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.
Constitution and history
The WHO's constitution states that its objective "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 people of the world.
The World Health Organization (WHO) 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. 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. The transfer was authorized by a Resolution of the
General Assembly.
The
epidemiological service of the
French
Office
International d'Hygiène Publique was incorporated into the
Interim Commission of the World Health Organization on January 1st,
1947.
Activities
As well as coordinating international efforts to monitor outbreaks
of infectious diseases, such as
SARS,
malaria,
swine flu, and
AIDS the
WHO also sponsors
programs to prevent and treat such diseases. The WHO supports the
development and distribution of safe and effective vaccines,
pharmaceutical diagnostics, and drugs. After over 2 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.
The WHO 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 3
October 2006), making it an international standard.
In addition to its work in eradicating disease, the WHO also
carries out various health-related campaigns — for example, to
boost the consumption of fruits and
vegetables worldwide and to discourage
tobacco use.
Experts
met at the WHO headquarters in Geneva in February,
2007, and reported that their work on pandemic influenza
vaccine development had achieved encouraging
progress. More than 40
clinical
trials have been completed or are ongoing. Most have focused on
healthy adults. Some companies, after completing safety analysis in
adults, have initiated clinical trials in the elderly and in
children. All vaccines so far appear to be safe and well-tolerated
in all age groups tested.
The WHO also promotes the development of capacities in Member
States to use and produce research that addresses national needs,
by bolstering national health research systems and promoting
knowledge translation platforms such as the Evidence Informed
Policy Network -
EVIPNet. WHO and its regional offices are
working to develop regional policies on research for health -the
first one being the Regional Office for the Americas
PAHO/AMRO that had its Policy on Research for
Health approved in September 2009 by its 49th Directing Council
Document CD 49.10.
WHO also conducts some research; for example, whether the
electromagnetic field surrounding
cell phones has an impact on health.
Some of this work can be controversial, as illustrated by the
April, 2003, joint WHO/
FAO report, which
recommended that
sugar should form no more
than 10% of a healthy diet. This report led to lobbying by the
sugar industry against the recommendation, to which the WHO/FAO
responded by including in the report the statement "The
Consultation recognized that a population goal for free sugars
ofless than 10% of total energy is controversial", but also stood
by its recommendation based upon its own analysis of scientific
studies.
Publishing
- International Classification of Diseases
(ICD) is a widely followed publication. The tenth revision of the
ICD, also known as ICD-10, 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 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 centurywas published on August 23,
2006.
- A model list of essential
medicines that all countries' health-care systems should make
available and affordable to the general population.
- Global plan of action on
workers' health is a draft to protect and promote health in the
workplace, to improve the performance of and access to occupational
health services, and to incorporate workers' health into other
policies. The WHO has emphasized the effort because, despite the
availability of effective interventions to prevent occupational
hazards, large gaps exist between and within countries with regard
to the health status of workers and their exposure to occupational
risks. According to the WHO, only a small minority of the global
workforce has access to occupational health services. The action
plan deals with aspects of workers' health, including primary
prevention of occupational hazards, protection and promotion of
health at work, employment conditions, and a better response from
health systems to workers' health.
- Health Sciences Online is
a non-profit online
health information resource from the World Health
Organization.
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).
Programs and Projects
Conventions
Research Policy Documents
Private sector partnerships
Structure
WHO Headquarters in Geneva
The 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, Vatican
City
, and Chinese
Taipei.
WHO Member States 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 Assembly generally meets in May each year. In addition to
appointing the Director-General every five years, the Assembly
considers the financial policies of the Organization and reviews
and approves the proposed programme budget. The Assembly elects 34
members, technically qualified in the field of health, to the
Executive Board for three-year terms. The main functions of the
Board are to carry out the decisions and policies of the Assembly,
to advise it and to facilitate its work in general.
The WHO is financed by contributions from member states and from
donors. In recent years, the WHO's work has involved more
collaboration; there are currently around 80 such partnerships with
NGO 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, now exceed that of assessed contributions (dues) from the
193 member nations.
