Guidelines for drinking-water quality, third
edition, incorporating first addendum
The World Health Organization (WHO) has today
released the web-based version of Guidelines for
Drinking-water Quality, incorporating the changes of
the first addendum. This addendum adds to and
supersedes important information in the third
edition of the Guidelines.
In response to feedback received, the first addendum
includes new and expanded information on the
management of emergencies and unforeseen events.
This particularly includes more guidance on
identifying local actions in response to microbial
and chemical water quality problems, such as boil
water and water avoidance advisories. Translations
into Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian and Spanish
will be progressively being made available on the
web.
Preventing disease through healthy
environments: Towards an estimate of the
environmental burden of disease.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has
published the "Preventing Disease Through Healthy
Environments - towards an estimate of the
environmental burden of disease" is the most
comprehensive and systematic study yet undertaken on
how preventable environmental hazards contribute to
a wide range of diseases and injuries. By focusing
on the environmental causes of disease, and how
various diseases are influenced by environmental
factors, the analysis breaks new ground in
understanding the interactions between environment
and health.
Preventing disease through healthy environments:
towards an estimate of the environmental burden of
disease, this report estimates that more than 13
million deaths annually are due to preventable
environmental causes. Nearly one third of death and
disease in the least developed regions is due to
environmental causes. Over 40% of deaths from
malaria and an estimated 94% of deaths from
diarrhoeal diseases, two of the world's biggest
childhood killers, could be prevented through better
environmental management.
SOURCE: Journal of Water and
Health