PUBLICATIONS FROM INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS

Food and agriculture organization of the united nations (FAO)

The State of Food Insecurity in the World (SOFI) 2015. Meeting the 2015 international hunger targets: taking stock of uneven progress. Rome: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. 2015, 61 p. Job Number: I4646 This year's annual State of Food Insecurity in the World report takes stock of progress made towards achieving the internationally established Millennium Development Goal (MDG1) and World Food Summit hunger targets and reflects on what needs to be done, as we transition to the new post-2015 Sustainable Development Agenda. The report reviews progress made since 1990 for every country and region as well as for the world as a whole. Progress towards the MDG 1 target, however, is assessed not only by measuring undernourishment, or hunger, but also by a second indicator – the prevalence of underweight children under five years of age. Progress for the two indicators across regions and over time, is compared, providing insights into the complexity of food security. Overall progress notwithstanding, much work remains to be done to eradicate hunger and achieve food security across all its dimensions. The 2015 report not only estimates the progress already achieved, but also identifies remaining problems, and provides guidance on which policies should be emphasized in the future. Key factors that have determined success to date towards food security and nutrition goals are identified. The list of factors – economic growth, agricultural productivity growth, markets (including international trade) and social protection – is by no means exhaustive. The report also shows how protracted crises, due to conflict or natural disasters, have deleterious effects on progress in hunger reduction.

The feed analysis laboratory: establishment and quality control. Setting up a feed analysis laboratory, and implementing a quality assurance system compliant with ISO/IEC 17025:2005. Rome: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. 2014, 100 p. (FAO Animal Production and Health Guidelines; 15) US $ 27.00 ISBN 978 92 5108 071 9 Reliable assessment of feed quality is crucial for sustainable development of the livestock sector. This document presents the sequence of activities for establishing a Feed Quality Analysis Laboratory – from initial planning, building and layout; through hiring suitable staff and selecting methods and equipment; and culminating in accreditation, based on an estimated four-year time frame. The document can assist laboratory analysts, lab managers, researchers, students and teachers.

Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)

Managing food insecurity risk. Analytical framework and application to Indonesia. Paris: OECD. 2015, 104 p. doi:10.1787/9789264233874-en ISBN 978 92 6423 387 4 Many of the recent concerns about food security relate to perceived threats to current levels of food security, such as those due to price shocks or natural disasters. This publication develops a risk-management tool to examine the robustness of policy responses to managing risks and uncertainty across a variety of different threats to food security, and applies the framework to an Indonesia case study. Five risk scenarios were selected as major threats to food security in Indonesia, following a consultation process among stakeholders and policy makers, and assessed in terms of existing and alternative agricultural and social policies. The risk assessment shows that domestic economic and natural disaster scenarios are more important than global price hikes and that a policy strategy that concentrates on addressing a single source of risk, such as a price spike in international markets, may increase vulnerability to other sources of risk such as domestic crop failure. The analysis yields a number of specific policy recommendations, including targeting of social assistance programme using food vouchers or cash transfers.

Haščič I, Migotto M. Measuring environmental innovation using patent data. Paris: OECD Publishing 2015, 59 p. (OECD Environment Working Papers; 89) This paper refines indicators to measure innovation in environment-related technologies, drawing on recent methodological advances that allow a more accurate assessment of environment-related innovation in a broader range of countries and covering a greater variety of the relevant technologies. Three indicators are discussed in the paper: an indicator of technology development (a measure of inventive activity) in over 80 specific environmental technologies; an indicator of international collaboration in technology development (a measure of co-invention); and an indicator of technology diffusion (a measure of market protection). These indicators provide a range of tools for assessing innovative performance in country and policy studies. The indicators are based on patent data because they have a number of attractive properties compared to other alternatives: they are widely available, quantitative, commensurable, output-oriented and capable of being disaggregated – an important advantage when analysing environmental technologies. At the same time, not all innovations or inventions are patented, and measuring the number of patents by itself does not provide an indication of their relative importance and impact. Techniques have been developed to overcome these limitations, yet it is important to carefully interpret patent-based indicators.

Bridging sectors for better service delivery. Paris: OECD. 2015, 212 p. doi: 10.1787/9789264233775-en ISBN 978 92 6423 377 5 All OECD countries have vulnerable populations in need of multiple service supports. And although the needs of vulnerable families, children and youth with mental health issues, the homeless, and the frail elderly can vary widely, the challenges government face when delivering multiple social supports to these groups are often similar. This book looks at the ways in which governments design and deliver integrated social services to vulnerable groups and the opportunities and challenges this brings. For each vulnerable group, the book addresses questions like: How are social services being integrated? How are vulnerable groups defined in different countries and how do populations compare? Why integrate service for vulnerable groups? It highlights pathways towards successful integration practices, and summarizes the evidence on good practice and promising common practices from across all of the vulnerable groups.

