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United Nations: Health

Guide to information created by the UN and the UN Family of Organizations

United Nations Health Organizations

Global Preparedness Monitoring Board. Independent monitoring and accountability body to ensure preparedness for global health crises.  Provides appraisals for policy makers about progress towards increased preparedness and response capacity for disease outbreaks.

Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS). Chief UN agency leading the global fight against HIV/AIDS. .

UNFPA - Population and Reproductive Health. From the United Nations Population Fund.

World Health Organization. United Nations specialized agency for the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of Health. Oversees the following regional offices, many of which host separate databases and publications. Publishes Bulletin of the World Health Organization.

United Nations Health Data

Global Health Observatory WHO. Gateway site to statistical data from the World Health Organization. Includes sections on disease, mortality, health financing, and health inequalities.

Regional Core Health Data Initiative. Health indicators for countries and territories in the Americas from period 1995 -. From the Pan-American Health Organization.

Statistics by Disease or Condition. WHO statistical information available organized by disease, condition or topic.

UNAIDS Data. Data portal from the UN AIDS Agency.

WHO Global Infobase. Data warehouse that collects, stores and displays information on chronic diseases and their risk factors for all WHO member states.

WHO/Europe Statistical Data. Excellent system of databases on a wide range of health topics, including the European Health for All Database. Some data is in raw format and requires the use of statistical application software.

WHO Morbidity & Mortality Database. Includes detailed mortality data by cause for specific countries. These are raw data files with documentation and require expertise with statistical applications. 

World Health Report. WHO flagship publication. Each report includes an assessment of global health, statistics, and a focus on a specific subject.

World Health Statistics. Online statistical reference volume on a basic health indicators. Include the majority of health indicators selected for monitoring progress towards the Millennium Development Goals.

Search Engines and Databases

African Index Medicus (AIM). From the WHO Regional Office in Africa. Index to African health literature and information sources.

CISDOC. From the International Labour Organization. Citations to documents on occupational health and safety, chemical safety data, law and regulations, journal articles, books and ILO conventions.

International Digest of Health Legislation. Contains a selection of national and international health legislation. Texts of legislation are summarized in English. Where possible, links are provided to web sites that contain full text.

Index Medicus for the South-East Asian Region. Database of articles published in health science journals within the WHO South-East Asia Region.

Virtual Health Sciences Library for the Eastern Mediterranean Region. Health Sciences digital library from the WHO regional office in the Eastern Mediterranean. 

WHO Reproductive Health Library.  WHO database for materials on adolescent reproductive and sexual health.

World Health Organization Library Database (WHOLIS). Online catalog of the World Health Organization library; includes access to books, journals and e-journals in many languages. Some full text.

World Health Organization Documentation. Documentation in all official languages of WHO for World Health Assembly (WHA) and Executive Board (EB) and Programme and Budget sessions. Includes resolution and decisions and archive back to 1998.