Health Issues in Developing Countries
Last update: 1 November 2010,
by Maureen Bell
Developing countries, while sharing some of the health problems typical
of developed countries, also have to confront a range of additional
health
issues. The links below are intended as an introduction to some of the
resources available on the web. The page is divided into a number of
sections:
You will find material on infectious diseases here.
General Health Issues
Action
Against Infection - A newsletter for WHO and its partners
This newsletter contains much information of relevance for developing
countries.
AFRO-NETS
The electronic conference for the 'African Networks for Health Research
& Development' (AFRO-NETS) was established in 1997 to facilitate
exchange
of information among different networks active in Health Research for
Development
in Anglophone Africa, and to facilitate collaboration in the fields of
capacity building, planning, and research.
eCMAJ
-- Collected Resources : Medicine in Developing Countries
The
Epidemiological Transition:
Policy and Planning Implications for Developing Countries
Workshop proceedings. James N. Gribble and Samual H. Preston, Editors.
Committee on Population, Commission on Behavioral and Social Sciences
and
Education, National Research Council. Washington D.C., National Academy
Press, 1993.
Fatal Indifference: the G8, Africa, and Global Health: International Development Research Centre
Ronald Labonte, Ted Schrecker, David Sanders, and Wilma Meeus. University of Cape Town Press//International Development Research Centre, 2004.
in focus: Fixing Health Systems (2nd edition)
By Don de Savigny, Harun Kasale, Conrad Mbuya, and Graham Reid. /International Development Research Centre, 2008
Pan
American
Health Organization. Public Health Topics
Information on many diseases and health issues.
Preventing Chronic Diseases: A Vital Investment
Geneva, World Health Organization, 2005.
Reproductive
Health in
Developing Countries: Expanding Dimensions, Building Solutions.
Amy O. Tsui, Judith N. Wasserheit, and John G. Haaga, Editors. Panel
on Reproductive Health, Committee on Population, Commission on
Behavioral
Sciences and Education, National Research Council. Washington D.C.,
National
Academy Press, 1997.
Safeguarding the Health Sector in Times of Macroeconomic Instability: Policy Lessons for Low- and Middle-Income Countries
Edited by Slim Haddad, Enis Baris, and Delampady Narayana. Africa World Press/International Development Research Centre, 2008.
TDR
Publications and Reports.
The UNDP-World Bank-WHO Special Programme for Research and Training
in Tropical Diseases produces a wide range of reports and brochures.
The
full text is available from this site. Publications are listed by date.
Telehealth in the Developing World
Edited by Richard Wootton, Nivritti G. Patil, Richard E. Scott, and Kendall Ho. Royal Society of Medicine Press/International Development Research Centre, 2009.
Third World
Network (TWN)
Health
The Third World Network is an independent non-profit international
network of organizations and individuals involved in issues relating to
development, the Third World and North-South issues.
What
do we know about capacity building? An overview of existing knowledge
and
good practice
Anneli Milen, Advisor, Department of Health Service Provision. Geneva,
World health Organization, June 2000.
World Bank - Documents & Reports
The World Bank has produced many documents and reports, the
full text
of which is available on their web site. Documents can be browsed by country/area, by topic, by language, or by document type.
World Health
Organization: Information
Office - Facts Sheets
Fact sheets on a wide variety of health topics from arsenic in drinking
water to child mortality.
World
Health
Organization. Regional Office for Africa. Health Topics
Information on a variety of topics from the Regional Office for Africa.
World Health
Organization.
South East Asia Regional Office. Health Topics
An alphabetical list of links to information on health and disease.
World Health Organization. South East Asia Regional Office. Regional Health Situation - Country Health Profiles

Water Supply and Quality
Search PubMed for arsenic
in drinking water in developing countries
Search PubMed for water
supply in developing countries
Arsenic
in drinking water
A collection of resources from the World Health Organization.
Interventions
and strategies to improve the use of antimicrobials in developing
countries.
Drug Management Program
A document (WHO/CDS/CSR/DRS/2001.9) produced by the World Health
Organization,
Department of Communicable Disease Surveillance and Response (CSR),
2001.
InterWATER Organizations
Contains information about water supply and sanitation in developing
countries.
Management
of Water Demand in Africa and the Middle East: Current Practices and
Future
Trends
Edited by David B. Brooks, Eglal Rached, and Maurice Saade.
Published by the International Development Research Centre (IRDC) in
Ottawa,
Canada, 1997.
Safe
Drinking Water: The Need, the Problem, Solutions and an Action Plan
A report of the Third World Academy of Sciences, 2002.
SODIS: Training material
SODIS (short for Solar Water Disinfection) is an initiative of Eawag, the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Sciences and Technology. For more than 10 years, their mission has been to provide people in developing countries with access to clean drinking water.
United Nations
Environment
Programme GEMS/WATER
This is the web site for the United Nations Global Environment
Monitoring
System (GEMS) Freshwater Monitoring Programme. It contains statistical
data and report literature.
Water
Resources from the World Health Organization.
Water and
Primary Health Care for Tibetan Villagers
Australian
Agency for
International Development (AusAID), Canberra May, 2002.
Quality Assurance
Series No. 29 February 2002.
Water as a Human Right for the Middle East and North Africa
Edited by Asit K. Biswas, Eglal Rached, and Cecilia Tortajada. Routledge/International Development Research Centre, 2008.
Water
Disinfection by Solar Radiation: Assessment and Application
A report by A. Acra, M. Jurdi, H. Mu'allem, Y. Karahagopian, and Z.
Raffoul, originally published by International Development Research
Centre
(IDRC -Canada), 1990.
