WHO is the directing and coordinating authority for health within the United Nations system. It is responsible for providing leadership on global health matters, shaping the health research agenda, setting norms and standards, articulating evidence-based policy options, providing technical support to countries and monitoring and assessing health trends.
The site is available in six languages, most information is accessible in English.
Countries presents the sanitary profile of each of the 193 WHO member countries.
Health topics contains links to WHO projects, initiatives, activities, information products, and contacts, organized by health and development topics.
Many publications and other WHO documents can be downloaded free of charge through WHOLIS, the Library and Information Networks For Knowledge Database. The catalogue offers 70 000 bibliographical notices and 30 000 links to free-access documents. Other publications are available at the WHO book shop.
Different database are available in the Data and statistics section:
WHOSIS: National statistics for 50 core indicators on mortality, morbidity, risk factors, service coverage, and health systems.
WHO Global InfoBase Online: Data on chronic diseases and their risk factors for all WHO Member States.
Global Health Atlas: Standardized data and statistics for infectious diseases at country, regional, and global levels.
Regional statistics: Statistical information from WHO Regional Offices: Africa (AFRO), America (AMRO), South-Est Asia (SEARO), Europe (EURO), Eastern Mediterranean (EMRO), Western Pacific (WPRO).
In Data by categories, users can select «causes of death», «life expectancy» and «mortality». This last theme gives access to the WHO mortality database, the WHO's historical data base on causes of death, which contains data as far back as 1950. (The files available here do not constitute a user-friendly data collection which the average user can download and access.)Main Programmes and projects lists WHO programmes, partnerships and other projects in alphabetical order. For specific information about public health subjects, refer to the health topics index.