75 Years of World Health Organisation

It’s been 75 years since the World Health Organization embarked on a journey to achieve health care for all.

About World Health Organisation

• World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations’ specialized agency for Health was founded in 1948.
• Its headquarters are situated in Geneva, Switzerland.
• It is an inter-governmental organization and works in collaboration with its member states usually through the Ministries of Health.
• It began functioning on April 7, 1948 – a date now being celebrated every year as World Health Day.
• There are 194 Member States, 150 country offices, six regional offices.
• Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, previously Ethiopia’s foreign minister, was elected to a five-year term in 2017 and reelected in 2022.

Objectives Of World Health Organisation

The WHO Constitution states its main objective as “the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of health”. The WHO fulfills this objective through its functions as defined in its Constitution:

• To act as the directing and coordinating authority on international health work
• 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
• To assist Governments, upon request, in strengthening health services
• To furnish appropriate technical assistance and, in emergencies, necessary aid upon the request or acceptance of Governments
• To stimulate and advance work to eradicate epidemic, endemic and other diseases
• To promote, in co-operation with other specialized agencies where necessary, the prevention of accidental injuries
• To propose conventions, agreements and regulations, and make recommendations with respect to international health matters and to perform

World Health Assembly Of World Health Organisation

• World Health Assembly (WHA) is WHO’s decision-making body attended by delegations from all of WHO’s member states,
• It is held yearly at the headquarters of WHO, i.e., Geneva, Switzerland.
• Specific health agenda prepared by the Executive Board remains the focus of this assembly.
• The Health Assembly determines the policies of the Organization.
• It supervises the financial policies of the Organization and reviews and approves the budget.
• It reports to the Economic and Social Council in accordance with any agreement between the Organization and the United Nations.
• It appoints the director-general every five years

Contribution of World Health Organisation

• Eradication of smallpox in 1980.
• The organization is close to eradicating Polio, a disease that affects mainly infants and young children.
• Due to eradication programs by the WHO, polio cases have come down by 99% since 1988.
• About 216 million people are suffering from Malaria, mostly in tropical Africa, where 90% of Malaria cases and deaths are recorded. In the African region, the death rate due to malaria has been brought down by 60% as of 2018.
• It focuses on infectious diseases like HIV, influenza, malaria, tuberculosis, and Ebola; and also other non-communicable diseases such as heart disease and cancer.
• It also takes efforts in the direction of maternity and infant healthcare, old-age care, and hygienic food and water for all.
• The agency has the exclusive authority to declare global health emergencies, which it has done several times since its members granted it the power in 2007.
• WHO has undertaken reforms to improve its ability to fight future epidemics and boost the health of the hundreds of millions of people still living in extreme poverty.

World Health Organisation and India

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