The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations concerned with international public health. It was established in 1948 and is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. The WHO works to combat diseases and promote health globally by providing technical assistance, conducting research, and setting health standards and guidelines for countries to follow.

2. The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations
that is concerned with international public health. It was established on 7 April 1948, and is
headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. The WHO is a member of the United Nations
Development Group. Its predecessor, the Health Organisation, was an agency of the League
of Nations.
It has played a leading role in the eradication of smallpox. Its current priorities include
communicable diseases, in particular HIV/AIDS, Ebola, malaria and tuberculosis; the
mitigation of the effects of non-communicable diseases such as sexual and reproductive
health, development, and aging; nutrition, food
security and healthy eating; etc.
The WHO is responsible for the World Health
Report, the worldwide World Health Survey,
and World Health Day. The current Director-
General of the WHO is Tedros Adhanom, who
Started his five-year term on 1 July 2017.

3. The International Sanitary Conferences, originally held on 23 June 1851, were the first
predecessors of the WHO. A series of 14 conferences that lasted from 1851 to 1938,
the International Sanitary Conferences worked to combat many diseases, chief among
them cholera, yellow fever, and the bubonic plague. The conferences were largely
ineffective until the seventh, in 1892; when an International Sanitary Convention that
dealt with cholera was passed. Five years later, a convention for the plague was signed.
In part as a result of the successes of the Conferences, the Pan-American Sanitary
Bureau, and the Office International d'Hygiène Publique were soon founded in 1902
and 1907, respectively. When the League of Nations was formed in 1920, they
established the Health Organization of the League of Nations. After World War II, the
United Nations absorbed all the other health organizations, to form the WHO.

4. As of 2012, the WHO has defined its role in public health as follows:
Providing leadership on matters critical to health and engaging in partnerships
where joint action is needed;
Shaping the research agenda and stimulating the generation, translation, and
dissemination of valuable knowledge
Setting norms and standards and promoting and monitoring their
implementation; articulating ethical and evidence-based policy options;
Providing technical support, catalyzing change, and building sustainable
institutional capacity; and
Monitoring the health situation and assessing health trends.
CRVS (Civil Registration and Vital Statistics) to provide monitoring of vital
events (birth, death, wedding, divorce)

5. Health policy
WHO addresses government health policy with two aims:
Firstly, "to address the underlying social and economic determinants of health through
policies and programmes that enhance health equity and integrate pro-poor, gender-
responsive, and human rights-based approaches" and
Secondly "to promote a healthier environment, intensify primary prevention and
influence public policies in all sectors so as to address the root causes of environmental
threats to health".
It oversees the implementation of the International Health Regulations, and
publishes a series of medical classifications; of these, three are over-reaching "reference
classifications":
The International Statistical Classification of Diseases (ICD),
The International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) and
The International Classification of Health Interventions(ICHI).
Other international policy frameworks produced by WHO include
The International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes (adopted in
1981),
Framework Convention on Tobacco Control adopted in 2003) and
The Global Code of Practice on the International Recruitment of Health
Personnel (adopted in 2010).

6. Who we are
WHO began when our Constitution came into force on 7 April 1948 – a date we now celebrate
every year as World Health Day.
We are now more than 7000 people working in 150 country offices, in six regional offices and
at our headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland.

7. What we do
Our primary role is to direct and coordinate international health within the United Nations
system.
Our main areas of work are health systems; health through the life-course; non communicable
and communicable diseases; preparedness, surveillance and response; and corporate services.

8. Where we work
We support countries as they coordinate the efforts of governments and partners – including
bi- and multilaterals, funds and foundations, civil society organizations and the private sector.
Working together, we attain health objectives by supporting national health policies and
strategies.

9. The role of WHO in public health
WHO fulfils its objectives through its core functions:
providing leadership on matters critical to health and engaging in partnerships where
joint action is needed;
shaping the research agenda and stimulating the generation, translation and
dissemination of valuable knowledge;
setting norms and standards and promoting and monitoring their implementation;
articulating ethical and evidence-based policy options;
providing technical support, catalysing change, and building sustainable institutional
capacity; and
monitoring the health situation and assessing health trends.