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The World Health Organization

By grossmanm070

  • The WHO is created

    The United Nations Conference in San Francisco unanimously approves
    the establishment of a new, autonomous international health organization.

  • The International Health Conference in New York approves theConstitution of the World Health Organization in July.

  • The epidemiological information service is established.

  • The World Health Organization Constitution comes into force

  • The International Classification of Disease is published.

    The International Classification of Disease - the global standard to report
    and categorize diseases, health-related conditions and external causes of
    disease and injury - is published

  • Dr Brock Chisholm is elected as the first Director-General.

  • The World Health Assembly establishes World Health Day to take placeannually on 7 April.

  • Mass TB immunization with the bacille Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccine isunder way to protect children from tuberculosis

  • The global yaws control programme is launched in partnership withUNICEF.

    The programme succeeded in treating 300 million people in 50
    countries, reducing global levels of the disease by more than 95%.

  • Dr Marcolino Gomes Candau is elected as the second Director Generalof the World Health Organization.

  • Malaria Eradication Program Was Launched

    Its objective was
    modified in 1969. Subsequently, most of the malaria eradication
    programmes were turned into national malaria control programmes
  • The smallpox eradication program was launched

    The smallpox eradication program was launched

  • The oral polio vaccine is licensed.

    This vaccine was proven to stop
    person-to-person transmission of wild poliovirus

  • The first report on diabetes mellitus is issued.

    By 2000, 171 million people
    worldwide carried the disease, a number likely to increase to at least 366
    million by 2030.

  • The International Agency for Research on Cancer is established

    The International Agency for Research on Cancer is established to
    coordinate and conduct both epidemiological and laboratory research into
    the causes of human cance

  • The new headquarters building of the World Health Organization inGeneva, Switzerland is inaugurated

  • The International Sanitary Regulations are renamed theInternational Health Regulations

    The International Sanitary Regulations, endorsed in 1951, are renamed the
    International Health Regulations, specifically covering cholera, plague,
    smallpox and yellow fever.

  • Dr AlbertSabin, donates the rights to the vaccine to the World Health Organization

    To ensure the oral polio vaccine’s universal use, its inventor Dr Albert
    Sabin, donates the rights to the vaccine to the World Health Organization.

  • Dr Halfdan T. Mahler of Denmark is elected as the third Director-General

  • The expanded programme on immunization is launched

    The expanded programme on immunization is launched. Immunization
    currently averts between 2-3 million deaths every year

  • The Onchocerciasis Control Programme is launched in collaboration with the World Bank, the United Nations Development Programme and the Food and Agriculture Organization.

  • The Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases isestablished

    The Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases is
    established to help coordinate, support and influence global efforts to
    combat neglected infectious diseases that disproportionately affect poor
    and marginalized populations

  • The Ebola virus is first identified in the Western Equatorial province ofSudan and in Zaire .

    Now known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo

  • The World Health Assembly adopts a resolution on Disability Preventionand Rehabilitation

    The World Health Assembly adopts a resolution on Disability Prevention
    and Rehabilitation calling for an integration of rehabilitation into primary
    health care programmes and community life.

  • The first essential medicines list is published

    Today, the list contains 340
    medicines that address most global priority conditions, including malaria,
    HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, reproductive health and, increasingly, chronic
    diseases such as cancer and diabetes.

  • The International Conference on Primary Health Care in Alma-Ata (in theformer Soviet Union) sets the historic goal of "Health for all".

  • A global commission certifies the worldwide eradication of smallpox.

    A global commission certifies the worldwide eradication of smallpox.

  • The Global Programme on AIDS is created to develop and coordinate aglobal strategy to fight the disease.

  • Dr Hiroshi Nakajima of Japan is elected as the fourth Director-General

  • The World Health Assembly endorses a resolution on non-discriminationagainst people living with AIDS.

  • The Global Polio Eradication Initiative is established in collaboration withRotary International, the US Centers for Disease Control and Preventionand UNICEF.

  • The World Health Assembly adopts a resolution to eliminate leprosy

  • The International Commission for the Certification of Dracunculiasis Eradication is established

  • The DOTS strategy for TB control is launched

    Under which 30 million people have been treated to date through primary services

  • UNAIDS is created with six founding partner agencies.

  • Dr Gro Harlem Brundtland of Norway is elected as the fifth DirectorGeneral

  • The Stop TB Partnership is launched, hosted by WHO

    The Stop TB Partnership is launched, hosted by WHO. It now includes
    over 500 partners working to reduce the global burden of TB by increasing
    access to treatment through DOTS programmes, and addressing challenges
    such as TB/HIV and drug-resistant TB

  • The Commission on Macroeconomics and Health is established to assessthe impact of health on development.

  • The Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network is established

  • 189 Member States of the United Nations unanimously adopt aMillennium Declaration which results in the Millennium DevelopmentGoals

  • The Measles Initiative is launched in partnership with the American RedCross, UNICEF, the United Nations Foundation and the US Centres forDisease Control and Prevention.

    As of October 2007, overall global
    measles deaths have fallen by 68%.

  • The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria is created todramatically increase

  • Dr LEE Jong-wook of the Republic of Korea is elected as the sixthDirector-General of the World Health Organization

  • Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) is first recognized and thencontrolled

    WHO coordinated the international investigation with the
    Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network and worked closely with health authorities in the affected countries