World Health Organization
The World Health Organization (OMS) in Spanish, is the agency of the United Nations (UN) specialized in political efforts for prevention, promotion and worldwide intervention in health, defined in its Constitution as a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, and not only as the absence of conditions or diseases. Initially it was organized by the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations, which promoted the drafting of the first statutes of the WHO. The first meeting of this organization took place in Geneva (Switzerland) in 1948.
The 195 member states of the WHO govern the body through the World Health Assembly, which is made up of representatives from each of these countries.
In 2009, the institution was awarded the Prince of Asturias Award for International Cooperation.
According to Alexa, the website who.int is ranked as the 193rd most popular website on the Internet.
History
After World War II, in 1945 there were discussions at the UN about the creation of an organization focused on improving and maintaining health around the world, which was finally instituted on April 7, 1948. However, Since the mid-19th century, similar ideas had already been held and conversations had begun about an international or transnational approach to address health-related issues.
In addition, the Constitution of the body entered into force the same day it was founded, this date being commemorated through World Health Day.
The first session of the World Health Assembly ended on July 24, 1948, having obtained a budget of US$5 million for the year 1949. Andrija Štampar was the first president of the World Health Assembly, and G. Brock Chisholm was appointed CEO of the organization, having served as executive secretary during the planning stages. His 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 concerned the compilation of accurate statistics on the spread and morbidity of different diseases. Its logo features the Rod of Asclepius as a symbol of healing.
Languages
The current situation was established in May 1987 when the 27th World Health Assembly approved article 84 of its Internal Regulations with the following wording: «Article 84: Arabic, Chinese, Spanish, French, English and Russian will be the official languages of the Health Assembly. Spanish, French, English and Russian will be your working languages». This assembly made multilingualism a policy of this institution. Since the adoption of a 1998 resolution, all documents and institutional material of the governing bodies have been made available online in all official languages.[citation required]
Many of WHO's major scientific publications, such as the International Classification of Diseases, World Health Statistics, and the World Health Report, are disseminated in all six languages, and often many more.
Structure
The member states of the World Health Organization designate their delegations to the World Health Assembly, which generally meets in May of each year, and has the power to define the organization's financial policies, review and approves the program budget. The Assembly elects 34 members, technicians in the field of health, for a term of three years, and who form the Executive Council. The main functions of the Council are to make the decisions and policies of the Assembly effective, advise it and facilitate its work.[citation required]
The WHO is made up of 194 Member States, including all UN Member States, except Liechtenstein and the United States of America, however, after the arrival of Joe Biden to the White House, the United States returned to this as a member 195.
In addition, there are two territories that are not members of the UN: Niue and the Cook Islands, which operate under associate status (with access to full information but with limited participation and voting rights). Currently, if approved by a majority of the assembly, Puerto Rico and Tokelau would become associate members. Some non-UN entities may also have observer status, such as the Order of Malta. Taiwan is also proposed as an observer member, with the opposition of China, since it considers it to be part of its territory. On Monday, May 31, 2021, the World Health Assembly adopted by consensus the Resolution Participation of the Holy See in the World Health Organization presented by Italy, formalizing the participation of the Holy See in the work of the World Health Organization, as an Observer non-member State.
General Managers
| Director-General | Country | Mandate | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brock Chisholm |  Canada | 1948-1953 | |
| Marcolino Gomes Candau |  Brazil | 1953-1973 | |
| Halfdan T. Mahler |  Denmark | 1973-1988 | |
| Hiroshi Nakajima |  Japan | 1988-1998 | |
| Gro Harlem Brundtland |  Norway | 1998-2003 | |
| Lee Jong-wook |  South Korea | 2003-2006 | |
| Anders Nordström (internal) |  Sweden | 2006 | |
| Margaret Chan |  Hong Kong | 2006-2017 | |
| Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus |  Ethiopia
| 2017-News |
Regional offices
For a specialized agency of the UN, the six regional offices of the WHO have considerable autonomy. Each regional office is headed by a regional director. It is rare that an elected regional director is not confirmed. The WHO regional committee for each region is made up of all the heads of the health service of all the governments of the countries that constitute their respective region. Apart from electing the regional director, the regional committee is also in charge of setting the guidelines for the implementation of all health and other policies adopted by the World Assembly within its region. The regional committee also serves as a review committee of the progress of WHO actions within the region. The Regional Director is the head of WHO for his particular region, and manages or supervises the health personnel and other experts, in the regional headquarters and in the specialized centers, he also exercises direct supervisory authority, jointly with the Director General of the WHO, of all the heads of the offices of the countries that make up their region, known as WHO Representatives.[citation needed]
The six regional offices are:
- Regional Office for Africa (AFRO), based in Brazzaville, Republic of the Congo. AFRO includes most of sub-Saharan Africa, except Egypt, Sudan, Tunisia, Libya, Morocco and Somalia belonging to EMRO.
