World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations. It helps build better health systems throughout the world, especially in developing countries.
WHO establishes standards in a variety of fields, such as food, biological and pharmaceutical goods, diagnostic procedures, and environmental health protection. It also helps name and classify diseases. Prevention of disease is a key goal of WHO. The agency works with governments to provide safe drinking water, adequate sewage disposal, and immunization against childhood diseases. WHO also identifies important research goals and organizes researchers all over the world to achieve these goals.
WHO was founded in 1948. Its principal organs are the World Health Assembly, the Executive Board, and the Secretariat. The World Health Assembly meets once a year and consists of national delegations. The Executive Board advises the World Health Assembly and implements its policies. The Secretariat, headed by a director-general, consists of workers at WHO’s headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, and around the world. The website of the World Health Organization at https://www.who.int provides additional information.
See also Fenner, Frank John.
