WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION EXECUTIVE BOARD 103rd Session Provisional agenda item 7 EB103/14 25 November 1998
Amendment to Article 2 of the Constitution Comments from regional committees on a proposal by the special group of the Executive Board for the review of the Constitution
1. At its 101st session, the Executive Board adopted decision EB101(3) requesting the DirectorGeneral to ensure that the revised text of Article 2, as contained in the report of the special group for the review of the Constitution, was reviewed at all levels of the Organization during the course of 1998, and to submit to the Executive Board at its 103rd session a final text reflecting this broad consultative process. 2. The regional committees were to consider the text of the draft Article 2, and comments and proposals were received from the regional committees for Africa, Europe, South-East Asia and the Western Pacific. In view of the number and range of the comments and proposals, it was felt best to present the draft of Article 2, together with the comments by the regional committees and the text of each proposed amendment (set forth in the Annex). With this information in hand, it was felt that the Executive Board would be in a better position to decide on the next step with respect to amendment of this article.
ACTION BY THE EXECUTIVE BOARD 3. The Board may wish to consider the comments and proposed amendments to draft Article 2 from the regional committees.
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ANNEX COMMENTS AND PROPOSED AMENDMENTS TO DRAFT ARTICLE 2 OF THE WHO CONSTITUTION
Amendments proposed by the African and Western Pacific regions are individually identified by footnotes. In view of the large number of proposed amendments from the South-East Asia Region, only the first one is identified by a footnote, and all are presented in italics. In the case of the Regional Committee for Europe, it made the following general comment in response to the view of its Standing Committee that the text should be worded in as simple and general manner as possible: It was generally felt that the text should be sufficiently detailed, while using inclusive terminology to avoid the need for frequent revision. One delegation suggested that a special group of the Board should be set up to reconsider the question in a more comprehensive manner and give a fuller explanation of the proposed changes. That would not be a problem, since the matter was not of high priority. The Committee agreed with those views and asked for them to be transmitted to the Executive Board. The text of the draft article is as follows: In order to achieve its objectives the functions of the Organization shall be: 1. TO ACT AS THE DIRECTING AND COORDINATING AUTHORITY ON INTERNATIONAL HEALTH AND, IN SO DOING,1 (a) (b) to provide leadership in health; to develop an effective partnership partnerships with Member States in pursuit of global health; to support collaborate with Member States in formulating, implementing, monitoring2 and evaluating their health policies; to establish and maintain effective collaboration with the United Nations, the specialized agencies, and other international and intergovernmental bodies; to work with, and promote cooperation between among, professional groups, and nongovernmental organizations and others that are concerned with active in the field of health,
(c)
(d)
(e)
1 Proposed amendment from a regional consultation of the South-East Asia Region, which was considered by the Regional Committee at its Fifty-first session and forwarded to the Director-General for her consideration. 2 Amendment proposed by the Programme Subcommittee of the Regional Committee for Africa and noted by the Regional Committee at its Forty-eighth session.
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and health-related work and where necessary to mobilize them for international health action.1 2. TO LEAD INTERNATIONAL HEALTH POLICY DEVELOPMENT2 BY, (a) providing to provide global surveillance and early warning systems for transnational threats to health; collating to collate and disseminating disseminate health and health-related data exploiting advances in communication technology and assessments of disease treatments; collating and disseminating data and assessments of on diseases, including their treatments;3 (b)bis to provide evidence-based information and tools for health promotion, prevention, treatment and rehabilitation; (c) identifying to formulate and testing test strategies to eradicate or and control communicable diseases; identifying to identify determinants of health status as a basis for health programmes development and equitable resource allocations allocation; designing to develop preventive programmes and control strategies to combat other emerging, re-emerging and future threats to health, including lifestyle diseases, mental illness and substance abuse; designing preventive programmes to combat other threats to health, including lifestyle diseases, mental illness and substance abuse;4 (f) designing programmes to formulate strategies for the prevention and management, including rehabilitative aspects, of noncommunicable diseases; advancing to advance health research and its utilisation through stimulation, motivation and, where necessary, coordination of research activities strategies; collating to collate and disseminating disseminate data on desirable and appropriate information on strategies and methods of teaching for education and training, and deployment in the health and health-related professions.
