{"id":331,"date":"2019-09-16T07:12:38","date_gmt":"2019-09-16T07:12:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hrdp07.epgpbooks.inflibnet.ac.in\/?post_type=chapter&#038;p=331"},"modified":"2019-09-16T07:24:20","modified_gmt":"2019-09-16T07:24:20","slug":"world-health-organisation-who","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/ebooks.inflibnet.ac.in\/hrdp07\/chapter\/world-health-organisation-who\/","title":{"rendered":"World Health Organisation (WHO)"},"content":{"raw":"<div><span style=\"float: right\"><a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/PNatngdQJxM\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img class=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/epgpbooks.inflibnet.ac.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/download.png\" alt=\"epgp books\" width=\"52\" height=\"52\" \/><\/a>\r\n<\/span><\/div>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\"><strong>Introduction<\/strong><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">The World Health Organization (WHO) is a United Nations (UN) specialized agency responsible for coordinating health-related activities within the UN system. Article 1 of the WHO Constitution states that its objective \u201cshall be the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of health,\u201d with \u2018health\u2019 defined very broadly, in accordance with the Constitution\u2019s preamble, as \u201ca state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.\u201d<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">The WHO works to improve global health care on behalf of its 194 Member States. Its primary tasks include setting standards of care for the international community, improving the capacity of developing world health care providers via both direct funding and facilitating partnerships with third parties, and monitoring and publishing statistics on global health trends.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">As set out in the WHO\u2019s <em>Twelfth General Programme of Work<\/em> (for the period 2014-2019), the organization\u2019s six \u2018core functions\u2019 include:<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">Providing leadership on matters critical to health and engaging in partnerships where joint action is needed;<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">Shaping the research agenda and stimulating the generation, translation and dissemination of valuable knowledge;<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">Setting norms and standards and promoting and monitoring their implementation; Articulating ethical and evidence-based policy options;<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">Providing technical support, catalyzing change, and building sustainable institutional capacity;<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">and<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">Monitoring the health situation and assessing health trends.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">In addition to these six \u2018core functions\u2019, the WHO has adopted six \u2018leadership priorities\u2019 to give focus and direction to its public health agenda. These are:<\/p>\r\n\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>Universal Health Coverage<\/li>\r\n \t<li>The International Health Regulations (2005)<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Increasing Access to Medical Products<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Social, Economic and Environmental Determinants<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Noncommunicable diseases<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Health-related Millennium Development Goals<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\"><strong>Learning outcomes:<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>To understand the nature of WHO.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>To look into its functions and objectives.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>To see how the WHO is a mechanism for promoting human rights.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\"><strong>History<\/strong><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">Health has long been a concern of the international community, and was one of the themes taken up by the early international organizations of the pre-World War Two era. For example, 1902 saw the establishment of a Pan American Sanitary Organization in Washington, DC that was concerned with quarantines, general hygiene, education, and the spread of infectious diseases. An Office International d\u2019Hygi\u00e8ne Publique was established in Paris in 1907 to deal with quarantine and sanitation conventions, as well as food hygiene, biological standardization, and hospital construction. In 1921, the League of Nations established a Health Organization, in accordance with Article 23 of the Covenant of the League of Nations, under which Members of League agreed to \u201cendeavour to take steps in matters of international concern for the prevention and control of disease.\u201d After the onset of World War Two, however, the Office International d\u2019Hygi\u00e8ne Publique closed, and the League of Nations\u2019 Health Organization was reduced to a fraction of its former scope, relegating action on international health to war-related organizations such as the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">At the time of the founding of the United Nations in 1945, therefore, there was a significant need for a new organization that could address global health issues in the post-World War Two era. Article 55 of the newly written UN Charter committed the United Nations to \u201cpromote\u2026 solutions of international economic, social, and health related problems.\u201d In keeping with this mandate, the UN\u2019s Economic and Social Council began meeting in 1946 to outline a proposal for the foundation of a\u00a0 World Health Organization under the UN umbrella. The Constitution of the World Health Organization was eventually presented for adoption at the International Health Conference held in New York from 19 June \u2013 22 July 1946. It was signed by representatives of 61 states, and entered into force on 7 April 1948\u2014a date now celebrated annually as \u2018World Health Day\u2019.