Context: The World Health Organization (WHO) has released a handbook to help assess the burden of foodborne diseases and locate data gaps to help strengthen health infrastructure. 

The handbook aims to

• Estimate the burden of disease for selected foodborne hazards;
• Develop a framework for routine updating of estimates and evaluation of trends;
• Provide a baseline against which food safety interventions can be evaluated

The foodborne disease in the world
According to the WHO's Estimates of the global burden of foodborne diseases, a 2015 report on the impact of contaminated food on health and well-being

• More than 600 million people — one in 10 in the world — are affected by foodborne diseases every year.
• More than 120,000 children under five years die from consuming unsafe food; this comprises 30 per cent of the total foodborne deaths annually.
• Diarrhoeal diseases are responsible for more than half of the global burden of foodborne diseases, causing 550 million people to fall ill and 230,000 deaths every year.
• Children are at particular risk of foodborne diarrhoeal diseases, with 220 million falling ill and 96,000 dying every year.
• Diarrhoea is often caused by eating raw or undercooked meat, eggs, fresh produce and dairy products contaminated by norovirus, Campylobacter, non-typhoidal Salmonella and pathogenic E coli.
• WHO African and South-East Asia Regions have the highest burden of foodborne diseases.

Major foodborne illnesses and causes

• Foodborne illnesses are usually infectious or toxic in nature and caused by bacteria, viruses, parasites or chemical substances entering the body through contaminated food or water.
• Foodborne pathogens can cause severe diarrhoea or debilitating infections including meningitis.
• Foodborne diseases may lead to long-lasting disability and death.
• Examples of unsafe food include uncooked foods of animal origin, fruits and vegetables contaminated with faeces, and raw shellfish containing marine biotoxins.

Steps taken to tackle foodborne disease

• The World Health Assembly had adopted a new resolution mandating WHO to monitor the global burden of foodborne and zoonotic diseases at national, regional and international level.
• It had asked the WHO to report on the global burden of foodborne diseases with up-to-date estimates of global foodborne disease incidence, mortality and disease burden by 2025.