This document is designed to provide basic and flexible guidance on conducting a national or subnational assessment of current and future vulnerability (i.e.

This comprehensive brief explains why vector-borne diseases merit global attention. It provides detail on the vectors and the diseases they cause. It outlines the various methods of prevention and control of such diseases and the challenges that the public health community faces in tackling them.

WHO estimates that over 5% of the world’s population – 360 million people - has disabling hearing loss. The highest prevalence is found in the Asia Pacific, South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. About half of all cases of hearing loss worldwide are easily prevented or treated.

This 2013 edition of the annual WHO report on malaria summarizes information received from malaria-endemic countries and updates the analyses presented in the 2012. It highlights the progress made towards global malaria targets set for 2015, and describes current challenges for global malaria control and elimination.

WHO has released these new treatment guidelines for almost 20 million children under-five worldwide who have severe acute malnutrition. Read text of these guidelines.

The WHO has released a document on guidance to protect health from climate change through health adaptation planning to support the integration of health adaptation planning in national adaptation plans (NAPs).

Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) – mainly cardiovascular diseases, cancers, chronic respiratory diseases and diabetes – are the biggest cause of death worldwide. More than 36 million die annually from NCDs (63% of global deaths), including 14 million people who die too young before the age of 70.

China, India and the Russian Federation have the highest burden of MDR-TB followed by 24 other countries says this 18th edition of the global report on tuberculosis released by WHO at Geneva.

This latest edition of the World health report focuses on the importance of research in advancing progress towards universal health coverage and also identifies the benefits of increased investment in health research.

The continued success in global tobacco control is detailed in this year’s WHO Report on the Global Tobacco Epidemic, 2013. The fourth in the series, this year’s report presents the status of the MPOWER measures, with country-specific data updated and aggregated through 2012.