From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The
World Health Organization (
WHO) is a
specialized agency of the United Nations that is concerned with international
public health. It was established on 7 April 1948, and is headquartered in
Geneva, Switzerland. The WHO is a member of the
United Nations Development Group. Its predecessor, the Health Organisation, 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 22 July 1946. It incorporated the
Office International d'Hygiène Publique and the League of Nations Health Organization. Since its establishment, 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 such as 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, the worldwide
World Health Survey, and
World Health Day. The current Director-General of the WHO is
Tedros Adhanom, who started his five-year term on 1 July 2017.
History
Origins
The
International Sanitary Conferences,
originally held on 23 June 1851, were the first predecessors of the
WHO. A series of 14 conferences that lasted from 1851 to 1938, the
International Sanitary Conferences worked to combat many diseases, chief
among them
cholera,
yellow fever, and the
bubonic plague.
The conferences were largely ineffective until the seventh, in 1892;
when an International Sanitary Convention that dealt with cholera was
passed. Five years later, a convention for the plague was signed. In part as a result of the successes of the Conferences, the
Pan-American Sanitary Bureau, and the
Office International d'Hygiène Publique were soon founded in 1902 and 1907, respectively. When the
League of Nations was formed in 1920, they established the Health Organization of the League of Nations. After
World War II, the United Nations absorbed all the other health organizations, to form the WHO.
Establishment
During the 1945 United Nations Conference on International Organization,
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. Sze and other delegates
lobbied and a declaration passed calling for an international conference
on health.
The use of the word "world", rather than "international", emphasized
the truly global nature of what the organization was seeking to achieve.
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. It thus became the first specialized agency of the United Nations to which every member subscribed. 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. The first meeting of the
World Health Assembly finished on 24 July 1948, having secured a budget of
US$5 million (then
GB£1,250,000) 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. 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. The logo of the World Health Organization features the
Rod of Asclepius as a symbol for healing.
Operational history
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. At this point, 2 million people were dying from smallpox every year.
In 1966, the WHO moved its headquarters from the Ariana wing at the
Palace of Nations to a newly constructed HQ elsewhere in Geneva.
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.
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. The WHO also helped contain the last European outbreak in
Yugoslavia in 1972. 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.
Also in 1967, the WHO launched the Special Programme for Research and
Training in Tropical Diseases and the World Health Assembly voted to
enact a resolution on Disability Prevention and Rehabilitation, with a
focus on community-driven care.
In 1986, the WHO began its global programme on
HIV/AIDS. Two years later preventing discrimination against sufferers was attended to and in 1996
UNAIDS was formed.
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.
Overall focus
The WHO's Constitution states that its objective "is the attainment by all people of the highest possible level of health".
The WHO fulfills this objective through its functions as defined
in its Constitution: (a) To act as the directing and coordinating
authority on international health work; (b) To establish and maintain
effective collaboration with the United Nations, specialized agencies,
governmental health administrations, professional groups and such other
organizations as may be deemed appropriate; (c) To assist Governments,
upon request, in strengthening health services; (d) To furnish
appropriate technical assistance and, in emergencies, necessary aid upon
the request or acceptance of Governments; (e) To provide or assist in
providing, upon the request of the United Nations, health services and
facilities to special groups, such as the peoples of trust territories;
(f) To establish and maintain such administrative and technical services
as may be required, including epidemiological and statistical services;
(g) to stimulate and advance work to eradicate epidemic, endemic and
other diseases; (h) To promote, in co-operation with other specialized
agencies where necessary, the prevention of accidental injuries; (i) To
promote, in co-operation with other specialized agencies where
necessary, the improvement of nutrition, housing, sanitation,
recreation, economic or working conditions and other aspects of
environmental hygiene; (j) To promote co-operation among scientific and
professional groups which contribute to the advancement of health; (k)
To propose conventions, agreements and regulations, and make
recommendations with respect to international health matters and to
perform.
