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Institution

World Health Organization

GovernmentIslamabad, Pakistan
About: World Health Organization is a government organization based out in Islamabad, Pakistan. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Public health. The organization has 13330 authors who have published 22232 publications receiving 1322023 citations. The organization is also known as: World Health Organisation & WHO.


Papers
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01 Jan 1990
TL;DR: Chronic obstructive lung disease has been associated with the daily time spent near the stove for Nepali women and found to be elevated among coal-stove users compared to gas-stoves users in Shanghai, and there seems to be little or no risk of nasopharyngeal cancer from cookstove smoke.
Abstract: Of the four principal categories of indoor pollution (combustion products, chemicals, radon and biologicals), research in developing countries has focused on combustion-generated pollutants, and principally those from solid-fuel-fired cooking and heating stoves. Such stoves are used in more than half the world's households and have been shown in many locations to produce high indoor concentrations of particulates, carbon monoxide and other combustion-related pollutants. Although the proportion of all such household stoves that are used in poorly ventilated situations is uncertain, the total population exposed to excessive concentrations is potentially high, probably several hundred million. A number of studies were carried out in the 1980s to discover the health effects of such stove exposures. The majority of such studies were done in South Asia in homes burning biomass fuels or in China with coal-burning homes, although a sprinkling of studies examining biomass-burning have been done in Oceania, Latin America and Africa. Of the health effects that might be expected from such exposures, little, if any, work seems to have been done on low birthweight and eye problems, although there are anecdotal accounts making the connection. Decreased lung function has been noted in Nepali women reporting more time spent near the stove as it has for Chinese women using coal stoves as compared to those using gas stoves. Respiratory distress symptoms have been associated with use of smoky fuels in West India, Ladakh and in several Chinese studies among different age groups, some with large population samples. Acute respiratory infection in children, one of the chief causes of infant and childhood mortality, has been associated with Nepali household-smoke exposures. Studies of chronic disease endpoints are difficult because of the need to construct exposure histories over long periods. Nevertheless, chronic obstructive lung disease has been associated with the daily time spent near the stove for Nepali women and found to be elevated among coal-stove users compared to gas-stove users in Shanghai. In contrast to early reports, there seems to be little or no risk of nasopharyngeal cancer from cookstove smoke. Several studies in China, however, have found smoke to be a strong risk factor for lung cancer among non-smoking women. In addition, severe fluorosis has been observed in several parts of China where coal fluoride levels are high.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

281 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Most items were rated as more important by women compared to men and by younger compared to older persons, and rank orders of item for their importance showed highly significant correlations between centres.
Abstract: One of the fundamental issues in the area of assessment of quality of life is to determine what is important to the individuals' quality of life This is even more crucial when the instrument is for use in diverse cultural settings This paper reports on the importance ratings on WHOQOL-Bref items obtained as a part of WHOQOL pilot field trial on 4804 respondents from 15 centres from 14 developed and developing countries using 12 languages All items were rated as moderately or more important, but this was expected because the items were selected by extensive qualitative research for their salience across the centres Significant differences on mean importance ratings were found between centres, but rank orders of item for their importance showed highly significant correlations between centres This was especially true for items in the top and the bottom thirds of the item list arranged by overall importance Most items were rated as more important by women compared to men and by younger compared to older persons The results are discussed for their relevance in cross-cultural research on quality of life assessment

281 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A working group meeting was convened by the World Health Organization, the United Nations Children's Fund, the International Atomic Energy Agency, and the International Zinc Nutrition Consultative Group to provide standard recommendations for the use of specific biochemical, dietary, and functional indicators of zinc status in populations.
Abstract: Zinc deficiency is an important cause of morbidity in developing countries, particularly among young children, yet little information is available on the global prevalence of zinc deficiency. A working group meeting was convened by the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and the International Zinc Nutrition Consultative Group (IZiNCG) to review methods of assessing population zinc status and provide standard recommendations for the use of specific biochemical, dietary, and functional indicators of zinc status in populations. The recommended biochemical indicator is the prevalence of serum zinc concentration less than the age/sex/time of day-specific cutoffs; when the prevalence is greater than 20%, intervention to improve zinc status is recommended. For dietary indicators, the prevalence (or probability) of zinc intakes below the appropriate estimated average requirement (EAR) should be used, as determined from quantitative dietary intake assessments. Where the prevalence of inadequate intakes of zinc is greater than 25%, the risk of zinc deficiency is considered to be elevated. Previous studies indicate that stunted children respond to zinc supplementation with increased growth. When the prevalence of low height-for-age is 20% or more, the prevalence of zinc deficiency may also be elevated. Ideally, all three types of indicators would be used together to obtain the best estimate of the risk of zinc deficiency in a population and to identify specific subgroups with elevated risk. These recommended indicators should be applied for national assessment of zinc status and to indicate the need for zinc interventions. The prevalence of low serum zinc and inadequate zinc intakes may be used to evaluate their impact on the target population's zinc status.

281 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: There is no superior designation, as both ends of the actual and aspirational spectrum have critical roles that cannot be separated and the value of both depends upon correct identification of where any given project lies on this spectrum and further consideration of populations sampled and incentives used are critical to determining this.

281 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Five priority areas to change the stillbirth trend include intentional leadership; increased voice, especially of women; implementation of integrated interventions with commensurate investment; indicators to measure effect of interventions and especially to monitor progress; and investigation into crucial knowledge gaps.

280 citations


Authors

Showing all 13385 results

NameH-indexPapersCitations
Christopher J L Murray209754310329
Michael Marmot1931147170338
Didier Raoult1733267153016
Alan D. Lopez172863259291
Zulfiqar A Bhutta1651231169329
Simon I. Hay165557153307
Robert G. Webster15884390776
Ali H. Mokdad156634160599
Matthias Egger152901184176
Paolo Boffetta148145593876
Jean Bousquet145128896769
Igor Rudan142658103659
Holger J. Schünemann141810113169
Richard M. Myers134496137791
Majid Ezzati133443137171
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Performance
Metrics
No. of papers from the Institution in previous years
YearPapers
202319
202279
20211,792
20201,612
20191,402
20181,360