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\"><strong>The Institution<\/strong><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">The WHO is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. However, its operations are spread across the headquarters, the Global Service Centre in Malaysia, six regional offices, and 150 individual country offices, making it one of the most decentralized of the UN agencies. The WHO employs more than 7000 public health experts, including medical doctors, public health specialists, scientists, epidemiologists, administrators, finance and information systems professionals, as well as experts in economics, health statistics, and emergency relief.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">The WHO is composed of three primary organs: the World Health Assembly, the Executive Board, and the Secretariat. The World Health Assembly is its primary decision-making body, and consists of delegations from all 194 Member States, who meet annually in Geneva to determine the policies of the WHO.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">The Executive Board is made up of 34 health experts, elected for 3-year terms. The Board acts as an executive agency for the World Health Assembly, implementing its decisions and policies, providing advice, and taking on other facilitative tasks.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">The Secretariat of the WHO is the largest of the three primary organs, employing over 8000 staff. It is led by a Director-General, who is appointed by the World Health Assembly for a five-year (renewable) term. The current Director General is Dr. Margaret Chan, who was appointed on 9 November 2006, and was re-appointed for a second term that will continue through 30 June 2017.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\"><strong>Role as a Forum for Human Rights<\/strong><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">The human right to health is contained in a number of international and regional human rights treaties. Article 12 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), for example, attests that:<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\"><em>The States Parties to the present Covenant recognize the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health.<\/em><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\"><em>The steps to be taken by the States Parties to the present Covenant to achieve the full realization of this right shall include those necessary for:<\/em><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\"><em>(a) <\/em><em>The provision for the reduction of the stillbirth-rate and of infant mortality and for the healthy development of the child;<\/em><em>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\"><em>(b) <\/em><em>The improvement of all aspects of environmental and industrial hygiene;<\/em><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\"><em>(c) <\/em><em>The prevention, treatment and control of epidemic, endemic, occupational and other diseases;<\/em><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\"><em>(d) <\/em><em>The creation of conditions which would assure to all medical service and medical attention in the event of sickness.<\/em><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">Additional protections are included in many international and regional instruments, including, for example, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), the European Social Charter, the African Charter on Human and Peoples\u2019 Rights, and the Protocol of San Salvador to the American Convention on Human Rights in the Area of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, to name a few.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">Because of its status as a UN specialized agency and its focus on \u201cthe attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of health,\u201d the WHO is a natural forum for human rights work with respect to the right to health. The WHO\u2019s work to improve health systems around the world contributes directly to the fulfillment of every person\u2019s right to health. However, the WHO\u2019s position with respect to\u00a0human rights discourse has shifted over the last seven decades along with changing international political tides.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">In its early years, the WHO Secretariat was active in helping to define the human rights agenda for public health. As then-WHO Director-General Brock Chisholm put it in 1951, \u201cthe whole programme approved by the World Health Assembly represents a concerted effort on the part of the Member States to ensure the right to health.\u201d In keeping with this philosophy, the early WHO was active in pushing a broad understanding of the right to health in human rights instruments in line with the expansive positive definition in its own Constitution.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">Beginning in the mid-1950s, however, Cold War politics led to a shift in the WHO\u2019s strategy, and it began to move away from human rights discourse, preferring to position itself as a \u2018technical\u2019 organization (rather than a \u2018political\u2019 one). As Director-General Marcolino Gomes Candau stated in 1957, the WHO was not an organization \u201centrusted with safeguarding legal rights.\u201d This altered focus allowed the WHO to maintain political neutrality during the 1950s and 60s, but it also meant that the organization gave up its leadership position with respect to defining the scope of the right to health within international human rights discourse.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">As the Cold War wound to a close, the WHO returned to using human rights language. And when UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan called in 1997 for the UN specialized agencies to \u2018mainstream\u2019 human rights in their activities, then-WHO Director-General Gro Harlem Brundtland was ready to do so.