An Assembly of all Member States, a Board of 34 and a constitution that defines health

Background

The World Health Assembly is the decision-making body of WHO. It is attended by delegations from all WHO Member States and focuses on a specific health agenda prepared by the Executive Board. Its main functions are to determine the policies of the Organization, appoint the Director-General, supervise financial policies, and review and approve the proposed programme budget. The Health Assembly is held annually in Geneva, Switzerland. The Executive Board is composed of 34 technically qualified members elected for three-year terms; its annual meeting agrees the agenda for the World Health Assembly and the resolutions to be considered by the Health Assembly, and a second, shorter meeting follows the Health Assembly. The main functions of the Board are to implement the decisions and policies of the Health Assembly, and advise and generally to facilitate its work. The WHO Constitution, adopted on 22 July 1946 and in force from 7 April 1948, established the World Health Organization as the United Nations specialized agency for health; it defines WHO's objective as “the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of health” and states that health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. WHO's regional structure covers Africa, the Americas, South-East Asia, Europe, the Eastern Mediterranean and the Western Pacific.