698 



to the new technologies and the quick emergence of the cold war ga\ i* 

 cause for re-appraisal of the early aspirations; nevertheless, there was 

 innnediate work to he done hy this new international niachinerv to 

 resume the work interrupted by the war and to deal with conditii,i;s 

 produced h}' it. 



(hf/diihdtion and Strurturr of WHO 



The drafters of the AVH(^ Constitution produce<l a unicjue struc- 

 ture for international health work and one with authority and powii- 

 o\er functions which governments normally reserxed to themsehes. 

 Howevei", the authority and powers of "WHO have never been fully 

 exercised by its administrators. Prudent men ha\'e used Iwth conunou 

 sense and caution in the application of the constitutional provisions. 

 If foi" no other reason, the axailable i-esources, poi-sonnel. funds, and 

 technical knowledge available to the Organization have made it im- 

 possible for WITO to attempt to cai-ry out all of the functions assigned 

 to it. '^ 



Nevertheless, under these constitutional diivcti\es WHO has grown 

 into an international opei'ation of considerable size and significance. 

 Its regular budget, funded by assessed contributions from Member 

 governments, has risen from $r> million in 1045 to $7-'^ million for 

 1971,^*' plus $50 million or more from other sources which the Organi- 

 zation will administer in 1071. 

 Today WHO : 



— Has IHl Member States and Associate ^Members. 

 — Continues its six regional offices and committees in Copen!\ageii. 

 Alexandria, Brazzaville, Manila. New Delhi, and Washington. 

 with headquarters in Geneva. (See Fig. 1 ) 

 — Maintains hundreds of reference centers or laboratoiio all o\er 



the world. 

 — Has formal working interfaces with some 82 major health- relevant 

 international goveinmental and non-governmental oiganizations. 

 — Has a total staff in the order of 4500. Ai)proximately a fourth of 

 these are at headquarters with the remainder in regional and zone 

 offices and in the countries. 

 — Is supported technically by some 45 Advisory Pane's and Plxi)ert 

 Committees in virtually every health or health-related subject 

 area, including air pollution, food additives, cancer, drug de- 

 pendence, human genetics, insecticides, nutrition, occupational 

 health, medical research, international quarantine, venereal 

 disease, mental health, and environmental health programs. 

 — Initiates per year about 200 co]hil)oi"ati\e research conti-acts. lOd 



training and exchange grants, aiid l')500 fellowships. 

 — Manages an extensive woild-wide malaria eradication and control 



program. 

 — Administers the 107 Article, International Health Regulations, 



adopted by the World Health Assembly in 1969. 

 — Operates as a part of the above regulations a global intelligence 

 network on the principal epidemic diseases of the world. (See 

 Fig. 2) 



^Personal communication with Howard B. Calderwood. (November 25.1970). 

 "As adopted by the 23rd World Health Assembly. WHO Chronicle (Geneva, World 

 Health Organization, July 1970), page 293. 



