WORLD HEALTH

ORGANIZATION


DR SANNI, TAOFEEK ADEDAYO
(M.B.Ch.B, MPH, FWACP(COMM. H), FMCPH, Ph.D. )

CLINICAL EPIDEMIOLOGIST / CONSULTANT PHYSICIAN

AND

SENIOR LECTURER
DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNITY MEDICINE
 The World Health
Organization

 The World Health Organization (WHO) is
a specialized agency of the United
Nations responsible for international public
health. Headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, it
has six regional offices and 150 field offices
worldwide. The WHO was established on 7th April
1948
 Director General: Dr Tedros Adhanom
Ghebreyesus, elected by World Health Assembly,
on July 1, 2017
 194 member states; Executive Board with 34
rotating members
 The World Health
Organization

The WHO's mandate seeks and includes:
 Working worldwide to promote health
 Keeping the world safe, and serve the
vulnerable
 It advocates that a billion more people should
have: universal health care coverage,
engagement with the monitoring of public
health risks, coordinating responses to health
emergencies, and promoting health and well-
being
 The World Health
Organization

 It provides technical assistance to countries
 Sets international health standards
 Collects data on global health issues.
 Publication reports and bulletin; the World
Health Report, provides assessments of
worldwide health topics. The WHO also serves
as a forum for discussions of health issues.
 The World Health Organization


Organized in three levels:
 World Health Assembly,
 An Executive Board
 and Secretariat.

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 The World Health
Organization

6 regional offices
 African Region-Congo Brazzaville
 South East Asia- New Delhi,
 Western Pacific – Manila, Philippines
 Eastern Mediterranean Region – Cairo- Egypt
 European Region – Denmark
 Region of the Americans – Washington DC.
 and in most countries, WHO country
representatives (WRs)
 Major areas of Work: Malaria, HIV, Tobacco,
Nutrition, Mental Health, Immunizations, etc.
 The World Health
Organization
 Africa
 Regional Director WHO Regional Office for
Africa: Matshidiso Moeti
 Has 49 members state.
 Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, Sudan, Libya, Djibouti
Somalia; not in AFRO but East Mediterranean
 WHO Country Representative and Head of
Mission to Nigeria: Dr. Walter Kazadi
Mulombo since June 2020

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 Duties of WHO


To act as the directing and co-ordinating authority
on international health work;
 To establish and maintain effective collaboration
with the United Nations, specialized agencies,
governmental health administrations,
professional groups and such other organizations
as may be deemed appropriate;
 To assist Governments, upon request, in
strengthening health services;
 To furnish appropriate technical assistance and, in
emergencies, necessary aid upon the request or
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acceptance of Governments;
 Duties of WHO

 To provide or assist in providing, upon the
request of the United Nations, health services
and facilities to special groups, such as the
peoples of trust territories;
 To establish and maintain such administrative
and technical services as may be required,
including epidemiological and statistical services;
 To stimulate and advance work to eradicate
epidemic, endemic and other diseases;
 To promote, in co-operation with other
specialized agencies where necessary, the
prevention of accidental injuries;
 Duties of WHO


To promote, in co-operation with other specialized
agencies where necessary, the improvement of
nutrition, housing, sanitation, recreation, economic
or working conditions and other aspects of
environmental hygiene;
 To promote co-operation among scientific and
professional groups which contribute to the
advancement of health;
 To propose conventions, agreements and regulations,
and make recommendations with respect to
international health matters and to perform.
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 WHO - Function

WHO - Function

 Provides technical assistance, training & fellowships
 Formulates & disseminates advice, standards,
guidelines
 Convenes Expert and Technical Advisory Committees;
commissions consultant Reports
 Develops & disseminates International Classification
of Disease (ICD‐X) codes
 Publishes monographs and manuals
 Assists & organizes projects on specific problems
and/or target groups per priorities set by World Health
Assembly 11
 WHO Priorities

WHO Priorities

 • Reducing maternal and child mortality by
aiming at universal access to, and coverage with
effective interventions and health services
 • Addressing epidemic of chronic non-
communicable diseases, with an emphasis on
reduced risk factors such as tobacco, poor diet,
and physical inactivity
 • Improving health systems, focusing on human
resources, financing, health information and
primary health care
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WHO Priorities Contd.

 • Implementing International Health
Regulations to respond rapidly to outbreaks of
known and new diseases and emergencies,
building on poliomyelitis eradication to
develop effective surveillance and response
infrastructure
 • Improving performance of WHO through
more efficient ways of working, and building
and managing partnerships to achieve the
best results in countries
 WHO Publications

 WHO regularly publishes a World Health Report,
its leading publication, including an expert
assessment of a specific global health topic. Other
publications of WHO include
 the Bulletin of the World Health Organization
 the Eastern Mediterranean Health Journal
(overseen by EMRO)
 the Human Resources for Health (published in
collaboration with BioMed Central),
 the Pan American Journal of Public Health
(overseen by PAHO/AMRO).
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 WHO - Strengths

WHO - Strengths

 Legitimacy, by virtue of near universal membership &
support
 Representation, at central, regional and country levels
 Expertise drawn from around the world
 Establishes international goals and standards
 Recommends ‘best practices’
 Cross‐national statistics that are collected, compared,
analyzed and disseminated.
 Collaborations, organized, sponsored, facilitated
 Publications on important topics and in multiple
languages 15

 Training via fellowship and intern programs


WHO – Possible critiques
 One country, one vote (tiny countries have
disproportionate impact, especially in WHO
elections)
 Over-extension, by trying to address needs of all
countries since all countries participate and
contribute
 Expensive organizational structure with
 Geneva HQ, six regional offices and at times,
cumbersome bureaucracy
 Weak constituency. Ministries of health are
among the weaker ministries in many governments 16
 WHO – Possible
critiques Contd.

 Political pressures that effect programs, e.g.,
o Global North vs. Global South
o Cold War blocks (USSR, China, West)
o Middle East conflict, Israel, Palestine
o Population growth policies & reproductive health
 Staff profile (but also a strength)
– Too many doctors, too few other disciplines
– Requirements for geographical diversity
 • Fellowship allocations
– Country level decisions may respond more to internal
political and personal pressures than to country needs
 WHO – Possible critiques
Contd.

 • Funding constraints

 – Core budget barely exceeds that of a large U.S. hospital
 – Many countries (especially USA) don’t pay on time
 – Large extra‐organizational, ear‐marked funding for
specific diseases and programs can distort overall
program
 • Hard to evaluate accomplishments
 – WHO has been described as a procedural organization,
where you can observe what it does but not what it
produces. In fairness, however, this critique can be made
of very many domestic and international organizations.
WHO doesn’t provide direct services to populations.
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THANK YOU