Health Organisations

Diseases and disasters do not respect borders. An epidemic can spread from one country to another, and a flood or earthquake can overwhelm any single nation. To deal with health problems that are bigger than one country, the world set up international health organisations. Two of the most important are the World Health Organisation (WHO), which works at the level of governments and information, and the Red Cross, which works directly with victims on the ground.

The WHO is a specialised agency of the United Nations, set up on 7 April 1948, with its headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. Its broad aim is the attainment of the highest possible level of health by all people. It collects and supplies information about epidemic and other diseases, promotes and supports research, gives information on new vaccines and on health hazards such as nuclear radiation, suggests quarantine measures to stop the spread of disease, and sets pharmaceutical standards for important drugs. Through its Expanded Programme on Immunisation it helped vaccinate children worldwide, and its global campaign succeeded in eradicating smallpox.

The Red Cross was founded by Jean Henri Dunant of Switzerland. Horrified by the suffering of wounded soldiers at the Battle of Solferino in 1859, he proposed a neutral organisation to care for the wounded in war. Its emblem, a red cross on a white background, is the reverse of the Swiss flag and marks doctors, ambulances and hospitals as neutral and not to be attacked. In peacetime the Red Cross brings relief to victims of fire, flood, famine and earthquake; runs blood banks; gives first-aid and trains people in it; provides ambulance services; and looks after mother-and-child welfare centres.

It helps to see the WHO and the Red Cross as partners doing different jobs. The WHO works from above: it studies diseases, advises governments, funds research and decides standards and rules. The Red Cross works from below, on the ground: it carries relief, blood, bandages and ambulances to where the suffering is. One sets policy and watches the world's health; the other delivers immediate, hands-on care. Together they form a safety net that no single hospital or government could provide alone.