WORLD HEALTH ORGANISATION

At the 1945 founding conference of the United Nations in San

Francisco, the delegates from China and Brazil proposed the idea to

establish an international health organization that will work within the

UN’s control. There were then numerous health organizations before

the creation of WHO, like the International Office of Public Hygiene, the

Health Organization of the League of Nations and the Pan American

Sanitary Organization (now the Pan-American Health Organization).

After World War II the United Nations decided to absorb all these

health organizations and form WHO. As a result of this the constitution

of the World Health Organization (WHO) was adopted on 7 th April 1948.

WHO aims at “the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible

standard of health.” A number of guidelines were put in place to ensure

that WHO functioned properly, for example Article 2(a) “to act as the

directing and coordinating authority on international health work”.

Since its establishment it has played a leading role in pressing matters such as the eradication

of smallpox, which was once a worldwide epidemic. Its current

priorities comprise of communicable diseases specifically

HIV/AIDS, Ebola, malaria and tuberculosis.

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The mandate of the WHO which can be read in the Organization’s

Constitution, enumerates several general objectives and functions. The

Constitution empowers WHO to act in the interest of public health

through research in health-related fields, promotion of preventative

health care, provision of specialized aid and assistance in emergencies,

and standardization of practices. Some of WHO’s other stated functions

are to assist governments in building their health systems, to eradicate

diseases and to develop standards for food and pharmaceuticals.