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Whither the World Health Organization?
Author(s) -
Reid Michael A,
Pearse E Jim
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
medical journal of australia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.904
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1326-5377
pISSN - 0025-729X
DOI - 10.5694/j.1326-5377.2003.tb05031.x
Subject(s) - mandate , public health , political science , public administration , director general , constitution , work (physics) , public relations , international health , health policy , economic growth , health care , medicine , management , law , engineering , economics , nursing , mechanical engineering
The outgoing Director‐General of the World Health Organization, Gro Harlem Brundtland, has successfully returned health issues to the international arena. The new Director‐General will have to cope with reduced control over funding, debate over WHO's mandate, and the relationships between WHO and other organisations. Despite the broad role described in WHO's constitution, many groups see WHO's mandate as narrowly directed at disease eradication. The method of choice for funding health programs has become public–private partnerships. These have the advantages of bringing private money, management expertise and research knowledge to bear on health problems, but rarely consider the health system as a whole, focusing instead on specific diseases. This has the potential to distort resource allocation and priorities. The international community needs to work to strengthen WHO and maintain its broad mandate to achieve the highest possible level of health for all people.