WHO: Aiming the Highest Possible Level of Health

The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specific agency of the United Nations (UN) that acts as a coordinating power on international public health. Established on 7 April 1948, and headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, the agency inherited the mandate and resources of its forerunner, the Health Organization, which had been an organization of the League of Nations.

The WHO's constitution states that its objective "is the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of health." Its main duty is to combat disease, above all key infectious diseases, and to encourage the general health of the people of the world.

The World Health Organization is one of the inventive agencies of the United Nations, its constitution officially coming into force on the first World Health Day, , when it was ratified by the 26th member state. Preceding to this its operations, as well as the lasting activities of the League of Nations Health Organization, was under the control of an Interim Commission following an International Health Conference in the summer of 1946. The transfer was authorized by a Resolution of the General Assembly.

The WHO has 193 Member States, including all UN Member States except Liechtenstein, and 2 non-UN members, Niue and the Cook Islands. Territories that are not UN Member States may join as Associate Members if approved by an Assembly vote: Puerto Rico and Tokelau are Associate Members. Entities may also be granted observer status: examples include the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Holy See (Vatican City).

The WHO is financed by aid from member states and from donors. In recent years, the WHO's job has involved more partnership; there are at present around 80 such partnerships with NGOs and the pharmaceutical industry, as well as with foundations such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation. Voluntary contributions to the WHO from national and local governments, foundations and NGOs, other UN organizations, and the “hush-hush” sector, now go beyond that of assessed contributions (dues) from the 193 member nations.

This information is carefully and critically digested from the internet.