How has the role of WHO changed in the 21st century

How has the role of WHO changed in the 21st century? Which factors have contributed most to this change? Give your reasons why countries need cooperate, and identify the sorts of activities they might undertake together.

WHO, World Health Organization, is a specialized agency of the United Nations that is concerned with international public health. WHO’s purpose statement is “Working for better health for everyone, everywhere” (WHO,2018). Together, WHO, strives to combat communicable and non- communicable diseases and help people to thrive so that they can look forward to a healthy old age. The role of WHO has changed in the 21stcentury due to the centuries increasingly complex health challenges and its decrease in budget.

Dr. Gavin Yamey expresses in an interesting statement, we are now at a truly remarkable point in human history. Today we have the financial and the ever-improving technological capabilities to ensure that a child born anywhere on the planet can have a long and healthy life. We must adjust current budgets and policies to adjust to the health challenges imposed in the 21st century. Health challenges such as obesity and substance abuse are at an all-time high. We continue to face pandemics, unprepared. Without proper funding, WHO can’t successfully accomplish its true goal, we can’t possibly reach global convergence.

Countries need to come together and cooperate, only we can enable WHO to accomplish its true goals. Dr. Yamey states that by achieving grand convergence in global health we would have a significant impact on human health. We could be saving ten million lives a year, year on year. In a study conducted by the cofounders of the 2035 global health report, it was noted that the economic payoff from investing in convergence would be genuinely immense.

Together, countries could participate in activities that can contribute to the changes needed to reach global health convergence. First, upmost important, to absolutely fully fund our global health agencies, principally WHO. Countries need to focus funding cost-effective interventions such as vaccinations and adopting progressive public health policies. Finally, it’s extremely important to aid those in the poorest countries, financially, because what affects them can potentially affect the whole globe.