Throughout the history of mankind, people have been vulnerable to various obligate intracellular parasites, which consisted of genetic information and protein coat, examples of which include smallpox and ebola viruses causing frequent outbreaks. To combat these pathogens, the WHO acts as a primary collective shield that ensures global health security. Known for almost eradicating malaria from developed countries by the 1970s, making Hepatitis C medication affordable and eradicating smallpox, the organization plays a critical role in maintaining global health and striving to provide equal chances for everyone to have a healthy life.
Core functions of the WHO and its duties
In terms of achieving universal health coverage, the organization focuses on providing primary healthcare to enable access to essential services, sustainable financing with financial protection, availability of medicines and health technologies, building a strong, educated workforce and advocating for labour, encouraging people’s participation in national policies, and strengthening monitoring, data collection, and information systems. At the same time, it emphasizes building preparedness and response capacities by managing acute emergencies, preventing and controlling outbreaks, developing essential health services in complex emergencies, and managing risks and crises. What makes the organization trustworthy is that people can rely on its professionals who are committed to excellence in health, integrity, collaborative working culture, and caring for others.
The Structure of WHO
Concerning the organizational structure, there are 194 member states and a director-general, who leads the organization in delivering its health-related mandates. Besides the directors, there are many secretaries, experts, specialists, and workers in the organization, including those based at the headquarters in Geneva and six regional offices, as well as several other posts in over 150 countries. The organization’s leadership has strong networks and operational relationships as it operates on the ground in over 150 places in six regions. While the director-general provides direction and supervision of the organization’s international health activities, the six regional directors review and appraise the work of the regional offices and their country counterparts.
The organization has an extensive network that covers almost all countries, enabling it to offer high-quality health services to all people. Its status and considerable support from many states enable it to advocate better health for all people worldwide, which is a fundamental right enjoying equality regardless of race, religion, political beliefs, or social and economic status. Since its establishment, the organization has transformed the concept of health to encompass total well-being, including physical, mental, and social security.
Criticisms towards the WHO and how does the WHO handle
The organization has faced many challenges and criticisms over time, particularly concerning its sluggish response to certain health emergencies such as the 2014 Ebola and COVID pandemics. In relation to the Ebola outbreak, reports revealed that the organization had reacted inadequately to the situation in West Africa, with the disease persisting for five months before the organization could declare it a public health emergency. It was argued that WHO failed to meet its obligations in responding to the outbreak due to a lack of leadership and accountability. However, several analysts highlighted that the problem resulted from the system, not the organization itself, as it lacked an operational structure to respond to health emergencies.
Moreover, the organization has been criticized for being too slow in acknowledging the COVID pandemic. While it was argued that the organization was unduly lenient to China in the early stages of the pandemic, others claimed that the organization relied on reassurances from Beijing that the virus was not airborne. It was further asserted that the organization was incapable of taking action against Beijing for concealing critical information and even praised China for its openness. However, according to the Associated Press’s article containing recordings of conversations, the organization experienced difficulties extracting essential information from China about the virus at the beginning of the outbreak. Consequently, this contradicted the organization’s public praise of China’s management of the outbreak. The article revealed that the company’s staff members were criticizing Beijing for lacking the willingness to provide the data needed to assess the situation appropriately. Besides stating that the virus was contagious, China admitted that it was responsible for COVID-19 on 20 th January. Thus, a qualified epidemiologist and the WHO technical lead for COVID-19, Maria Van Kerkhove, stated, “It’s clearly not enough for you to do proper planning.” As a result, the organization declared a global emergency on 30 th January.
Besides these criticisms, several individuals questioned why the organization was praising China’s transparency. According to the latest Associated Press investigation, the organization commenced its commendation of China’s response to_COVID_19 during the early stages of the outbreak. Since the organization was appealing to Beijing to share its data voluntarily, it is not surprising that it was complimentary of the country as it accelerated the release of the information. Apart from that, The Lancet , a renowned medical journal, argued that the rest of the world could learn from China as it had brought the COVID outbreak under control. The country was much better prepared for the pandemic than it had been for SARS, which occurred in 2002. Additionally, the journal’s editor-in-chief, Richard Horton, stated in an interview with the Chinese state media that it would not be helpful and unfair to accuse China of being the COVID’s epicentre. Instead, he suggested that the international community should collaborate with the Chinese government in battling the pandemic, according to an article published by SCMP. In spite of these criticisms, the organization was dedicated to providing immediate assistance, support, and guidance in combating COVID-19, as evidenced by its timeline of actions. For instance, in addition to 134 press briefings, the organization conducted 41 information sessions and Member State Briefings, 4.8 million individuals had enrolled for courses on the OpenWHO platform, which provides a variety of 25 COVID-19 courses in 44 languages to help fight the pandemic. Thus, the organization has striven to provide better global health security.
Challenges faced by the WHO and how to overcome them
Ever since its inception, the organization has been facing challenges in terms of its reliance on donations from other entities. An article published by the BMJ journals, “Who’s leading WHO?” revealed that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation had been the organization’s second-largest funder over the years. In particular, the foundation had contributed 9.5% of the organization’s income through voluntary contributions between 2010 and 2023. At the same time, it was argued that the foundation has been influencing the organization as it has been exerting pressure on it, restricting its autonomy, and dominating its power structures, which may undermine its capacity to perform its mandate efficiently and effectively. Consequently, the organization has faced challenges in achieving its goals due to a lack of funding from member states.
In the “Strengthening the WHO in the pandemic era by removing a persistent structural defect in financing” paper published by the National Library of Medicine, the authors argue that the organization has limited direct control over 80% of its resources as over 60% of its funding comes from just nine donors. The authors add that it is vital to promote specific requirements and restrictions on contributions to ensure that the organization has a significant degree of control over its functioning. It is evident that the organization has suffered to a considerable extent due to an inadequate amount of funding from its members. Nevertheless, it is important to note that autonomy is more important than having numerous donors.
Future outlooks of the WHO, how will it develop and what will it focus on
Since the organization recognizes that the changes occurring in socio-economic development, demographics, and urbanization present many opportunities for innovation to improve health, it has developed several future strategies. They include leveraging transformative approaches by engaging in backcasting, using a systematic approach by aiming for universal health coverage, prioritizing “grounds up,” emphasizing country impact, extending beyond the health sector, and utilizing strategic communication. The organization realizes that, although most countries within the Region possess comparable characteristics, each nation has unique circumstances. Therefore, it will endeavour to implement adaptive policies and strategic measures that take every state’s situation into consideration to ensure that all actions taken are relevant and applicable to all countries. This will enable the organization to safeguard the precious health of global citizens while promoting a better world where everyone has access to the necessary preventative measures and information to deal with future health emergencies. It is believed that the WHO can perform its duties and carry its responsibilities more effectively in the future as it sets its future targets and objectives. Confidence towards the WHO is reassured and it is trusted that the WHO can ensure that every citizen in the world has the right of having access towards knowing preventive methods and information about future potential diseases plus their health risks through education. The world will surely be better when every citizen grasps the key towards sustaining good health, which will be fulfilled when the WHO improves its measures and policies on protecting the health of every citizen and acting as the ultimate, protective shield that protects everyone from losing from precious, intangible assets, health.
By: Lam Ching Hei Hayley
Write and Win: Participate in Creative writing Contest & International Essay Contest and win fabulous prizes.
About the Author
