 | |
 | |
| Abbreviation | WHO |
|---|---|
| Formation | 7 April 1948 |
| Type | United Nations specialised agency |
| Legal status | Active |
| Headquarters | Geneva, Switzerland |
Head
| Tedros Adhanom (Director-General) Soumya Swaminathan (deputy Director-General) Jane Ellison (deputy Director-General) Peter Salama (deputy Director-General) |
Parent organization
| United Nations Economic and Social Council |
| Website | www.who.int |
The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. It is part of the U.N. Sustainable Development Group. The WHO Constitution, which establishes the agency's governing structure and principles, states its main objective as ensuring "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of health." It is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, with six semi-autonomous regional offices and 150 field offices worldwide.
The WHO was established in 7 April 1948, which is commemorated as World Health Day. The first meeting of the World Health Assembly (WHA), the agency's governing body, took place on 24 July 1948. The WHO incorporated the assets, personnel, and duties of the League of Nations' Health Organisation and the Office International d'Hygiène Publique, including the International Classification of Diseases. Its work began in earnest in 1951 following a significant infusion of financial and technical resources.
The WHO's broad mandate includes advocating for universal healthcare, monitoring public health risks, coordinating responses to health emergencies, and promoting human health and well being. It provides technical assistance to countries, sets international health standards and guidelines, and collects data on global health issues through the World Health Survey. Its flagship publication, the World Health Report, provides expert assessments of global health topics and health statistics on all nations. The WHO also serves as a forum for summits and discussions on health issues.
The WHO has played a leading role in several public health achievements, most notably the eradication of smallpox, the near-eradication of polio, and the development of an Ebola vaccine. Its current priorities include communicable diseases, particularly HIV/AIDS, Ebola, malaria and tuberculosis; non-communicable diseases such as heart disease and cancer; healthy diet, nutrition, and food security; occupational health; and substance abuse.
The WHA, composed of representatives from all 194 member states, serves as the agency's supreme decision-making body. It also elects and advises an Executive Board made up of 34 health specialists. The WHA convenes annually and is responsible for selecting the Director-General, setting goals and priorities, and approving the WHO's budget and activities. The current Director-General is Tedros Adhanom, former Health Minister and Foreign Minister of Ethiopia, who began his five-year term on 1 July 2017.
The WHO relies on assessed and voluntary contributions from member states and private donors for funding. As of 2018, it has a budget of over $4.2 billion, most of which comes from voluntary contributions from member states.
History and development
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 (1902), and the Office International d'Hygiène Publique (1907) were soon founded. 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 the Republic of 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 Štampar 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 of WHO
Three former directors of the Global Smallpox Eradication Programme read the news that smallpox had been globally eradicated, 1980
1947: The WHO established an epidemiological information service via telex, and by 1950 a mass tuberculosis inoculation drive using the BCG vaccine was under way.
1955: The malaria eradication programme was launched, although it was later altered in objective. 1955 saw the first report on diabetes mellitus and the creation of the International Agency for Research on Cancer.
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.
1966: The WHO moved its headquarters from the Ariana wing at the Palace of Nations to a newly constructed HQ elsewhere in Geneva.
1967: The WHO 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.
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.
1974: The Expanded Programme on Immunization and the control programme of onchocerciasis was started, an important partnership between the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and the World Bank.
1977: The first list of essential medicines was drawn up, and a year later the ambitious goal of "Health For All" was declared.
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.
1988: The Global Polio Eradication Initiative was established.
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.
2000: The Stop TB Partnership was created along with the UN's formulation of the Millennium Development Goals.
2001: The measles initiative was formed, and credited with reducing global deaths from the disease by 68% by 2007.
2002: The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria was drawn up to improve the resources available.
2006: The organization endorsed the world's first official
HIV/AIDS Toolkit for Zimbabwe, which formed the basis for global
prevention, treatment, and support the plan to fight the AIDS pandemic.
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 World Health Organization 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
WHO works to "reduce morbidity and mortality and improve health during key stages of life, including pregnancy, childbirth, the neonatal period, childhood and adolescence, and improve sexual and reproductive health and promote active and healthy aging for all individuals".
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".
The WHO works to improve nutrition, food safety and food security and to ensure this has a positive effect on public health and sustainable development.
