World Health Organization

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World Health Organization

Flag of the World Health Organization
Flag of the World Health Organization
Formation 7 April 1948
Type Specialized agency of the United Nations
Headquarters Geneva, Switzerland
Membership 193 member states
Official languages Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish
Director-General Margaret Chan
Website http://www.who.int/

The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations that acts as a coordinating authority on international public health, headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. Established on 7 April 1948, the agency inherited the mandate and resources of its predecessor, the Health Organization, which had been an agency of the League of Nations.

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[edit] Mission

WHO's constitution states that its mission "is the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of health." Its major task is to combat disease, especially key infectious diseases, and to promote the general health of the peoples of the world. The constitution of WHO defines health as a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, and not as consisting only of the absence of disease or infirmity or mental retardation. As well as coordinating international efforts to monitor outbreaks of infectious disease such as SARS, malaria, and AIDS, it also has programs to combat such diseases, by developing and distributing vaccines. 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.[1]

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 then 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.[2]

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[3].

[edit] 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 search able 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.

[edit] Structure

WHO Headquarters in Geneva
WHO Headquarters in Geneva

WHO Member States [4] 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 WHA activities. Taiwan’s inability to gain access to WHO information contributed to the severity of the 2004 SARS epidemic in Taiwan.

The WHA 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.

[edit] 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. 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. [5]PDF (30.1 KiB)

[edit] 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.

[edit] Regional Offices

Regional offices and regions of the WHO:      Africa; HQ: Brazzaville, Congo      Americas; HQ: Washington, DC, USA      Eastern Med.; HQ: Cairo, Egypt      Europe; HQ: Copenhagen, Denmark      South East Asia; HQ: New Delhi, India      Western Pacific; HQ: Manila, Philippines
Regional offices and regions of the WHO: Africa; HQ: Brazzaville, Congo Americas; HQ: Washington, DC, USA Eastern Med.; HQ: Cairo, Egypt Europe; HQ: Copenhagen, Denmark South East Asia; HQ: New Delhi, India Western Pacific; HQ: Manila, Philippines

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 specialized centers. 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:

[edit] 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.

[edit] Some WHO-private sector partnerships

[edit] Directors-General of WHO

The late Lee Jong-wook, past Director-General of the World Health Organization
The late Lee Jong-wook, past Director-General of the World Health Organization
Name Country Term of Office
Brock Chisholm Canada 1948–1953
Marcolino Gomes Candau Brazil 1953–1973
Halfdan T. Mahler Denmark 1973–1988
Hiroshi Nakajima Japan 1988–1998
Gro Harlem Brundtland Norway 1998–2003
Lee Jong-wook South Korea 2003–2006 (died on 5/22)
Anders Nordström Sweden 2006
Margaret Chan Hong Kong,China January 4, 2007–

[edit] Other notable persons associated with WHO

[edit] 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.

[edit] Smokers

The World Health Organization has recently banned the recruitment of cigarette smokers, to promote the principle of a tobacco-free work environment.

[edit] Statistics

Statistics published by the WHO are largely based on official government figures [6]PDF (150 KiB).

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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