Do you know anything about the World Health Organization, lovingly known as the WHO? Maybe you’re the kind of person who should know a thing or two about what they do. *cough cough* before nuking our relationship with them. Or maybe you already know that they’ve done some pretty important and critically life saving things but would like to have a few stats at your fingertips for the less informed.
I understand, I don’t, how the fact that they are an international, non-US based organization can feel a little scary. But they have done a lot for us, and the US as a whole. And the World. It’s in the name. See health is not a individual thing. It’s a community thing. And increasingly and global thing. Someone gets a terrifying new spillover disease in India and 3 months later there’s a pandemic killing thousands in the US. Even here, when people can’t take off for sick days and go to work in our retail establishments and restaurants, they pass their illnesses on to the customers. So if you can’t care that they don’t get sick days on a humanitarian level, you can at least care because they are getting you sick!
So, what has WHO done for us?
1947 Began Global Disease Tracking
I don’t even want to think about how hard it would be to manage disease tracking via telex. I’m a millennial. Fax machines annoy me. But by God, that was what we had to work with in ye olden days. Everyone alive today, except for babies, but we can give them a pass since they are still learning the finer points of eating and they’re babies, should well know why disease tracking matters. Where is it at? Where is it going? Most importantly, do I need to start hording toilet paper like it’s about to be Fallout New Vegas in here? When will it be safe to be within 6 feet of stranger again? (The answer to this should have been never, but alas…)
1969 International Health Regulations
Take a moment to laugh about the year. I’ll wait. WHO got all the member states on board with a single set of plans for handling outbreaks in their countries. As of 2005, there were 196 countries involved. As of 1-20-2025, there were 195. These plans were created so that when something had the potential to extend beyond a country’s borders, that country had a game plan for preventing, or at least mitigating, the impact. I generally prefer not to get every disease that happens in bordering countries. I’m weird like that. And my immune system is pretty low effort.
1974 Expanded Immunization Program
I will not get into whether or not immunizations work or are important. They do and they are. The WHO has a huge program that brings vaccines to underserved communities throughout the world. This is a net benefit to all of humanity. ALL OF US. As long as any disease is still propagating amongst people, it is still a threat to humankind everywhere. Period. This is without even discussing the countless, literally innumerable, lives that have been saved and dramatically improved because they had access to simple preventative medicine. Even survivors of some of these diseases can have significant lifelong issues, from blindness, to paralysis, to cognitive effects and more. This is one of WHOs most important and successful programs because…
1980 Smallpox Eradication
We freaking did it! Humanity won an incredible victory against these tiny demons that have been killing and maiming us very effectively since time immemorial. This is one of the greatest achievements of medicine. No more do parents live in terror of smallpox taking their child. But more than that, we have every reason to believe childhood diseases won’t kill our children because that is the exception rather than a commonplace occurrence. Thanks to vaccines and initiatives of the worldwide healthcare community! I will provide a photo of smallpox to drive this point home. Enjoy.
1988 Global Polio Eradication Initiative
Damn Polio. Here in the United States we may think of this as a relic of the past, but it is very much alive and well. And you’ll notice that this initiative is nearly as old as I am. Polio is a terrifying illness. It is highly contagious and often asymptomatic. Polio spreads like mono in a frat house. It attacks the central nervous system and can cause paralysis including of our lung muscles. We have no treatment and only can give supportive measures. Hence the iron lungs it is so often associated with. It only occurs in humans, making it a perfect choice for eradication. It is still endemic in 2 countries. I wish Polio Eradication was coming up on this list but unfortunately it is not. Hopefully soon.
You might be thinking…Okay, they did a few things back when we still thought computers needed an entire room and Teddy Ruxpin was the peak of robotic innovation. But really, are they doing anything now? Fine, I hear you and Teddy Ruxpin is probably the catalyst for all these haunted toy video games and movies. That thing was incredible and scary. Gen Zers click the link to have your minds BLOWN. Skipping ahead.
2010 First Rapid Test for TB
John Green fans will be well acquainted with TB. For everyone else, tuberclosis is a very contagious respiratory disease. It is often asymptomatic, requiring testing to know for sure if someone has it. It is also very possibly the number one killer of humans throughout history. Estimates suggest it may have claimed upwards of 1 billion lives since its discovery. It is still one of the biggest killers, with 1.25 million deaths attributed to TB each year. The rapid test is pretty freaking important. Anything we can do to halt the spread is great for everyone. Including you.
2014 Ebola Outbreak
Do you guys remember the Ebola outbreak? I was already a mom of 2 when this happened and I had read The Hot Zone. The book depicts just so much blood. People just leaking blood ready to pop like little balloons of terrifying disease. Scholars have said this is pretty exaggerated, but since I assume all mosquitoes have both malaria and dengue and probably a taste for my blood specifically, it was the perfect amount of exaggeration for me. It is a great book too. During Ebola, which while terrifying and very deadly, isn’t very contagious, we were all panicked. I knew intellectually that contracting Ebola was actually pretty hard. It can’t be transmitted by breathing the same air and I’m not one to swap blood with others, but I couldn’t help but start planning for a bunker. It was the lovely WHO who (hehe) helmed the response and prevented the spread from getting more out of control.
2016 Zika Public Health Emergency
Zika. This one was a surprise. But more like surprise, your dog ate a bag of candy and will puke exclusively on your carpet for the next 24 hours. Not like surprise, you found $20. A relatively mild disease, it wasn’t until people who were pregnant had their babies that we found out it wasn’t so simple. It was actually devastating. Children were born with a birth defect know as microcephaly. Usually a rare birth defect, if a mother is infected during pregnancy with Zika, the risk increases dramatically. Microcephaly can cause speech and learning problems and even difficulty with eating. With no treatment or vaccine WHO lead preventative measures that were largely based on limiting the habitats for the mosquitoes known for carrying the disease. As this illness spreads northwards, reaching both Ohio and New Jersey, this affects us here in the United States more and more.
2022 Cooperation for the Health of Humans, Animals, Plants and the Environment
WHO worked with four other organizations on this effort. An effort the emphasises the health of everyone and everything for our health as people. Remember that so many of the pandemics throughout history and likely going forward come from animals. Covid was a spillover disease. Something we got from animals. I read that book during the pandemic. It was very soothing on my nerves. When it comes to respiratory disease and especially chronic disease, environmental conditions are a major factor. Take any asthmatic to a smog filled city and watch it in action. Don’t do this. Well, not just for fun and without their consent, anyway. It’s the cigarette smoke that sets my asthma off the most and then I’m hacking like I have something contagious. It works to reinstate that 6-feet rule though.
Obviously I left out a lot, well, most things. Read the full list here. Hopefully, if you were on the fence about global health, you feel a little more pro-health now. We are surely living in the Find Out era. Even if we weren’t ones to Fuck Around. Health matters. Global cooperation is important. Bunker instructions are available on YouTube.
Here are some books to enlighten, terrify, and help motivate you to build that bunker! (I’m an affiliate)
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