World Health Organization

I

Introduction

World Health Organization (WHO), agency of the United Nations that organizes and funds health-care programs in nearly every country in the world. WHO was established in 1948. In collaboration with national governments and other international aid agencies, WHO works to reduce human disease, funds medical research, provides emergency aid during disasters, and aims to improve nutrition, housing, sanitation, and working conditions in developing countries. Based in Geneva, Switzerland, the agency is perhaps best known for its immunization programs and its successful campaign to eradicate smallpox.

II

Organization

All nations recognized by the UN are eligible for membership in WHO. In 2004 the organization had 192 member countries. The central structure of WHO includes the policymaking body called the World Health Assembly, which consists of delegates of all member nations and meets yearly; an executive board of 32 individuals elected by the assembly; and a secretariat, consisting of a director-general and a technical and administrative staff. The agency maintains regional organizations for Southeast Asia, the eastern Mediterranean area, Europe, Africa, the Americas, and the western Pacific area.

III

History

The idea for a global health agency was proposed in 1945 at the United Nations Conference on International Organization, held in San Francisco, California, to complete a charter for the UN. Following several more gatherings, the UN approved WHO’s charter on April 7, 1948.

The organization’s first programs were directed at fighting smallpox, plague, yellow fever, cholera, and malaria. The programs also expanded immunizations for measles, diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus, tuberculosis, and polio.

---

---

WHO’s global campaign to eliminate smallpox began in 1967 with the organization launching mass vaccination programs in many developing countries. By 1972 incidence of the disease was restricted to only a handful of nations in Africa and southern Asia. In 1979 WHO reported that smallpox had been eradicated worldwide.

In the 1980s WHO launched programs to eradicate polio and leprosy, and it began to fight the spread of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). In 1996, in response to an outbreak of the Ebola virus in Zaire, it established a division to fight emerging viral and bacterial diseases. In 2003 WHO was credited for organizing a rapid worldwide response to contain the spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome.

	More from Encarta
	•  Presidential Myths Quiz •  Coffee break: Recharge your brain