The World Health Organization was established in 1948 as a specialized agency
of the United Nations serving as the directing and coordinating authority for
international health matters and public health. One of WHO’s constitutional functions
is to provide objective and reliable information and advice in the field of
human health, a responsibility that it fulfils in part through its extensive programme
of publications.
The Organization seeks through its publications to support national health strategies
and address the most pressing public health concerns of populations
around the world. To respond to the needs of Member States at all levels of
development, WHO publishes practical manuals, handbooks and training material
for specific categories of health workers; internationally applicable guidelines and
standards; reviews and analyses of health policies, programmes and research;
and state-of-the-art consensus reports that offer technical advice and recommendations
for decision-makers. These books are closely tied to the Organization’s
priority activities, encompassing disease prevention and control, the development
of equitable health systems based on primary health care, and health promotion for
individuals and communities. Progress towards better health for all also demands
the global dissemination and exchange of information that draws on the knowledge
and experience of all WHO’s Member countries and the collaboration of world
leaders in public health and the biomedical sciences.
To ensure the widest possible availability of authoritative information and guidance
on health matters, WHO secures the broad international distribution of its publications
and encourages their translation and adaptation. By helping to promote and
protect health and prevent and control disease throughout the world, WHO’s books
contribute to achieving the Organization’s principal objective — the attainment by
all people of the highest possible level of health.
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The World Health Organization was established in 1948 as a specialized agency
of the United Nations serving as the directing and coordinating authority for
international health matters and public health. One of WHO’s constitutional functions
is to provide objective and reliable information and advice in the field of
human health, a responsibility that it fulfils in part through its extensive programme
of publications.
The Organization seeks through its publications to support national health strategies
and address the most pressing public health concerns of populations
around the world. To respond to the needs of Member States at all levels of
development, WHO publishes practical manuals, handbooks and training material
for specific categories of health workers; internationally applicable guidelines and
standards; reviews and analyses of health policies, programmes and research;
and state-of-the-art consensus reports that offer technical advice and recommendations
for decision-makers. These books are closely tied to the Organization’s
priority activities, encompassing disease prevention and control, the development
of equitable health systems based on primary health care, and health promotion for
individuals and communities. Progress towards better health for all also demands
the global dissemination and exchange of information that draws on the knowledge
and experience of all WHO’s Member countries and the collaboration of world
leaders in public health and the biomedical sciences.
To ensure the widest possible availability of authoritative information and guidance
on health matters, WHO secures the broad international distribution of its publications
and encourages their translation and adaptation. By helping to promote and
protect health and prevent and control disease throughout the world, WHO’s books
contribute to achieving the Organization’s principal objective — the attainment by
all people of the highest possible level of health.
The WHO Technical Report Series makes available the findings of various international
groups of experts that provide WHO with the latest scientific and technical
advice on a broad range of medical and public health subjects. Members of such
expert groups serve without remuneration in their personal capacities rather than
as representatives of governments or other bodies; their views do not necessarily
reflect the decisions or the stated policy of WHO. An annual subscription to this
series, comprising about six such reports, costs Sw. fr. 132.– or US$ 106.– (Sw. fr.
92.40 in developing countries). For further information, please contact Marketing
and Dissemination, World Health Organization, 20 avenue Appia, 1211 Geneva
27, Switzerland (tel.: +41 22 791 2476; fax: +41 22 791 4857; e-mail:
bookorders@who.int).