World Health Organization

CONSIDERING THAT POVERTY and ill health are tightly interlinked, the World Health Organization (WHO) plays an important role in reducing poverty as a part of the United Nations Development Group. The World Health Organization emerged in the international arena on April 7, 1948, to promote international cooperation in improving public health and to achieve “the highest possible level of health” by all people.

Governed by 192 countries, WHO operates from administrative headquarters in Geneva through three principal organs: the World Health Assembly, which meets annually as the general policymaking body; an Executive Board of health specialists elected for three-year terms by the assembly; and a Secretariat, which has regional offices and 3,500 health and other experts and support staff on fixed-term appointments throughout the world. There are regional organizations in Africa, the eastern Mediterranean, southeast Asia, Europe, the west Pacific, and the Americas. The organization is financed primarily by annual contributions made by member governments on the basis of relative ability to pay, resources from the expanded technical-assistance program of the United Nations, and private foundations and industry.

Under the WHO constitution, health is defined as “a state of complete physical, mental, and social wellbeing and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.” Therefore, WHO considers health a multifaceted issue closely related to poverty, equity, human development, and collaborative partnerships. WHO works in many directions to reduce poverty and improve health through its immunization programs by developing and distributing vaccines; promoting more transparent, equitable, and accountable health systems; building community and family health; combating hunger; advancing health technology and pharmaceuticals; and contributing to sustainable development and improvement of WHO's relationship with other organizations. In collaboration with national governments and international aid agencies, WHO not only works to reduce human diseases and fund medical research, but it also provides emergency aid during disasters, and aims to improve nutrition, housing, sanitation, and working conditions in developing countries.

In essence, WHO's work falls into three categories: information on health, funding of programs for disease control, and capacity development of public health administration. It provides a clearinghouse for information on developments in disease and healthcare and establishes international sanitary standards and quarantine measures. It sponsors measures for the control of epidemic and endemic disease (including immunization campaigns and assistance in providing sources of pure water).

Finally, it encourages the strengthening of public health programs in member nations. The World Health Organization is perhaps best known for its successful campaign to eradicate smallpox in 1980. Besides eradication of smallpox, the organization's first programs were directed at fighting plague, yellow fever, cholera, and malaria. The programs also included immunizations for measles, diphtheria, tuberculosis, and polio. Along with UNICEF, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Rotary International, the organization is committed to eradicating poliomyelitis by 2008.

In its documents, WHO calls these “diseases of poverty,” and there is in fact a two-way relationship between poverty and ill health: poverty induces ill health and diseases often further impoverish the poor. In the report “Poverty and Health,” WHO positioned basic principles for action on health and poverty to guide the work of the WHO secretariat and member states. It also provides a platform for collaboration with development partners and considers the ways of improvement and protection of the health of the poor and reduction of the health gaps between rich and poor.

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