The Global Plan for Insecticide Resistance Management in malaria vectors (GPIRM) is a call to action. Through this document, WHO and the Roll Back Malaria Partnership call on governments of malaria-endemic countries, donor organizations, UN agencies, as well as research and industry partners, to implement a five-pillar strategy to tackle the growing threat of insecticide resistance and to facilitate the development of innovative vector control tools and strategies.

World Health Statistics 2012 contains WHO’s annual compilation of health-related data for its 194 Member States, and includes a summary of the progress made towards achieving the health-related Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and associated targets. This year, it also includes highlight summaries on the topics of noncommunicable diseases, universal health coverage and civil registration coverage.

Trade can have an important role to play in the mitigation of, and adaptation to climate change. The United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD), the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) and the World Trade Organization (WTO) - are among those that have touched on this issue at various levels. The authors examine the various priorities and positions of these agencies and relevant developing country member concerns that have informed their responses.

This new report produced by the WEF in collaboration with Accenture, looks into pathways to creating a more effective transition towards a New Energy Architecture. It reveals how countries are progressing by applying the newly developed Energy Architecture Performance Index. In addition, two deep-dive country studies have been conducted on Japan and India.

This report provides mayors, governors, councillors and other local government leaders with a generic framework for risk reduction and points to good practices and tools that are already being applied in different cities for that purpose. It discusses why building disaster resilience is beneficial; what kind of strategies and actions are required; and how to go about the task. It offers practical guidance to understand and take action on the "Ten Essentials for Making Cities Resilient" as set out in the global campaign "Making Cities Resilient: My City is Getting Ready!".

Born Too Soon: The Global Action Report on Preterm Birth provides the first-ever national, regional and global estimates of preterm birth. The report shows the extent to which preterm birth is on the rise in most countries, and is now the second leading cause of death globally for children under five, after pneumonia.

This publication contains the report and supplementary materials of a workshop on “Climate Change, Environmental Degradation and Migration”, which was held in Geneva, Switzerland on 29–30 March 2011. The workshop identified some of the main areas in which governments and institutions may need to reinforce their capacities to manage the complex interactions between climate change and environmental degradation and human mobility.

Infectious diseases remain major causes of ill health among poor people. Almost 3 billion people live on less than US$ 2 a day, and they continue to be at the greatest risk for these diseases. How can this be possible when global health funding is increasing and new drugs and other health tools are being developed? How is research being prioritized to meet these needs, and can it be done better? The Global Report is an important tool in raising these questions and providing some ideas.

This publication recognize the challenges and constraints faced by city dwellers in making heart healthy choices, particularly children. It also dispel the myth that cardiovascular (CVD) can be prevented through “simple” behaviour changes. To address the worldwide burden posed by CVD and to ensure sustainable development in cities, the report calls for urgent action by all stakeholders to address the negative socio-economic implications of urbanization in order to protect the children’s heart health.

While access to water, sanitation and hygiene has considerably improved globally, services coverage could slip behind if adequate resources are not secured to sustain routine operations, warns this analysis of sanitation & drinking water released by WHO & UN-Water.