Regional offices
[[Image:WHO regional offices.png|thumb|Regional offices and regions
of the WHO:
]]
Uncharacteristically for a UN Agency, the six Regional Offices of
the WHO enjoy remarkable autonomy. Each Regional Office is headed
by a Regional Director (RD), who is elected by the Regional
Committee for a once-renewable five-year term. The name of the
RD-elect is transmitted to the WHO Executive Board in Geneva, which
proceeds to confirm the appointment. It is rare that an elected
Regional Director is not confirmed.
Each Regional Committee of the WHO 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, within the region, of the Health and other
policies adopted by the
World
Health Assembly. The Regional Committee also serves as a
progress review board for the actions of the WHO within the
Region.
The Regional Director is effectively the head of the WHO for his or
her 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, known as WHO Representatives, within
the Region.
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, except for Israel.
- 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 accompanied by satellite-offices in the provinces or
sub-regions of the country in question.
The country office is headed by a WHO Representative (WR), who is a
trained physician, not a national of that country, who holds
diplomatic rank and is due privileges and immunities similar to
those of an
Ambassador Extraordinary and
Plenipotentiary. 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 the WHO to the country to which he or she is accredited. Hence,
the title of
Resident
Represaentative, or simply
Representative. The WR
representative is member of the
UN system
country Team which is coordinated by the UN system
resident Coordinator.
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.
People
Other
Nancy Brinker was appointed Goodwill
Ambassador for Cancer Control by Director-General
Margaret Chan on May 26th, 2009.
Staffing
The World Health Organization is an agency of the
United Nations and as such shares a core of
common personnel policy with other agencies.
The World Health Organization has recently
banned the recruitment of cigarette smokers, to
promote the principle of a tobacco-free work environment.The World
Health Organization(WHO) successfully rallied 168 countries to sign
the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control in 2003. The Convention
is designed to push for effective legislation and its enforcement
in all countries to reduce the harmful effects of tobacco. On
August 28, 2005, the National People’s Congress of China signed the
Convention.
Controversies
Condoms and the Roman Catholic Church
In 2003, the WHO denounced statements by the
Roman Curia's health department, saying: "These
incorrect statements about condoms and HIV are dangerous when we
are facing a global pandemic which has already killed more than 20
million people, and currently affects at least 42 million."
Intermittent Preventive Therapy
The aggressive support of the
Bill & Melinda Gates
Foundation for
intermittent preventive
therapy which included the commissioning a report from the
Institute of Medicine
triggered a memo from the former
WHO malaria
chief Dr. Akira Kochi . Dr. Kochi wrote, “although it was less and
less straightforward that the health agency should recommend IPTi,
the agency’s objections were met with intense and aggressive
opposition from Gates-backed scientists and the foundation”.
See also
References
- – For an easier to read version see
- Collin N, de Radiguès X; the World Health Organization H1N1
Vaccine Task Force. Vaccine production capacity for seasonal and
pandemic (H1N1) 2009 influenza. Vaccine. 2009 Jun 27. [Epub ahead
of print]PMID: 19563891
- Hayden FG, Howard WA, Palkonyay L, Kieny MP. Report of the 5th
meeting on the evaluation of pandemic influenza prototype vaccines
in clinical trials: World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland,
12–13 February 2009. Vaccine. 2009 Jun 24;27(31):4079–89. Epub 2009
May 9. PMID: 19406184
- Xinhua - English
- WHO | WHO reports some promising results on avian
influenza vaccines
- Sugar industry threatens to scupper WHO | Society |
The Guardian
- Diet, nutrition and the prevention of chronic
diseases. Report of the joint WHO/FAO expert consultation.
World Health Organization and Food and Agriculture Organization of
the United Nations, Geneva, 2003. See section 1.3 A summary of
population nutrient intake goals of Chapter 5, Population nutrient intake goals for
preventing diet-related chronic diseases
- World Health Organization. Workers' health: global plan of action.
Sixtieth World Health Assembly, May 23, 2007. Retrieved September
15, 2008.
- WHO Collaborating Centres. World Health Organization.
Accessed September 14, 2009.
- http://www.who.int/fctc/en/index.html
- Vatican: condoms don't stop Aids
- New York Times, February 16, 2008 Gates Foundation’s
Influence Criticized By DONALD G. McNEIL Jr.
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