75 Years of World Health Organisation

Subject : International Relations

Section :International Organizations

Concept :

The World Health Organization (WHO) was born when its constitution came into effect on April 7, 1948.

How is the WHO governed?

The WHO is headquartered in Geneva and has six regional and 150 country offices.
It is controlled by delegates from its 194 member states, who vote on policy and elect the director general.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, previously Ethiopia’s foreign minister, was elected to a five-year term in 2017 and reelected in 2022.
WHO delegates set the agency’s agenda and approve an aspirational budget each year at the World Health Assembly.
The director general is responsible for raising the lion’s share of funds from donors.

Success

Some of the WHO’s most lauded successes include its child vaccination programs, which contributed to the eradication of smallpox in 1979 and a 99 percent reduction in polio infections in recent decades, and its leadership during the 2003 severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) epidemic.
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.

Failures

The organization’s agreement to give up on trying to eradicate malaria in the 1960s represents another example of what some consider a botched job.
Many critics have faulted the WHO for slow and poorly coordinated responses to outbreaks. That includes the 2014 Ebola outbreak, in which it waited five months before declaring a PHEIC, despite pleas from groups such as Doctors Without Borders.
WHO is in an uphill battle to loosen its rigid bureaucracy and it faces an increasingly troublesome budget.
The COVID-19 pandemic has proved to be another monumental challenge for the health agency, sparking fresh debate over its effectiveness.
The WHO has become increasingly dependent on voluntary contributions, which puts pressure on the organization to align its goals with those of its donors.

What reforms has the WHO made?

Responding to these criticisms, the organization instituted several reforms intended to improve its responses, including the creation of a reserve force of public health workers and a $100 million emergency fund.
The WHO also added an incident management system that allows it to place medical responders, equipment, and supplies such as medicines on the ground right away while it coordinates a broader response.
In a rare special session of the WHO’s World Health Assembly in 2021, delegates initiated the drafting of a global treaty on pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response.
At the 2022 assembly, countries agreed on a U.S.-led proposal to strengthen the IHR by increasing member states’ accountability around disease outbreaks, though no changes have been formally approved.