Water for life: Making it happen
WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply and Sanitation.
Water:
Local-level Management
By David B. Brooks. Published by the International Development Research
Centre (IRDC) in Ottawa, Canada, 2002. Further information and
additional
links are available from their web site Water:
Local-Level Management.
Water
Quality - Guidelines, Standards and Health: Assessment of Risk and Risk
Management for Water-Related Infectious Disease
Edited by Lorna Fewtrell and Jamie Bartram. Published on behalf of
the World Health Organization by IWA Publishing, London, 2001.

Parasitic Diseases
The links below are arranged alphabetically by the name of the disease.
Most of the links are from either the World Health Organization (WHO)
central
office, or its regional offices - the Pan American Health Organization
(PAHO), the Regional Office for Africa (WHO/AFRO) or its South-East
Asia
Regional Office (WHO/SEARO).
General Resources
Atlas of Medical Parasitology
Produced by the Carlo Denegri Foundation, the Infectious Diseases
Clinic, Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, University of
Torino, and the Amedeo di Savoia Hospital, Unit A of Infecttious
Diseases, Torino, Italy.
DPDx - CDC Parasitology
Diagnostic Web Site
From the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the United
States.
Parasitic Diseases. Alphabetical Listing
From the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC) in the United States.
Specific Parasitic Diseases
Arranged alphabetically:
A |
B |
C |
D |
E |
F |
G |
H |
I |
J |
K |
L |
M |
N |
O |
P |
Q |
R |
S |
T |
U |
V |
W |
X |
Y |
Z |
C
Chagas
Disease (WHO)
Search PubMed for chagas
disease in developing countries
D
Dracunculiasis
(WHO)
Search PubMed for dracunculiasis
in developing countries
I
Intestinal
Diseases,
Parasitic (WHO)
Search PubMed for intestinal
parasitic diseases
L
Leishmaniasis.
The UNDP-World Bank-WHO Special Programme for Research and Training in
Tropical Diseases
Leishmaniasis
(WHO)
Lymphatic
Filariasis Elephantiasis (WHO)
Search PubMed for leishmaniasis
in developing countries
Search PubMed for filarial
elephantiasis in developing countries
M
Malaria
(PAHO)
Malaria
Surveillance (PAHO)
From the National Library of Medicine in the
United States, resources
on malaria.
MEDLINEplus:
Malaria
This is an information resource for scientists working in
Malaria
research.
Funded by the UNDP/World Bank/WHO/TDR Special Programme for Research
and
Training in Tropical Diseases. This site is maintained by the
Department
of Microbiology, Monash University, and the Walter and Eliza Hall
Institute
of Medical Research, Melbourne.
Net
Gain: A New Method for Preventing Malaria Deaths
Edited by Christian Lengeler, Jacqueline Cattani, and Don de Savigny.
Published by the International Development Research Centre (IRDC) in
Ottawa,
Canada, 1996.
Search PubMed for malaria
in developing countries
WHO/TDR
Malaria
Database
World Health Organization : Global Malaria Programme
O
Onchocerciasis
(WHO)
Search PubMed for onchocerciasis
in developing countries
S
Schistosomiasis
(WHO)
Search PubMed for schistosomiasis
in developing countries
Sleeping Sickness See Trypanosomiasis
T
Trypanosomiasis,
African (WHO)
Search PubMed for trypanosomiasis
in developing countries
WHO
Programme to Eliminate Sleeping Sickness
This document, (WHO/CDS/CSR/EPH/2002.13), was produced by the World
Health Organization, Department of Communicable Disease Surveillance
and
Response, 2002.
Nutrition, Malnutrition, and
Deficiency
Disorders
Search PubMed for nutritional
disorders in developing countries
Health
and Nutrition: Emerging and Reemerging Issues in Developing Countries
(IFPRI
2020 Vision Focus 5)
Edited by Rafael Flores, and Stuart Gillespie. This is a publication
of the International Food Policy Research Institute, February, 2001.
Hunger | WFP | United Nations World Food Programme - the UN food aid agency
Merck
Manual of Diagnosis and Therapy. Section. 1, Nutritional Disorders
This section of the Merck Manual covers nutrition, malnutrition,
vitamin
deficiency, dependency, and toxicity, mineral deficiency and toxicity,
and obesity.
Nutrition
(WHO)
Nutrition
and Food Protection (PAHO)
Nutrition
Disorders (WHO)
WHO | Vitamin and Mineral Nutrition Information System (VMNIS)
Non-Communicable Diseases
You will find additional material on my pages for cardiovascular
diseases, cancer, and diabetes,
but there the links are to resources which do not deal specifically
with
developing countries.
Control of
Cardiovascular
Diseases in Developing Countries: Research, Development, and
Institutional
Strengthening
Christopher P. Howson, K. Srinath Reddy, Thomas J. Ryan, and Judith,
R. Bale, Editors. Committe on Research, Development, and Institutional
Strengthening for Control of Cardiovascular Disease in Developing
Countries.
Board on International Health, Institute of Medicine. Washington D.C.,
National Academy Press, 1998.
Neurological,
Psychiatric,
and Developmental Disorders: Meeting the Challenge in the Developing
World
Committee on Nervous System Disorders in Developing Countries, Board
on Global Health, Institute of Medicine. Washington D.C., National
Acadeny
Press, 2001.
Reproductive Health
RHO (Reproductive Health Outlook)
A reproductive health website produced by Program for Appropriate
Technology
in Health (PATH), RHO is especially designed for reproductive health
program
managers and decision-makers working in developing countries and
low-resource
settings.
WHO | Female genital mutilation
WHO | Reproductive health
|