Photos and Captions
Reduce Child Mortality
© WHO/Christopher Black
Over the past years, child mortality rates have declined around the world but basic health services are still lacking in many developing countries. In a remote village in Uganda, a young child watches on as his mother listens to community health workers warn how to stay safe from a epidemic of Marburg haemorrhagic fever, which was threatening his village.
Improving Maternal Health
© UNICEF/NYHQ2006-2767/Bruno Brioni
Maternal mortality remains very high in developing countries. Every year, over 500,000 women die during pregnancy, childbirth or in the six weeks after delivery. In this picture, a health worker draws a pregnant woman’s blood at a health clinic in Koko, a neighborhood of the central city of Bouaké in the rebel controlled zone. The clinic, which was recently rehabilitated following years of civil conflict and neglect, offers integrated services to pregant women, infants and young children.
Combat HIV/AIDS
© UNICEF/NYHQ2005-1814/Giacomo Pirozzi
Every day, nearly 7,500 people become infected with HIV and 5,500 die from AIDS, mostly due to a lack of HIV prevention and treatment services. In this picture, a 15-month-old boy, who is HIV positive, sits in his crib at Bila Tserka Baby Home in the village of Bila Tserka, near Kyiv, the capital. He was abandoned at birth by his mother and is one 62 children under two years old who live at the orphanage.
Combat Malaria and Other Diseases
© UNICEF/NYHQ2005-1286/Indrias Getachew
Malaria-control efforts have been improved, but preventive treatment and care in communities are still needed. The number of insecticide-treated mosquito nets produced worldwide jumped from 30 million in 2004 to 95 million in 2007. In this picture, a girl rests under an insecticide-treated mosquito net in the village of Karo Duss in South Omo Zone in the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples Region (SNNPR).
Access to Safe Drinking Water
© WHO/Boniface Mwangi
The photo “Camel boy” by Boniface Mwangi is an awarded photograph from the WHO photo contest “Images of Health and Disability 2007”.
Domestic hygiene, access to safe drinking water and adequate sanitation facilities are crucial to enhanced global public health. In this picture, a child has his meal as his parents get the family's herd of camels to drink at a watering point in Al-Akaburu, Kenya. The water from the pool is also used by local people for cooking and drinking. Lack of clean water kills more people than war in sub-Saharan Africa: everyday 6,000 people die from dysentery and diarrhea.
Repercussions of Climate Change on Health
© WHO/ Nimai Chandra Ghosh
The photo “Sleeping on the river bed” by Nimai Chandra Ghosh is an awarded photograph from the WHO photo contest “Images of Health and Disability 2007”.
Climate change has the potential to affect human health in a number of ways, for example, by altering the geographic range and seasonality of certain infectious diseases, disturbing food-producing ecosystems, and increasing the frequency of extreme weather events, such as hurricanes and droughts. These phenomenon have repercussions on global health. Impacts – such as the dried-up river bed in the photo – are more severe in developing than in developed countries. About 60% of the benefits that the global ecosystem provides, such as fresh water, clean air and a relatively stable climate, are being degraded or used unsustainably.
Impact of Natural Disasters on Health
© WHO/Christopher Black
Natural disasters increase the health risks to those affected. In this picture, a nurse treats a patient at a temporary field hospital set up outside the Abbas Institute of Medical Sciences in Muzaffarabad, Pakistan. In the morning of 8 October 2005 a powerful earthquake measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale struck the area bordering India, Afghanistan and Pakistan. Entire villages were destroyed and tens of thousands of people were killed or injured.
Promoting E-Health
© WHO/Evelyn Hockstein
An innovative home-care programme using hand-held computers is being piloted in western Kenya. Monica Korir, who is living with HIV and is trained as an outreach worker, interviews Paul Ekorok, 52, at his home in Captarit village and records his answers. Outreach workers download completed forms into data management system daily. Automated alerts flag any alarming new symptoms to the attention of the responsible clinical officer, or when a patient has missed an appointment, so that outreach workers can find out what is wrong.
Access to Traditional Medicines
© UNICEF/HQ07-2652/Giacomo Pirozzi
Many countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America use traditional medicine to help meet some of their primary health care needs. In Africa, up to 80% of the population uses traditional medicine for primary health care. In this picture, bags containing herbal medicines are for sale at Maradi town market in Maradi region, Niger.