World Health Organization

by Gian Luca Burci, Claude-Henri Vignes

Overview

The World Health Organization (WHO) was established in 1946, as an essential step in the construction of the post-war system of international cooperation. Its creation is the culmination of an historical process that began in the nineteenth century and developed through the establishment in the twentieth century of a number of international sanitary bodies. WHO was meant, in the intentions of its founders, as the central international organization in the area of international health cooperation, with remarkable functions and powers to ensure guidance and coordination of international health work at the global level. It definitely represents the embodiment of the concept that diseases do not know or respect boundaries and that, as the preamble to WHO's Constitution states, 'the achievement of any State in the promotion and protection of health is of value to all.'

WHO has used its authority and implemented its constitutional mandate in many different and sometimes innovative ways, at the normative, policy-making and technical levels alike. It has become an essential protagonist in the effort of the international community to control diseases and to promote good physical and mental health. It has also become a reference point not only for its Member States but also for the many groups and civil society organizations active in the field of public health.

Notwithstanding its importance and achievements, WHO is probably not so well-known outside its specific field of competence as other international agencies, especially as regards its structure and its normative and policy work. The authors, a former legal counsel of WHO and senior official of WHO's legal office, have written a thorough and systematic review of WHO in its changing historical and political context, aiming in particular at practitioners and scholars without a specific medical background.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9789041122735
Publisher:	Wolters Kluwer
Publication date:	05/17/2004
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	6.30(w) x 9.40(h) x 0.60(d)

Table of Contents

	The Authors	3
	Acknowledgements	5
	List of Abbreviations	13
Part I.	Introduction	15
Chapter 1.	Genesis	15
Chapter 2.	The Constitution	17
Part II.	Participation	21
Chapter 1.	Membership	21
1.	Admission	21
2.	Incidents of Membership	26
3.	Rights and Obligations of Member States	32
Chapter 2.	Associate Members and Territories	33
Part III.	Structure	35
Chapter 1.	The World Health Assembly	35
1.	Composition	35
I.	Delegates	35
II.	Representatives	36
III.	Observers	36
2.	Operation	39
3.	Role	44
Chapter 2.	The Executive Board	45
1.	Composition	45
2.	Operation	46
3.	Role	47
Chapter 3.	The Secretariat	50
1.	The Director-General	50
2.	The Staff	51
Chapter 4.	Regional Arrangements	53
1.	Geographical Areas	53
2.	Regional Organizations	55
I.	Regional Committees	55
II.	Regional Offices	56
III.	The Advisory Opinion of 22 December 1980	57
IV.	The Special Arrangements (PAHO)	59
Chapter 5.	Non-statutory Bodies	62
Part IV.	Relations of WHO	67
Chapter 1.	Relations with States	67
Chapter 2.	Relations with Intergovernmental Organizations	73
1.	General Considerations	73
2.	Relations with UNDP	74
3.	Relations with UNICEF	76
4.	Co-sponsored Programmes	78
I.	HRP and TDR	79
II.	Codex Alimentarius	80
III.	UNAIDS	84
Chapter 3.	Relations with Non-governmental Organizations	89
Chapter 4.	Relations with the Private Sector and 'Partnerships'	94
Part V.	Competence	107
Chpater 1.	The Concept of Health	107
Chapter 2.	The Advisory Opinion of 8 July 1996	114
Part VI.	Functions	119
Chapter 1.	General Considerations	119
1.	WHO's Functions and their Categorization	119
2.	Programming and Priorities	121
Chapter 2.	Normative Functions	124
1.	International Conventions and Agreements	124
I.	General Considerations	124
II.	The Framework Convention on Tobacco Control	126
2.	Regulations	131
I.	General Considerations	131
II.	The Nomenclature Regulations	132
III.	The International Health Regulations	134
3.	Recommendations and Other Non-binding Standards	141
I.	Introduction	141
II.	The International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes	142
III.	The Standard Setting Process	146
4.	General Considerations on the Use by WHO of its Normative Functions	153
Chapter 3.	Directing and Coordinating Functions	156
1.	Health for All	160
2.	Poverty and Health	165
3.	The Fight against Disease	170
I.	Onchocerciasis	172
II.	Smallpox	174
A.	The Global Smallpox Eradication Programme, 1959-1967	174
B.	The Intensified Smallpox Eradication Programme, 1968-1980	175
1.	Vaccination Campaigns	176
2.	Surveillance-containment	177
3.	Collection of Data	177
4.	Information and Education	178
5.	International Support	178
6.	Research	179
C.	The Global Certification of Smallpox Eradication	180
D.	The Destruction of the Stocks of Variola Virus	181
III.	Tuberculosis	182
A.	WHO and TB Control	182
B.	WHO's DOTS Strategy to Control TB	184
C.	The Global Partnership to Stop TB	185
D.	Political Commitment and Financial Resources	186
4.	Access to Medicines	187
I.	Rational Selection and Use	189
II.	Prices and Impact of International Trade Agreements	189
III.	Financing	192
IV.	Reliable Health and Supply Systems	193
Chapter 4.	Research and Technical Cooperation	195
Part VII.	Finance	201
Chapter 1.	Legal Basis	201
Chapter 2.	Financial Resources	202
1.	The Regular Budget	202
2.	Extrabudgetary Resources	204
Chapter 3.	Contributions to the Regular Budget	207
Part VIII.	Data and Publications	211
Chapter 1.	Introduction	211
Chapter 2.	WHO's Publications	212
Chapter 3.	Information on Health Legislation	214
Chapter 4.	Databases	215
Chapter 5.	The Library	216
Chapter 6.	The WHO Website	217
Part IX.	Addresses	219
	Short Bibliography	221
1.	Monographs	221
2.	Articles and Contributions	222
Annex 1.	Constitution of the World Health Organization	225
Annex 2.	Annex VII - The World Health Organization	241
Annex 3.	World Health Declaration	243
Annex 4.	Members of the World Health Organization	245
Annex 5.	Doha Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health	251
	Subject Index	253