Total: 916

HIV and infant feeding: summary of findings from the good start study

The Good Start Study was a prospective cohort study of 665 HIV positive women who attended routine PMTCT services. The women and infants were followed for 36 weeks after birth with data collection during home visits every 2 weeks until 12 weeks and then monthly until 9 months. At each scheduled visit inf...

Evidence from systematic reviews to inform decision making regarding financing mechanisms that improve access to health services for poor people

Without evidence-informed action, health-related Millennium Development Goals as well as those of individual nations are unlikely to be achieved. Health policies are influenced by a variety of factors – values and beliefs, stakeholder power, institutional constraints, and donor funding flows, among oth...

What evidence is there for the prevention and screening of osteoporosis?

Osteoporosis – an excessive decrease in bone mass – is more common in women than in men. It is a particularly common condition among elderly women in affluent countries. Osteoporosis is a risk factor for fractures, which occur most commonly at the wrist, spine and hip. Other important risk factors fo...

What is known about the effectiveness of economic instruments to reduce consumption of foods high in saturated fats and other energy-dense foods for preventing and treating obesity?

Overweight and obesity are increasingly prevalent in Europe. In the European Region, the growing prevalence of overweight – a body mass index (BMI) over 25 kg/m2 – ranges from about 25% to 75% of the adult population. Up to a third of the adult population, about 130 million people, are obese – with...

What is the evidence on school health promotion in improving health or preventing disease and, specifically, what is the effectiveness of the health promoting schools approach?

School health promotion, based on a wide range of research and practice, has evolved over the course of the last 50 years, alongside health promotion in other settings. During the 1990s, WHO, working jointly with the European Commission and the Council of Europe, developed the health promoting schools in...

What effects do mobile phones have on people’s health?

During recent years, the use of mobile phones has increased substantially and has been paralleled by a growing concern about the effects on health attributed to exposure to the electromagnetic fields produced by them and their base stations. Demonstrating that radiation causes adverse effects on health w...

Health technology assessment: An introduction to objectives, role of evidence, and structure in Europe

Health systems have developed at different speeds, and with differing degrees of complexity throughout the twentieth century, reflecting the diverse political and social conditions in each country. Notwithstanding their diversity, all systems, however, share a common reason for their existence, namely th...

Mental health I: key issues in the development of policy and practice across Europe

Mental health problems account for approximately 20% of the total burden of ill health in Europe (WHO, 2004a). This estimate of burden is just the tip of the iceberg; what makes mental health almost unique is the broad impact it can have on all aspects of life, including physical health, family relations...

What are the advantages and limitations of different quality and safety tools for health care?

The term “quality tools” is used in many different ways to refer to a method used by an individual, a team, an organization or a health system. It is most often used in a narrow sense in American texts to refer to a set of simple “continuous quality improvement” methods (CQI tools). More broadly,...

What is the impact of HIV on families?

In Europe, the number of people infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is increasing. More infections of heterosexuals are appearing, and young people and women are becoming more vulnerable. For these people, the introduction of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) now allows them to li...