The quality of drinking water is a vital element of public health and well beings. Contaminated water is one of the causes of diarrhea diseases, which kill about 2.4 million persons globally; each year. Access to safe drinking water is essential to maintain a good health, and is a basic human right. It is an important component of effective policy for health protection.

This is a WHO monograph on selected medicinal plants describing their quality control and use. It contains two parts: the first provides pharmacopoeial summaries for quality assurance purposes; and the second describes the clinical applications of the plant material.

The global climate is changing - drinking-water and sanitation services have to prepare for the impact. If the widely anticipated flood and drought consequences of climate change come to pass, then both established water and sanitation services and future gains in access and service quality will be at risk.

This report examines the latest available information on the burden and distribution of childhood diarrhoea. It also analyses how well countries are doing in making available key interventions proven to reduce its toll. Most importantly, it

The State of the world's vaccines and immunization is a call to action to governments and donors to sustain and increase funding for immunization in order to build upon the progress made so far in meeting the global goals. It focuses on the major developments in vaccines and immunization since 2000.

A description of diseases and injuries and the risk factors that cause them is vital for health decision-making and planning. Data on the health of popu

This WHO annual health report looks at 100 statistics provided by 193 member countries. This year it provides the first assessment of MDGs progress and reveals that deaths of children aged under five years have dropped by 27% globally since 1990.

This WHO report formulates a series of recommendations on the most important directions for future work in this field, and how this should be integrated with related areas of public health and climate research.

The health and humanitarian dimensions of climate change are among the ultimate justifications for taking action on climate change and these are closely interlinked. Humanitarian assistance provides a strong health imperative to save lives and alleviate the suffering of crisis affected populations. Climate

Monocrotophos is a highly hazardous organophosphate insecticide that is widely used and easily available in India. Monocrotophos has been most frequently associated with both accidental and intentional fatal pesticide poisonings. The report therefore focuses on presenting data on the current practices and