PUBLICATIONS FROM INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
Publications from International Organizations on Public Health
Edited by: Anna Maria Rossi
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)
Building a common vision for sustainable food and agriculture. Principles and approaches. Rome: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. 2014, 56 p. Job number: I3940 Over the coming 35 years, agriculture will face an unprecedented confluence of pressures, including a 30% increase in the global population, intensifying competition for increasingly scarce land, water and energy resources, and the existential threat of climate change. To provide for a population projected to reach 9.3 billion in 2050 and support changing dietary patterns, estimates are that food production will need to increase from the current 8.4 billion tonnes to almost 13.5 billion tonnes a year. Achieving that level of production from an already seriously depleted natural resource base will be impossible without profound changes in our food and agriculture systems. It is necessary to expand and accelerate the transition to sustainable food and agriculture which ensures world food security, provides economic and social opportunities, and protects the ecosystem services on which agriculture depends. This report is aimed primarily at policy makers and others who make or influence national and institutional decisions and actions. It is the outcome of intensive consultations and discussions aimed at developing a common approach to FAO's work on sustainability. That process was conducted in a climate of cross-sectoral collaboration that drew on the contributions of leading specialists in crops, livestock, forestry, fisheries, aquaculture, and natural resources. It builds on the Organization's long experience in developing sustainability concepts, approaches and tools, and offers a common vision of the agriculture sector and of the inter-sectoral synergies aiming at making agriculture more productive and sustainable.
Compendium of food additive specifications. Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives, 77th Meeting Rome, Italy 4-13 June 2013. Rome: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. 2013, 104 p. (FAO JECFA Monographs) Job number: AT879 This volume contains specifications of identity and purity prepared at the 77th meeting of the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA), held in Rome on 4-13 June 2013. The specifications monographs are one of the outputs of JECFA's risk assessment of food additives, and should be read in conjunction with the safety evaluation, reference to which is made in the section at the head of each specifications monograph. The full report which will be published in the WHO Technical Report series. Toxicological monographs of the substances considered at the meeting will be published in the WHO Food Additive Series.
International Council for Science (ICSU)
Review of the Sustainable Development Goals: the science perspective. Paris: International Council for Science (ICSU), International Social Science Council (ISSC). 2015, 92 p. ISBN 978 09 3035 797 9 The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) offer a "major improvement" over their predecessors, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). However, this report finds that of the 169 targets beneath the 17 draft goals, just 29% are well defined and based on the latest scientific evidence, while 54% need more work and 17% are weak or non-essential. The assessment of the targets is the first of its kind to be carried out by the scientific community, and represents the work of over 40 leading researchers covering a range of fields across the natural and social sciences. However, the report finds the targets suffer from a lack of integration, some repetition and rely too much on vague, qualitative language rather than hard, measurable, time-bound, quantitative targets. Authors are also concerned the goals are presented in "silos". The goals address challenges such as climate, food security and health in isolation from one another. Without interlinking there is a danger of conflict between different goals, most notably tradeoffs between overcoming poverty and moving towards sustainability. Action to meet one target could have unintended consequences on others if they are pursued separately. Finally, the report highlights the need for an "end-goal" to provide a big picture vision for the SDGs.
Synthesis report of the first Science Advice to Governments Conference. 28-29 August 2014 Auckland, New Zealand. Office of the Prime Minister's Science Advisory Committee, New Zealand. 2014, 27 p. The first Science Advice to Governments conference took place in Auckland, New Zealand, on August 28-29, 2014. The meeting was co-hosted by the Office of Sir Peter Gluckman, Chief Science Advisor to the Prime Minister of New Zealand and the International Council for Science (ICSU). The presence of many of the world's most distinguished scientists and leaders in their country's respective science systems (as science advisors and/or heads of academies) made this meeting a landmark event. The Auckland conference was designed as an opportunity for the world's leading practitioners of science advice to meet and discuss the key challenges and good practices of their task, together with scholars having expertise in the field. The practitioners ranged from individual science advisors to the highest levels of governments and government departments, to heads of academies and other advisory committees. Delegates spoke to a variety of science advisory models that were established (or being established) in a number of jurisdictions globally. For more information on the meeting, see the conference website,www.globalscienceadvice.org.
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
MacKinnon R, Hickok E, Bar A, et al. Fostering freedom online: the role of internet intermediaries. Paris: UNESCO. 2014, 210 p. (UNESCO series on internet freedom) ISBN 978 92 3100 039 3 Catalog number: 231162 With the rise of internet intermediaries that play a mediating role between authors of content and audiences on the internet, this UNESCO publication provides in-depth case studies and analysis on how internet intermediaries impact on freedom of expression and associated fundamental rights such as privacy. It also offers policy recommendations on how intermediaries and states can improve respect for internet users' right to freedom of expression. The goal of this report is to shed light on how internet intermediaries both foster and restrict freedom of expression across a range of jurisdictions, circumstances, technologies, and business models. All of the intermediaries studied in this report are operated by companies. According to the UN Guiding Principles for Business and Human Rights, states have the primary duty to protect human rights, businesses have a responsibility to respect human rights, and both must play a role in providing remedy to those whose rights have been violated. The report's authors have applied this 'protect, respect, and remedy' framework to the policies and practices of companies representing three intermediary types (internet service providers, search engines, and social networking platforms) across ten countries. The three case studies highlight challenges and opportunities for different types of intermediaries in respecting and protecting online freedom of expression.