In April 2019, the WHO released new recommendations stating that
children between the ages of two and five should spend no more than one
hour per day engaging in sedentary behavior in front of a screen and
that children under two should not be permitted any sedentary screen
time.
Surgery and trauma care
The World Health Organization promotes road safety as a means to reduce traffic-related injuries. It 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.
On 30 January 2020, the WHO declared the 2019-20 coronavirus pandemic was a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC).
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".
The organization develops and promotes the use of evidence-based tools, norms and standards to support member states to inform health policy options. It oversees the implementation of the International Health Regulations, and publishes a series of medical classifications; of these, three are over-reaching "reference classifications": the International Statistical Classification of Diseases (ICD), the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) and the International Classification of Health Interventions (ICHI). Other international policy frameworks produced by WHO include the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes (adopted in 1981),[55] Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (adopted in 2003) the Global Code of Practice on the International Recruitment of Health Personnel (adopted in 2010) as well as the WHO Model List of Essential Medicines and its pediatric counterpart.
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.
The organization relies on contributions from renowned scientists and professionals to inform its work, such as the WHO Expert Committee on Biological Standardization, the WHO Expert Committee on Leprosy, and the WHO Study Group on Interprofessional Education & Collaborative Practice.
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.
In 2014, WHO released the Global Atlas of Palliative Care at the End of Life in a joint publication with the Worldwide Hospice Palliative Care Alliance, an affiliated NGO working collaboratively with the WHO to promote palliative care in national and international health policy
Public health education and action
Each year, the organization marks World Health Day and other observances focusing on a specific health promotion topic. World Health Day falls on 7 April each year, timed to match the anniversary of WHO's founding. Recent themes have been vector-borne diseases (2014), healthy ageing (2012) and drug resistance (2011).
The other official global public health campaigns marked by WHO are World Tuberculosis Day, World Immunization Week, World Malaria Day, World No Tobacco Day, World Blood Donor Day, World Hepatitis Day, and World AIDS Day.
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.
The WHO regularly publishes a World Health Report, its leading publication, including an expert assessment of a specific global health topic. Other publications of WHO include the Bulletin of the World Health Organization, the Eastern Mediterranean Health Journal (overseen by EMRO), the Human Resources for Health (published in collaboration with BioMed Central), and the Pan American Journal of Public Health (overseen by PAHO/AMRO).
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. 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
The World Health Organization is a member of the United Nations Development Group.
Membership
Countries by World Health Organization membership status
As of 2016, the WHO has 194 member states: all of the member states of the United Nations except for Liechtenstein, plus 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.
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". The World Health Assembly is attended by delegations from all member states, and determines the policies of the organization.
The executive board is composed of members technically qualified
in health, and gives effect to the decisions and policies of the World
Health Assembly. In addition, the UN observer organizations International Committee of the Red Cross and International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies have entered into "official relations" with WHO and are invited as observers. In the World Health Assembly, they are seated alongside the other NGOs.
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.
Director-General
The head of the organization is the Director-General, elected by the World Health Assembly.
The term lasts for 5 years, and Directors-General 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.
Global institutions
Apart from regional, country and liaison offices, the World Health Assembly has also established other institutions for promoting and carrying on research.
Regional offices
Map of the WHO's regional offices and their respective operating regions.
Africa; HQ: Brazzaville, Republic of Congo
Western Pacific; HQ: Manila, Philippines
Europe; HQ: Copenhagen, Denmark
Americas; HQ: Washington D.C., US
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 full members. 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 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.
| Region | Headquarters | Notes | Website |
|---|---|---|---|
| Africa | Brazzaville, Republic of the 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, the 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., United States | 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 |
Employees
The WHO employs 8,500 people in 147 countries to carry out its principles. 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
The WHO operates "Goodwill Ambassadors";
members of the arts, sports, or other fields of public life aimed at
drawing attention to WHO's initiatives and projects. There are currently
five Goodwill Ambassadors (Jet Li, Nancy Brinker, Peng Liyuan, Yohei Sasakawa and the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra) and a further ambassador associated with a partnership project (Craig David).
