Showing papers in "Who Chronicle in 1984"

WHO guidelines for drinking-water quality.

Abstract: In soil, fertilizers containing inorganic nitrogen and wastes containing organic nitrogen are first decomposed to give ammonia, which is then oxidized to nitrite and nitrate. The nitrate is taken up by plants during their growth and used in the synthesis of organic nitrogenous compounds. Surplus nitrate readily moves with groundwater (2, 3). Under aerobic conditions, it percolates in large quantities into the aquifer because of the small extent to which degradation or denitrification occurs. Under anaerobic conditions, nitrate may be denitrified or degraded almost completely to nitrogen. The presence of high or low water tables, the amount of rainwater, the presence of other organic material, and other physicochemical properties are also important in determining the fate of nitrate in soil ( 4). In surface water, nitrification and denitrification may also occur, depending on the temperature and pH. The uptake of nitrate by plants, however, is responsible for most of the nitrate reduction in surface water. Nitrogen compounds are formed in the air by lightning or discharged into it from industrial processes, motor vehicles, and intensive agriculture. Nitrate is present in air primarily as nitric acid and inorganic aerosols, as well as nitrate radicals and organic gases or aerosols. These are removed by wet and dry deposition.

Sex differentials in mortality.

Abstract: As part of its regional strategy for attaining health for all the World Health Organization (WHO) European Region seeks to reduce sex differentials in mortality. In developing countries the health consequences of social economic and cultural discrimination against females have produced a higher mortality rate among females than males. In contrast there is a trend toward increasing excess male mortality in the developed countries. The sex differential in mortality arises from 2 broad groups of causes: genetic-biological and enivronmental. In high mortality countries environmental factors may reduce or cancel out the biological advantages that women enjoy over men. As mortality is reduced through improved nutrition public health measures and better health care and education womens environmental disadvantage is reduced and genetic-biological factors may increase the female life span faster than that of males. In the 3rd phase of this process life style factors (e.g. alcohol abuse cigarette smoking) may become increasingly detrimental to male health and survival leading female mortality to decline at a faster pace than that of males. Although males appear to have adapted less well than women to the stresses of modernization there has been a trend toward high risk behavior patterns among women too as a result of the changing female role. Prospects for the future trend of sex differentials in developed societies depend largely on developments in 2 areas: the effective treatment of degenerative and chronic diseases which dominate the cause-of-death structure in these societies; and prevention through health education and encouragement of changes in personal behavior and life style. The challenge for women is to resist pressures to adopt a hazardous life style (e.g. smoking) that might offset the benefits of their improved social status.

WHO's traditional medicine programme: progress and perspectives.

Abstract: An early objective of the World Health Organizations (WHO) traditional medicine program was to promote a realistic approach to the subject The realism with which countries around the world both developed and developing examine their own traditional practices suggests that progress is being made towards this goal The current challenge is to pursue action along 3 lines: evaluation integration and training In traditional medicine it is necessary to separate myth from reality so that valid practicies and remedies can be distinguished from those that are patently ineffective and/or unsafe Thus WHO will continue to promote the development teaching and application of analytical methods that can be used to evaluate the safety and efficacy of various elements of traditional medicine Action need not await the results of formal evaluation Efforts can be initiated now to synthesize traditional and modern medicine Several countries have attempted such a synthesis For example medical curricula in China include elements of Chinese medicine such as acupuncture moxibustion manipulation and massage relaxation and herbal medicine A critical training need is to incorporate in the curricula of conventional health workers certain traditional practices and remedies that have been evaluated and proven safe and effective Traditional practitioners also require training They need to be provided with additional skills It is essential to make practitioners of traditional medicine allies rather than competitors The training of traditional birth attendants in aseptic delviery techniques and simple antenatal and postpartum care provides a good example of the possibilities that exist for collaboration between the traditional and modern health care sectors In the past 2 years WHO has carried out numerous activities in the field of traditional medicine For example among the activities coordinated by WHO headquarters was the continuing search for indigenous plants for fertility regulation in men and women In 1983 WHO collaboration centers for traditional medicine continued to strengthen national efforts in research and development A prerequisite for the success of primary health care is the availability and use of suitable drugs It is reasonable for decision makers to identify locally available plants or plant extracts that could usefully be added to the national list of durgs or that could even replace some pharmaceutical preparations that need to be purchased and imported NAPRALERT (for national products alert) is a computerized database derived primarily from scientific information gathered from the world literature on the chemistry pharmacology and ethnopharmacology of natural plant products It can provide both a general profile on a designated plant and a profile on the biological effects of a chemical constituent thereof A valuable feature of the NAPRALERT database is its ability to generate information on plants from a given geographical area

Family planning in the service of human development.

