FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS (FAO)

World Food and Agriculture – Statistical Yearbook 2023. Rome: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations 2023; 384 p. ISBN 978-92-5-138262-2. This publication offers a synthesis of the major factors at play in the global food and agricultural landscape. The Statistical Yearbook is a primary tool and indispensable reference for policymakers, researchers and analysts, as well as laypersons interested in the past, present and future paths of food and agriculture. Drawing on the wealth of information that FAO statisticians produce across the Organization, this publication offers a synthesis of the major factors at play in the global food and agricultural landscape. Statistics are presented in four thematic chapters, covering the economic importance of agricultural activities, inputs, outputs and factors of production, their implications for food security and nutrition and their impacts on the environment. The Yearbook is meant to constitute a primary tool for policymakers, researchers and analysts, as well as the general public interested in the past, present and future path of food and agriculture.

World Food and Agriculture – Statistical Pocketbook 2023. Rome: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations 2023; 138 p. ISBN 978-92-5-138261-5. This Pocketbook complements the Statistical Yearbook by providing quick access to top-level numbers, charts and maps related to many dimensions of food and agriculture – including production, prices, trade, food security and nutrition, and environmental aspects.

The State of Food and Agriculture 2023. Revealing the true cost of food to transform agrifood systems. Rome: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations 2023; 150 p. ISBN 978-92-5-138167-0. The State of Food and Agriculture 2023 looks into the true cost of food for sustainable agrifood systems. This report introduces the concept of hidden environmental, health and social costs and benefits of agrifood systems and proposes an approach – true cost accounting (TCA) – to assess them. To operationalize the TCA approach, the report proposes a two-phase assessment process, first relying on national-level TCA assessments to raise awareness and then moving towards in-depth and targeted evaluations to prioritize solutions and guide transformative actions. The 2023 report highlights the methodological and data challenges that need to be addressed for greater adoption of TCA, especially in low- and lower-middle-income countries. It quantifies, to the extent possible, the hidden costs of national agrifood systems in a consistent and comparable way for 154 countries. These preliminary results cover hidden costs from greenhouse gas emissions, nitrogen emissions, blue water use, land-use transitions, and poverty, as well as losses in productivity caused by unhealthy dietary patterns and undernourishment. Despite the preliminary nature of these estimates, the analysis reveals the urgent need to factor hidden costs into decision-making for the transformation of agrifood systems. Innovations in research and data, alongside investments in data collection and capacity building, are needed to scale the application of TCA, especially in low- and middle-income countries, so that it can become a viable tool to inform decision- and policymaking in a transparent and consistent way.

UNITED NATIONS EDUCATIONAL, SCIENTIFIC AND CULTURAL ORGANIZATION (UNESCO)

The United Nations World Water Development Report 2023: partnerships and cooperation for water. Paris: UNESCO Publishing 2023; 189 p. ISBN 978-92-3-100576-3. The 2023 edition of the United Nations World Water Development Report (WWDR) describes how building partnerships and enhancing cooperation across all dimensions of sustainable development are essential to accelerating progress towards all the targets of SDG 6 and realizing the human rights to water and sanitation. Partnerships and cooperation take place in almost any water-related endeavour and water resources management has a long history of experience with partnerships, both good and bad. This report reviews this experience, highlighting how enhancing positive and meaningful cooperation amongst the water, sanitation and broader “development” communities is required to accelerate progress. This report also addresses how the water and sanitation community can internally collaborate more effectively by maximizing complementarity, as well as reach out to other sectors and realms of decision-making where water plays a critical (but often times misunderstood or ignored) role in meeting their own objectives and amplifying co-benefits.

JOINT UNITED NATIONS PROGRAMME ON HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS)

Global AIDS Monitoring 2024. Indicators and questions for monitoring progress on the 2021 Political Declaration on HIV and AIDS. Geneva: Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS 2023; 248 p. This document is a detailed compilation of indicators, including on financing, and a suite of questions on national policies and their implementation. These indicators and policy questions are designed to enable the best use of available data at the national level, to standardize reporting from different HIV epidemics and sociopolitical contexts, and to enable aggregation at the global level. The indicators and questions in this document are designed for use by national AIDS programmes and partners to assess the state of a country’s HIV and AIDS response, and to measure progress towards achieving national HIV targets. Countries are encouraged to integrate these indicators and questions into their ongoing monitoring efforts and to report comprehensive national data through the Global AIDS Monitoring (GAM) process. In this way they will contribute to improving understanding of the global response to the HIV epidemic, including progress that has been made towards achieving the commitments and global targets set out in the new United Nations Political Declaration on HIV and AIDS: Ending Inequalities and Getting on Track to End AIDS by 2030, adopted in June 2021, and the linked Sustainable Development Goals.

