World Health Organization

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World Health Organization
World Health Organization

Flag of the World Health Organization

WHO
Abbreviation
OMS
Formation
7 April 1948
Specialized agency of the United
Type
Nations
Legal status
Active
Headquarters
Geneva, Switzerland
Margaret Chan
Head
Parent
United Nations Economic and
Social Council (ECOSOC)
organization
Website
www.who.int
The World Health Organization (WHO; /hu/) is a specialized agency of the United Nations
(UN) that is concerned with international public health. It was established on 7 April 1948,
headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. The WHO 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 61 countries on
22 July 1946, with the first meeting of the World Health Assembly finishing on 24 July 1948. It
incorporated the Office International d'Hygine Publique and the League of Nations Health
Organization. Since its creation, it has played a leading role in the eradication of smallpox. Its
current priorities include communicable diseases, in particular HIV/AIDS, Ebola, malaria and
tuberculosis; the mitigation of the effects of non-communicable diseases; sexual and

reproductive health, development, and aging; nutrition, food security and healthy eating;
occupational health; substance abuse; and driving the development of reporting, publications,
and networking. The WHO is responsible for the World Health Report, a leading international
publication on health, the worldwide World Health Survey, and World Health Day (7 April of
every year). The head of WHO is Margaret Chan.
The 2014/2015 proposed budget of the WHO is about US$4 billion.[1] About US$930 million is
to be provided by member states with a further US$3 billion to be from voluntary contributions.
[1]

Contents

1 History
o 1.1 Establishment
o 1.2 Operational history
o 1.3 Overall focus
o 1.4 Communicable diseases
o 1.5 Non-communicable diseases, mental health and injuries
o 1.6 Life course and life style
o 1.7 Emergency work
o 1.8 Health policy
o 1.9 Governance and support

1.9.1 Partnerships

1.9.2 Public health education and action

o 1.10 Data handling and publications

2 Structure
o 2.1 Membership
o 2.2 Assembly and Executive Board

o 2.3 Regional offices

o 2.4 People
o 2.5 Country and liaison offices
o 2.6 Financing and partnerships

3 Controversies
o 3.1 IAEA Agreement WHA 1240
o 3.2 Roman Catholic Church and AIDS
o 3.3 Intermittent preventive therapy
o 3.4 Diet and sugar intake
o 3.5 2009 Swine Flu pandemic

4 World headquarters
o 4.1 Early views
o 4.2 Views 2013

5 Name in other languages

6 See also

7 References

8 External links

History
Establishment
During the 1945 United Nations Conference on International Organization, Dr. Szeming Sze, a
delegate from China, conferred with Norwegian and Brazilian delegates on creating an
international health organization under the auspices of the new United Nations. After failing to
get a resolution passed on the subject, Alger Hiss, the Secretary General of the conference,
recommended using a declaration to establish such an organization. Dr. Sze and other delegates
lobbied and a declaration passed calling for an international conference on health.[2] The use of

the word "world", rather than "international",emphasized the truly global nature of what the
organization was seeking to achieve.[3] The constitution of the World Health Organization was
signed by all 51 countries of the United Nations, and by 10 other countries, on 22 July 1946.[4] It
thus became the first specialised agency of the United Nations to which every member
subscribed.[5] 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.[6] The first meeting of the World Health
Assembly finished on 24 July 1948, having secured a budget of US$5 million (then
GBP1,250,000) for the 1949 year. Andrija Stampar was the Assembly's first president, and G.
Brock Chisholm was appointed Director-General of WHO, having served as Executive Secretary
during the planning stages.[3] 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.[3] The logo of the World Health Organization
features the Rod of Asclepius as a symbol for healing.[7]

Operational history

Three former directors of the Global Smallpox Eradication Programme read the news that
smallpox had been globally eradicated, 1980
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 (FAO), the United Nations
Development Programme (UNDP), 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
its 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.[8]

In 1958, 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.[9] 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.[10][11] 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.[12] The WHO also helped contain the last European outbreak in Yugoslavia in 1972.[13]
After over two decades of fighting smallpox, the WHO declared in 1979 that the disease had
been eradicated the first disease in history to be eliminated by human effort.[14]
In 1998, WHO's Director General highlighted gains in child survival, reduced infant mortality,
increased 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.[15] Cholera and malaria have
remained problems since WHO's founding, although in decline for a large part of that period.[16]
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.
[8]
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.[17]