Structure:

Introduction:   Background of WHO and its role at international level in combating the diseases and moving forward at  advancement of health in world.

Body:  Mention the Objectives of WHO and also elaborate on the contribution of WHO to the world since its Inception.

Conclusion: By specifying need of both Formal and Informal Organisation to achieve the goals

Supporting points:

Background : World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations’ specialized agency for Health was founded in 1948.

• Its headquartersare situated in Geneva, Switzerland.
• There are 194 Member States, 150 country offices, six regional offices.
• It is an inter-governmental organization and works in collaboration with its member states usually through the Ministries of Health.
• The WHO provides leadership on global health matters, shaping the health research agenda, setting norms and standards, articulating evidence-based policy options, providing technical support to countries and monitoring and assessing health trends.

Objectives

• To act as the directing and coordinating 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 provide assistanceto the Governments, upon request, in strengthening health services.
• To promote cooperation among scientific and professional groupswhich contribute to the advancement of health.

WHO’s Contribution to World

1. They provide technical support on health matters, share relevant global standards and guidelines, and relay government requests and requirements to other levels of WHO. They also inform and follow up with the host government on reports of disease outbreaks outside the country.
2. In addition to governments, WHO also coordinates with other UN agencies, donors, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and the private sector.
3. The benefits of WHO's international health work are reaped by all countries, including the most developed. For example, all nations have benefited from their contributions to the WHO programs that led to the global eradication of smallpox and to promote better and cheaper ways of controlling tuberculosis.
4. The organization believes that immunization, which prevents the six major communicable diseases of childhood—diphtheria, measles, poliomyelitis, tetanus, tuberculosis, and whooping cough—should be available to all children who need it. WHO is leading a worldwide campaign to provide effective immunization for all children in cooperation with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
5. In 1997, WHO rolled out the Global Public Health Intelligence Network (GPHIN), which took advantage of information on the Internet to function as an early warning system for potential epidemics. The WHO supplemented this (GPHIN) in 2000 with the Global Outbreak Alert Response Network (GOARN) to analyze events once they were detected.

WHO and India

• India became a party to the WHO on 12 January 1948.
• Regional office for South East Asia is located in New Delhi.
• Smallpox
  • In 1967 the total number of smallpox cases recorded in India accounted for nearly 65% of all cases in the world. Of this 26,225 cases died, giving a grim picture of the relentless fight that lay ahead.
  • In 1967, the WHO launched the Intensified Smallpox Eradication Programme.
  • With a coordinated effort by Indian government with the World Health Organization (WHO), smallpox was eradicated in 1977.
• Polio
  • India began the battle against the disease in response to the WHO’s 1988 Global Polio Eradication Initiativewith financial and technical help from World Bank.
  • Polio Campaign-2012:The Indian Government, in partnership with UNICEF, the World Health Organization (WHO), the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Rotary International and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention contributed to almost universal awareness of the need to vaccinate all children under five against polio.
  • As a result of these efforts, India was removed from the list of endemic countries in 2014.
• It has also been instrumental in the country’s transition from hospital-based to community-based care and the resultant increase in health posts and centres focusing on primary care.
• The WHO Country Cooperation Strategy – India (2012-2017)has been jointly developed by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoH&FW) and the WHO Country Office for India (WCO).

The above achievements of WHO are commendable. It cannot be dubbed as a overall failure ( recent COVID 19 crisis) . Without WHO the world would have been not able to eradicate many contagious diseases like polio, small pox etc.