As of 2012, the WHO has defined its role in public health as follows:
- providing leadership on matters critical to health and engaging in partnerships where joint action is needed;
- shaping the research agenda and stimulating the generation, translation, and dissemination of valuable knowledge;
- setting norms and standards and promoting and monitoring their implementation;
- articulating ethical and evidence-based policy options;
- providing technical support, catalysing change, and building sustainable institutional capacity; and
- monitoring the health situation and assessing health trends.
- CRVS (Civil Registration and Vital Statistics) to provide monitoring of vital events (birth, death, wedding, divorce).
Communicable diseases
The 2012–2013 WHO budget identified 5 areas among which funding was distributed. Two of those five areas related to
communicable diseases: the first, to reduce the "health, social and economic burden" of communicable diseases in general; the second to combat
HIV/AIDS,
malaria and
tuberculosis in particular.
As of 2015, the WHO has worked within the
UNAIDS network and strives to involve sections of society other than health to help deal with the economic and social effects of
HIV/AIDS.
In line with UNAIDS, WHO has set itself the interim task between 2009
and 2015 of reducing the number of those aged 15–24 years who are
infected by 50%; reducing new HIV infections in children by 90%; and
reducing HIV-related deaths by 25%.
During the 1970s, WHO had dropped its commitment to a global
malaria eradication campaign as too ambitious, it retained a strong
commitment to malaria control. WHO's Global Malaria Programme works to
keep track of malaria cases, and future problems in malaria control
schemes. As of 2012, the WHO was to report as to whether
RTS,S/AS01, were a viable
malaria vaccine. For the time being,
insecticide-treated
mosquito nets and insecticide sprays are used to prevent the spread of malaria, as are
antimalarial drugs – particularly to vulnerable people such as pregnant women and young children.
Between 1990 and 2010, WHO's help has contributed to a 40% decline in the number of deaths from
tuberculosis,
and since 2005, over 46 million people have been treated and an
estimated 7 million lives saved through practices advocated by WHO.
These include engaging national governments and their financing, early
diagnosis, standardising treatment, monitoring of the spread and effect
of tuberculosis and stabilising the drug supply. It has also recognized
the vulnerability of victims of HIV/AIDS to tuberculosis.
In 1988, WHO launched the Global Polio Eradication Initiative to eradicate
polio. It has also been successful in helping to reduce cases by 99% since which partnered WHO with
Rotary International, the
US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the
United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), and smaller organizations. As of 2011, it has been working to immunize young children and prevent the re-emergence of cases in countries declared "polio-free".
In 2017, a study was conducted where why Polio Vaccines may not be
enough to eradicate the Virus & conduct new technology. Polio is now
on the verge of extinction, thanks to a Global Vaccination Drive. the
World Health Organization (WHO) stated the eradication programme has
saved millions from deadly disease.
Non-communicable diseases
Another
of the thirteen WHO priority areas is aimed at the prevention and
reduction of "disease, disability and premature deaths from chronic
noncommunicable diseases,
mental disorders, violence and
injuries, and
visual impairment".
The Division of Noncommunicable Diseases for Promoting Health through
the Life-course Sexual and Reproductive Health has published the
magazine,
Entre Nous, across Europe since 1983.
Environmental health
The
WHO estimates that 12.6 million people died as a result of living or
working in an unhealthy environment in 2012 – this accounts for nearly 1
in 4 of total global deaths. Environmental risk factors, such as air,
water and soil pollution, chemical exposures, climate change, and
ultraviolet radiation, contribute to more than 100 diseases and
injuries. This can result in a number of
pollution-related diseases.
- 2018 (30 October – 1 November) : 1 WHO’s first global conference on air pollution and health (Improving air quality, combatting climate change – saving lives) ;
organized in collaboration with UN Environment, World Meteorological
Organization (WMO) and the secretariat of the UN Framework Convention on
Climate Change (UNFCCC)
Life course and life style
It also tries to prevent or reduce risk factors for "health conditions associated with use of tobacco, alcohol,
drugs and other psychoactive substances, unhealthy diets and physical inactivity and
unsafe sex".
