Sources of Information for Work in Low and Middle-Income Countries:
This section is divided into information about
Key Health Issues
Context for Health
- Eldis provides an overview of key topics in development, and is useful to identify sources of information for understanding the wider issues affecting health.
- The report of the WHO Commission on the Social Determinants of Health highlights action for reducing global health inequalities by improving daily living conditions, more equitable distribution of resources, and by measuring inequalities and monitoring progress.
- Knowledge of different health beliefs and values across cultures, and between individuals, underpins effective healthcare and public health. The Health Protection Agency Migrant Health Guide is a useful overview of cross-cultural health practice and issues.
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Sources of General Information about Countries
Internet searches for the information you want is usually very productive. The governments of countries often provide a considerable amount of web based information. For countries that have been disrupted by disaster or conflict, recent information is usually sparse. The following organisations also provide good information about many countries.
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The United Nations Millennium Development Goals
- The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were adopted by the international community in 2000 to reduce extreme poverty, and improve health and education, and promote development by 2015.
- Three of the eight MDGs relate directly to health, and evidence summaries are provided here to support work on improving child health, maternal health, and to combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis and other diseases.
- The other goals, which are about reducing poverty and hunger, universal education, gender equality, environmental stability, and global partnership, also contribute to health. Significant progress has been made on many indicators but this varies by country and goal.
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Non-Communicable Diseases
- Non-communicable diseases are in increasing burden in low and middle income countries, where communicable diseases and health issues related to poverty are still prevalent.
- Cardiovascular disease, cancer, chronic lung diseases and diabetes are the four main non-communicable diseases, accounting for the deaths of three in five people worldwide.
- Mental health problems are a widespread cause of distress and disability.
- Prevention and control of non-communicable diseases are of increasing importance in global health strategy.
WHO Non-Communicable Disease and Mental Health provides information about strategy and country information.
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Responsible Tourism during COVID-19
The "Loveholidays" website provides a lot of useful advice about how countries are being affected by COVID-19. There is plenty of detail and many links to other useful sites. These are useful whether you are wanting to visit a country for some form of health related work or just wanting to take a holiday.
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