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| The
constitution of the World Health Organization was signed by 61 countries 70 years ago. |
The World Health Organization (WHO) is a
specialized agency of the United Nations that is concerned with international
public health. It was established on 7 April 1948, headquartered in Geneva,
Switzerland. The WHO is a member of the United Nations Development Group. Its
predecessor, the Health Organization, was an agency of the League of Nations.
The constitution of the World Health
Organization had been signed by 61 countries on 22 July 1946, with the first
meeting of the World Health Assembly finishing on 24 July 1948. It incorporated
the Office International d'Hygiène Publique and the League of Nations
Health
Organization. Since its creation, it has played a leading role in the
eradication of smallpox. Its current priorities include communicable diseases,
in particular HIV/AIDS, Ebola, malaria and tuberculosis; the mitigation of the
effects of non-communicable diseases; sexual and reproductive health,
development, and aging; nutrition, food security and healthy eating;
occupational health; substance abuse; and driving the development of reporting,
publications, and networking.
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| WHO Headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. |
The WHO is responsible for the World Health
Report, a leading international publication on health, the worldwide World
Health Survey, and World Health Day (7 April of every year). The head of WHO is
Margaret Chan.
Margaret Chan Fung Fu-chun, (born August
21 1947) is a Hong Kong Chinese and Canadian physician, who serves as the
Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) for 2006–17. Chan was
elected by the Executive Board of WHO on 8 November 2006, and was endorsed in a
special meeting of the World Health Assembly on the following day. Chan has
previously served as Director of Health in the Hong Kong Government
(1994–2003), representative of the WHO Director-General for Pandemic Influenza
and WHO Assistant Director-General for Communicable Diseases (2003–2006). As of
2014, she is ranked as the 30th most powerful woman in the world according to
Forbes.
