GENEVA: On the eve of its 75th anniversary, the WHO marked the occasion by calling for a renewed drive for health equity in the face of unprecedented threats.
75 years ago, after years of war, the nations of the world agreed to set up a new organisation and “debated and agreed what this organisation would be and do in a document called the Constitution of the World Health Organisation,” the organisation’s Director General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, recalled here on Thursday.
“Tomorrow marks the 75th anniversary of the day that Constitution came into force. It was, and is, a landmark document,” he said.
The past decades have witnessed extraordinary progress in protecting people from diseases and destruction, including smallpox eradication, reducing the incidence of polio by 99 per cent, saving millions of lives through childhood immunisation, declines in maternal mortality, and improving health and well-being for millions more.
“And for the past three years, the WHO has coordinated the global response to the Covid pandemic. We can’t claim sole credit for these achievements, but we have played a leading role in all of them,” Tedros added.