With the Coronavirus on everyone’s lips and the only thing the media is talking about you might have heard someone mentioning “WHO” or “World Health Organization”. For some of us that’s an unfamiliar word/concept, but don’t you worry, I’m going to explain what the World Health Organization is and what they do.
The World Health Organization is an organization which purpose is to build a better, healthier future for people all over the world, “better health for everyone, everywhere”. WHO started back in 1948 on 7th April when their constitution came into force; 7th April is today known as the World Health Day. The organization has 149 member states and more than 150 offices worldwide. Their headquarter is located in Geneva in Switzerland. It’s there the decisions happen, the World Health Assembly is the decision-making body of WHO and it’s attended by delegations from all the member states. Their main responsibility is to determine the policies of the organization, appoint the Direct-General, supervise financial policies, and review and approve the proposed programme budget.
The Direct-General since May 2017 is Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus from Ethiopia. The Direct-General role is a five-year term role and it’s a role you get elected to by the member states. He is the first WHO Direct-General to have been elected from multiple candidates by the World Health Assembly and he is the first from the WHO African Region to serve as WHO’s chief technical and administrative officer. Before he got elected to be Direct-General he served as Ethiopia’s Minister of Health from 2005-2012, where he led a comprehensive reform of Ethiopia’s health system. From 2012-2016 he served as Ethiopia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs.
The World Health Organization’s primary assignment is to direct and coordinate international health within the United Nations system. Their main areas of work include health systems, health through the life-course, noncommunicable and communicable diseases, preparedness, surveillance and response and corporate services.
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