(b)
(d)
(e)
(g)
(h)
1 The Programme Subcommittee of the Regional Committee for Africa observed that although this subparagraph was relevant to broad function 1, it was equally important that WHO should work with, and promote cooperation between, professional groups and nongovernmental organizations active in health at national level. 2 The Subcommittee of the Regional Committee for the Western Pacific felt that there should be a specific reference to health promotion and protection somewhere in this section. This proposal was transmitted to the Director-General by the Regional Committee for further consideration.
Amendment proposed by the Programme Subcommittee of the Regional Committee for Africa and noted by the Regional Committee at its Forty-eighth session. 4
3
Idem.
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3.
TO SERVE AS THE INTERNATIONAL AGENCY FOR SETTING AND MONITORING NORMS AND STANDARDS IN HEALTH BY, (a) proposing to propose conventions, agreements and regulations, advise on legislation, and making to make recommendations with respect to international health matters, and to perform such duties as may be assigned thereby to the Organization and are consistent with its objectives objective; establishing to establish and revising review as necessary international nomenclatures for diseases, of causes of death, and of public health practices; developing, establishing to develop, establish, promote and promoting monitor international standards with respect to food,1 biological, pharmaceutical, chemical2 and similar products and for health devices and health technologies; developing, establishing to develop, establish and promoting promote international ethical standards in all aspects of health practice and research.
(b)
(c)
(d)
4.
TO COOPERATE WITH MEMBER STATES, PRIMARILY THROUGH NATIONAL HEALTH ADMINISTRATIONS, AND UPON REQUEST, BY PROVIDING ADVICE AND TECHNICAL COOPERATION, (a) (b) on ways to strengthen to develop and improve sustainable health systems and resources; on enhancing to enhance policy-making, management capability and accountability within their health systems; on disease eradication and prevention strategies to develop strategies for disease prevention and eradication; to collaborate in explicit health emergencies, on a short-term basis; on to collaborate in any other areas of concern to Member States and the Organization’s functions the Organization on health.
(c)
(d) (e)
5.
TO ACT AS THE INTERNATIONAL ADVOCATE FOR HEALTH FOR ALL BY PROMOTING PARTICULARLY, (a) accessibility to health care;3
1 This proposed deletion of “food” by the South-East Asia regional consultation was accompanied by the following note: “‘food’ is a concern proper to other international agencies and is therefore not proposed for direct reference in the WHO Constitution; however, WHO’s related collaboration and contribution could be set out in the General Programmes of Work.” 2 Amendment proposed by the Programme Subcommittee of the Regional Committee for Africa and noted by the Regional Committee at its Forty-eighth session. 3 A proposal to add a new paragraph, with all subsequent subparagraphs being renumbered accordingly, transmitted to the Director-General by the Regional Committee for the Western Pacific for further consideration.
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(a b) the pursuit of to pursue equity in health outcomes, and the by equitable international mobilization and management of health resources; (b c) to advocate the centrality of primary health care within health systems; (c d) to promote intersectoral responses to health challenges; (d e) to promote health promotion and disease prevention, in all settings with particular reference to environmental, occupational and nutritional health, and combating of violence and substance abuse; health promotion and prevention protection,1 with particular reference to environmental, occupational and nutritional health, and combating of violence and substance abuse and to communicable and non-communicable diseases;2 (e f) to focus attention to on the health needs at the most vulnerable health stages of the life cycle (childhood, maternity, old age); (f g) development of to develop an informed public opinion on health among all peoples; (g h) resource mobilization to mobilize resources for health and health-related areas. 6. GENERALLY TO TAKE ANY OTHER NECESSARY ACTION TO ATTAIN THE OBJECTIVE OF THE ORGANIZATION3
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Proposed correction of the text transmitted to the Director-General by the Regional Committee for the Western Pacific for further consideration. Amendment proposed by the Programme Subcommittee of the Regional Committee for Africa and noted by the Regional Committee at its Forty-eighth session. 3 2
1
Idem.
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