Surgery and trauma care
The WHO promotes road safety as a means to reduce traffic-related injuries.
The WHO has also worked on global initiatives in surgery, including emergency and essential surgical care, trauma care, and safe surgery. The
WHO Surgical Safety Checklist is in current use worldwide in the effort to improve patient safety.
Emergency work
The
World Health Organization's primary objective in natural and man-made
emergencies is to coordinate with member states and other stakeholders
to "reduce avoidable loss of life and the burden of disease and
disability."
On 5 May 2014, WHO announced that the spread of
polio was a world health emergency – outbreaks of the disease in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East were considered "extraordinary".
On 8 August 2014, WHO declared that the spread of
Ebola
was a public health emergency; an outbreak which was believed to have
started in Guinea had spread to other nearby countries such as Liberia
and Sierra Leone. The situation in West Africa was considered very
serious.
Health policy
WHO addresses government
health policy
with two aims: firstly, "to address the underlying social and economic
determinants of health through policies and programmes that enhance
health equity and integrate pro-poor, gender-responsive, and human
rights-based approaches" and secondly "to promote a healthier
environment, intensify primary prevention and influence public policies
in all sectors so as to address the root causes of environmental threats
to health".
In terms of health services, WHO looks to improve "governance,
financing, staffing and management" and the availability and quality of
evidence and research to guide policy. It also strives to "ensure
improved access, quality and use of medical products and technologies".
WHO – working with donor agencies and national governments – can
improve their use of and their reporting about their use of research
evidence.
Governance and support
The remaining two of WHO's thirteen identified policy areas relate to the role of WHO itself:
- "to provide leadership, strengthen governance and foster
partnership and collaboration with countries, the United Nations system,
and other stakeholders in order to fulfill the mandate of WHO in
advancing the global health agenda"; and
- "to develop and sustain WHO as a flexible, learning organization,
enabling it to carry out its mandate more efficiently and effectively".
Partnerships
The WHO along with the
World Bank constitute the core team responsible for administering the
International Health Partnership
(IHP+). The IHP+ is a group of partner governments, development
agencies, civil society and others committed to improving the health of
citizens in
developing countries. Partners work together to put international principles for
aid effectiveness and development co-operation into practice in the health sector.
WHO runs the Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research, targeted at improving
health policy and
systems.
WHO also aims to improve access to health research and literature in developing countries such as through the
HINARI network.
WHO collaborates with the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis
and Malaria, UNITAID, and the United States President's Emergency Plan
for AIDS Relief to spearhead and fund the development of HIV programs.
WHO created the Civil Society Reference Group on HIV, which brings together other networks that are involved in policy making and the dissemination of guidelines.
WHO, a sector of the United Nations, partners with UNAIDS to contribute to the development of HIV responses in different areas of the world.
WHO facilitates technical partnerships through the Technical Advisory Committee on HIV, which they created to develop WHO guidelines and policies.
Public health education and action
As part of the United Nations, the World Health Organization supports work towards the
Millennium Development Goals.
Of the eight Millennium Development Goals, three – reducing child
mortality by two-thirds, to reduce maternal deaths by three-quarters,
and to halt and begin to reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS – relate directly
to WHO's scope; the other five inter-relate and affect world health.
Data handling and publications
The
World Health Organization works to provide the needed health and
well-being evidence through a variety of data collection platforms,
including the World Health Survey covering almost 400,000 respondents
from 70 countries, and the
Study on Global Aging and Adult Health (SAGE) covering over 50,000 persons over 50 years old in 23 countries.
The Country Health Intelligence Portal (CHIP), has also been developed
to provide an access point to information about the health services that
are available in different countries.
The information gathered in this portal is used by the countries to set
priorities for future strategies or plans, implement, monitor, and
evaluate it.
