In April 1945, at a conference in San Francisco to establish the United Nations (UN), representatives of Brazil and China proposed the creation of an international health organization and the convening of a conference to draft its charter. On February fifteenth, 1946, the United Nations Economic and Social Council instructed the Secretary-General to convene such a conference. At a meeting of the Technical Preparatory Committee held in Paris from 18 March to 5 April 1946, proposals for a constitution for the new organization were drawn up and presented to the International Sanitary Conference in New York, held from 19 June to 22 July 1946. On the basis of these proposals, the Conference drew up and adopted the Constitution of the World Health Organization, signed on 22 July 1946 by representatives of 51 UN members and 10 other states.

The WHO Constitution came into force on April 7, 1948 - from now on we celebrate this day every year as World Health Day.

Good health is invaluable. A healthy person can learn, work and support themselves and their family. If a person is sick, he or she is in distress, and his or her family and community suffer.

For this reason, the World Health Organization is needed. WHO staff - with its 194 Member States in six regions and more than 150 offices - are united by a common desire to improve health for everyone, everywhere. The main areas of WHO's work are outlined below.

Health systems

Strong health systems contribute to improved health care in different countries and play a key role in ensuring the effectiveness of health programs. WHO monitors regional and global health situations and trends, bringing together all information systems on diseases and health status. Reliable up-to-date evidence and health information is critical for public health decision-making, resource allocation, monitoring and evaluation. WHO serves as the global guardian of the reliability of health information and works with countries to strengthen mechanisms for creating, sharing and utilizing high-quality information resources.

Non-communicable diseases

Non-communicable diseases (NCDs), including heart disease, stroke, cancer, diabetes and chronic lung disease, mental health disorders, and violence and injury, together account for more than 70% of all deaths worldwide. Eight out of 10 of these deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries. The impact of these diseases extends beyond the health sector, and addressing the emerging challenges requires more than the disease prevention and treatment system can offer.

Promoting health across the life course

Promoting health throughout the life course relates to all WHO activities and takes into account the need to address environmental risk factors and social determinants of health, as well as gender, equity and human rights.

Communicable diseases

WHO works with countries to increase and sustain access to prevention, treatment and care for HIV, tuberculosis, malaria and neglected tropical diseases, and to reduce the incidence of vaccine-preventable diseases. There has been notable progress in achieving SDG 6 (Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases), but much work remains to be done.

Preparedness, surveillance and response

WHO supports countries in strengthening their national emergency health risk management capacity to prevent, respond to and recover from emergencies caused by a factor that poses a threat to health security.

Corporate services

Corporate services include the support functions, tools and resources that make all of this work possible. For example, the category "corporate services" covers the governing bodies that organize meetings of Member States to develop policy; the advice provided by the legal department in the drafting of international treaties; the assistance of the public relations staff in disseminating information related to health; the work of the human resources department; and the work of the health and human resources department; the work of the Human Resources Department, which attracts the world's best public health experts; and the strengthening of services responsible for providing the facilities and resources needed for the approximately 7,000 staff working in more than 150 WHO offices.

The WHO Country Office operates in Tajikistan. It was established in 1992 in Dushanbe to provide technical assistance to the Ministry of Health in strengthening the public health system in the country and has been working for many years in cooperation with the Ministry of Health and Social Protection of Population, the academic community, partners - international and non-governmental organizations.

The office is the coordinator of WHO activities in Tajikistan. The country team consists of 24 people, including 12 experts on: health policy and financing, immunization and surveillance, epidemiology of HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, avian influenza and other infectious diseases, disaster preparedness and response, family and community health, nutrition, food safety and food security, mental health and environmental health.

Information sourced from WHO website: https://www.who.int

Translated Ismoilov R.