by David G Legge
People’s Health Movement, 2016
54 pp. 444kB
http://www.davidglegge.me/sites/default/files/Legge%282016%29WHOReform.pdf#ove
rlay-context=publications
The author observes that the role and reach of the World Health Organisation has been contested since it was created in 1948. The debate is commonly couched in terms of whether the organisation is ‘fit for purpose’ although whose purpose is not always made clear. There have been several attempts at WHO reform since its establishment, directed to making it fitter for a still contested purpose. In this paper the author reviews the evolution of the current reform program and some of the major elements of the reform, with the shortfalls, disabilities and reform options within the broader context of global health governance. The author argues that the reform of WHO, to realise the vision of its Constitution, will require a global mobilisation around the democratisation of global health governance.