The WHO has published various tools for measuring and monitoring the capacity of national
health systems and
health workforces.
The Global Health Observatory (GHO) has been the WHO's main portal
which provides access to data and analyses for key health themes by
monitoring health situations around the globe.
The
WHO Assessment Instrument for Mental Health Systems (WHO-AIMS), the
WHO Quality of Life Instrument (WHOQOL), and the
Service Availability and Readiness Assessment (SARA) provide guidance for data collection. Collaborative efforts between WHO and other agencies, such as through the
Health Metrics Network, also aim to provide sufficient high-quality information to assist governmental decision making.
WHO promotes the development of capacities in member states to use and
produce research that addresses their national needs, including through
the
Evidence-Informed Policy Network (EVIPNet). The
Pan American Health Organization (PAHO/AMRO) became the first region to develop and pass a policy on research for health approved in September 2009.
On 10 December 2013, a new WHO database, known as
MiNDbank, went online. The database was launched on
Human Rights Day,
and is part of WHO's QualityRights initiative, which aims to end human
rights violations against people with mental health conditions. The new
database presents a great deal of information about mental health,
substance abuse, disability, human rights, and the different policies,
strategies, laws, and service standards being implemented in different
countries.
It also contains important international documents and information. The
database allows visitors to access the health information of WHO member
states and other partners. Users can review policies, laws, and
strategies and search for the best practices and success stories in the
field of mental health.
In 2016, the World Health Organization drafted a global health
sector strategy on HIV. In the draft, the World Health Organization
outlines its commitment to ending the AIDS epidemic by the year 2030
with interim targets for the year 2020. In order to make achievements
towards these targets, the draft lists actions that countries and the
WHO can take, such as a commitment to universal health coverage, medical
accessibility, prevention and eradication of disease, and efforts to
educate the public. Some notable points made in the draft include
addressing gender inequity where females are nearly twice as likely as
men to get infected with HIV and tailoring resources to mobilized
regions where the health system may be compromised due to natural
disasters, etc. Among the points made, it seems clear that although the
prevalence of HIV transmission is declining, there is still a need for
resources, health education, and global efforts to end this epidemic.
Structure
Membership
Countries by World Health Organization membership status
As of 2016, the WHO has 194 member states: all of them Member States of the United Nations except for the
Cook Islands and
Niue.
(A state becomes a full member of WHO by ratifying the treaty known as
the Constitution of the World Health Organization.) As of 2013, it also had two associate members, Puerto Rico and
Tokelau. Several other countries have been granted
observer status.
Palestine is an observer as a "national liberation movement" recognized by the
League of Arab States under United Nations Resolution 3118. The
Holy See also attends as an observer, as does the
Order of Malta. In 2010, Taiwan was invited under the name of "Republic of China".
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 website, "other countries
may be admitted as members when their application has been approved by a
simple majority vote of the World Health Assembly".
Liechtenstein is currently the only UN member not in the WHO
membership.The World Health Assembly is attended by delegations from all
Member States, and determines the policies of the Organization.
World Health Assembly and Executive Board
WHO Headquarters in Geneva
The
World Health Assembly
(WHA) is the legislative and supreme body of WHO. Based in Geneva, it
typically meets yearly in May. It appoints the Director-General every
five years and votes on matters of policy and finance of WHO, including
the proposed budget. It also reviews reports of the Executive Board and
decides whether there are areas of work requiring further examination.
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. The current chairman of the executive board is Dr.
Assad Hafeez.
Regional offices
Map of the WHO's Regional offices and their respective operating regions.
Western Pacific; HQ: Manila, Philippines
South East Asia; HQ: New Delhi, India
Americas; HQ: Washington D.C., USA
The regional divisions of WHO were created between 1949 and 1952, and
are based on article 44 of the WHO's constitution, which allowed the
WHO to "establish a [single] regional organization to meet the special
needs of [each defined] area". Many decisions are made at regional
level, including important discussions over WHO's budget, and in
deciding the members of the next assembly, which are designated by the
regions.