United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)

Leslie HA. Plastic in cosmetics. Are we polluting the environment through our personal care? Kenya: United Nations Environment Programme. 2015, 38 p. ISBN 978 92 8073 466 9 Job Number: DEP/1918/NA This paper focuses on the emerging issue of plastic particles in personal care and cosmetic product (PCCP) formulations as a possible source of micro-sized plastic litter. Known as 'microbeads', when used in PCCPs, these microplastic ingredients are solid materials that fall under the definition of marine litter when emitted to the marine environment. The concern is that plastic ingredients in products that are being used by consumers in households worldwide are contributing to the total abundance of plastic particles smaller than 5 mm in the ocean today.

Rucevska I, Nellemann C, Isarin N, et al. Waste crime - Waste risks gaps in meeting the global waste challenge: a UNEP rapid response assessment. United Nations Environment Programme and GRID-Arendal, Nairobi and Arendal. 2015, 68 p. ISBN 978 82 7701 148 6 More than ever, our future depends upon how we manage the future of our waste. As an integrated part of sustainable development, effective waste management can reduce our global footprint. Ignoring or neglecting the challenges of waste, however, can lead to significant health, environmental and economic consequences. Waste covers a very wide spectrum of discarded materials ranging from municipal, electrical and electronic, industrial and agricultural, to new types including counterfeit pesticides. It also includes anything in size and scale from decommissioned ships, oil or liquid wastes, hundreds of millions of mobile phones to billions of used car tires.

World Health Organization (WHO)

Nolte E, Knai C. Assessing chronic disease management in European health systems: country reports. Geneva: World Health Organization. 2015, 143 p. Sw.fr.40.00/US $ 48.00 ISBN 978 92 8905 032 6 Order no. 13400155 Many countries are exploring innovative approaches to redesign delivery systems to provide appropriate support to people with long-standing health problems. Central to these efforts to enhance chronic care are approaches that seek to better bridge the boundaries between professions, providers and institutions, but, as this study clearly demonstrates, countries have adopted differing strategies to design and implement such approaches. This book systematically examines experiences of 12 countries in Europe, using an explicit comparative approach and a unified framework for assessment to better understand the diverse range of contexts in which new approaches to chronic care are being implemented, and to evaluate the outcomes of these initiatives. The study focuses in on the content of these new models, which are frequently applied from different disciplinary and professional perspectives and associated with different goals and does so through analyzing approaches to self-management support, service delivery design and decision-support strategies, financing, availability and access. Significantly, it also illustrates the challenges faced by individual patients as they pass through the system.

Chrysotile asbestos. Geneva: World Health Organization. 2015, 47 p. Sw.fr.20.00/US $ 24.00 ISBN 978 92 4156 481 6 Order no. 19300294 Many countries have already taken action at a national level to prohibit the use of all forms of asbestos to limit exposure and so control, prevent and ultimately eliminate asbestos-related diseases, from which at least 107 000 people die each year globally. However, there are other countries that, for a range of reasons, have yet to act in the same manner. With that in mind, the prime intent of this publication is to assist the WHO Member States in making informed decisions about management of the health risks attached to exposure to chrysotile asbestos. The document is divided into three parts. The first part reproduces a WHO short information document for decision-makers on the elimination of asbestos-related diseases, updated in March 2014. The second part addresses questions commonly raised in policy discussions, specifically to assist decision-makers in coming to a view. The third part is a technical summary of the health effects of chrysotile, which brings together and summarizes for the first time the most recent authoritative WHO evaluations performed by its International Agency for Research on Cancer and its International Programme on Chemical Safety. The technical summary also reviews results from key studies published after those evaluations and then, briefly, the conclusions drawn from WHO assessments of alternatives. This publication will be useful to ministers, government officials and others who may wish or need to take decisions on, or provide advice related to, asbestos and in particular chrysotile asbestos and the health consequences of exposure.

WHO Expert Committee on Biological Standardization. Sixty-fifth Report. Geneva: World Health Organization. 2015, 278 p. (Technical Report Series; 993) Sw.fr.50.00/US $ 60.00 ISBN 978 92 4120 993 9 Order no. 11000993 This report presents the recommendations of a WHO Expert Committee commissioned to coordinate activities leading to the adoption of international recommendations for the production and control of vaccines and other biological substances, and the establishment of international biological reference materials. Following a brief introduction, the report summarizes a number of general issues brought to the attention of the Committee. The next part of the report, of particular relevance to manufacturers and national regulatory authorities, outlines the discussions held on the development and adoption of new and revised WHO Recommendations, Guidelines and guidance documents. Following these discussions, a WHO guidance document on the Scientific principles for regulatory risk evaluation on finding an adventitious agent in a marketed vaccine was adopted along with WHO Guidelines on procedures and data requirements for changes to approved vaccines and revised WHO Recommendations to assure the quality, safety and efficacy of poliomyelitis vaccines (inactivated). Subsequent sections of the report provide information on the current status and proposed development of international reference materials in the areas of antibiotics; biotherapeutics other than blood products; blood products and related substances; in vitro diagnostic device reagents; and vaccines and related substances.