World Health Organization منظمة الصحة العالمية 世界卫生组织 Organisation mondiale de la Santé Всемирная организация здравоохранения Organización Mundial de la Salud
Flag of the World Health Organization
Org type	Specialized agency of the United Nations
Acronyms	WHO OMS
Head	Dr. Margaret Chan
Status	Active
Established	7 April 1948
Headquarters	Geneva, Switzerland
Website	www.who.int
Parent org	ECOSOC

The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) that is concerned with international public health. It was established on 7 April 1948, with headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland and is a member of the United Nations Development Group. Its predecessor, the Health Organization, was an agency of the League of Nations.

The constitution of the World Health Organization had been signed by all 61 countries of the United Nations by 22 July 1946, with the first meeting of the World Health Assembly finishing on 24 July 1948. It incorporated the Office International d'Hygiène Publique and the League of Nations Health Organization. Since its creation, WHO has been responsible for playing a leading role in the eradication of smallpox. Its current priorities include communicable diseases, in particular, HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis; the mitigation of the effects of non-communicable diseases; sexual and reproductive health, development, and ageing; nutrition, food security and healthy eating; substance abuse; and drive the development of reporting, publications, and networking. WHO is responsible for the World Health Report, a leading international publication on health, the worldwide World Health Survey, and World Health Day.

Its links with the IAEA and distribution of contraception have both proved controversial, as have guidelines on healthy eating and the 2009 flu pandemic.

History[link]

Establishment[link]

The League of Nations Health Organization was established following the First World War inside the League of Nations framework. According to the League's Covenant, it was to "endeavour to take steps in matters of international concern for the prevention and control of disease".^[1] Its efforts were hampered by the Second World War, during which United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration also played a role in international health initiatives.^[2] During the United Nations Conference on International Organization, references to health had been incorporated into the United Nations Charter.^[3]

During the United Nations Conference on International Organization, references to health were incorporated into the United Nations Charter and it passed a declaration that an international health body would be set up.^[3] In February 1946, the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations helped draft the constitution of the new body.^[2] The use of the word "world", rather than "international", emphasised the truly global nature of what the organization was seeking to achieve.^[2] The constitution of the World Health Organization had been signed by all 61 countries of the United Nations by 22 July 1946. It thus became the first specialised agency of the United Nations to which every member subscribed.^[3] Its constitution formally came into force on the first World Health Day on 7 April 1948, when it was ratified by the 26th member state.^[4] The first meeting of the World Health Assembly finished on 24 July 1948, having secured a budget of US$5 million (then GBP£1,250,000) for the 1949 year. Dr. Andrija Stampar was the Assembly's first president, and Dr. G. Brock Chisholm was appointed Director-General of WHO, having served as Executive Secretary during the planning stages.^[2] Its first priorities were to control the spread of malaria, tuberculosis and sexually transmitted infections, and to improve maternal and child health, nutrition and environmental hygiene. Its first legislative act was concerning the compilation of accurate statistics on the spread and morbidity of disease.^[2] The logo of the World Health Organization features the Rod of Asclepius as a symbol for healing.^[5]

Operational history[link]

WHO established an epidemiological information service via telex in 1947, and by 1950 a mass tuberculosis inoculation drive (using the BCG vaccine) was under way. In 1955, the malaria eradication programme was launched, although it was later altered in objective. 1965 saw the first report on diabetes mellitus and the creation of the International Agency for Research on Cancer. WHO moved into its headquarters building in 1966. The Expanded Programme on Immunization was started in 1974, as was the control programme into onchocerciasis – an important partnership between the Food and Agriculture Organization, the United Nations Development Programme, and World Bank. In the following year, the Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases was also launched. In 1976, the World Health Assembly voted to enact a resolution on Disability Prevention and Rehabilitation, with a focus on community-driven care. The first list of essential medicines was drawn up in 1977, and a year later the ambitious goal of "health for all" was declared. In 1986, WHO started it global programme on the growing problem of HIV/AIDS, followed two years later by additional attention on preventing discrimination against sufferers and UNAIDS was formed in 1996. The Global Polio Eradication Initiative was established in 1988.^[6]

Three former directors of the Global Smallpox Eradication Programme read the news that smallpox had been globally eradicated, 1980

In 1958, Professor Viktor Zhdanov, Deputy Minister of Health for the USSR, called on the World Health Assembly to undertake a global initiative to eradicate smallpox, resulting in Resolution WHA11.54.^[7] At this point, 2 million people were dying from smallpox every year. In 1967, the World Health Organization intensified the global smallpox eradication by contributing $2.4 million annually to the effort and adopted a new disease surveillance method.^[8][9] The initial problem the WHO team faced was inadequate reporting of smallpox cases. WHO established a network of consultants who assisted countries in setting up surveillance and containment activities.^[10] The WHO also helped contain the last European outbreak in Yugoslavia in 1972.^[11] After over two 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.^[12]