Each region has a Regional Committee, which generally meets once a
year, normally in the autumn. Representatives attend from each member
or associative member in each region, including those states that are
not fully recognized. For example,
Palestine attends meetings of the
Eastern Mediterranean Regional office. Each region also has a regional office.
Each Regional Office is headed by a Regional Director, who is elected
by the Regional Committee. The Board must approve such appointments,
although as of 2004, it had never over-ruled the preference of a
regional committee. The exact role of the board in the process has been a
subject of debate, but the practical effect has always been small. Since 1999, Regional Directors serve for a once-renewable five-year term, and typically take their position on 1 February.
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 WHO within the Region.
The Regional Director is effectively the head of WHO for his or
her Region. The RD manages and/or supervises a staff of health and other
experts at the regional offices and in specialized centres. 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.
Regional Offices of WHO
| Region
|
Headquarters
|
Notes
|
Website
|
| Africa
|
Brazzaville, Republic of Congo
|
AFRO includes most of Africa, with the exception of Egypt, Sudan,
Djibouti, Tunisia, Libya, Somalia and Morocco (all fall under EMRO). The Regional Director is Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, a Botswanan national. (Tenure: -Present).
|
AFRO
|
| Europe
|
Copenhagen, Denmark.
|
EURO includes all of Europe (except Liechtenstein) Israel, and all of the former USSR. The Regional Director is Dr. Zsuzsanna Jakab, a Hungarian national (Tenure: 2010 – present).
|
EURO
|
| South-East Asia
|
New Delhi, India
|
North Korea is served by SEARO. The Regional Director is Dr. Poonam Khetrapal Singh, an Indian national (Tenure: 2014 – present).
|
SEARO
|
| Eastern Mediterranean
|
Cairo, Egypt
|
The Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office
serves the countries of Africa that are not included in AFRO, as well
as all countries in the Middle East except for Israel. Pakistan is
served by EMRO. The Regional Director is Dr. Ahmed Al-Mandhari, an Omani national (Tenure: 2018 – present).
|
EMRO
|
| Western Pacific
|
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. The Regional Director is Dr. Shin Young-soo, a South Korean national (Tenure: 2009 – present).
|
WPRO
|
| The Americas
|
Washington D.C., USA.
|
Also known as the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), and covers the Americas. The WHO Regional Director is Dr. Carissa F. Etienne, a Dominican national (Tenure: 2013 – present).
|
AMRO
|
Director-General
The head of the organization is the Director-General, elected by the
World Health Assembly.
The term lasts for 5 years, and Director-Generals are typically
appointed in May, when the Assembly meets. The current Director-General
is Dr.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who was appointed on 1 July 2017.
Employees
The WHO employs 8,500 people in 147 countries. In support of the principle of a tobacco-free work environment, the WHO does not recruit cigarette smokers. The organization has previously instigated the
Framework Convention on Tobacco Control in 2003.
Goodwill Ambassadors
Country and liaison offices
The country office is headed by a WHO Representative (WR). As of 2010, the only WHO Representative outside Europe to be a national of that country was for the
Libyan Arab Jamahiriya
("Libya"); all other staff were international. WHO Representatives in
the Region termed the Americas are referred to as PAHO/WHO
Representatives. In Europe, WHO Representatives also serve as Head of
Country Office, and are nationals with the exception of Serbia; there
are also Heads of Country Office in Albania, the Russian Federation,
Tajikistan, Turkey, and Uzbekistan. The WR 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.
Financing and partnerships
The WHO is financed by contributions from member states and outside donors. As of 2012,
the largest annual assessed contributions from member states came from
the United States ($110 million), Japan ($58 million), Germany
($37 million), United Kingdom ($31 million) and France ($31 million).
