The 'World Health Organization' ('WHO') is a specialized agency of the
United Nations (UN) that acts as a coordinating authority on international
public health. Established on
7 April 1948, and headquartered in
Geneva,
Switzerland, the agency inherited the mandate and resources of its predecessor, the Health Organization, which had been an agency of the
League of Nations.
Mission
WHO's 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 peoples of the world.
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 (
7 April 1948) when it was ratified by the 26th member state.
[2] Prior to this its operations, as well as the remaining activities of the
League of Nations Health Organization, were under the control of an Interim Commission following an International Health Conference in the summer of
1946.
[3] The transfer was authorized by a Resolution of the
General Assembly.
[4]
Summary of activities
As well as coordinating international efforts to monitor outbreaks of infectious disease such as
SARS,
malaria, and
AIDS, it also has programs to prevent and treat such diseases. WHO supports the development and distribution of safe and effective vaccines and pharmaceutical diagnostics and drugs. After years of fighting
smallpox, WHO declared in 1979 that the disease had been eradicated - the first disease in history to be completely eliminated by deliberate human design. WHO is nearing success in developing vaccines against
malaria and
schistosomiasis and aims to eradicate
polio within the next few years. The organization has already endorsed the world's first official HIV/AIDS Toolkit for
Zimbabwe from
October 3 2006, making it an international standard.
[5]
In addition to its work in eradicating disease, WHO also carries out campaigns — for example, to boost consumption of fruits and
vegetables worldwide, or to discourage
tobacco consumption.
Experts met at the WHO headquarters in Geneva, in February 2007, and their advances in pandemic influenza vaccine development reported encouraging progress. More than 40 clinical trials have been completed or are ongoing. Most of them have focused on healthy adults. Some companies, after completing safety analyses in adults, have initiated clinical trials in the elderly and in children. All vaccines were safe and well tolerated in all age groups tested.
[6]
WHO also conducts research: for instance, whether or not the
electromagnetic field surrounding
cell phones has a negative influence on health. Some of this work can be controversial, such as the April 2003 WHO report which recommended that
sugar be no more than 10% of a healthy diet, which led to lobbying by the sugar industry against this recommendation.
[7]
Additional Responsibilities
In addition to 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 WHO to issue binding scientific and medical assessments of psychoactive drugs and recommend how they should be regulated. In this way, WHO acts as a check on the power of the drug policymaking
Commission on Narcotic Drugs.
WHO also compiles the widely followed
International Classification of Diseases (ICD). The tenth revision of the ICD 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 countries' health care systems should make available and affordable to people.
Structure
WHO Headquarters in Geneva
WHO Member States
[1] 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 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 therefore that Taiwan is already in the WHO system through China. In practice, however, Taiwanese doctors and hospitals are denied access to WHO information and Taiwanese journalists are denied accreditation to participate in WHO activities. Taiwan’s inability to gain access to WHO information contributed to the severity of the 2004 SARS epidemic in Taiwan.
The WHO Assembly generally meets in May each year, and as well as appointing the Director-General (for five-year terms), supervises the financial policies of the Organization, and reviews and approves the proposed programme budget. The Assembly elects 34 members who are technically qualified in the field of health for three-year terms to an Executive Board. The main functions of the Board are to give effect to the decisions and policies of the Assembly, to advise it and generally to facilitate its work.
Membership
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 (
Vatican City).
Funding
WHO is financed by contributions from member states and from donors.In recent years, WHO's work has involved more collaboration, currently around 80 such partnerships, with
NGOs and the
pharmaceutical industry, as well as with foundations such as the
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the
Rockefeller Foundation. Blake Hill also lends money here and there for use in the health care field. Voluntary contributions to the WHO from national and local governments, foundations and NGOs, other UN organizations, and the private sector (including pharmaceutical companies), now exceed that of assessed contributions (dues) from its 193 member nations.
People
The day-to-day work of WHO is carried out by its Secretariat, which is staffed by some 8,500 health and other experts and support staff, working at headquarters, in the six regional offices, and in the individual representation offices in 147 countries. WHO is also represented by
WHO Goodwill Ambassadors.
Regional Offices
Regional offices and regions of the WHO:
Quite uncharacteristically for a UN Agency, the six (6) Regional Offices of WHO have a remarkable amount of autonomy. Each Regional Office is headed by a Regional Director (RD), who is elected by the Regional Committee for that Region, for a once-renewable five-year term. The name of the RD-elect is then transmitted to the WHO Executive Board, at the headquarters in Geneva, which proceeds to confirm the appointment. It is rare that an elected Regional Director not be confirmed.
