The WHO can look back on 75 years with pride

▶ The organisation has achieved great things but must remain adaptable and open to reform

The upheaval caused by the Covid-19 pandemic can sometimes obscure the reality that we live in a time of unprecedented medical advances, many of them the result of countries working together. Sharing research and expertise, co-ordinating responses to natural disasters, supplying poorer countries with life-saving medical aid and the development of a Covid vaccine in record time are all examples of how co-operation has delivered real progress in fighting disease and helping people live longer, healthier lives.

It wasn’t always like this. Today is the 75th anniversary of the World Health Organisation’s foundation, and it can be difficult to imagine what much of the globe looked like 75 years ago. Much of continental Europe was still in ruins three years after the Second World War ended. Deadly diseases such as smallpox and polio were rife and the average life expectancy in Asia and Africa was 41 and 36 years, respectively.

The WHO has many achievements to be proud of. It began a mass immunisation drive against tuberculosis in 1950, helped to bring down deaths from measles by 68 per cent by 2007 and has fought for decades against malaria. From the introduction of the world’s first disease-tracking service to the eradication of smallpox in 1980, it has repeatedly proved the benefits to be gained by encouraging countries to work together on health.

But it has had its critics, too. In 2020, a briefing given to the European Parliament said the WHO was “weak, underfunded and its complex organisational structure can get in the way of effective action”.

The WHO’s performance in the coronavirus pandemic also attracted criticism. Accusing it of following a political agenda during the crisis, then US president Donald Trump pulled America out of the organisation. Calls for reform have been a constant throughout the WHO’s existence, but such criticism can be misplaced. Like the UN, the WHO cannot compel its 194 member states to take action. During the Covid pandemic, WHO members – for better or worse – made their own policy decisions on lockdowns, quarantine rules and facemasks.

If criticism – justified or not – is a constant for the WHO, then so is the global pace of change when it comes to health. It is arguable that the organisation’s position as the pre-eminent body for worldwide health co-ordination has been affected as more private companies, public-private partnerships and influential individuals get involved in medicine.

There is an irony to this. The push for the first international health organisation after the First World War did not come from government but from a private individual – Henry Pomeroy Davison, chairman of the War Council of the American Red Cross.

In helping to end some of the world’s worst diseases, the WHO has proved its worth. But it will need to be nimble to maintain its position as a policy leader in a world where medical technology is developing as rapidly as its health challenges. Seventy-five years fighting illness is quite an achievement, but much more work remains to be done.