Book dossier

The World Health Organization

by Yves Beigbeder

This work presents the broad lines of the action & evolution of the World Health Organization (WHO). It identifies some of the problems WHO has had to face in the past, & will have to confront in the future. It discusses in detail the historical origins, WHO's objectives, & the evolution of its strategy & programmes. It reviews its structures as well as the problems raised by its decentralization. It examines the Organization's action in the field of technical cooperation & looks into several of WHO's more important past & present programmes. In its general conclusion, it attempts to envisage the future of the Organization. The present study is based essentially on the official documentation of the WHO, open & restricted. The strength of this book lies in the personal experience of the main author, a former WHO official, who has orientated the book's research in specific directions & has added some complementary information.