WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION

INTRODUCTION

The World Health Organization, or WHO, was established as a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) in 1948. It was declared officially in existence on April 7 of that year, after more than half of the UN members signed its constitution. That date is now celebrated as World Health Day.

The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized organization established to promote worldwide collaboration for better public health. Although it inherited specific tasks related to epidemic control, quarantine measures, and drug standardization from the League of Nations’ Health Organization and the International Office of Public Health in Paris (founded in 1907).

WHO has been instrumental in eradicating smallpox, once among the most feared diseases, and has helped contain old diseases such as cholera and typhoid and relatively new ones such as SARS and HIV. WHO has led efforts in health-related fields like sanitation, injury prevention, and public health, and is currently working to combat tobacco use and chronic diseases.

Dedicated to the well-being of all people and guided by science, the World Health Organization leads and champions global efforts to give everyone, everywhere an equal chance to live a healthy life.

FOUNDATION

WHO was established on 7 April 1948.

“It is a state of total physical, mental, and social well-being, not only the absence of disease or disability,” according to WHO.

Every year on April 7, the World Health Organization celebrates its founding date, as a world health day.

LOGO

WHO’s logo was chosen by the first World Health Assembly in 1948. The logo consists of the United Nations symbol surmounted by a staff with a snake coiling around it. The staff with the snake has long been a symbol of medicine and the medical profession.

HEADQUARTER

WHO is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, it has six regional offices and 150 field offices worldwide.

MEMBER STATES

Membership in WHO is open to all countries. All countries that are part of the UN are also members of WHO.

REGIONAL OFFICES

WHO the Member States are grouped into six regions. Each region has a regional office:

1-African Region (AFR), office in Brazzaville

2-Region of the Americas (AMR), office in Washington

3-South-East Asian Region (SEAR), office in New Delhi

4-European Region (EUR), office in Copenhagen

5-Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR), office in Cairo

6-Western Pacific Region (WPR), office in Manila

HOW IT WAS ESTABLISHED

In response to cholera epidemics in 1830 and 1847, which killed tens of thousands in Europe, the first International Sanitary Conference was convened in Paris in 1851. At the time, the cause of cholera was unknown and due to political differences little was accomplished at this or the next several meetings. Nonetheless, the conferences were the first attempt at establishing a mechanism for international cooperation in disease prevention and control. The effort finally paid off with the adoption in 1892 of the International Sanitary Convention for the control of cholera and 5 years later with a Convention that addressed control of the plague.

In the Americas, the forerunner of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), the International Sanitary Bureau, was established in 1902, making PAHO the oldest international health agency in the world. In Europe, the Office International hygiene Publique was established in 1907, and in 1919 the League of Nations established the Health Organization of the League of Nations in Geneva. In 1926, the International Sanitary Convention was revised to include provisions against smallpox and typhus. The last International Sanitary Conference was held in Paris in 1938 on the eve of World War II.

Immediately after World War II, in 1945, the UN Conference on International Organizations in San Francisco voted to establish a new international health organization, and a year later the International Health Conference in New York approved the Constitution of the World Health Organization.

The First World Health Assembly met in Geneva in the summer of 1948 and established- priorities for the organization: malaria, tuberculosis, venereal diseases, maternal and child health, sanitary engineering, and nutrition. The organization had a budget of US$5 million in 1948. In addition, the Organization was involved in wide-ranging disease prevention and control efforts including mass campaigns against yaws, endemic syphilis, leprosy, and trachoma.

VISSION

The attainment by all people of the highest possible level of health.

MISSION

To lead strategic collaborative efforts among the Member States and other partners to promote equity in health, combat disease, and improve the quality of, and lengthen, the lives of all peoples of the world.

CONSTITUTION OF WHO

The Constitution was adopted by the International Health Conference held in New York from 19 June to 22 July 1946, signed on 22 July 1946 by the representatives of 61 States, and entered into force on 7 April 1948. Later amendments are incorporated into this text.

• Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.
• The enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health is one of the fundamental rights of every human being without distinction of race, religion, political belief, economic or social condition.
• The health of all people is fundamental to the attainment of peace and security and is dependent on the fullest cooperation of individuals and States.
• The achievement of any State in the promotion and protection of health is of value to all.
• Unequal development in different countries in the promotion of health and control of diseases, especially communicable diseases, is a common danger.
• The healthy development of the child is of basic importance; the ability to live harmoniously in a changing total environment is essential to such development.
• The extension to all peoples of the benefits of medical, psychological, and related knowledge is essential to the fullest attainment of health.
• Informed opinion and active co-operation on the part of the public are of the utmost importance in the improvement of the health of the people.
• Governments have a responsibility for the health of the people which can be fulfilled only by the provision of adequate health and social measures.

AGENDA

1. Encourage health security

2. Strengthening health systems

3. Encouraging research, information &

evidence

4. Improving the performance of health

developing organizations.

HOW IT WORKS

For universal health coverage it:

• focus on primary health care to improve access to quality essential services
• work towards sustainable financing and financial protection
• improve access to essential medicines and health products
• train the health workforce and advise on labor policies
• support people’s participation in national health policies
• improve monitoring, data, and information.

For health emergencies, it :

• prepare for emergencies by identifying, mitigating, and managing risks
• prevent emergencies and support the development of tools necessary during outbreaks
• detect and respond to acute health emergencies
• support delivery of essential health services in fragile settings.

For health and well-being, it

• address social determinants
• promote interpectoral approaches for health
• prioritize health in all policies and healthy settings.

Through its work, they address:

• human capital across the life-course
• no communicable diseases prevention
• mental health promotion
• climate change in small island developing states
• antimicrobial resistance
• elimination and eradication of high-impact communicable diseases.

STRUCTURE

The WHO maintains six regional offices and 149 country offices, with its headquarters in Geneva. Delegates from its 194 member states govern it, voting on policy and electing the director-general. Former Ethiopian Foreign Minister Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus was elected to a five-year term in 2017. He is the first African to lead the WHO, and his election was the first time that all WHO countries were given an equal vote.

The principal organs of WHO are the World Health Assembly, the Executive Board, and the secretariat, headed by a director-general.

WORLD HEALTH ASSEMBLY

The World Health Assembly is an annual meeting of public health experts from countries that are members of the World Health Organization. The assembly meets once a year, generally in May, for three weeks and determines the policies of the organization. It has the power to make and enforce international regulations on a range of topics, including those relating to sanitary and quarantine requirements and public health practices. At the World Health Assembly, WHO delegates determine the agency’s agenda and adopt an aspirational budget each year. The director-general is in charge of raising the majority of the funds from donors.

EXECUTIVE BOARD

The World Health Assembly can pick any 32 member countries for three-year periods (except for equitable geographical distribution), and each country elects one person to the WHO Executive Board who is “technically qualified in the field of health.” The Executive Board meets twice a year for sessions ranging from a few days to several weeks, but a special meeting can be called at any time. One of its key responsibilities is to develop the World Health Assembly’s agenda.

SECRETARIATE

WHO’s Secretariat employs 8000 health and other experts and support employees on fixed-term contracts who operate at the headquarters, regional offices, and in nations.