WHO World Health Report 2007

"A safer future: global public health security in the 21^st century"

With new diseases emerging at an unprecedented rate in an increasingly interconntectd world, often with the ability to cross borders rapidly, global public health security depends on international cooperation and surveillance morew than at any previous time in history.

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Dr. Margaret CHAN to be WHO´s next Director General

Dr. Margaret CHAN of China will be the next Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO). After her appointment, she told the World Health Assembly she wanted to be judged by the impact WHO's work has on the people of Africa and on women across the globe. Dr. CHAN obtained her Medical Degree from the University of Western Ontario in Canada and also has a degree in Public Health from the National University of Singapore. Prior to medical school, she got a degree in Home Economics from Western´s Brescia University College, Canada. She joined the Hong Kong Department of Health in 1978, and was appointed as Director of Health in 1994.

As Director, she launched new services focusing on prevention of disease and promotion of health. She also introduced new initiatives to improve communicable disease surveillance and response, enhance training for public health professionals, and to establish better local and international collaboration. She has effectively managed outbreaks of avian influenza and the world's first outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).

(Picture: WHO/Peter WILLIAMS)

"Preventing disease through healthy environments"

Towards an estimate of the environmental burden of disease

A. PRÜSS-ÜSTÜN and C. CORVALÁN

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