World Health Organization in Pandemic World
The World Health Organization (WHO), one of the specialized agencies of the UN, was established on 7 April 1948. This organization is directing and coordinates authority within the United Nations for any topic related to global public health. The WHO has the vision of the attainment of the highest possible level of health by all people which is an important agenda in the world. So, to achieve the goal of this organization, WHO staff collaborates with the governments of 194 Member States and other partners. It works at three levels in the Organization (global, regional, and country). The location of headquarters of the World Health Organization is in Geneva, Switzerland. Also, its six semi-regional offices and one hundred fifty field offices are spread worldwide.
Objective
WHO has primary objectives to promote health, keep the world safe, and serve the vulnerable. They are working with high effort with a series of events to attend the objective.
The WHO has its goal set to ensure that more people in the world have universal health coverage, to protect more people from health emergencies, and to provide people with better health and well-being.
With the vision of attainment of the highest level of health for all people, it set its missions to lead strategic collaborative efforts among the member states, other partners, and the whole in total to the following issues:
- Promotion of equality in health
- Combat the disease
- Improvement of quality of life
- Lengthen the healthy lives of people of the world.
History of WHO
After the end of the second world war, the diplomats had a meeting to form a united nation. China and Brazil proposed to establish an international health organization at that meeting. So, they also decided to set up a global health organization giving rise to the World Health Organization. WHO’s Constitution was implemented on 7 April 1948. So we celebrate this date every year as world health day with a unique theme for each year. Thus, the WHO is also a part of the United Nations Organization.
World Health Day 2018 and 2019:
Emphasizing the idea of fundamental rights and the accessibility of health care all around the world, World Health Day declared the theme of the year 2018 as "Universal Health Coverage: Everyone, Everywhere". Since health is an important need for humans, the slogan of the day was " Health For all". It held several events including a panel discussion on universal health coverage. This theme is related to the main motive for the formation of the WHO. So, it repeated the theme on the World Health Day of 2019 too.
This time the organization emphasizes the idea "Universal Health Coverage is the WHO's number one goal" so that the theme seems unique for the year. To acknowledge the 2019 World Health Day theme, it launched a campaign to sign a petition for health for all. This event was held as a Facebook live event. WHO shared information about primary health care and universal health coverage "statistics and facts".
2020: Support Nurses and Midwives
Considering the COVID - 19 global pandemic, The WHO launched the theme of World Health Day 2020 as " Support Nurses and Midwives". People around the world spent the day thanking the nurses and healthcare- workers. It was for their fierce full work of being on the frontlines of the battle of COVID-19 coronavirus. The celebration of the day took place mostly in a virtual environment. Because of the "stay home" order, all the people celebrated this day through Online press conferences, announcements, and social media. Also, many efforts were made focussing on raising funds for the COVID-19 solitary response fund.
WHO in Corona Pandemics
World Health Organisation has played a momentous role in tackling the COVID-19 Pandemic. It has collected data and statistics related to the corona victims (death, recovery, and others). This act is a milestone in the analysis of the disease and provides a deeper understanding of the situation.
As per its mission, it has made a great effort to make the availability of necessary commodities to combat the pandemic situation created by COVID- 19 throughout the world on a low budget. It also has prepared a manual to fight against the disease. So, it is true in the sense to say that the WHO has issued a Strategic preparedness and response plan. Consequently, it helps to identify the major actions and resources needed. Also, to ensure the patients get the proper care they need, and the frontline workers get essential supplies and information, WHO set up the COVID-19 Solidary Response Fund with partners. The WHO has properly allocated the budget to meet the objectives of the fund and working on it too for a better result.
WHO also helps to accelerate the research and development of vaccines. It has consulted with a biotech company: Pfizer for effective mRNA vaccines to combat the Coronavirus. And, it is only possible to share reliable information and suggestions via. different social media like YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, etcetera. It has aimed to train millions of health workers through its open WHO platforms. They are alike online courses, and forums to share expert ideas. This platform not only broadens the horizon of knowledge but also makes people involved in combating this pandemic phase.
In conclusion, the WHO is the global health organization to cope with all the health issues that arose in the world. It is always there to put a hand in hand to face the problems aware the people about it, analyze them, and find the solution in total.
