World Health Organization

1
World Health Organization

• Headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland
• WHO's EXPERIENCE IN WORKING WITH MULTIPLE
  PARTNERS ON GLOBAL PUBLIC HEALTH
• Dr Roberta Ritson
• Governing Bodies and External Relations

2
WHO and Partnerships for Health

• The determinants of health are multisectoral
• WHO needs partners from across the sectors
• Multisectoral,multistakeholder
• partnerships
• We all have a stake in health
• Health is a key contributor to development, not
  merely a beneficiary
• The Internet is an important technology for
  health

3
WHO is a stakeholder in the Internet

• Rapid global communication with partners,
  dissemination of up-to-date information, data on
  health
• Rapid access to health crises, monitoring of
  growing epidemics in countries
• WHO's Strategic Health Operations Centre (SHOC
  room) 24hour monitor
• Online training and health learning
  materials,exchanges/best practices
• E- health initiative
• The Internet has changed the way
• WHO works

4
WHO's Constitution

• WHO's primary responsibility is to governments in
  192 Member States
• Member Governments are WHO's primary
  stakeholders partners
• Ministries of Health, Education, Development
  Cooperation, Information and Communication,
  Finance
• Partnerships with local government
• city or regional authorities
• Public/ Private partner mix in health care
• Role of Civil Society partners

5
Who are WHO's partners?

• - Public Sector
• Governments in Member States
  Assessed/Voluntary contributions
• - Private sector
• Major corporations and business
  enterprises
• Foundations Bill and Melinda Gates
  Foundation, Ford, Kellogg, Carnegie
• - Civil society (NGO's)
• Red Cross, Medecins sans Frontieres,
  OXFAM, consumers, community, church groups
• Global health needs/crises
• mean new sources of funding,
• new partnerships/mechanisms

6
Who are WHO's partners?

• WHO's partners in United Nations system
• World Bank, UNDP, UNICEF, WTO, FAO
• Regional Development Banks
• Regional groups EU, AU, ASEAN
• Universities, research institutes, WHO
  Collaborating Centres
• Parliamentary associations
• Trade Unions

7
WHOs policy for private sector partnerships

• Ethics and the public good
• WHOs Guidelines for interaction with the private
  sector
• WHOs Committee on private sector relations
• Conflict of interest
• Vetting of private sector enterprises
• Image and business practices
• Limitations of private sector partnerships,
  commercial interest

8
WHOs policy on relations with Civil Society
partners

• Vetting of NGOs
• their alliances sources of funding,
• vision statement, operating practices
• Ethics and the public good
• NGOs in official relations with WHO
• Medical/ scientific/ health professions
• NGOs in informal working relations
• local country level partners

9
Mechanisms for partnerships at WHO

• Forum/ Meeting of Interested Parties
• Donor and stakeholder agreements
• e.g. Polio Alliance WHO, UNICEF,
• Centers for Disease Control, USA,
• Rotary International, NGOs
• Networks, joint committees with
• UNICEF, WTO, UNDP, FAO, NGOs
• Private sector agreements
• e.g. pharmaceutical companies
• Globalization the Internet has changed the way
  WHO works
• WHO as Secretariat or member of consortium of
  stakeholders
• Official relations with NGOs/ civil society

10
Governance and Legal Issues for Partnerships at
WHO

• Use of WHO logo
• Legal and governance issues
• What kind of partnership agreement?
• Changing global context, growing health crises,
  has forced new ways of working for WHO, more
  rapid response, new mechanisms
• SARS, bioterrorism, tsunami, earthquake, avian
  flu, HIV/AIDS, floods, armed conflict, refugees
• Flexible agreements governance structures,
  networking, multistakeholder agreements
• e.g. HIV/AIDS, Global Polio Alliance

11
WHO as a major player in the international arena

• WHO, as the specialist health agency of the
  United Nations, has supra-national authority, but
  needs global multisectoral partners
• Health is a political and international affairs
  issue
• WHO works through multilateral partnerships and
  networks to safeguard global public health
• The Internet is an important tool for
  International cooperation and multistakeholder
  diplomacy