EDITORIAL According to the international development charity VSO (Voluntary Services Overseas), "80 per cent of the British public strongly associate the developing world with doom-laden images of famine, disaster and Western Aid". Furthermore, images of starving children with flies around their eyes maintain a powerful vice-like grip on the British imagination.

In The Live Aid legacy, a research study published earlier this year, the VSO criticises the media for being "complicit in promoting an unbalanced picture of third world doom and disaster" and thus perpetuating the stereotypical image of drought and famine. The images used in the media, assert the VSO, fuels the belief among British people that the developing world and its people are "helpless victims" who depend on the money and knowledge of the west to progress.

This consumer poll, which targeted 1,018 UK adults aged 15 and over, visitors from developing countries and expert commentators, paints a depressing picture of the way in which we, as individuals, view the developing world. In addition to the majority of those polled holding strong negative associations - war, famine, debt, starvation, natural disaster, poverty and corruption - with the developing world, the VSO claims that most UK consumers automatically think of Africa when they hear the term "developing" and feel misled by the media, and occasionally development charities, when presented with an alternative view of the developing world.

In this issue, then, we hope to put aside some of these stereotypes. Stuart Spear recently visited Tanzania with the environmental health charity Water for Kids and saw for himself how the country's approach to public health and education is forging a new way forward in the battle to eradicate poverty and improve health. Despite the grim statistics on poverty and health, the hope for the future is tangible.

Still thinking globally, I report on some of the issues raised in the educational seminars at the International Federation of Environmental Health's 7th World Congress, held in San Diego in May. Delegates from over 22 countries gathered to share ideas and learn from the experiences of their colleagues in what proved to be a very successful event.

On a more local note, Ian Wheeler reports on an often painstaking and technically complex health and safety investigation, following the failure of an overhead panel of toughened glass in a busy shopping centre. The lack of available expert skills and guidance available to those carrying out investigations following such glass failure incidents is of deep concern, he says.

In two quite different articles, Nick Warburton looks at a number of sustainable local authority initiatives. In this month's cover feature, he outlines Ealing Council's award-winning scheme to study the opportunities for locating wind turbines in urban areas - a project which aims to change local perceptions to the potential and the benefits of wind power in urban areas.

Then he describes three local projects that aim to promote practical solutions to neighbourhood noise problems. From barking dogs and noisy tenants to the use of street theatre to educate the public, we show how local authorities are promoting communication and consideration within local communities across the country.

Tracey Khanna
Editor