The combined 2012–2013 budget has proposed a total expenditure of
$3,959 million, of which $944 million (24%) will come from assessed
contributions. This represented a significant fall in outlay compared to
the previous 2009–2010 budget, adjusting to take account of previous
underspends. Assessed contributions were kept the same. Voluntary
contributions will account for $3,015 million (76%), of which
$800 million is regarded as highly or moderately flexible funding, with
the remainder tied to particular programmes or objectives.
In recent years, the WHO's work has involved increasing collaboration with external bodies. As of 2002,
a total of 473 non-governmental organizations (NGO) had some form of
partnership with WHO. There were 189 partnerships with international
NGOs in formal "official relations" – the rest being considered informal
in character. Partners include the
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the
Rockefeller Foundation.
Controversies
IAEA – Agreement WHA 12–40
In 1959, the WHO signed Agreement WHA 12–40 with the
International Atomic Energy Agency
(IAEA). A selective reading of this document (clause 3) can result in
the understanding that the IAEA is able to prevent the WHO from
conducting research or work on some areas, as seen hereafter. The
agreement states here that the WHO recognizes the IAEA as having
responsibility for peaceful nuclear energy without prejudice to the
roles of the WHO of promoting health. However, the following paragraph
adds that "whenever either organization proposes to initiate a programme or
activity on a subject in which the other organization has or may have a
substantial interest, the first party shall consult the other with a
view to adjusting the matter by mutual agreement".
"2. In particular, and in accordance with the Constitution of the
World Health Organization and the Statute of the International Atomic
Energy Agency and its agreement with the United Nations together with
the exchange of letters related thereto, and taking into account the
respective co-ordinating responsibilities of both organizations, it is
recognized by the World Health Organization that the International
Atomic Energy Agency has the primary responsibility for encouraging,
assisting and co- ordinating research and development and practical
application of atomic energy for peaceful uses throughout the world
without prejudice to the right of the World Health Organization to
concern itself with promoting, developing, assisting and co-ordinating
international health work, including research, in all its aspects."
Clearly suggesting that the WHO is free to do as it sees fit on nuclear, radiation and other matters which relate to health.
Roman Catholic Church and AIDS
In 2003, the WHO denounced the
Roman Curia's health department's opposition to the use of
condoms,
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." As of 2009, the
Catholic Church remains opposed to increasing the use of contraception to combat HIV/AIDS. At the time, the World Health Assembly President, Guyana's Health Minister
Leslie Ramsammy, has condemned
Pope Benedict's
opposition to contraception, saying he was trying to "create confusion"
and "impede" proven strategies in the battle against the disease.
Intermittent preventive therapy
Diet and sugar intake
Some
of the research undertaken or supported by WHO to determine how
people's lifestyles and environments are influencing whether they live
in better or worse health can be controversial, as illustrated by a 2003
joint WHO/FAO report on nutrition and the prevention of chronic
non-communicable disease, which recommended that
free sugars should form no more than 10% of a
healthy diet. The report led to lobbying by the
sugar industry
against the recommendation, to which the WHO/FAO responded by including
in the report this statement: "The Consultation recognized that a
population goal for free sugars of less than 10% of total energy is
controversial". It also stood by its recommendation based upon its own
analysis of scientific studies.
In 2014, WHO reduced recommended free sugars levels by half and said
that free sugars should make up no more than 5% of a healthy diet.
2009 swine flu pandemic
In 2007, the WHO organized work on pandemic
influenza vaccine development through
clinical trials in collaboration with many experts and health officials. A pandemic involving the
H1N1 influenza virus was declared by the then Director-General
Margaret Chan in April 2009. Margret Chan declared in 2010 that the H1N1 has moved into the post-pandemic period.
By the post-pandemic period critics claimed the WHO had
exaggerated the danger, spreading "fear and confusion" rather than
"immediate information".
Industry experts countered that the 2009 pandemic had led to
"unprecedented collaboration between global health authorities,
scientists and manufacturers, resulting in the most comprehensive
pandemic response ever undertaken, with a number of vaccines approved
for use three months after the pandemic declaration. This response was
only possible because of the extensive preparations undertaken during
the last decade".
