Advocating for improvements to building codes for the population's health.

Construction codes are a major component of building codes. They provide normative standards by which buildings are designed, built, altered, inspected, and assessed. Persistently high, fall-related injury rates on stairs and in bathrooms indicate that public health advocacy is needed to enhance the passive protection of these codes.

Digital technologies for population health and health equity gains: the perspective of public health associations.

Digital technology (DT) plays an increasingly important role in the health sector. This study explores how national public health associations (PHAs) use DT to achieve their mandate. The World Federation of Public Health Associations canvassed and conducted a semi-structured interview with its national public health association members about their use of DT, the challenges they encounter in using it, and their experiences and thoughts as to how to assess its impact, both organizationally as well as on population health and health equity.

A survey of the governance capacity of national public health associations to enhance population health.

Background: National public health associations (PHAs) are key partners with governments and communities to improve, protect and promote the public's health. Governance and organizational capacity are among the key determinants of a PHA's effectiveness as an advocate for appropriate public health policies and practice.

Methods: During 2014, the World Federation of Public Health Associations (WFPHA) conducted an on-line survey of its 82 PHA members, to identify the state of organizational governance of national public health associations, as well as the factors that influence optimal organizational governance.

Building codes: An often overlooked determinant of health.

Although the vast majority of the world's population spends most of their time in buildings, building codes are not often thought of as 'determinants of health'. The standards that govern the design, construction, and use of buildings affect our health, security, safety, and well-being. This is true for dwellings, schools, and universities, shopping centers, places of recreation, places of worship, health-care facilities, and workplaces.

Global youth tobacco surveillance, 2000-2007.

Problem: Tobacco use is a major contributor to deaths from chronic diseases. The findings from the Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS) suggest that the estimate of a doubling of deaths from smoking (from 5 million per year to approximately 10 million per year by 2020) might be an underestimate because of the increase in smoking among young girls compared with adult females, the high susceptibility of smoking among never smokers, high levels of exposure to secondhand smoke, and protobacco indirect advertising.

Reporting Period Covered: This report includes GYTS data collected during 2000-2007 from 140 World Health Organization (WHO) member states, six territories (American Samoa, British Virgin Islands, Guam, Montserrat, Puerto Rico, and the U.

Prevalence of tobacco use among students aged 13-15 years in the South-Eastern Europe health network.

Objective: To examine adolescent tobacco use among members of the South-Eastern Europe (SEE) Health Network using data from the Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS).

Methods: Nationally representative samples were drawn from students in grades associated with youth aged 13 to 15 in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Former Yugoslavian Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, Republic of Moldova, Romania, and Serbia.

Results: Current cigarette smoking rates among students ranged from 5.