The World Health Organization, known by its acronym WHO, was founded on April 7th, 1948. It is the association of the United Nations (UN) specialized in managing prevention, promotion and health intervention policies worldwide.

Headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, member states designate their delegations to the World Health Assembly, which generally gather in May of each year.

It has the ability to define the financial policies of the organization, reviews and approves the budget of programs.

Its activities include the international classification of diseases, the lists of essential drugs that health systems must have available. It takes health measures to stop epidemics and insists on the need for vaccination against major infectious diseases.

It takes as an urgent principle the control and improvement of public health, provision of drinking water, elimination of waste and eradication of certain diseases.

It also develops health-related campaigns to increase the consumption of fruits and vegetables in the world, in addition to reducing the use of tobacco, under the definition that “health is the degree to which a person can carry out their aspirations, satisfy their needs and relate appropriately to their environment “.

Reminiscing

If we delve into these ideas on a day like today, which commemorates the 73rd anniversary of the creation of the WHO, a time when humanity suffers the great scourge of the COVID epidemic and fights eagerly to make a vaccine effective, we remember the legacy of Carlos J. Finlay; by handing over the patrimony of his work to the homeland and the humanity.

A feat that goes beyond the framework of the historical period that the medicine of his time had to live through; the same one that laid, worldwide, the bases for the search and solution of the medical-sanitary problems of the vast tropical zone. A man from Camagüey who in his time defended precepts that today the World Health Organization makes reality.

Translated by: Aileen Álvarez García