Bankier JG, Gleason K. Institutional repository software comparison. Paris: UNESCO. 2014, 17 p. Document code: CI/KSD/2014/PI/H/ The Guidelines to compare Institutional Repository Software have been published as part of UNESCO's Open Access Strategy. The publication compares the features of the major platforms and is intended to help libraries focus on which features will help facilitate the success of their repository. Institutional Repositories (IRs) were first developed as an online solution for collecting, preserving, and disseminating the scholarship of universities, colleges, and other research institutions. Since 2000, a number of repository platforms have been developed, each with their own set of benefits and technical criteria. All of these put libraries exploring IRs for the first time in an enviable position. The products have richer feature sets, and all the major platforms are available as a hosted service, which arguably has a lower total cost of ownership and is less time-consuming than running an IR locally. Librarians are now truly free to compare platforms by focusing on the critical features that will address their needs and make their repositories successful.
International Association for Media and Communication Research. Media and gender: a scholarly agenda for the global alliance on Media and gender. Paris: UNESCO. 2014, 108 p. ISBN 978 92 3100 30 0 Catalog Number: 228399 There is a necessity to show some of the most significant scholarly contributions to knowledge and action towards expanding women's participation in all communication platforms. The publication proposes a pragmatic research agenda for the Global Alliance on Media and Gender (GAMAG), looking back, building on the past and looking to the future. This volume is divided into four main sections: 1) Gender-based violence, media and information; 2) Women's access to media; 3) Gender and media policy and strategies; 4) Gender, education, and media and information literacy. The authors are all experts on the advancement of gender equality. Moreover, they have been involved in both scholarly and advocacy actions with visible impact at global, regional and national levels.
World Health Organization (WHO)
World Malaria report 2014. Geneva: World Health Organization. 2014, 228 p. ISBN 978 92 4156 483 0 WHO reference number: WHO/HTM/GMP/2015.2 The World Malaria Report 2014 summarizes information received from malaria-endemic countries and other sources, and updates the analyses presented in the 2013 report. This report is WHO's flagship malaria publication, released each year in December. It assesses global and regional malaria trends, highlights progress towards global targets, and describes opportunities and challenges in controlling and eliminating the disease. Most of the data presented in this report is for 2013.
Kringos DS, Boerma WGW, Hutchinson A, et al. Building primary care in a changing Europe. Geneva: World Health Organization. 2015, 197 p. Sw.fr.40.00/ US $ 48.00. ISBN 978 92 8905 031 9 Order no. 13400150 For many citizens primary health care is the first point of contact with their health care system, where most of their health needs are satisfied but also acting as the gate to the rest of the system. In that respect primary care plays a crucial role in how patients value health systems as responsive to their needs and expectations. This volume analyses the way how primary care is organized and delivered across European countries, looking at governance, financing and workforce aspects and the breadth of the service profiles. It describes wide national variations in terms of accessibility, continuity and coordination. Relating these differences to health system outcomes the authors suggest some priority areas for reducing the gap between the ideal and current realities. The study also reviews the growing evidence on the added value of strong primary care for the performance of the health system overall and explores how primary care is challenged by emerging financial constraints, changing health threats and morbidity, workforce developments and the growing possibilities of technology. In a second volume, that is available on-line, structured summaries of the state of primary care in 31 European countries are presented.
Pikhart H, Pikhartova J. The relationship between psychosocial risk factors and health outcomes of chronic diseases. A review of the evidence for cancer and cardiovascular diseases. Geneva: World Health Organization. 2015, 37 p. Sw.fr.20.00/US $ 24.00. ISBN 978 92 8905 083 8 Order no. 13400153 This report summarizes the best available evidence for a link between psychosocial factors and cardiovascular and cancer morbidity and mortality in Europe. A total of 1,822 Medline and PubMed articles published in English since January 2000 were searched, identifying 37 systematic reviews and meta-analyses. Among the psychosocial factors repeatedly identified as related to chronic diseases, in and outside work, were high job demand, low autonomy, low control or high effort-reward imbalance, interpersonal conflicts, and low social support or low trust. The evidence suggests that multiple adverse psychosocial factors are independently associated with a range of adverse chronic diseases throughout adulthood. In addition, the social gradient in health observed throughout adulthood may partly operate through psychosocial factors on the pathway between socioeconomic characteristics and health. Psychosocial factors, therefore, might become part of complex total risk-reducing interventions focusing on multiple risk factors.
Guideline: Sugars intake for adults and children. Geneva: World Health Organization. 2015, 57 p. Sw.fr.20.00/US $ 24.00 ISBN 978 92 4154 902 8 Order no. 11500884 The objective of this guideline is to provide recommendations on the consumption of free sugars to reduce the risk of Noncommunicable Diseases (NCDs) in adults and children, particularly focusing on the prevention and control of unhealthy weight gain and dental caries. This is, in recognition of the rapidly growing epidemic of overweight and obesity around the globe and its role as a risk factor for several NCDs. In addition, dental caries is the most common NCD and the cost of treatment places a heavy burden on health-care budgets in many countries. The recommendations in this guideline can be used by policy-makers and programme managers to assess current levels of free sugars intake in their countries relative to a benchmark, and to develop measures to decrease free sugars intake, where necessary, through a range of public health interventions. Today, debates continue as to whether the available evidence of adverse health effects related to free sugars intake warrants appreciable reduction in free sugars intake. Therefore, it was considered important to review the existing evidence in a systematic manner, and update WHO's guidance on free sugars intake through the new WHO guideline development process.