Abstract: In his remarks to the International Conference on Population the author identifies human development as the common theme underlying health family planning and economic progress. National policies should seek to stimulate people to develop their own material intellectual and spiritual potential. Attempts to force fertility control practices on populations can be expected to be met with resentment resistance and rejection. The World Health Organizations health for all by the year 2000 strategy views people as both the subject and object of their development. It goes beyond the struggle to remain alive to support people in adopting measures that will make their life progressively more pleasant. It is a strategy to support people in taking action in ways understandable and acceptable to them to assume growing responsibility for their own health destiny and thus contribute to their socioeconomic destiny. In addition this strategy aims to ensure that each child is born truly wanted. The central condition for the success of population policies is their placement of the physical social and spiritual well-being of people at the highest rung of the developmental ladder.

Reproductive health, youth, and the law.

Abstract: : This article surveys legal and policy approaches to adolescent health care programs and presents data on the availability of sex education programs, contraception, and abortion for adolescents in selected countries in the developed and developing world. The age at which youth are considered legally able reach independent decisions on matters affecting their health varies from country to country, although there is a trend toward setting the \"age of majority\" at 18 years. There has also been a trend toward viewing laws that require parental consent to health care and treatment as a barrier to health rather than a form of protection. Alternative legal approaches to the dilemma of consent have included lowering the age of majority for purposes of medical treatment, permitting professionals tojude whether an adolescent has sufficient maturity to give consent, and the use of third-party consent (e.g. child advocate). Cultural diversity mitigates against a universal legal approach to reproductive health education. There is wide variation in the policy response to questions such as whether reproductive health education courses should be permitted within the school curriculum, whether they should be obligatory or elective, if there should be separate courses or integration of fertility-related material into existing courses, and whether the sexes should be separated for instruction. There is awareness that formal sex education programs in a school setting cannot reach the large number of adolescents outside the educational system, but laws regarding public dissemination of reproductive health information are often restrictive. Contraceptive-related law and policy affect who has access to contraception and under what conditions. Abortion law takes 2 different forms: those that establish the retionales on which a given pregnancy may be terminated and those that establish the formal procedural requirements that must be met. It is concluded that, overall, law and policy have not kept pace with the health care needs of adolescens. They have in many cases inhibited the provision of health care. The challenge is to get law and policy to address adolescent health care issues in a way that solves problems rather than creates them.

Voices in harmony for health for all.

Abstract: The voice of the World Health Organizations (WHO) internal world is reassuring and tells of widespread political will to attain the goal of health for all yet another voice says that if the policies adopted in WHO are slowly trickling into national health systems the process of infiltration is much too slow and may still be far from completion by 2000. A number of developed countries are taking the challenge of health for all very seriously both within their own boundaries and in their dealings with less developed countries but too many of them did not even take the trouble to report on the results of their monitoring of the health for all strategy. Some claimed off the record that it would have been too complicated in view of the size and complexity of their health system; others that they were not really in need of a strategy since their health service was so comprehensive. If the developed countries shy away from the responsibilities they accepted why should more be expected of the developing countries. At Alam Alta there was enthusiastic support for action from all countries no matter what their level of development. Most difficult to assess is the extent to which people themselves are taking the goal of health for all seriously. If the social aspects of the strategy are difficult to monitor one would expect that the financial aspects should be clearer. This is not the case. Few countries including the most economically developed were able to assess the amount and flow of resources for health for all. In particular they were unable to distinguish between the allocation of funds for the continuation of old policies and for the promotion of new ones. WHO has embarked on a new General Program of Work -- the 7th in the history of the organization. The program aims at making member nations more self-reliant than ever in the fields of health. The major task is to build up solid health infrastructures that are capable of delivering the most needed programs to the most people on the basis of equality of access for all. Unfortunately only the sounds of the 7th program have made themselves heard not the substance. Among the organizations successes can be included many of WHOs publications particularly the "Health for All" series but these publications are being used much too sparingly. New managerial arrangements have been introduced to help countries make the best use of everything WHO has to offer yet all moves too slowly.