International Health Organisations
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Direct answer
Seven April 1948 is celebrated every year as World Health Day because it is the date the World Health Organization's constitution came into force — the founding fact of a Geneva-headquartered agency now counting 194 member states, governed by the annual World Health Assembly (May, Geneva), a 34-member Executive Board, and a Director-General. Its South-East Asia Regional Office sits in New Delhi, making India a SEAR member; its landmark victories include smallpox eradication (declared 1980, after the intensified campaign launched 1967) and the ongoing polio endgame. Around WHO orbit the UN agencies a candidate must date-tag: UNICEF (1946, New York, children — the GOBI-FFF child survival package), UNFPA (1969, population), FAO (1945, Rome, nutrition and with WHO the Codex Alimentarius), ILO (1919, occupational health) and the World Bank (1944), plus the newer funds — Gavi (2000) and the Global Fund (2002).
What you must remember
- WHO skeleton: constitution signed 22 July 1946, in force 7 April 1948; HQ Geneva; 194 member states; World Health Assembly (health ministers, May), Executive Board (34 technically qualified members), Secretariat under an elected Director-General; six regional offices, SEARO in New Delhi with eleven member countries.
- WHO achievements to quote: smallpox eradication declared 1980; Expanded Programme on Immunisation 1974; Alma-Ata "Health for All by 2000 AD" 1978; International Health Regulations 2005; the current Thirteenth General Programme of Work built on the "triple billion" targets.
- UNICEF: created 11 December 1946 as the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund, now simply the United Nations Children's Fund, HQ New York; Nobel Peace Prize 1965; GOBI-FFF (growth monitoring, oral rehydration, breastfeeding, immunisation plus family spacing, female education and food supplementation) was its 1980s child-survival signature, run jointly with WHO.
- UNFPA: 1969, New York — population, reproductive health and family planning support.
- FAO: 1945, Rome — food and agriculture; with WHO runs the Codex Alimentarius Commission (food standards, est. 1963).
- ILO: 1919, Geneva, tripartite (governments, employers, workers) — the oldest specialised agency, source of occupational safety conventions.
- World Bank: 1944 Bretton Woods, HQ Washington DC (IBRD, with IDA's soft loans from 1960) — a major funder of India's TB, HIV and health-system programmes.
- Newer players: UNAIDS (1996, Geneva), Gavi the Vaccine Alliance (2000), the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (2002), the International Red Cross movement (ICRC 1863, Henry Dunant; IFRC 1919), the Rockefeller Foundation (1913 — which funded the All India Institute of Hygiene and Public Health, Kolkata), and the Gates Foundation (2000).
Using the map, not reciting it
An FMGE stem rarely asks "when was WHO founded"; it asks who does what in a scenario. A country wants to set food-safety standards for imported milk — that is Codex (FAO-WHO). A district wants ghar-ka-animus support for polio rounds — historically Rotary, WHO and UNICEF together. An African HIV grant is disbursed — the Global Fund finances, UNAIDS coordinates advocacy, WHO provides technical guidelines, and the World Bank funds health-system strengthening around it. Post-disaster family tracing — that is the Red Cross/Red Crescent movement, whose ICRC won Nobel Prizes in 1917, 1944 and 1963. Understanding the division of labour (financiers versus technical agencies versus norm-setters versus implementers) answers more questions than the dates alone — though the dates remain the one-mark layer beneath.
Where students slip
Date cross-wiring is epidemic: UNICEF 1946 versus WHO 1948 (two years apart, endlessly swapped), FAO 1945 versus WHO 1948, UNFPA 1969 versus UNAIDS 1996. Second, headquarters geography: FAO in Rome, WHO/UNAIDS/ILO in Geneva, UNICEF/UNFPA/World Bank across New York and Washington — a "which is NOT headquartered in Geneva" stem writes itself. Third, GOBI-FFF belongs to UNICEF's child-survival era (with WHO), not to any Indian scheme, though the exam's Indian option will dress it up in local words. Fourth, the Executive Board's 34 members and the Assembly's May meeting are the structural numbers asked; and remember the SEARO-New Delhi fact — it is the reason so many SEA-region questions carry an Indian flavour.
Frequently asked questions
When was WHO established and where is it headquartered?
Its constitution came into force on 7 April 1948 — commemorated as World Health Day — with headquarters in Geneva and six regional offices including SEARO in New Delhi.
What was GOBI-FFF and whose strategy was it?
UNICEF's 1980s child-survival package run with WHO: growth monitoring, oral rehydration, breastfeeding and immunisation, plus female education, food supplementation and family spacing.
Which two agencies jointly run the Codex Alimentarius Commission?
FAO and WHO, since 1963, setting international food standards central to trade and food safety.
What is the Global Fund and when was it created?
The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, created 2002 in Geneva as a financing institution that disburses country grants.
Who founded the Red Cross and what is its oldest body?
Henry Dunant inspired the International Committee of the Red Cross (1863, Geneva); the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies followed in 1919.