World Health Organization

World Health Organization

• The WHO developed the SAFE strategy implemented in the trachoma control efforts of Morocco’s National Blindness Control Program, and participated in the international partnership that executed the control program in Morocco. Since 1997, the incidence of trachoma in Morocco has been cut by more than 90% among children aged 10.
• To help China achieve their goal of eliminating iodine deficiency, the WHO provided financial and technical assistance through the donor-funded Iodine Deficiency Control Project from 1995 to 2000. The project supported the development of technical infrastructure necessary to produce, package and distribute iodized salt throughout China. Between 1995 and 1999, total goiter rates for children aged 8 to 10 fell from 20.4 percent to 8.8 percent
• The WHO Regional Office for Africa provided technical support and training to southern Africa’s ministries of health as they planned and implemented the measles immunization strategies. The campaign helped reduce the number of measles cases from 60,000 in 1996 to just 117 cases four years later; the number of measles deaths fell from 166 to zero.
• The WHO provided support for a Hib vaccine trial in The Gambia, involving more than 40,000 infants. The trial's dramatic results led to the introduction of the vaccine to the national immunization program in 1997, and a subsequent ten-fold decrease in the number of children developing Hib meningitis. The WHO also participated in the study that evaluated the program's success.
• The WHO provided assistance to China to evaluate its tuberculosis program. China then implemented the WHO-recommended DOTS strategy in half of their provinces, leading to a reduction in TB prevalence of 40 percent between 1990 and 2000 and a dramatically improved cure rate. The WHO is now providing expertise and funding to expand the tuberculosis program to the rest of China.
• The WHO, in collaboration with three other UN agencies, launched the onchocerciasis control program in west Africa in 1974. As a result of the program, transmission was halted in 11 west African countries; 600,000 cases of blindness were prevented; and 22 million children born in the program area are now free from the risk of river blindness. Furthermore, 25 million hectares of arable land - enough to feed an additional 17 million people - are now safe for resettlement. The WHO also serves as a sponsoring agency in the African Programme for Onchocerciasis Control, which has expanded the control efforts in central and east Africa.
• The groundbreaking anti-tobacco legislation passed in Poland in 1995 was based on a set of comprehensive tobacco control measures recommended by the WHO. Poland’s anti-smoking movement was fostered by the burgeoning civil society, including anti-tobacco groups that interacted with the WHO throughout the 1980s. Due to a combination of the stringent tobacco control legislation and health education in Poland, 10,000 deaths have been prevented a year, the incidence of lung cancer among Polish men aged 20 to 44 has fallen 30%, and the life expectancy of men has been boosted by four years.
• The WHO has helped lead the guinea worm eradication effort. Specifically, the WHO has taken charge of the eradication certification and has helped facilitate collaboration among the many international partners. Since the start of the campaign in 1986, disease prevalence has dropped 99 percent and the number of cases has fallen from 3.5 million to less than 35,000.
• The WHO spearheaded the smallpox eradication programme in 1967, providing financial assistance, supplies, staff, and technical expertise. Smallpox was eradicated in 1977, and the successful program inspired the creation of the Expanded Program on Immunization, which continues today.

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