World Health Organization

The World Health Organization (WHO) is program of the United Nations (UN) and the directing and coordinating authority for health within the UN system. It is responsible for "providing 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."^[1]

When diplomats met to form the UN in 1945, one of the issues they addressed was the establishment of a global health organization. The WHO came into existence on April 7, 1948. April 7 is celebrated annually as World Health Day.

Dr. Margaret Chan is the current Director-General of the WHO since November 2006.^[2]

Neil Seeman, the director of the Canadian Statistical Assessment Service, said May 3, 2003, "Just because a study or pronouncement carries the imprimatur of the WHO should not mean it is sacrosanct," about the WHO.^[3] Philip Stevens wrote in December 2005, "[t]he World Health Organization is increasingly working against American values and the interests of the poor, [and] the U.S. should seriously consider cutting back the funds until the WHO adopts a more practical outlook."^[4]

• Official website
• Library database (WHOLIS) Index of all WHO publications from 1948 onwards and articles from WHO-produced journals and technical documents from 1985 to the present.
• Bulletin of the World Health Organization The International Journal of Public Health
• World Health Report First published in 1995, each year the report combines an expert assessment of global health, including statistics relating to all countries

1. ↑ About WHO World Health Organization Accessed July 16, 2007
2. ↑ Dr Margaret Chan
3. ↑ http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/comment-seeman050103.asp WHO Says What?
4. ↑ http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/stevens200512020821.asp WHO’s in Charge?