UNIFEM
  UNIFEM is the United Nation's women’s fund. It provides financial and technical assistance to innovative programmes and strategies to foster women’s empowerment and gender equality.
• UN University
  The UNU's mission is to contribute through research and capacity building to efforts to resolve the pressing global problems that are the concern of the United Nations, its people and member states. To this end it serves as an international community of scholars, abridge between the United Nations and the international academic community, a think-tank for the United Nations system and a builder of capacities, particularly in developing countries.
  - Institute for New Technologies
  UNU-INTECH is a major Research and Training Centre of United Nations University specialising in the role of new technologies and innovation in the development process. The Institute works in close collaboration with the Maastricht Economic Research Institute on Innovation and Technology, MERIT.
  - World Institute for Development Economics Research (WIDER)
  The first research and training centre of the United Nations University and located in Helsinki Finland, WIDER is dedicated to the study of major global economic processes for the purpose of fostering widespread improvements in human life and society.
• Volunteers
  The United Nations Volunteers for Peace and Development is the UN organisation that supports sustainable human development globally through the promotion of volunteerism, including the mobilisation of volunteers. It is administered by the United Nations Development Programme
• World Alliance of Cities Against Poverty
  A network, formed on the initiative of UNDP, which offers participants an opportunity to benefit from the experience of cities and the proximity of municipalities to the population to give a new impetus to the fight against poverty and thus contribute effectively to the "International Decade for the Eradication of Poverty" (1997-2006), proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in 1996.
• World Food Program (WFP)
  Among the Millennium Development Goals which the United Nations has set for the 21st century, halving the proportion of hungry people in the world is top of the list. The World Food Programme fights hunger by providing emergency food aid to people caught up in humanitarian disasters throughout the world. WFP development food aid helps the hungry escape from the poverty trap. Only by investing in people and their access to resources can we be sure they will remain food secure -- in lean seasons as well as harvest time.
• World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)
  The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) is an international organisation dedicated to promoting the use and protection of works of the human spirit. These works -- intellectual property -- are expanding the bounds of science and technology and enriching the world of the arts. Through its work, WIPO plays an important role in enhancing the quality and enjoyment of life, as well as creating real wealth for nations.
• World Meteorological Organization (WMO)
  The World Meteorological Organization is the specialised agency of the United Nations for meteorology (weather and climate), operational hydrology and related geophysical sciences. The vision of the WMO is to provide world leadership in expertise and international cooperation in weather, climate, hydrology and water resources, and related environmental issues, and thereby to contribute to the safety and well being of people throughout the world and to the economic benefit of all nations.

World Health Organisation

• World Health Organization (WHO)
  WHO is the United Naitons specialised agency for health. WHO's objective is the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of health. Health is defined as a state of complete physical, mental and social well being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.
• Centre for Health Development
  WHO's Centre for Health Development's mission is to undertake multidisciplinary health research to optimise the determinants of health by generating, analyzing and communicating an evidence base with the authority to drive health policy and programmes worldwide. It concentrates on issues relating to health development, with particular emphasis on health care delivery and urbanisation, delineating the place of health systems in society, and determining the links between population, economy, environment and health, and assessing health needs from development perspectives.
• Civil Society Initiative
  The Civil Society Initiative (CSI) fosters relations between WHO and nongovernmental and civil society organisations and is responsible for the administration of formal relations as set out in the Principles governing relations between WHO and nongovernmental organisations (NGOs). Counterparts at each WHO Regional Office.
• Collaborating Centre on Community Safety Promotion
  Amongst other activities this centre reviews applications from communities related to the six Indicators for Safe Communities, organises together with "Safe Communities" annual International and Regional Safe Community Conferences, co-ordinates training courses in injury prevention and safety promotion, publishes a newsletters: "Safe Community Weekly News and Safe Community News and involves in other conferences like the biannual "World Conferences on Injury Prevention and Control".
• Collaborating Centres
  This site provides information about the role, functions, management and criteria for selection of WHO collaborating centres. It also includes a summary of regulations governing the use of WHO's name, emblem and flag and a database of WHO collaborating centres throughout the world.
• Constitution
  The World Health Organization was established in 1948. Its original constitution outlines the vision of its founders.
• European Observatory on Health Care Systems
  The Observatory is a partnership between the WHO Regional Office for Europe, the Governments of Belgium, Finland, Greece, Norway, Spain and Sweden, the Veneto Region of Italy, the European Investment Bank, the Open Society Institute, the World Bank, the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM)". It supports and promotes evidence-based health policy-making through comprehensive and rigorous analysis of the dynamics of health care systems in Europe.
• Health Promotion
  This site contains information about the World Health Organisation's health promotion programmes. WHO emphasises that health promotion strategies are not limited to a specific health problem or set of behaviours. WHO as a whole applies the prinicples of, and strategies for, health promotion to a variety of population groups, risk factors, diseases and in various settings.
• Health Action in Crises
  This site outlines the health actions being taken by WHO in crisis situation throughout the world.
• Library and Information Networks for Knowledge
  The WHO Library and Information Networks for Knowledge (LNK) provides comprehensive library and information services on WHO-produced recorded information in print and other media. In addition, library services give access to worldwide health, medical and development information resources to WHO headquarters, regions and country offices, ministries of health and other government offices, health workers in Member States, other UN and international agencies, and diplomatic missions.
• Pan American Health Organization (PAHO)
  The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) is an international public health agency working to improve health and living standards of the countries of the Americas. It serves as the specialised organisation for health of the Inter-American System. It also serves as the Regional Office for the Americas of the World Health Organization and enjoys international recognition as part of the United Nations system.
• Regional Office for Africa
  WHO AFRO contains information about WHO programmes in Africa. It includes analysis of the health situation in countries throughout Africa and outlines WHO priorities in Africa, including the need to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of WHO support to countries.
• Regional Office for Europe
  This is the homepage of WHO's Regional Office for Europe. It contains information on WHO's programmes and projects throughout Europe. It includes links to statistical databases, country profiles, reports and atlases and publications including governing bodies documentation.
• Regional Office for South-East Asia
  This page outlines WHO'S programmes in the South-East Asian Region. In provides country health profiles, up-to-date information on public health emergencies and WHO's emergency preparedness and response in the area, including information on the 2004 tsunami response, avian influenza, polio and meningococcal incidences and response to HIV/AIDS.
• Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean
  WHO EMRO consists of four technical divisions, concentrating on four priority programmes; the Tobacco Free Initiative, Roll Back Malaria, Stop TB and Community-based Initiatives. It also conducts a special programme for polio eradication and supports the UN's HIV/AIDS strategies.
• Regional Office for the Western Pacific
  The role of the WHO Office in the Western Pacific is to act as a catalyst and advocate for action at all levels, from local to global, on health issues of public concern. Working together with a broad spectrum of partners from all sectors of society, WHO in the Western Pacific is involved in a host of closely related public health activities, including research, databanking, evaluation, awareness raising and resource mobilisation.
• Statistical Information Sys