The evaluation of reproductive, maternal, newborn, and child health (RMNCH) by the Disease Control Priorities, Third Edition (DCP3) focuses on maternal conditions, childhood illness, and malnutrition. Specifically, the chapters address acute illness and undernutrition in children, principally under age 5. It also covers maternal mortality, morbidity, stillbirth, and influences to pregnancy and pre-pregnancy. Volume 3 focuses on developments since the publication of DCP2 and will also include the transition to older childhood, in particular, the overlap and commonality with the child development volume. The DCP3 evaluation of these conditions produced three key findings: 1. There is significant difficulty in measuring the burden of key conditions such as unintended pregnancy, unsafe abortion, nonsexually transmitted infections, infertility, and violence against women. 2. Investments in the continuum of care can have significant returns for improved and equitable access, health, poverty, and health systems. 3. There is a large difference in how RMNCH conditions affect different income groups; investments in RMNCH can lessen the disparity in terms of both health and financial risk.

Based on careful analysis of burden of disease and the costs ofinterventions, this second edition of 'Disease Control Priorities in Developing Countries, 2nd edition' highlights achievable priorities; measures progresstoward providing efficient, equitable care; promotes cost-effectiveinterventions to targeted populations; and encourages integrated effortsto optimize health. Nearly 500 experts - scientists, epidemiologists, health economists,academicians, and public health practitioners - from around the worldcontributed to the data sources and methodologies, and identifiedchallenges and priorities, resulting in this integrated, comprehensivereference volume on the state of health in developing countries.

There are several reasons why a consolidation of recent advances in our understanding of the interaction of diarrhea and malnutrition is indi cated and timely. It is now widely recognized that diarrhea is a major cause of morbidity and mortality among children of poor countries. Due to recent advances in laboratory and field diagnostic techniques, many of the previously unrecognized etiologic agents responsible for diarrhea have been identified, thereby providing new scientific knowledge for rational control strategies. Increasingly these advances suggest that the morbidity burden of diarrhea may be of equal, if not greater, public health consequence than mortality. Diarrhea only rarely causes disease severe enough to require institutionalized medical care. The vast major ity of diseases are of mild or moderate severity, and because of high prev alence, diarrhea imposes an enormous morbidity burden and exerts a sig nificant negative impact on child growth and development. Moreover, the effects of successive episodes of diarrhea are likely to be cumulative. In contrast to several other childhood infections, the treatment of the diarrheal diseases is feasible because it uses simple, effective, and low cost medical technologies. Within the context of these developments, there has been a major resurgence of international interest in, and commitment to, the control of the diarrheal diseases. The World Health Organization recently has launched a global program for the control of diarrhea, and simulta neously, an independent international research center on diarrhea has been established in Bangladesh.

Based on lectures delivered at a seminar held at Indian National Science Academy, New Delhi, on Mar. 18, 1998.

In early 2013, WHO convened an expert group of scientists from 14 collaborating research institutions to update the assessment of the burden of diarrhoeal disease from inadequate water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) and to reassess the effectiveness of WASH interventions. This group considered evolving and alternative methods for assessing the burden of disease and agreed on a rigorous new approach using meta-regression. In deriving the new figures, the experts incorporated the latest data on use of improved water and sanitation with minor adjustments, and drew upon the results from two new global reviews on microbial water quality and of handwashing practices specially prepared as part of this effort. This document outlines the latest research on the burden of diarrhoea related to inadequate water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH). It is based on a series of articles published in the scientific literature. In bringing together current evidence on exposure to unsafe drinking-water, inadequate sanitation and hygiene, alongside the most up-to-date analysis on the health impacts of interventions, this document contributes to informed policymaking and targeting of resources. It underscores how further progress can be achieved in this unfinished global water and sanitation and health agenda.