World Health Organization

The World Health Organization or WHO is the public health agency of the United Nations. It is responsible for providing leadership on global health matters, shaping the health research agenda, setting norms and standards, articulating evidence-based policy options, providing technical support to countries and monitoring and assessing health trends. The WHO was founded in 1948. It employs more than 8000 people and has offices in 147 countries. The headquarters are in Geneva, Switzerland.

WHO Flag, Source:Wikimedia Commons

WHO fulfills its objectives through its core functions:

• providing leadership on matters critical to health and engaging in partnerships where joint action is needed;
• shaping the research agenda and stimulating the generation, translation and dissemination of valuable knowledge;
• setting norms and standards and promoting and monitoring their implementation;
• articulating ethical and evidence-based policy options;
• providing technical support, catalyzing change, and building sustainable institutional capacity; and
• monitoring the health situation and assessing health trends.

Mission

The WHO constitution states that its objective "is the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of health."^[1] Its major task is to combat disease, especially key infectious diseases, and to promote the general health of the people of the world.

History

In 1945, three physicians, Drs. Szeming Sze of China, Karl Evang of Norway, and Geraldo de Paula Souza of Brazil, proposed the formulation of a single health organization that would address the health needs of the world's people. Their joint declaration to establish an international health organization was approved when the constitution of the WHO was adopted in 1946.

The preamble to the constitution defines health as "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity." The initial priorities for world health care included initiatives to address malaria, maternal and child health, tuberculosis, venereal diseases, nutrition and environmental sanitation, public health administration, parasitic diseases, viral diseases, mental health, and other activities.

Establishment

The World Health Organization is one of the original agencies of the United Nations, its constitution formally coming into force on the first World Health Day, April 7, 1948, when it was ratified by the 26th member state. It succeeded the League of Nations Health Organization. The epidemiological service of the French Office International d'Hygiène Publique was also incorporated into the World Health Organization.

Geneva, home to WHO headquarters. Source: Wikimedia Commons

Summary of activities

As well as coordinating international efforts to monitor outbreaks of infectious diseases, such as SARS, malaria, and AIDS, the WHO also sponsors programs to prevent and treat such diseases. The WHO supports the development and distribution of safe and effective vaccines, pharmaceutical diagnostics, and drugs. After over 2 decades of fighting smallpox, the WHO declared in 1980 that the disease had been eradicated - the first disease in history to be eliminated by human effort.

The WHO is nearing success in developing vaccines against malaria and schistosomiasis and aims to eradicate polio within the next few years.

In addition to its work in eradicating disease, the WHO also carries out various health-related campaigns — for example, to boost the consumption of fruits and vegetables worldwide and to discourage tobacco use.

Experts met at the WHO headquarters in Geneva in February, 2007, and reported that their work on pandemic influenza vaccine development had achieved encouraging progress. More than 40 clinical trials have been completed or are ongoing. Most have focused on healthy adults.

Additional Responsibilities

In addition to the WHO's stated mission, international treaties assign the Organization a variety of responsibilities. For instance, the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs and the Convention on Psychotropic Substances call on the WHO to issue binding scientific and medical assessments of psychoactive drugs and to recommend how they should be regulated. In this way, the WHO acts as a check on the national drug policy-making Commission on Narcotic Drugs.

The WHO also compiles the widely-followed International Classification of Diseases (ICD). The tenth revision of the ICD, also known as ICD-10, was released in 1992 and a searchable version is available online on the WHO website. Later revisions are indexed and available in hard-copy versions. The WHO does not permit simultaneous classification in two separate areas.

The WHO also maintains a model list of essential medicines that all countries' health-care systems should make available and affordable to the general population.

Structure

WHO Member States appoint delegations to the World Health Assembly, WHO's supreme decision-making body. All UN member states are eligible for WHO membership, and, according to the WHO web site, “Other countries may be admitted as members when their application has been approved by a simple majority vote of the World Health Assembly.” The WHO has 193 member states.

The WHO Assembly generally meets in May each year. In addition to appointing the Director-General every five years, the Assembly considers the financial policies of the Organization and reviews and approves the proposed program budget. The Assembly elects 34 members, technically qualified in the field of health, to the Executive Board for three-year terms. The main functions of the Board are to carry out the decisions and policies of the Assembly, to advise it and to facilitate its work in general.

Membership

The WHO has 193 Member States, including all UN Member States except Liechtenstein, and 2 non-UN members, Niue and the Cook Islands. Territories that are not UN Member States may join as Associate Members (with full information but limited participation and voting rights) if approved by an Assembly vote: Puerto Rico and Tokelau are Associate Members. Entities may also be granted observer status: examples include the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Holy See.

Controversy

Like the United Nations itself, the WHO has its share of controversy, including the treatment of Taiwan and the politicization of health policy.

The Republic of China (Taiwan) was one of the founding members of the WHO, but was compelled to leave after the People’s Republic of China was admitted to the UN in 1972 and Taiwan left the UN. Taiwan has applied for participation in the WHO as a 'health entity' each year since 1997 but is denied each year because of pressure from China. China claims sovereignty over Taiwan, and its position is that Taiwan is represented in the WHO system by China. In practice, Taiwanese doctors and hospitals are denied access to WHO information, and Taiwanese journalists are denied accreditation for participation in WHO activities.

Funding

The WHO is financed by contributions from member states and from donors. In recent years, the WHO's work has involved more collaboration; there are currently around 80 such partnerships with non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and the pharmaceutical industry, as well as with foundations such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation. Voluntary contributions to the WHO from national and local governments, foundations and NGOs, other UN organizations, and the private sector, now exceed that of assessed contributions (dues) from the 193 member nations.

References

1. ↑ Constitution of the World Health Organization (English only version)

External Links

• WHO main site
• WHO Regional Office for Europe
• WHO Regional Office for the Western Pacific
• WHO Regional Office for Africa
• WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean
• WHO Regional Office for the Americas
• WHO Regional Office for South-East Asia