2013–2016 Ebola outbreak and reform efforts
Following the
2014 Ebola outbreak
in West Africa, the organization was heavily criticized for its
bureaucracy, insufficient financing, regional structure, and staffing
profile.
An internal WHO report on the Ebola response pointed to
underfunding and the lack of "core capacity" in health systems in
developing countries as the primary weaknesses of the existing system.
At the annual World Health Assembly in 2015, Director-General Margaret
Chan announced a $100 million Contingency Fund for rapid response to
future emergencies,
of which it had received $26.9 million by April 2016 (for 2017
disbursement). WHO has budgeted an additional $494 million for its
Health Emergencies Programme in 2016–17, for which it had received
$140 million by April 2016.
The program was aimed at rebuilding WHO capacity for direct
action, which critics said had been lost due to budget cuts in the
previous decade that had left the organization in an advisory role
dependent on member states for on-the-ground activities. In comparison,
billions of dollars have been spent by developed countries on the
2013–2016 Ebola epidemic and 2015–16 Zika epidemic.
FCTC implementation database
The
WHO has a Framework Convention on Tobacco implementation database which
is one of the only mechanisms to help enforce compliance with the FCTC.
However, there have been reports of numerous discrepancies between it
and national implementation reports on which it was built. As
researchers Hoffman and Rizvi report "As of July 4, 2012, 361 (32·7%) of
1104 countries' responses were misreported: 33 (3·0%) were clear errors
(eg, database indicated “yes” when report indicated “no”), 270 (24·5%)
were missing despite countries having submitted responses, and 58 (5·3%)
were, in our opinion, misinterpreted by WHO staff".
IARC controversies
The World Health Organization sub-department, the International
Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), has been criticized for the way it
analyses the tendency of certain substances and activities to cause
cancer and for having a politically motivated bias when it selects
studies for its analysis. Ed Yong, a British science journalist, has
criticized the agency and its "confusing" category system for misleading
the public. Marcel Kuntz, a French director of research at the
French National Centre for Scientific Research,
criticized the agency for its classification of potentially
carcinogenic substances. He claimed that this classification did not
take into account the extent of exposure: for example, red meat is
qualified as probably carcinogenic, but the quantity of consumed red
meat at which it could become dangerous is not specified.
Controversies have erupted multiple times when the IARC has
classified many things as Class 2a (probable carcinogens), including
cell phone signals,
glyphosate, drinking hot beverages, and working as a barber.
Block of Taiwanese participation
Political
pressure from China has led to Taiwan being barred from membership of
the WHO and other UN-affiliated organizations, and in both 2017 and 2018
the WHO refused to allow Taiwanese delegates to attend the
WHO annual assembly. On multiple occasions Taiwanese journalists have been denied access to report on the assembly.
In May 2018, 172 members of the
United States House of Representatives wrote to the Director General of the World Health Organization to argue for Taiwan's inclusion as an observer at the WHA.
Travel expenses
According to
The Associated Press, the WHO routinely spends about $200 million a year on travel expenses, more than it spends to tackle mental health problems,
HIV/AIDS,
Tuberculosis and
Malaria combined. In 2016,
Margaret Chan, Director-General of WHO from November 2006 to June 2017, stayed in a $1000 per night hotel room while visiting West Africa.
Robert Mugabe's role as a goodwill ambassador
The appointment attracted widespread condemnation and criticism
in WHO member states and international organizations due to Robert
Mugabe's poor record on human rights and presiding over a decline in
Zimbabwe's public health. Due to the outcry, the following day the appointment was revoked.
World headquarters
The seat of the organization is in
Geneva, Switzerland. It was designed by Swiss architect Jean Tschumi and inaugurated in 1966. In 2017, the organization launched an international competition to redesign and extend its headquarters.
