WHO

• The World Health Organization (WHO) was born three years later, when its constitution came into effect on April 7, 1948
• It states that health is a human right that every human being is entitled to, “without distinction of race, religion, political belief, economic or social condition” and that “the health of all peoples is fundamental to the attainment of peace and security.”
• The organization’s headquarters are based in Geneva, Switzerland, with six regional and 150 country offices across the world
• WHO leads global efforts to expand universal health coverage
• They direct and coordinate the world’s response to health emergencies and promote healthier lives  from pregnancy care through old age
• WHO’s work remains firmly rooted in the basic human right to health and well-being principles, as outlined in their 1948 Constitution. 
• The World Health Assembly is the decision-making body of WHO and is attended by delegations from all Member States
• The Global Health Histories project was established within the WHO headquarters in late 2004 and expanded into the regional offices from 2009 onwards
•  An official WHO activity, its mission is based on the principle that understanding the history of health, especially during the last 60 years, helps the global public health community to respond to the challenges of today and help shape a healthier future for everyone, especially those most in need

• One of the biggest successes in the WHO’s quest to ensure the global population’s well-being came in 1980, when the organization officially announced it had wiped out a common but deadly centuries-old infectious disease
• Smallpox eradication was a perfect example of when the WHO works best
• During the Cold War, there was wide-reaching agreement across the two blocs that the eradication of smallpox was a goal to be tackled. That’s when the WHO has seen its biggest successes: When members agree on which projects are worthy to be undertaken and how

• 2014 Ebola outbreak in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leoneoffers an example of a WHO job less well done
• The organization was criticized, among other things, for not reacting swiftly enough to address the epidemic
• There were unrealistic expectations for WHO, with many expecting, to go in force to the affected countries to confront the outbreak
• This is not within the WHO’s mandate. Its role is to guide the response, develop guidance, but not to go into a country to help address a specific health threat
• In fact, the WHO has no authority to take action in a member state unless that member state asks for help
• After the Ebola epidemic from 2014 to 2016, the organization made significant changes to its structure
• Example: It now relies to a lesser degree on national governments for crucial health information, thus lowering the chances of missing the start of another serious disease outbreak

• 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
• The WHO launched the Global Malaria Eradication Programme (GMEP) in 1955.
• It looked promising, with 15 countries and one territory managing to eradicate the disease
• But there was little to no progress in sub-Saharan Africa under the program, and in many places, failure to sustain GMEP actually led to a resurgence of malaria. In 1969, the program was discontinued
• One reason that the eradication didn’t work, is that malaria isn’t solely a human disease, but has reservoirs in nature. This differentiates it from smallpox

• Some critics, then-US-President Donald Trump among them, complained at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic that the WHO was not doing enough to support member states in their fight against the disease
• But experts like El-Sadr and Gradmann say that it wasn’t the WHO’s job to take action and introduce initiatives at the height of the coronavirus pandemic
• During COVID, the WHO provided data and did administrative work, But initiatives to fight The disease had to come from the individual member states. I don’t think the WHO played a large role in the COVID pandemic
• Members’ national governments were in charge of making decisions on how to best contain the pandemic in their country