Executive summary
Global partnerships for health
WHO has always worked in partnership with the United Nations itself and with other entities within the system. Examples are its longstanding cooperation with the United Nations in the sphere of drug dependence, and its more recent participation in the system-wide Special Initiative on Africa. There has always been very close cooperation between WHO and UNICEF, especially in the field of immunization. Other examples of partners in the United Nations system are ILO (for occupational health), UNESCO (for school health) and FAO (for nutrition).
WHO also works with the World Bank, regional development banks, the European Union, and a wide range of nongovernmental organizations - some engaged in a particular branch of medical science and others representing a more general interest.
In response to emergencies - natural and other disasters - WHO works with Member States, UNHCR and other international agencies. WHO links emergency management policy to development in order to help affected countries to achieve long-term improvements in public health systems - a prerequisite for sustainable development.
In the field of research, the International Agency for Research on Cancer, subject to the general authority of WHO, concentrates on environmental biology and cancer epidemiology. With UNDP, UNFPA and the World Bank as co-sponsors, WHO has since 1972 had a special programme of research, development and research training in human reproduction. There is a similar arrangement with UNDP and the World Bank for WHO's special programme for research and training in tropical diseases, established in 1975.
WHO's Advisory Committee on Health Research has developed a research policy agenda to complement and support the Organization's policy and strategy for health for all in the 21st century. WHO has always had a network of collaborating centres in many fields of health, which are the keystones of the collaborative research capacity and institutional strengthening efforts developed under the Organization's leadership at all levels.