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">The organization continues the process of incorporating human rights more fully into its mandate. As part of the ongoing reform process launched at the 2012 World Health Assembly, the WHO has committed to promoting the mainstreaming of gender, equity and human rights throughout all levels\u00a0of the organization. To that end, it has established a \u2018Health and Human Rights Unit\u2019 to serve as the focal point for human rights integration within the WHO mandate.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">Today, the WHO\u2019s human rights activities are far-reaching. It engages in awareness raising and capacity building activities (such as conducting workshops and training seminars, and producing popular and technical pamphlets and videos) with respect to the right to health at both regional and national levels. It submits statements and reports to UN bodies charged with monitoring and evaluating human rights issues. It includes human rights concerns in its policy recommendations to national governments. And it has generally attempted to adopt a \u2018rights-based approach to health\u2019, which aims to make human rights \u201ca framework for health development,\u201d examines \u201cthe human rights implications of any health policy, programme for legislation,\u201d and makes human rights \u201can integral dimension of the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of health-related policies and programmes in all spheres, including political, economic and social.\u201d<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">In addition, the WHO maintains a number of more focused programs on issues of particular interest. The WHO\u2019s QualityRights project, for example, seeks to improve human rights in mental health and social care facilities. The organization works to broaden access to medicines\u2014an essential component of the right to health\u2014by promoting best practices, new funding models, and other mechanisms. It has worked with the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to develop strategies for protecting the right to health through and during poverty reduction. And it has paid special attention to promoting gender equality in the provision and distribution of health care.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\"><strong>Summary<\/strong><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">Despite its extensive work in the field of human rights and world health, criticisms of the WHO\u2019s level of commitment to a rights-based approach remain. Andra\u017e Zidar of the British Institute of International and Comparative Law, for example, argues that the WHO\u2019s 2005 International Health Regulations do not sufficiently integrate human rights, but instead only \u201callude\u201d to rights as\u00a0something \u201cexternal\u201d to the Regulations. The 2005 International Health Regulations, which were updated in response to the threat of infectious diseases such as SARS, H1N1 influenza, Ebola, MERS, and Poliovirus, are \u201carguably the most important global health treaty of the twenty-first century.\u201d Though they do include provisions guaranteeing that public health measures will be taken with full respect for human rights, Dr. Zidar argues that the Regulations should contain more specific human rights commitments.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<table>\r\n<tbody>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td><strong>you can view video on World Health Organisation (WHO)<\/strong><\/td>\r\n<td><a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/PNatngdQJxM\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img class=\"alignnone wp-image-120\" src=\"http:\/\/epgpbooks.inflibnet.ac.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/download.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"36\" height=\"36\" \/><\/a><\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<\/tbody>\r\n<\/table>\r\n<strong>Reference<\/strong>\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li style=\"text-align: justify\">Constitution of the World Health Organization.<\/li>\r\n \t<li style=\"text-align: justify\">World Health Organization, <em>Twelfth General Programme of Work: Not Merely the Absence of Disease<\/em> (2014).<\/li>\r\n \t<li style=\"text-align: justify\">Sir John Charles, \u201cOrigins, History, and Achievements of the World Health Organization,\u201d 2 <em>British<\/em> <em>Medical Journal <\/em>293 (4 May 1968).<\/li>\r\n \t<li style=\"text-align: justify\">B.M. Meier &amp; W. Onzivu, \u201cThe Evolution of Human Rights in World Health Organization Policy and the Future of Human Rights through Global Health Governance,\u201d 128(2) <em>Public Health<\/em> 179 (2014).<\/li>\r\n \t<li style=\"text-align: justify\">World Health Organization, \u201c25 Questions &amp; Answers on Health &amp; Human Rights,\u201d 1 <em>Health &amp; Human<\/em> <em>Rights Publication Series <\/em>16 (July 2002).<\/li>\r\n \t<li style=\"text-align: justify\">World Health Organization, website, \u201cWHO QualityRights Project\u2014addressing a hidden emergency,\u201d available at: http:\/\/www.who.int\/mental_health\/policy\/quality_rights\/en\/<\/li>\r\n \t<li style=\"text-align: justify\">Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights &amp; World Health Organization, \u201cHuman Rights, Health and Poverty Reduction Strategies,\u201d 5 <em>Health &amp; Human Rights Publication Series<\/em> 1 (December 2008).<\/li>\r\n \t<li style=\"text-align: justify\">Andra\u017e Zidar, \u201cWHO International Health Regulations and Human Rights: From Allusions to Inclusion,\u201d<\/li>\r\n \t<li style=\"text-align: justify\"><em>International Journal of Human Rights <\/em>(2015).<\/li>\r\n \t<li style=\"text-align: justify\">Lawrence Gostin, <em>Global Health Law<\/em> 35 (2014).<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>","rendered":"<div><span style=\"float: right\"><a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/PNatngdQJxM\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/epgpbooks.inflibnet.ac.