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This website provides access to the papers presented at WHO's avian influenza meeting in November 2005. Some presentations highlighted the role of communications, and ICTs as a tool in communications: in the presentation on 'Critical country issues for addressing avian influenza & pandemic preparedness' communication targets included 'improving intersectoral working level' and 'more useful & accurate & coordinated public & media messages & information'

[Authors' abstract]: This paper presents salient findings from an evaluation of a programme designed to address the issue of leprosy related stigma in southern Nepal. The programme under the acronym STEP (Stigma Elimination Programme) adopted an approach that was dependent on the empowerment of people affected by leprosy. Empowerment was facilitated, primarily through selfcare group association. The premise was that, as people became increasingly self confident, as an effect of self-care, their focus could be shifted from the pursuit of personal goals to activities that could be undertaken for the benefit of their communities. As the self-care groups evolved, all 10 groups adopted a community development agenda. This paper outlines the projects that the groups planned and initiated and describes the method used to validate their efforts. It also gives results of surveys conducted to assess the impact of the programme on stigma, activity limitation and impairment

The recent global outbreak of SARS provides an opportunity to study the use and impact of public health informatics and population health technology to detect and fight a global epidemic. This includes the Internet, but also other technologies such as wireless devices, mobile phones, smart appliances, or smart homes. Some of the technologies brought forward during the SARS epidemic may have been primarily motivated by marketing efforts, or were more directed towards reassuring people that "something is being done," ie, fighting an "epidemic of fear." To understand "fear epidemiology" is important because early warning systems monitoring data from a large number of people may not be able to discriminate between a biological epidemic and an epidemic of fear. The need for critical evaluation of all of these technologies is stressed

This meeting was an opportunity for Global Alliance members to take stock of activities related to lymphatic filariasis (LF) elimination programmes at country, regional and global levels. This report aims to capture the basic elements of the discussion at the meeting. The aim was to enable the Alliance to build on progress to date and scale up coverage to ensure that by 2020 LF is eliminated. It is a useful resource for health managers

This report highlights the achievements of the Vaccines and Biologicals Department of the World Health Organization (WHO). In particular it highlights the formation of the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization, the drop in the number of polio cases, the lack of progress in the research and development field, and the lack of access that over 37 million children still have to immunization services. In the light of these findings it lists where its efforts will focused in the future. These include facilitating and coordinating research and development activities on vaccines against diseases of poverty; strengthening routine immunization services and vaccine-preventable disease surveillance; identifying and implementing long-term financial sustainability mechanisms; certifying the world as polio-free and addressing post-eradication technical challenges;and accelerating efforts to control diseases and reduce vaccine-preventable mortality through supplemental immunicsation activities