The 2013 edition of World Development Indicators (WDI) has just been released. WDI 2013 provides a new look to high-quality cross-country comparable statistics about development and people's lives around the globe. All the new features of the WDI suite of products can be accessed from data.worldbank.org/wdi, and include:
*New online tables with all the data tables , will be automatically updated when the database is updated four times a year, and can be accessed in web browsers or downloaded as PDF files
*An improved WDI "DataFinder" application available in English, Spanish, French and Chinese, in tablet and mobile phone editions for both Android and iOS. The full text of the printed book is also included.
*An update to the WDI database, including improved notes and metadata "about the data" from the printed book, explaining the relevance of the indicators for development, their source, and their methodology.
*An updated version of the Little Data Book 2013
World Development Indicators 2012 is now available in print, online, and on mobile devices. The 16th edition of World Development Indicators publication and database update contains updated data through 2010 and 2011 for many indicators. This update contains:
more recent data on poverty at international poverty lines for more countries, including global and regional estimates measures of malnutrition disaggregated by sex health indicators is aggregated by income quintile data on carbon dioxide emissions by economic sector data on climate variability, exposure to impact, and resilience.
A flood of data is created every day by the interactions of billions of people using computers, GPS devices, cell phones, and medical devices. Many of these interactions occur through the use of mobile devices being used by people in the developing world, people whose needs and habits have been poorly understood until now. Researchers and policymakers are beginning to realise the potential for channelling these torrents of data into actionable information that can be used to identify needs, provide services, and predict and prevent crises for the benefit of low-income populations. Concerted action is needed by governments, development organisations, and companies to ensure that this data helps the individuals and communities who create it.
HealthMap, a team of researchers, epidemiologists and software developers at Children's Hospital Boston founded in 2006, is an established global leader in utilizing online informal sources for disease outbreak monitoring and real-time surveillance of emerging public health threats. The freely available Web site 'healthmap.org' and mobile app 'Outbreaks Near Me' deliver real-time intelligence on a broad range of emerging infectious diseases for a diverse audience including libraries, local health departments, governments, and international travelers. HealthMap brings together disparate data sources, including online news aggregators, eyewitness reports, expert-curated discussions and validated official reports, to achieve a unified and comprehensive view of the current global state of infectious diseases and their effect on human and animal health. Through an automated process, updating 24/7/365, the system monitors, organizes, integrates, filters, visualizes and disseminates online information about emerging diseases in nine languages, facilitating early detection of global public health threats