ORGANISATION FOR ECONOMIC CO-OPERATION AND DEVELOPMENT (OECD)

OECD-FAO Agricultural Outlook 2023-2032. Paris: Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development and Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations 2023; 359 p. ISBN 978-92-5-137923-3. The OECD-FAO Agricultural Outlook 2023-2032 provides an assessment of the ten-year prospects for agricultural commodity and fish markets at national, regional, and global levels in a context of continued economic risks, uncertainty, and high energy prices. The report is a collaborative effort between the OECD and FAO, prepared with inputs from Member countries and international commodity organisations. The publication consists of 11 Chapters; Chapter 1 covers agricultural and food markets; Chapter 2 provides regional outlooks and the remaining chapters are dedicated to individual commodities.

INTERNATIONAL LABOUR ORGANIZATION (ILO)

Preventing and addressing violence and harassment in the world of work through occupational safety and health measures. Geneva: International Labour Organization 2024; 151 p. ISBN 9789220386095 (print) ISBN 9789220386101 (web PDF). The report highlights the pervasive issue of violence and harassment (V&H) in workplaces worldwide, affecting more than one in five employed individuals. It underscores the significant impact of V&H on individuals, enterprises, and society, exacerbated by evolving work conditions like digitalization and work-life balance challenges. The report emphasizes the importance of adopting comprehensive strategies, including the ILO Violence and Harassment Convention (No. 190) and occupational safety and health (OSH) measures, to prevent and address V&H, while also examining different national approaches and the effectiveness of collective bargaining agreements and legal frameworks in tackling this issue.

WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION (WHO)

Ethics and governance of artificial intelligence for health: Guidance on large multi-modal models. Geneva: World Health Organization 2024; 98 p. ISBN 978-92-4-008475-9 (electronic version) ISBN 978-92-4-008476-6 (print version). This guidance addresses one type of generative AI, large multi-modal models (LMMs), which can accept one or more type of data input and generate diverse outputs that are not limited to the type of data fed into the algorithm. It has been predicted that LMMs will have wide use and application in health care, scientific research, public health and drug development. LMMs are also known as “general-purpose foundation models”, although it is not yet proven whether LMMs can accomplish a wide range of tasks and purposes. WHO is issuing this guidance to assist Member States in mapping the benefits and challenges associated with use of LMMs for health and in developing policies and practices for appropriate development, provision and use. The guidance includes recommendations for governance, within companies, by governments and through international collaboration, aligned with the guiding principles. The principles and recommendations, which account for the unique ways in which humans can use generative AI for health, are the basis of this guidance.

WHO global report on trends in prevalence of tobacco use 2000-2030. Geneva: World Health Organization 2024; 135 p. ISBN 978-92-4-008828-3 (electronic version) ISBN 978-92-4-008829-0 (print version). This report presents WHO estimates of tobacco use prevalence for 2022, numbers of users, and trends projected to 2030. Estimates are at global, regional and country-level. This report is a useful companion to the WHO report on the global tobacco epidemic, which tracks the global adoption of tobacco control measures and interventions designed to reduce the use of tobacco. Together these reports allow us to both monitor progress every two years and to identify gaps, challenges and hinderances. In addition to tobacco use prevalence trends and target assessments, other global analyses presented in this report include global estimates of the prevalence of cigarette smoking and smokeless tobacco use among adults, and the prevalence of tobacco use, cigarette smoking and smokeless tobacco use among adolescents. An estimate the global prevalence of e-cigarette use was attempted, however data are missing in too many countries.

Global competency framework for regulators of medicines. Geneva: World Health Organization 2023; 135 p. ISBN 978-92-4-007875-8 (electronic version) ISBN 978-92-4-007876-5 (print version). The Global competency framework for regulators of medicines (“the Framework”) aims to harmonize workforce development efforts for the regulation of medicines by establishing an internationally accepted set of best practice competencies. It will guide the development of regulatory science curricula and maximize the benefit of collaboration and cooperation in medical product regulation globally. The current Global Competency Framework actually covers the regulation of medicines and vaccines, it is expected that the it will eventually expand to cover competencies for the regulation of other health products (such as medical devices) and to consider different regulatory contexts. The Framework will be revised periodically to reflect evolving use and understanding of practical issues related to its implementation.