The Regional Committee of WHO for each region consists of all the Health Department heads, in all the governments of the countries that constitute the Region. Aside from electing the Regional Director, the Regional Committee is also in charge of setting the guidelines for the implementation of all the Health and other policies adopted by the
World Health Assembly, within their region. The Regional Committee also serves as a progress review board for the actions of WHO within the Region.
The Regional Director is effectively the head of the WHO for their particular region. The RD manages and/or supervises a staff of health and other experts, at the regional headquarters and in specialised centres. The RD is also the direct supervising authority — concomitantly with the WHO Director General — of all the heads of WHO country offices within their region, known as WHO Representatives.
The Regional Offices are:
★ Regional Office for Africa (
AFRO)
I, with headquarters in
Brazzaville,
Republic of Congo. AFRO includes most of Africa, with the exception of
Egypt,
Sudan,
Tunisia, the
Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, and
Morocco which belong to EMRO.
Somalia is also not counted as it does not have an official government, though it is in the process of getting one.
★ Regional Office for Europe (
EURO), with headquarters in
Copenhagen,
Denmark.
★ Regional Office for South East Asia (
SEARO), with headquarters in
New Delhi,
India. North Korea is served by SEARO.
★ Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean (
EMRO), with headquarters in
Cairo,
Egypt. EMRO includes the countries of Africa, and particularly in the
Maghreb, that are not included in AFRO, as well as the countries of the Middle East.
★ Regional Office for Western Pacific (
WPRO), with headquarters in
Manila,
Philippines. WPRO covers all the Asian countries not served by SEARO and EMRO, and all the countries in
Oceania.
South Korea is served by WPRO.
★ Regional Office for the Americas (
AMRO), with headquarters in
Washington, D.C.,
USA. It is better known as the
Pan American Health Organization (PAHO). Since it predates the establishment of WHO, PAHO is by far the most autonomous of the 6 regional offices.
Country Offices
The World Health Organization operates 147 country and liaison offices, in all its regions. The presence of a country office is generally motivated by a need, stated by the member country. There will generally be one WHO country office in the capital, occasionally with antenna-offices in the provinces or sub-regions of that country.
The country office is headed by a WHO Representative (WR), who is a trained physician, not a national of that country, and who holds ranks, and is due privileges and immunities, similar to those of a 'Head of Diplomatic Mission' or a diplomatic
Ambassador. In most countries, the WR (like Representatives of other UN agencies) is ''
de facto'' and/or ''
de jure'' treated like an Ambassador - the distinction here being that instead of being an Ambassador of one sovereign country to another, the WR is a senior UN civil servant, who serves as the "Ambassador" of WHO to the country where they are accredited. Hence the slightly less glamorous title of ''Representative'', or ''Resident Representative''.
The country office consists of the WR, and several health and other experts, both foreign and local, as well as the necessary support staff. The main functions of WHO country offices include being the primary adviser of that country's government in matters of health and pharmaceutical policies.
International liaison offices serve largely the same purpose as country offices, but generally on a smaller scale. These are often found in countries that want WHO presence and cooperation, but do not have the major health system flaws that require the presence of a full-blown country office. Liaison offices are headed by a liaison officer, who is a national from that particular country, without diplomatic immunity.
Some WHO-private sector partnerships
★ PATH: Program for Appropriate Technology in Health (http://www.path.org)
★ IAVI: International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (http://www.iavi.org)
★ MMV: Medicines for Malaria Venture (http://www.mmv.org)
★ MVI: Malaria Vaccine Initiative (http://www.malariavaccine.org)
★ TB Alliance: Global Alliance for TB Drug Development (http://www.tballiance.org)
★ Aeras: Aeras Global TB Vaccine Foundation (http://aeras.org)
★ IPM: International Partnership for Microbicides (http://www.ipm-microbicides.org)
★ PDVI: Pediatric Dengue Vaccine Initiative (http://www.pdvi.org)
★ FIND: Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics (http://www.finddiagnostics.org)
★ IOWH: Institute for One World Health (http://www.oneworldhealth.org)
★ DNDi: Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative (http://www.dndi.org)
Directors-General of WHO
★
Former Directors General
Other notable persons associated with WHO
★
Kevin De Cock
★
Velma Kay Lopez
★
Arata Kochi
★
Jonathan Mann
★
David Nabarro
★
Peter Piot
★
Andrija Štampar
★
Carlo Urbani
★
David L. Heymann
Personnel policy
The World Health Organization is an agency of the
United Nations and as such shares a core of common personnel policy with other agencies.