In 1998, WHO's Director General highlighted gains in child survival, reduced infant mortality, raised life expectancy and reduced rates of "scourges" such as smallpox and polio on the fiftieth anniversary of WHO's founding. He, did, however, accept that more had to be done to assist maternal health and that progress in this area had been slow.^[13] Cholera and malaria have remained problems since WHO's founding, although in decline for a large part of that period.^[14] In the twenty-first century, the Stop TB partnership was created in 2000, along with the UN's formulation of the Millennium Development Goals. The Measles initiative was formed in 2001, and credited with reducing global deaths from the disease by 68% by 2007. In 2002, The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria was drawn up to improve the resources available.^[6] In 2006, the organization endorsed the world's first official HIV/AIDS Toolkit for Zimbabwe, which formed the basis for a global prevention, treatment and support plan to fight the AIDS pandemic.^[15]

Current projects[link]

Overall focus[link]

The WHO's constitution states that its objective "is the attainment by all people of the highest possible level of health."^[16]

WHO identifies its role as one of six main objectives:^[17]

• 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, catalysing change, and building sustainable institutional capacity; and
• monitoring the health situation and assessing health trends.

The 2012–2013 budget further identified thirteen areas among which funding was distributed.^[18]

Communicable diseases[link]

Two of those thirteen areas related to communicable diseases: the first, to reducing the "health, social and economic burden" of communicable diseases in general; the second to combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis in particular.^[18]

In terms of HIV/AIDS, WHO works within the UNAIDS network and considers it important that it works in alignment with UNAIDS objectives and strategies. It also strives to involve sections of society other than health to help deal with the economic and social effects of the disease.^[19] In line with UNAIDS, WHO has set itself the interim task between 2009 and 2015 of reducing the number of those aged 15–24 years who are infected by 50%; reducing new HIV infections in children by 90%; and reducing HIV-related deaths by 25%.^[20]

Although WHO dropped its commitment to a global malaria eradication campaign in the 1970s as too ambitious, it retains a strong commitment to malaria control. WHO's Global Malaria Programme works to keep track of malaria cases, and future problems in malaria control schemes. WHO is to report, likely in 2015, as to whether RTS,S/AS01, currently in research, is a viable malaria vaccine. For the time being, insecticide-treated mosquito nets and insecticide sprays are used to prevent the spread of malaria, as are antimalarial drugs – particularly to vulnerable people such as pregnant women and young children.^[21]

WHO's help has contributed to a 40% fall in the number of deaths from tuberculosis between 1990 and 2010, and since 2005, it claims that over 46 million people have been treated and an estimated 7 million lives saved through practices advocated by WHO. These include engaging national governments and their financing, early diagnosis, standardising treatment, monitoring of the spread and impact of tuberculosis and stabilising the drug supply. It has also recognised the vulnerability of victims of HIV/AIDS to tuberculosis.^[22]

WHO aims to eradicate polio. It has also been successful in helping to reduce cases by 99% since the Global Polio Eradication Initiative was launched in 1988, which partnered WHO with Rotary International, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), as well as smaller organizations. It works to immunize young children and prevent the re-emergence of cases in countries declared "polio-free".^[23]

Non-communicable diseases[link]

Another of the thirteen areas is aimed at the prevention and reduction of "disease, disability and premature from chronic noncommunicable diseases, mental disorders, violence and injuries and visual impairment".^[18][24]

Life and lifestyle[link]

WHO also works to "reduce morbidity and mortality and improve health during key stages of life, including pregnancy, childbirth, the neonatal period, childhood and adolescence, and improve sexual and reproductive health and promote active and healthy ageing for all individuals"^[18][25]

It also tries to prevent or reduce risk factors for"health conditions associated with use of tobacco, alcohol, drugs and other psychoactive substances, unhealthy diets and physical inactivity and unsafe sex".^[18][26][27]

WHO works to improve nutrition, food safety and food security and to ensure this has a positive effect on public health and sustainable development.^[18]

Emergency work[link]

When any sort of disaster or emergency occurs, it is WHO's stated objective to reduce any consequences it may have on world health and its social and economic implications.^[18]

Health policy[link]

WHO also addresses government health policy with two aims: firstly, "to address the underlying social and economic determinants of health through policies and programmes that enhance health equity and integrate pro-poor, genderresponsive, and human rights-based approaches" and secondly "to promote a healthier environment, intensify primary prevention and influence public policies in all sectors so as to address the root causes of environmental threats to health".^[18]

In terms of health services, WHO looks to improve "governance, financing, staffing and management" and the availability and quality of evidence and research to guide polciy making. it also strives to "ensure improved access, quality and use of medical products and technologies".^[18]

Governance and support[link]

The remaining two of WHO's thirteen identified policy areas relate to the role of WHO itself: firstly, "to provide leadership, strengthen governance and foster partnership and collaboration with countries, the United Nations system, and other stakeholders in order to fulfil the mandate of WHO in advancing the global health agenda" and secondly "to develop and sustain WHO as a flexible, learning organization, enabling it to carry out its mandate more efficiently and effectively".^[18]