- Regional Office for the Mediterranean Sea (EMRO), headquartered in Cairo, Egypt. This includes the countries of the Arab World.
- Regional Office for Europe (EURO), based in Copenhagen, Denmark. It includes all European countries.
- Regional Office for South-East Asia (SEARO), headquartered in New Delhi, India. Covers all Asian countries not served by WPRO and EMRO, including North Korea.
- Regional Office for the Western Pacific (WPRO), headquartered in Manila, Philippines. WPRO covers all Asian countries not served by SEARO and EMRO, and all countries of Oceania, including South Korea.
- Regional Office for the Americas (AMRO), headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States. It is best known as the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) being the oldest international health agency in the world.
WHO Activities
- Harmonization and codification: WHO carries out the International Classification of Diseases (ICD in English, or CIM in French) and keeps up a model list of essential medicines that health systems in all countries should make them available at affordable prices accessible to the general population.
- Health measures: taking measures to stop an epidemic and health measures on international travel (such as vaccination). WHO stated in 1980 that smallpox was eradicated after two decades of efforts against it. (It is the first disease in history eradicated by human effort). WHO is close to the successful development of malaria and bilharzious vaccines, and aims to eradicate poliomyelitis in the coming years. In addition, he is trying to control donations to improve their quality. WHO believes that unregulated blood and organ transplants are not beneficial. For this reason, they try to collect all the following data to find out whether quality is good and to control and improve public health: the number of blood units collected, voluntary donations that have not been paid and those that have, donations between relatives, and donations used for the study of infections.
- Assistance to the Least Developed Countries (LDCs): vaccination against large infectious diseases, provision of drinking water, disposal of waste, maternal protection and eradication of certain diseases.
- A state programme to combat AIDS, among its objectives is access to treatments, research, epidemiological surveillance, etc. It is called AIDS Programme (HIV/AIDS Programme).
- Ensure access to medicines of good quality, safety and effectiveness through the pre-assessment programme. WHO pre-evaluates the medications of the laboratories that request it to enable institutions such as UNICEF or others to purchase these drugs safely when international tenders are being conducted, particularly for developing countries that cannot undertake such assessments on their own.
The WHO carries out various campaigns related to health, such as to increase the consumption of fruits and vegetables in the world, or to reduce the use of tobacco. In addition, the WHO has the power to declare a public health emergency of international concern when there is an extraordinary event that is considered a risk to the public health of other nations through the international spread of the disease and that potentially requires a response. coordinated international.
According to the WHO, "health is the state of complete physical, mental and social well-being of an individual and not just the absence of disease." But this definition was reformulated by the WHO: "Health is the degree of that a person can carry out his aspirations, satisfy his needs and relate adequately to his environment.
Criticism of the World Health Organization
Criticism of the WHA12-40 agreement with the IAEA in 1959
The Fukushima I nuclear accident, which occurred on March 11, 2011, once again put on the table the negative consequences of the signing of WHA12-40 between the WHO and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the May 28, 1959, are supposed to achieve the main objectives of the WHO. According to the group of non-governmental organizations For the independence of the WHO, this agreement has been very negative, since its constitution and especially in the face of nuclear catastrophes such as the Chernobyl accident, Harrisburg or Three Mile Island (Pennsylvania) and the Fukushima accident in Japan.
