The World Health Organization

The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) that is concerned with international public health. It was established on 7 April 1948, with its headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland.

The constitution of the World Health Organization had been signed by all 61 countries of the United Nations by 22 July 1946. As of 2013, the WHO has 194 member states

The WHO has achieved an impressive record in pursuing its main aim, especially in the battle against some of the world's most virulent diseases. Its most remarkable success has been the campaign against smallpox and malaria, the former now completely eradicated from the earth.

One of the main services carried out by the WHO is the service of epidemic warnings. The WHO gathers information and broadcasts it daily by radio to health authorities, ports, airports and ships at sea. The WHO also informs national health services about outbreaks of viral diseases such as influenza and poliomyelitis.

Besides epidemic information the WHO also provides services which are needed by all the countries, such as an international quarantine measures, world health statistics, international standardization of medicines and vaccines, development of medical research and technical publication program.

Its current priorities include communicable diseases, in particular, HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis; the elimination of the effects of non-communicable diseases; sexual and reproductive health, development, and aging; nutrition, food security and healthy eating; occupational health; substance abuse.

The WHO also works to "reduce morbidity and mortality and improve health during key stages of life, including pregnancy, childbirth, the neonatal period, childhood and adolescence.

In recent years, the emphasis has shifted to the long-term tasks of building up permanent health services and improving environmental conditions to eliminate the causes of diseases, build up resistance. In other words, the stress is more on prevention than on cure.

The WHO Member States appoint delegations to the World Health Assembly, The WHO’s supreme decision-making body. The World Health Assembly is the legislative and supreme body of the WHO. Based in Geneva, it typically meets yearly in May.

Post-text assignments

Exercise 7. Answer the questions to the text

1. When was the WHO founded?

2. How many member-states are there in the WHO?

3. What are the most active forms of the WHO activities?

4. How are national health services informed about outbreaks of viral diseases?

5. Where is a headquarters of the WHO stationed.

6. What are the current priorities of the WHO?

7. What is the World Health Assembly?

8. What disease has been completely eradicated from the earth?

Exercise 8. Find English equivalents of the following word combinations in the text

Здорове харчування, медичне дослідження, епідемічне попередження, спалах інфекційних хвороб, умови оточуючого середовища, покращувати стан здоров’я, довготривале завдання, старіння, усувати причини хвороби, законодавчий орган, профілактика, безпека продуктів харчування, ослаблення дії хвороб, вагітність, заразна хвороба

Exercise 9. Match the words with their synonyms in the text

Word	Synonym
Illness
struggle
purpose
virulent
state
collect
death rate

Exercise 10. Find 7 words being the noun and verb at the same time (formed by conversion).

Example: work – to work

Exercise 11. The words in this list are all verbs. Form the corresponding nouns:

15. prevent 7. develop

16. eradicate 8. treat

17. decide 9. improve

18. establish 10. resist

19. occupy 11. inform

20. achieve

Exercise 12. Match the terms with their explanation.

1. nutrition			a. a disorder with a specific cause and recognizable signs and symptoms
2. vaccine			b. the state of being diseased
3. morbidity			c. the incidence of death in the population in a given period
4. poliomyelitis			d. the intake of nutrients and their absorption and assimilation by the tissues
5. disease			e. a special preparation of antigenic material that can be used to stimulate the development of antibodies
6. mortality			f. an infectious virus disease affecting the central nervous system
1	2	3	4	5	6

Exercise 13. Agree or disagree with the statements given below. The following phrases may be helpful.

Indeed, sure, certainly, I can’t agree, nothing of the kind, far from it, that goes without saying

1. The WHO is a specialized agency concerned with international public health.

2. The Supreme body of the WHO is in Paris, France.

3. Malaria is a noncommunicable disease.

4. The WHO is not interested in nutrition, food security and healthy eating.

5. Smallpox is widely spread on the Earth.

6. The priorities of the WHO policy are communicable diseases, in particular, HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and others.

7. Besides epidemic information the WHO provides other services, i.e. quarantine measures, standardization of medicines, statistics, etc.

8. The emphasis of the WHO work is more on prevention than on cure.