Country and liaison offices
The World Health Organization operates 150 country offices in six different regions. It also operates several liaison offices, including those with the European Union, United Nations and a single office covering the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. It also operates the International Agency for Research on Cancer in Lyon, France, and the WHO Centre for Health Development in Kobe, Japan. Additional offices include those in Pristina; the West Bank and Gaza; the US-Mexico Border Field Office in El Paso; the Office of the Caribbean Program Coordination in Barbados; and the Northern Micronesia office.
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). 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.
U.S. contributions to the WHO are funded through the U.S. State Department’s
account for Contributions to International Organizations (CIO). In the
budget requests for fiscal years 2020 and 2021, the Trump administration
asked to halve funding for the WHO.
In April 2020, President Donald Trump announced that his administration would be halting funding to the WHO. Funds previously earmarked for the WHO would be on hold for 60-90 days pending an investigation into WHO's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly in respect to the organization's purported relationship with China.
Controversies
IAEA – Agreement WHA 12–40
Alexey Yablokov (left) and Vassili Nesterenko (farthest right) protesting in front of the World Health Organization headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland in 2008.
Demonstration on Chernobyl disaster day near WHO in Geneva
In 1959, the WHO signed Agreement WHA 12–40 with the International Atomic Energy Agency
(IAEA). 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. The agreement states that the WHO
recognizes the IAEA as having responsibility for peaceful nuclear energy
without prejudice to the roles of the WHO of promoting health. The following paragraph adds:
| “ | 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. | ” |
The nature of this statement has led some groups and activists including Women in Europe for a Common Future to claim that the WHO is restricted in its ability to investigate the effects on human health of radiation caused by the use of nuclear power and the continuing effects of nuclear disasters in Chernobyl and Fukushima. They believe WHO must regain what they see as independence.
IndependentWHO held a weekly vigil from 2007–2017 in front of WHO headquarters.
However, as pointed out by Foreman in clause 2 it states:
| “ | 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. | ” |
Ebola and HIV experimentation
It has been alleged that the WHO was aware of a Dr. Hilary Koprowski, a doctor allegedly performing research on AIDS and Ebola by deceiving and infecting Africans with a faux polio vaccine. It was estimated that over a million Africans were infected from 1954 to 1957. However, his work having been the cause of any disease has been refuted.
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
The aggressive support of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for intermittent preventive therapy of malaria triggered a memo from the former WHO malaria chief Akira Kochi.
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
the following statement in the report: "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 few 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
(e.g., 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) or 2b
(possible carcinogen), including cell phone signals, glyphosate, drinking hot beverages, and working as a barber.
Taiwanese membership and participation
Between 2009 and 2016 Taiwan was allowed to attend WHO meetings and
events as an observer but was forced to stop due to renewed pressure
from China.
Political pressure from China has led to Taiwan being barred from
membership of the WHO and other UN-affiliated organizations, and in
2017 to 2020 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, the WHO denied access to its annual assembly by Taiwanese media reportedly due to demands from China. Later in May 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. The United States, Japan, Germany, and Australia all support Taiwan's inclusion in WHO.
Pressure to allow Taiwan to participate in WHO increased as a
result of the 2019–2020 coronavirus pandemic with Taiwan's exclusion
from emergency meetings concerning the outbreak bringing a rare united
front from Taiwan's diverse political parties. Taiwan's main opposition
party, the KMT,
expressed their anger at being excluded arguing that disease respects
neither politics nor geography. China once again dismissed concerns over
Taiwanese inclusion with the Foreign Minister claiming that no-one
cares more about the health and wellbeing of the Taiwanese people than
China's central government. During the outbreak Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau voiced his support for Taiwan's participation in WHO, as did Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. In January 2020 the European Union,
a WHO observer, backed Taiwan's participation in WHO meetings related
to the coronavirus pandemic as well as their general participation.
In a 2020 interview, assistant director-general Bruce Aylward
appeared to dodge a question about Taiwan and when the question was
repeated, the connection was "cut off" blaming internet connection
issues.
When the video chat was restarted, he was asked another question about
Taiwan but he claimed to have already answered the question and formally
ended the interview.
Taiwan’s effective response to the coronavirus outbreak has
bolstered its case for WHO membership. Taiwan’s response to the outbreak
has been praised by a number of experts.
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
On 21 October 2017, the Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus appointed former Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe as a WHO Goodwill Ambassador
to help promote the fight against non-communicable diseases. The
appointment address praised Mugabe for his commitment to public health
in Zimbabwe.