For the organization For the independence of WHO, no social or medical program worthy of the name has been put into practice in the areas contaminated by the Chernobyl accident. It is considered that said agreement has seriously limited the protection of the health of the world's citizens in connection with radioactive contamination. It is pointed out that in countries with nuclear activity, epidemiological studies are rare and almost non-existent and, in certain countries such as France, the secrecy of civil and military nuclear activities is total, the agreement supposes a conflict of interests between the objectives of the WHO and IAEA, close to those of the nuclear industry.
For the Swiss academic Jean Ziegler, vice-president of the advisory committee of the UN Human Rights Council, "the nuclear lobby has managed to get the WHO to give up caring for the victims of atomic catastrophes."
Managing the COVID-19 Pandemic
The WHO faced criticism from the US Trump administration as it "guided the world on how to address the deadly COVID-19 pandemic". an incident management support team on January 1, 2020, one day after Chinese health authorities notified the organization of a cluster of pneumonia cases of unknown etiology. On January 5, WHO notified all member states of the outbreak and, in the days that followed, provided guidance to all countries on how to respond and confirmed the first infection outside of China. The organization warned of limited person-to-person transmission on January 14 and confirmed person-to-person transmission a week later. On January 30, the WHO declared a public health emergency of international concern, considered a "call to action" and "last resort" for the international community and a pandemic on March 11. The WHO recommendations were followed by many countries, including Germany, Singapore, and South Korea, but not the United States. The WHO subsequently established a program to deliver medical, protective and testing supplies to low-income countries to help them manage the crisis.
While organizing the global response to the COVID-19 pandemic and overseeing "more than 35 emergency operations" for cholera, measles and other epidemics internationally, the WHO has been criticized for praising China's public health response to the crisis as it seeks to maintain a "balancing act" between the United States and China. Commentators such as John Mackenzie of the WHO emergency committee and Anne Schuchat of the US CDC have stated that China's official count of cases and deaths may be an underestimate. David Heymann, professor of infectious disease epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said in response that "China has been very transparent and open in sharing their data... and they opened up all their files. with the WHO".
On April 14, 2020, US President Donald Trump pledged to stop US funding of the WHO while reviewing its role in "mismanagement and cover-up of the spread of the coronavirus". rates to the WHO as of March 31, 2020; you would normally pay your remaining fees in September 2020.
World leaders and health experts largely condemned President Trump's announcement, which came amid criticism of his response to the outbreak in the United States. The WHO called the announcement "regrettable" and defended his actions to alert the world to the emergence of COVID-19. Trump's critics also said such a suspension would be illegal, though legal experts who spoke to PolitiFact said its legality could depend on the particular way the suspension was executed. On May 8, 2020, the United States blocked a vote on a UN Security Council resolution aimed at promoting nonviolent international cooperation during the pandemic, citing the WHO. On May 18, 2020, Trump threatened to permanently end all US funding of the WHO and to consider terminating US membership.
On May 29, 2020, President Trump announced plans to withdraw the United States from the WHO, although it was unclear whether he had the authority to do so. On July 7, 2020, President Trump formally notified the UN of his intention to withdraw the United States from the WHO.
WHO has moved towards the acceptance and integration of traditional medicine and traditional Chinese medicine. In 2022, the new International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, ICD-11 will attempt to allow traditional medicine classifications to be integrated with evidence-based medicine classifications. Although Chinese authorities have pushed for the change, this and other WHO endorsements of traditional medicine have been criticized by the medical and scientific community, due to a lack of evidence and the risk of endangering wildlife hunted by traditional remedies. A WHO spokesperson said the inclusion "is not an endorsement of the scientific validity of any Traditional Medicine practice nor the efficacy of any Traditional Medicine intervention".
Ambassadors
The World Health Organization has different ambassadors around the world. Tracy Trinita was awarded for encouraging young people in Indonesian society to live a healthy lifestyle. Other WHO ambassadors are: Brazilian footballer Alisson Becker, Dr. Natália Loewe Becker, activist Cynthia Germanotta and former president from Liberia Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, among others.