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/download.png\" alt=\"epgp books\" width=\"52\" height=\"52\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<\/span><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\"><strong>Introduction<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">The World Health Organization (WHO) is a United Nations (UN) specialized agency responsible for coordinating health-related activities within the UN system. Article 1 of the WHO Constitution states that its objective \u201cshall be the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of health,\u201d with \u2018health\u2019 defined very broadly, in accordance with the Constitution\u2019s preamble, as \u201ca state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">The WHO works to improve global health care on behalf of its 194 Member States. Its primary tasks include setting standards of care for the international community, improving the capacity of developing world health care providers via both direct funding and facilitating partnerships with third parties, and monitoring and publishing statistics on global health trends.<\/p>\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">As set out in the WHO\u2019s <em>Twelfth General Programme of Work<\/em> (for the period 2014-2019), the organization\u2019s six \u2018core functions\u2019 include:<\/p>\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">Providing leadership on matters critical to health and engaging in partnerships where joint action is needed;<\/p>\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">Shaping the research agenda and stimulating the generation, translation and dissemination of valuable knowledge;<\/p>\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">Setting norms and standards and promoting and monitoring their implementation; Articulating ethical and evidence-based policy options;<\/p>\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">Providing technical support, catalyzing change, and building sustainable institutional capacity;<\/p>\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">and<\/p>\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">Monitoring the health situation and assessing health trends.<\/p>\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">In addition to these six \u2018core functions\u2019, the WHO has adopted six \u2018leadership priorities\u2019 to give focus and direction to its public health agenda. These are:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Universal Health Coverage<\/li>\n<li>The International Health Regulations (2005)<\/li>\n<li>Increasing Access to Medical Products<\/li>\n<li>Social, Economic and Environmental Determinants<\/li>\n<li>Noncommunicable diseases<\/li>\n<li>Health-related Millennium Development Goals<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\"><strong>Learning outcomes:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>To understand the nature of WHO.<\/li>\n<li>To look into its functions and objectives.<\/li>\n<li>To see how the WHO is a mechanism for promoting human rights.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\"><strong>History<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">Health has long been a concern of the international community, and was one of the themes taken up by the early international organizations of the pre-World War Two era. For example, 1902 saw the establishment of a Pan American Sanitary Organization in Washington, DC that was concerned with quarantines, general hygiene, education, and the spread of infectious diseases. An Office International d\u2019Hygi\u00e8ne Publique was established in Paris in 1907 to deal with quarantine and sanitation conventions, as well as food hygiene, biological standardization, and hospital construction. In 1921, the League of Nations established a Health Organization, in accordance with Article 23 of the Covenant of the League of Nations, under which Members of League agreed to \u201cendeavour to take steps in matters of international concern for the prevention and control of disease.\u201d After the onset of World War Two, however, the Office International d\u2019Hygi\u00e8ne Publique closed, and the League of Nations\u2019 Health Organization was reduced to a fraction of its former scope, relegating action on international health to war-related organizations such as the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration.<\/p>\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">At the time of the founding of the United Nations in 1945, therefore, there was a significant need for a new organization that could address global health issues in the post-World War Two era. Article 55 of the newly written UN Charter committed the United Nations to \u201cpromote\u2026 solutions of international economic, social, and health related problems.\u201d In keeping with this mandate, the UN\u2019s Economic and Social Council began meeting in 1946 to outline a proposal for the foundation of a\u00a0 World Health Organization under the UN umbrella. The Constitution of the World Health Organization was eventually presented for adoption at the International Health Conference held in New York from 19 June \u2013 22 July 1946. It was signed by representatives of 61 states, and entered into force on 7 April 1948\u2014a date now celebrated annually as \u2018World Health Day\u2019.<\/p>\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\"><strong>The Institution<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">The WHO is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. However, its operations are spread across the headquarters, the Global Service Centre in Malaysia, six regional offices, and 150 individual country offices, making it one of the most decentralized of the UN agencies. The WHO employs more than 7000 public health experts, including medical doctors, public health specialists, scientists, epidemiologists, administrators, finance and information systems professionals, as well as experts in economics, health statistics, and emergency relief.<\/p>\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">The WHO is composed of three primary organs: the World Health Assembly, the Executive Board, and the Secretariat. The World Health Assembly is its primary decision-making body, and consists of delegations from all 194 Member States, who meet annually in Geneva to determine the policies of the WHO.<\/p>\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">The Executive Board is made up of 34 health experts, elected for 3-year terms. The Board acts as an executive agency for the World Health Assembly, implementing its decisions and policies, providing advice, and taking on other facilitative tasks.