The second half of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century witnessed important changes in ecology, climate and human behaviour that favoured the development of urban pests. Most alarmingly, urban planners now face the dramatic expansion of urban sprawl, in which city suburbs are growing into the natural habitats of ticks, rodents and other pests. Also, many city managers now erroneously assume that pest-borne diseases are relics of the past. All these changes make timely a new analysis of the direct and indirect effects of present-day urban pests on health. Such an analysis should lead to the development of strategies to manage them and reduce the risk of exposure. To this end, WHO invited international experts in various fields - pests, pest-related diseases and pest management - to provide evidence on which to base policies. These experts identified the public health risk posed by various pests and appropriate measures to prevent and control them. This book presents their conclusions and formulates policy options for all levels of decision-making to manage pests and pest-related diseases in the future. [Ed.]

In the United States, some populations suffer from far greater disparities in health than others. Those disparities are caused not only by fundamental differences in health status across segments of the population, but also because of inequities in factors that impact health status, so-called determinants of health. Only part of an individual's health status depends on his or her behavior and choice; community-wide problems like poverty, unemployment, poor education, inadequate housing, poor public transportation, interpersonal violence, and decaying neighborhoods also contribute to health inequities, as well as the historic and ongoing interplay of structures, policies, and norms that shape lives. When these factors are not optimal in a community, it does not mean they are intractable: such inequities can be mitigated by social policies that can shape health in powerful ways. Communities in Action: Pathways to Health Equity seeks to delineate the causes of and the solutions to health inequities in the United States. This report focuses on what communities can do to promote health equity, what actions are needed by the many and varied stakeholders that are part of communities or support them, as well as the root causes and structural barriers that need to be overcome.

This plan addresses the need to improve our ability to identify infectious disease threats and respond to them effectively by improving the public health infrastructure at the local, state and federal levels. The goals of the plan are surveillance (detect, promptly investigate, and monitor emerging pathogens, the diseases they cause, and the factors influencing their emergence); applied research (integrate laboratory science and epidemiology to optimize public health practice); prevention and control (enhance communication of public health information about emerging diseases and ensure prompt implementation of prevention strategies); and infrastructure (strengthen local, state, and federal public health infrastructures to support surveillance and implement prevention and control programs).

"The joint WHO and UN-HABITAT report, Hidden cities: unmasking and overcoming health inequities in urban settings, is being released at a turning point in human history. For the first time ever, the majority of the world's population is living in cities, and this proportion continues to grow. Putting this into numbers, in 1990 fewer than 4 in 10 people lived in urban areas. In 2010, more than half live in cities, and by 2050 this proportion will grow to 7 out of every 10 people. The number of urban residents is growing by nearly 60 million every year. This demographic transition from rural to urban, or urbanization, has far-reaching consequences. Urbanization has been associated with overall shifts in the economy, away from agriculture-based activities and towards mass industry, technology and service. High urban densities have reduced transaction costs, made public spending on infrastructure and services more economically viable, and facilitated generation and diffusion of knowledge, all of which have fuelled economic growth"--Page ix.