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The World Health Organization (WHO)

By Michael Marshall

The World Health Organization (WHO)

The World Health Organization is the international body responsible for public health. Known as the WHO, it is part of the United Nations and was established in 1948. It is involved in many aspects of health policy and planning.

The WHO has played a major role in many of the public health successes of the last few decades. It was instrumental in the global eradication of smallpox, which used to be one of the world’s biggest killers. It has also run a campaign that has achieved the near-eradication of polio, and has worked for decades to reduce the threat from malaria.

When major disease outbreaks occur, the WHO coordinates the international response. It was front-and-centre in the 2014 Ebola outbreak, which it declared an international emergency. Similarly, it coordinated the response to the 2015-16 Zika outbreak. In 2020 it declared the outbreak of the covid-19 coronavirus a pandemic and urged governments to take strong measures to control the spread of the disease.

The WHO also sets international standards for diagnosing diseases and disorders. It maintains a catalogue called the International Classification of Diseases (ICD), which lists all the known conditions and the symptoms by which they should be diagnosed. The ICD is used around the world. It is regularly updated as medical knowledge advances, which often takes the WHO into tricky territory. In recent years the WHO has had to decide whether video gaming disorder and sex addiction are real disorders that could be diagnosed and treated.

Finally, the WHO promotes healthy lifestyles that reduce the risk of cancer, heart disease and other slow killers. It has mounted campaigns against smoking tobacco, and more recently against alcohol abuse. It also has a key role in maintaining healthy environments, for example setting standards for safe levels of air pollution. In recent years it has even begun measuring wellbeing – going beyond basic health measures to determine whether people are happy.

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