<\/p>\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">The Secretariat of the WHO is the largest of the three primary organs, employing over 8000 staff. It is led by a Director-General, who is appointed by the World Health Assembly for a five-year (renewable) term. The current Director General is Dr. Margaret Chan, who was appointed on 9 November 2006, and was re-appointed for a second term that will continue through 30 June 2017.<\/p>\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\"><strong>Role as a Forum for Human Rights<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">The human right to health is contained in a number of international and regional human rights treaties. Article 12 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), for example, attests that:<\/p>\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\"><em>The States Parties to the present Covenant recognize the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health.<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\"><em>The steps to be taken by the States Parties to the present Covenant to achieve the full realization of this right shall include those necessary for:<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\"><em>(a) <\/em><em>The provision for the reduction of the stillbirth-rate and of infant mortality and for the healthy development of the child;<\/em><em>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\"><em>(b) <\/em><em>The improvement of all aspects of environmental and industrial hygiene;<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\"><em>(c) <\/em><em>The prevention, treatment and control of epidemic, endemic, occupational and other diseases;<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\"><em>(d) <\/em><em>The creation of conditions which would assure to all medical service and medical attention in the event of sickness.<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">Additional protections are included in many international and regional instruments, including, for example, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), the European Social Charter, the African Charter on Human and Peoples\u2019 Rights, and the Protocol of San Salvador to the American Convention on Human Rights in the Area of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, to name a few.<\/p>\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">Because of its status as a UN specialized agency and its focus on \u201cthe attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of health,\u201d the WHO is a natural forum for human rights work with respect to the right to health. The WHO\u2019s work to improve health systems around the world contributes directly to the fulfillment of every person\u2019s right to health. However, the WHO\u2019s position with respect to\u00a0human rights discourse has shifted over the last seven decades along with changing international political tides.<\/p>\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">In its early years, the WHO Secretariat was active in helping to define the human rights agenda for public health. As then-WHO Director-General Brock Chisholm put it in 1951, \u201cthe whole programme approved by the World Health Assembly represents a concerted effort on the part of the Member States to ensure the right to health.\u201d In keeping with this philosophy, the early WHO was active in pushing a broad understanding of the right to health in human rights instruments in line with the expansive positive definition in its own Constitution.<\/p>\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">Beginning in the mid-1950s, however, Cold War politics led to a shift in the WHO\u2019s strategy, and it began to move away from human rights discourse, preferring to position itself as a \u2018technical\u2019 organization (rather than a \u2018political\u2019 one). As Director-General Marcolino Gomes Candau stated in 1957, the WHO was not an organization \u201centrusted with safeguarding legal rights.\u201d This altered focus allowed the WHO to maintain political neutrality during the 1950s and 60s, but it also meant that the organization gave up its leadership position with respect to defining the scope of the right to health within international human rights discourse.<\/p>\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">As the Cold War wound to a close, the WHO returned to using human rights language. And when UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan called in 1997 for the UN specialized agencies to \u2018mainstream\u2019 human rights in their activities, then-WHO Director-General Gro Harlem Brundtland was ready to do so.<\/p>\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">The organization continues the process of incorporating human rights more fully into its mandate. As part of the ongoing reform process launched at the 2012 World Health Assembly, the WHO has committed to promoting the mainstreaming of gender, equity and human rights throughout all levels\u00a0of the organization. To that end, it has established a \u2018Health and Human Rights Unit\u2019 to serve as the focal point for human rights integration within the WHO mandate.<\/p>\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">Today, the WHO\u2019s human rights activities are far-reaching. It engages in awareness raising and capacity building activities (such as conducting workshops and training seminars, and producing popular and technical pamphlets and videos) with respect to the right to health at both regional and national levels. It submits statements and reports to UN bodies charged with monitoring and evaluating human rights issues. It includes human rights concerns in its policy recommendations to national governments. And it has generally attempted to adopt a \u2018rights-based approach to health\u2019, which aims to make human rights \u201ca framework for health development,\u201d examines \u201cthe human rights implications of any health policy, programme for legislation,\u201d and makes human rights \u201can integral dimension of the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of health-related policies and programmes in all spheres, including political, economic and social.