Smokers
The World Health Organization has recently
banned the recruitment of cigarette smokers, to promote the principle of a tobacco-free work environment.
World Health Report
The annual
World Health Report, first published in 1995, is the WHO's leading publication. Each year the report combines an expert assessment of global health, including statistics relating to all countries, with a focus on a specific subject.
The World Health Report 2007 - A safer future: global public health security in the 21st century was published on August 23, 2007.
Statistics
The WHO website
A guide to statistical information at WHO has an online version of the most recent WHO health statistics.
According to
The WHO Programme on Health Statistics:
The production and dissemination of health statistics for health action at country, regional and global levels is a core WHO activity mandated to WHO by its Member States in its Constitution. WHO produced figures carry great weight in national and international resource allocation, policy making and programming, based on its reputation as "unbiased" (impartial and fair), global (not belonging to any camp), and technically competent (consulting leading research and policy institutions and individuals).
Controversies
Ionizing radiation
There is pending controversy on the relation between the WHO and the
International Atomic Energy Agency. Since May 28, 1959, there has been an agreement between these organizations, confirmed by World Health Assembly resolution WHA12.40. Numerous people, including
Michel Fernex (a retired medical doctor from the WHO), have criticized this agreement as preventing the WHO from properly conducting its activities relating to health effects of ionizing radiation. Notably it is argued that the consequences of the
Chernobyl catastrophe are significantly played down by the WHO because of this agreement. The WHO has concluded on 50 near-immediate deaths and potentially 4,000 cancers in the longer term, but other accounts quote between 50,000 and 150,000 people
[8] already died, and several hundreds of thousands people are ill, handicapped, etc.
[9] Kofi Annan said that seven million people are affected by the catastrophe.
[10]
Particularly, the proceedings of the 1995 Geneva conference and the report of the Kiev 2001 conference on the effects of the Chernobyl disaster were never published, which is very unusual. Dr.
Hiroshi Nakajima, former WHO Director-General, admitted in a Swiss television interview that these documents had been censored based on the agreement with the
IAEA.
[11] Since April 27, 2007, a permanent presence opposite the main driveway to WHO premises is maintained in protest against the agreement between WHO and IAEA.
[12]
See also
★
World Health Day
★
International Agency for Research on Cancer
★ :A part of the WHO.Main office is in
Lyon,
France.
★
WHO Centre for Health Development
★ :An investigation part of the WHO.Main office is in
Kobe,
Japan.
References
Henrik Karl Nielsen: The World Health Organisation - Implementing the right to health, 2. edition, Copenhagen 2001
1. Constitution of the World Health Organization
2. Chronicle of the World Health Organization, April 1948
3. Chronicle of the World Health Organization, 1947
4. Resolution 61, Establishment of the World Health Organization
5. http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2006-10/04/content_5167991.htm
6. http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/notes/2007/np07/en/index.html
7. http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,940287,00.html
8. Ukrainian Ministry of Public Health, April 1995.
9. http://www.nirs.org/mononline/consequ.htm
10. "Chernobyl is a word we would all like to erase from our memory. It [opened] a Pandora's box of invisible enemies and nameless anxieties in people's minds, but which most of us probably now think of as safely relegated to the past. Yet there are two compelling reasons why this tragedy must not be forgotten... First, if we forget Chernobyl, we increase the risk of more such technological and environmental disasters in the future. Second, more than seven million of our fellow human beings do not have the luxury of forgetting. They are still suffering, every day, as a result of what happened 14 years ago. Indeed, the legacy of Chernobyl will be with us, and with our descendants, for generations to come." Kofi Annan, United Nations Secretary General, http://www.wagingpeace.org/menu/action/urgent-actions/chernobyl/
11. Interview of Dr. Nakajima by Dr. Michel Fernex, in the movie of Wladimir Tchertkoff, ''Nuclear Controversies''.
12. For an Independent WHO
External links
★
World Health Organization
★
AIDS.gov - The U.S. Federal Domestic AIDS Resource
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