We shudder at the enormous loss of life caused throughout the ages by malaria, tuberculosis, polio, HIV/AIDS, Ebola, Zika, and other deadly communicable diseases, as well as cancer and heart disease, which are noncommunicable. How to eradicate and combat them remains a major challenge to humanity. Of course, coordination and collaboration are essential to mount a successful worldwide campaign against them. This is the task undertaken by a U.N. specialized agency, the World Health Organization (WHO).
Established in 1948 with its objective as “the attainment by all people of the highest possible level of health,” WHO undertook a mass tuberculosis inoculation drive in 1950 and launched the malaria eradication program in 1955, later changed to malaria control. Its signature success was in combating smallpox, which was declared eradicated in 1979 — a historical feat as the first disease eliminated by human effort. Two decades before that, when it initiated a global effort to conquer the disease, two million people were dying annually from smallpox.
WHO initiated the global program on HIV/AIDS in 1986 and two years later established the Global Polio Eradication initiative. In 2001, it formed the measles initiative, resulting in reducing global deaths from this disease 68 percent by 2007. To improve the resources available, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria was created.
WHO actively influences the health policies of governments through programs that “integrate pro-poor, gender responsive and human rights-based approaches,” and promotes a healthier environment focusing on prevention, health education and action. Along with the World Bank, it works with partner governments, civil society and development agencies to improve the health of people in developing countries.
With 194 member states and several others as observers, WHO has six regional offices and employs 8,500 people in 147 countries to carry out its mandate. It is financed by contributions from member states and outside donors, of which the United States is the largest, followed by Japan and Germany.
Polio is the next major target for complete eradication. One should not forget that in 1952 one of the worst polio epidemics in history happened in the U.S. when more than 57,000 children were stricken and thousands died. Today, polio is on the brink of extinction, as only three countries — Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Nigeria — are still afflicted with the disease. Just three decades ago in 1988, there were an estimated 350,000 new cases of polio in 125 countries. A vaccine developed by Jonas Salk in the 1950s has done miracles as just two drops protects a child from polio.
A major partner in this crusade has been Rotary International, which since 1988 has raised more than $2 billion, in partnership with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and was instrumental in helping to found the Global Polio Eradication initiative. It must have been incredibly difficult for India to wipe out this disease with such heavy odds: high population density, inadequate sanitation system and low vaccination rates. But along with the Rotary Clubs and the help of two million vaccinators, the Indian government reached every child.
The Rotary Club of Denver has been a leader in this mission. A prominent member of the Rotary Club of Denver since 1969, Grant Wilkins, who recently passed away, was an important part of Rotary’s eradication efforts. He had been struck in 1951. And a former student of mine, Robert Heiserman, another Rotarian, fell victim to polio as a child and died from a relapse in 2018. Now a sculpture commemorating the efforts to vaccinate all people against the polio virus, has been dedicated at the Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora.
WHO’s resources are inadequate to meet its mandate. U.N. Secretary-General Guterres has called for a large scale reform and the current director general of WHO is now engaged in the task. Member States involved in setting the organization’s priorities and resources need to give him the wherewithal to do so.
Ved Nanda is Distinguished University Professor and director of the Ved Nanda Center for International Law at the University of Denver Sturm College of Law. His column appears the last Sunday of each month and he welcomes comments at vnanda@law.du.edu.
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