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">In addition, the WHO maintains a number of more focused programs on issues of particular interest. The WHO\u2019s QualityRights project, for example, seeks to improve human rights in mental health and social care facilities. The organization works to broaden access to medicines\u2014an essential component of the right to health\u2014by promoting best practices, new funding models, and other mechanisms. It has worked with the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to develop strategies for protecting the right to health through and during poverty reduction. And it has paid special attention to promoting gender equality in the provision and distribution of health care.<\/p>\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\"><strong>Summary<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">Despite its extensive work in the field of human rights and world health, criticisms of the WHO\u2019s level of commitment to a rights-based approach remain. Andra\u017e Zidar of the British Institute of International and Comparative Law, for example, argues that the WHO\u2019s 2005 International Health Regulations do not sufficiently integrate human rights, but instead only \u201callude\u201d to rights as\u00a0something \u201cexternal\u201d to the Regulations. The 2005 International Health Regulations, which were updated in response to the threat of infectious diseases such as SARS, H1N1 influenza, Ebola, MERS, and Poliovirus, are \u201carguably the most important global health treaty of the twenty-first century.\u201d Though they do include provisions guaranteeing that public health measures will be taken with full respect for human rights, Dr. Zidar argues that the Regulations should contain more specific human rights commitments.<\/p>\n<table>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>you can view video on World Health Organisation (WHO)<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/PNatngdQJxM\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-120\" src=\"http:\/\/epgpbooks.inflibnet.ac.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/download.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"36\" height=\"36\" \/><\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p><strong>Reference<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify\">Constitution of the World Health Organization.<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify\">World Health Organization, <em>Twelfth General Programme of Work: Not Merely the Absence of Disease<\/em> (2014).<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify\">Sir John Charles, \u201cOrigins, History, and Achievements of the World Health Organization,\u201d 2 <em>British<\/em> <em>Medical Journal <\/em>293 (4 May 1968).<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify\">B.M. Meier &amp; W. Onzivu, \u201cThe Evolution of Human Rights in World Health Organization Policy and the Future of Human Rights through Global Health Governance,\u201d 128(2) <em>Public Health<\/em> 179 (2014).<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify\">World Health Organization, \u201c25 Questions &amp; Answers on Health &amp; Human Rights,\u201d 1 <em>Health &amp; Human<\/em> <em>Rights Publication Series <\/em>16 (July 2002).<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify\">World Health Organization, website, \u201cWHO QualityRights Project\u2014addressing a hidden emergency,\u201d available at: http:\/\/www.who.int\/mental_health\/policy\/quality_rights\/en\/<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify\">Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights &amp; World Health Organization, \u201cHuman Rights, Health and Poverty Reduction Strategies,\u201d 5 <em>Health &amp; Human Rights Publication Series<\/em> 1 (December 2008).<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify\">Andra\u017e Zidar, \u201cWHO International Health Regulations and Human Rights: From Allusions to Inclusion,\u201d<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify\"><em>International Journal of Human Rights <\/em>(2015).<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify\">Lawrence Gostin, <em>Global Health Law<\/em> 35 (2014).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"menu_order":26,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":["jessica-lawrence"],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[],"contributor":[61],"license":[],"class_list":["post-331","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry","contributor-jessica-lawrence"],"part":3,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebooks.inflibnet.ac.in\/hrdp07\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/331","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebooks.inflibnet.ac.in\/hrdp07\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebooks.inflibnet.ac.in\/hrdp07\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebooks.inflibnet.ac.in\/hrdp07\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/ebooks.inflibnet.ac.in\/hrdp07\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/331\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":333,"href":"https:\/\/ebooks.inflibnet.ac.in\/hrdp07\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/331\/revisions\/333"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebooks.inflibnet.ac.in\/hrdp07\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/3"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebooks.inflibnet.ac.in\/hrdp07\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/331\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebooks.inflibnet.ac.in\/hrdp07\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=331"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebooks.inflibnet.ac.in\/hrdp07\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=331"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebooks.inflibnet.ac.in\/hrdp07\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=331"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebooks.inflibnet.ac.in\/hrdp07\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=331"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}