WHO—A Source of Inspiration for Researchers?

1987 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 57-61 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hannu Vuori

Traditionally, the research community—be it biomedical or socio-medical—has not looked at the World Health Organization for inspiration. Understandably so: according to its constitution, the organization was founded to assist the Member States in strengthening health services by providing technical assistance (1). The staffing pattern has reflected this role; most staff members are technical experts, not researchers. They often come from the national health administrations and have limited exposure to—sometimes even limited understanding of—research.

1956 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 489-491

The activities of the World Health Organization (WHO) during 1955 were surveyed in the anuual report to the World Health Assembly and to the UN of the WHO Director-General, Dr. Marcoline G. Candau. During 1955, Dr. Candau stated, substantial results had been achieved in three categories of programs: the fight against communicable diseases, the strengthening of national health services, and the raising of standards of education and training for all types of health personnel. Malaria, tuberculosis, poliomyelitis, and trachoma were among the communicable diseases towards the eradication of which WHO activities had been directed, with in many instances considerable progress. However, it had become increasingly evident that the beneficial effects of such campaigns against disease could only constitute concrete gains for public health if national health services could be effectively strengthened, and during 1955 a large part of WHO's work had continued to be devoted to that aim, in all regions but particularly in the Americas, southeast Asia and the eastern Mediterranean. In the development of national health services, particular attention had been devoted to such matters as the principle of program integration, nutrition and health education, changes in health services necessitated by the aging of populations, mental health, and environmental sanitation. In regard to education and training of health personnel, an effort had been made in the regions to increase the use of all methods which had proved their value in the past, including direct training of health personnel at all levels, provision of fellowships for study abroad, assistance to institutions and the sponsoring of international conferences, training courses and seminars.


1957 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 539-540

The annual report of the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) for the year 1956 was a comprehensive account of the year's accomplishments, in which particular emphasis was laid on the eradication of certain communicable diseases, especially malaria, on WHO's role in the development of national health services and on the effect of the research stimulated, promoted or coordinated by WHO on the national health administrations. The report also referred to the responsibility of WHO in a new field of public health—the peaceful uses of atomic energy.


2020 ◽  
Vol 23 (10) ◽  
pp. 707-711
Author(s):  
Leila Mounesan ◽  
Ehsan Mostafavi

The honorable Abdul Hussein Tabatabaei was born in 1911 in Iran and received his medical education in the United Kingdom. Famously known as Dr. A.H. Taba, he was a well-respected man for his significant impact on the improvement of the national and global healthcare services and support for social justice. Before joining the World Health Organization (WHO), he was twice elected to the Iranian national assembly and served as the under-secretary of health services in Iran. Later, he joined the WHO and was elected as the Director of the Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMRO) in Alexandria in 1957 – a position he maintained for 25 years. During his tenure as the Regional Director, he rendered valuable assistance to the development and expansion of major health issues such as development and expansion of the health workforce, improvement of the national health services and controlling of various communicable diseases in the member countries and across the WHO regional offices.


2005 ◽  
Vol 20 (6) ◽  
pp. 382-384 ◽  
Author(s):  
Poonam Khetrapal Singh ◽  
Roderico Ofrin ◽  
P. Ravindran ◽  
Idrus Paturussi ◽  
Ibrahim Yasir ◽  
...  

AbstractThis is a summary of the presentations and discussion of Session 1.2 of the Conference, Health Aspects of the Tsunami Disaster in Asia, convened by the World Health Organization (WHO) in Phuket, Thailand, 04–06 May 2005. The topics discussed included issues related national health perspectives as pertaining to the responses to the damage created by the Tsunami. It is presented in the following major sections: (1) key questions; (2) discussion; (3) what was done well?; (4) what could have been done better?; and (5) what can be done to prepare for the future?.


1960 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 673-674

The thirteenth session of the Assembly of the World Health Organization (WHO) was held in Geneva, from May 3 to 20, 1960. In his inaugural address, the President of the Assembly, Dr. H. B. Turbott, spoke of the ground gained by the idea of world health since the early days of WHO, of the new and growing challenges with which the Assembly would have to deal in discussing the 1961 program—such as the control of pestilential diseases, protection against radiation hazards, the evaluation of live poliomyelitis vaccine, extended nutrition programs, and the world shortage of competent health personnel—and of the problems of particular concern to the more developed countries, such as heart, cancer, and mental illness. Dr. Turbott also described the integration of preventive and curative services as one field to which WHO should devote more attention. The Director-General, presenting his report on the work of WHO during 1959, stressed the urgency of the world-wide malaria eradication campaign, pointing out that malaria was the most important single obstacle to the development of the economic and social potentials of the underdeveloped areas of the world. The year 1959, he continued, had witnessed intensified research activities by the Organization, an increase in experts trained under WHO's fellowship program, and improved coordination between inter-country and inter-regional projects, but the problem of the resistance of malaria vectors to insecticides remained an obstacle to malaria eradication, and the question of funds for international technical assistance was still unsolved. In concluding, the Director-General predicted diat, at die present rate of progress, malaria could be eradicated, at least from Europe, the Americas, North Africa, and large parts of Asia, within perhaps the next ten years.


2012 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 80-81
Author(s):  
David Skuse

We asked the programme managers for mental health at the World Health Organization's Regional Offices for Europe, the Eastern Mediterranean and South-East Asia to provide an account of developments in the provision of mental health services within their regions.We are very fortunate that these busy and influential individuals were able to set aside the time to prepare articles that shed a fascinating light on strategic thinking within the World Health Organization.


2004 ◽  
Vol 184 (5) ◽  
pp. 379-380 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mike. J. Crawford

Since 1948 the World Health Organization has had the challenging task of trying to achieve ‘the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of health’ (World Health Organization, 1946). A central part of this work has involved assessing the extent of health-related problems in different parts of the world and advocating for the implementation of effective strategies to address these problems. For many years the World Health Organization has expressed concerns about the relatively low level of funding assigned to mental health services in many countries. Estimates based on data collected in 2000 show that in most of sub-Saharan Africa and South-East Asia there are fewer than one mental health nurse and one psychiatrist per 100 000 people (World Health Organization, 2001). Two papers produced with the support of the World Health Organization and published in this issue of the Journal strengthen the argument for additional funding for mental health services. In the first paper, üstün and colleagues (2004, this issue) summarise data on the relative impact of common health-related problems in different regions of the world, and in an accompanying paper Chisholm and others (2004, this issue) estimate the cost-effectiveness of different interventions for depression in these different areas.


Healthcare ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 83
Author(s):  
Jéssica Tavares ◽  
Gonçalo Santinha ◽  
Nelson P. Rocha

Background: Health care provided to older adults must take into account the characteristics of chronic diseases and the comorbidities resulting from ageing. However, health services are still too oriented towards acute situations. To overcome this problem, the World Health Organization (WHO) proposed a set of Age-Friendly Principles that seek to optimize the provision of health care for this population. This article aims to understand how such Principles are considered in the implementation of age-friendly health care worldwide. Methods: A systematic review was conducted to synthesize the literature on age-friendly health care in accordance with the PRISMA recommendations in the PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus databases. Results: The research identified 34 articles, with only seven recognizing the WHO Principles and only four using the implementation toolkit. In addition, in the context of primary care, three studies recognize the WHO Principles, but only two use the toolkit. Conclusions: The WHO Principles are being implemented in health care, but in a smaller scale than desired, which reveals possible flaws in their dissemination and standardization. Thus, a greater scientific investment in age-friendly health care should be considered, which represents a greater operationalization of the Principles and an evaluation of their effectiveness and impacts.


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