Role of International Agencies

  • World Health Organisation (WHO) – established in 1948. Aims to promote health by:
  • Advising national governments about health issues.
  • Working with other international bodies to limit outbreaks of infectious diseases.
  • Promoting research into health issues and provides training for health specialists.
  • Monitoring deaths, identifying global patterns and where to allocate resources.

 

Successes

  • WHO eradicated the smallpox virus globally between the 1960s-80s with a global immunisation campaign.
  • Recently WHO coordinated the response to the Ebola crisis in West Africa by increasing number of treatment centres in region and implementing measures to reduce transmission between countries such as controls at airports.

 

Criticism

  • Many now curable diseases e.g. Cholera, Tuberculosis and Diarrhoea are the cause of death for thousands of people in LICs. WHO has not done much to prevent this.
  • Misuse of antibiotics has caused TB to develop as resistant.
  • Some say the organisation is over bureaucratic, lacking practical application to crises.

 

Role of Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs)

  • NGOs are non-profit groups, often charities such as Red Cross, Oxfam. They promote global health research and provide healthcare in LICs, mostly poor remote communities lacking infrastructure/resources. They are often small-scale, relying on donations/aid from HICs.
  • Medicins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) – give emergency medical assistance such as vaccinations or surgery. Provide local healthcare professionals with extra training and equipment. Also treat malnutrition with ready-to-use food which possesses nutrients needed for a healthy life and these can be stored for long periods without expiring.
  • Cancer Research – fund research into causes of cancer and treatments. Helps inform government policies on issues on prevention and diagnosis of cancer. Test Cancer Sooner (2015) campaign encouraged government to commit more funding to ensure patients are diagnosed as soon as possible giving them better chance of recovery.