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.
2019–20 COVID-19 pandemic
The WHO's handling of the epidemic has come under criticism amidst
what has been described as the agency's "diplomatic balancing act"
between "China and China's critics," including scrutiny of the
relationship between the agency and Chinese authorities.
Initial concerns included the observation that while WHO relies upon
data provided and filtered by member states, China has had a "historical
aversion to transparency and sensitivity to international criticism". While the WHO and some world leaders have praised the Chinese government's transparency in comparison to the 2003 SARS outbreak,
others including John Mackenzie of the WHO's emergency committee and
Anne Schuchat of the US' CDC have shown skepticism, suggesting that
China's official tally of cases and deaths may be an underestimation.
David Heymann, professor of infectious disease epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine,
said in response to skepticism on transparency that "China has been
very transparent and open in sharing its data … they’re sharing it very
well and they opened up all of their files with the WHO present."
In response to the criticisms, Director-General Tedros has stated
that China "doesn't need to be asked to be praised. China has done many
good things to slow down the virus. The whole world can judge. There is
no spinning here,"
and further stating that "I know there is a lot of pressure on WHO when
we appreciate what China is doing but because of pressure we should not
fail to tell the truth, we don't say anything to appease anyone. It's
because it's the truth." Amid the pandemic, African leaders expressed support for the WHO, with the African Union saying the organization had done "good work" and Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari calling for "global solidarity".
Some observers have said the WHO is unable to risk antagonizing
the Chinese government, as otherwise the agency would not have been able
to stay informed on the domestic state of the outbreak and influence
response measures there, after which there would have "likely have been a
raft of articles criticizing the WHO for needlessly offending China at a
time of crisis and hamstringing its own ability to operate."
Through this, experts such as Dr. David Nabarro have defended this
strategy in order "to ensure Beijing's co-operation in mounting an
effective global response to the outbreak". Osman Dar, director of the One Health Project at the Chatham House
Centre on Global Health Security defended the WHO's conduct, stating
that the same pressure was one "that UN organisations have always had
from the advanced economies."
The inclusion of the "Taiwan region" in the WHO's daily situation
reports, which resulted in Taiwan receiving the same WHO "very high"
risk rating as the mainland despite only a having a relatively small
number of cases on the ROC-governed island has led to protests by Taiwan who says that the rating has led to it receiving travel bans as a result.
Further concerns regarding Taiwan's non-member status in the WHO has
been on the effect this has on increasing Taiwan's vulnerability in the
case of an outbreak in the region without proper channels to the WHO. In
response, the WHO has said that they "have Taiwanese experts involved
in all of our consultations ... so they're fully engaged and fully aware
of all of the developments in the expert networks."
The controversy was furthered when Canadian WHO epidemiologist Bruce Aylward, head of the WHO's 2019–20 COVID-19 response team, refused to answer questions from RTHK
reporter Yvonne Tong about Taiwan's response to the pandemic and
inclusion in the WHO, leading to accusations about China's political
influence over the international organization.
On 14 April 2020, United States President Donald Trump
announced that he would stop United States funding of the WHO while
reviewing its role in what he described as “severely mismanaging and
covering up the spread of the coronavirus.”
A week earlier, at a press briefing, Trump had criticized the WHO for
"missing the call" on the coronavirus pandemic and had threatened to
withhold U.S. funding to the organization; on the same day, he also
tweeted a complaint that China benefits disproportionately from the WHO,
saying that "the WHO really blew it."
The U.S. Congress had already allocated about $122 million to WHO for
2020, and Trump had previously proposed in the White House's 2021 budget
request to reduce WHO funding to $58 million.
Traditional medicine
WHO has been moving toward acceptance and integration of traditional medicine and traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). In 2022, the new International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, ICD-11, will attempt to enable classifications from traditional medicine to be integrated with classifications from evidence-based medicine.
This and other support of WHO for such practices has been criticized by
the medical and scientific community, due to lack of evidence and the
risk of endangering wildlife hunted for traditional remedies. A WHO spokesman said that the inclusion was "not an endorsement of the
scientific validity of any Traditional Medicine practice or the efficacy
of any Traditional Medicine intervention."
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.
