WHO

Introduction

• The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health
• Headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, it has six regional offices and 150 field offices worldwide
• The WHO was established on 7 April 1948
• 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 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
  • To establish and maintain such administrative and technical services as may be required, including epidemiological and statistical services
  • 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 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
  • To promote co-operation among scientific and professional groups which contribute to the advancement of health
  • To propose conventions, agreements and regulations, and make recommendations with respect to international health matters and to perform

Governance Structure

• • Membership
    • As of January 2021, the WHO has 194 member states: all member states of the United Nations except for Liechtenstein (192 countries), 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
  • World Health Assembly and Executive Board
    • The World Health Assembly (WHA) is the legislative and supreme body of WHO.
    • 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 main functions of the board are to carry out the decisions and policies of the Assembly, to advise it, and to facilitate its work
  • 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.

Financing and partnerships

• The WHO is financed by contributions from member states and outside donors
• As of 2020, the biggest contributor is the United States, which gives over $400 million annually
  • Further, In 2020, the U.S. President Donald Trump, supported by a group of members of his party, announced that his administration would halt funding to the WHO
• In 2018 the largest contributors ($150+ each) were the United States, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, United Kingdom, Germany and GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance

India and WHO

• India became a party to the WHO Constitution on 12 January 1948
  • The first session of the WHO regional committee was held in 1948, and was inaugurated by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Prime Minister of India and was addressed by the WHO Director-General
• The WHO Country Office for India is headquartered in Delhi with country-wide presence
• WHO’s secretariat focuses its work on the following six core functions:
  • 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

WHO programmes in India

• WHO India Country Cooperation Strategy 2019–2023
  • This has been jointly developed by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoH&FW) of the Government of India (GoI) and the WHO Country Office for India
  • The Country Cooperation Strategy (CCS), provides a strategic roadmap for WHO to work with the GoI towards achieving its health sector goals, improving the health of its population and bringing in transformative changes in the health sector
  • The Four strategic priorities of WHO in India
    • Strategic Priority 1: Accelerate progress on UHC
      • Implementing Ayushman Bharat: Health and Wellness Centres and hospital insurance scheme
      • Monitoring and evaluation of health sector performance
      • Improving access to priority health services such as immunizations, maternal and child health, tuberculosis, hepatitis
      • Digital health ecosystem
      • Eliminating neglected tropical diseases and control of vaccine-preventable and vector-borne diseases
    • Strategic Priority 2: Promote health and wellness by addressing determinants of health
      • Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) action plan roll-out
      • Environmental health, including air pollution
      • Mental health promotion and suicide prevention
      • Nutrition and food safety
      • Road safety
      • Tobacco control
      • Integration of NCD and environmental risk factors in the digital health information platform
    • Strategic Priority 3: Better protect the population against health emergencies
      • Disease surveillance and outbreak detection and response, including International Health Regulation
      • Roll-out of integrated disease surveillance programme using the real-time integrated health information platform (IHIP)
      • Preparedness for, and response to all, emergencies
      • Containment of antimicrobial resistance
    • Strategic Priority 4: Enhance India’s global leadership in health
      • Improving access to medical products of assured quality made in India
      • Development and information sharing of innovations in health practices and technologies including IHIP
      • Strengthening India’s leadership in digital health

Other Interventions include