About WHO in Northern Mariana Islands

About WHO in Northern Mariana Islands

WHO/Yoshi Shimizu
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The World Health Organization (WHO)

The World Health Organization (WHO) was established on 7 April 1948 as the directing and coordinating authority in global public health within the United Nations system. Working at three levels in the Organization (global, regional and country), more than 7000 WHO staff worldwide collaborate with the governments of 194 Member States and other partners to achieve the WHO founding vision of the attainment of the highest possible level of health by all people.

The Western Pacific Region

The WHO Western Pacific Region is home to more than one quarter of the world’s population, stretching over more than one third of the distance around the globe. In all, more than 600 WHO staff work in 15 country offices and the Regional Office in Manila, Philippines, to support Member States in achieving better health outcomes for the Region’s nearly 1.9 billion people in 37 countries and areas.

 

Tailored support for the Pacific

To coordinate and provide timely, tailored support and backstopping to 21 Pacific Island countries and areas, in 2010 the WHO Western Pacific Regional Office established the Division of Pacific Technical Support (DPS) in Suva, Fiji. The Division also includes six other offices in the Pacific; the Country Offices in Samoa and the Solomon Islands and Country Liaison Offices in Kiribati, the Federated States of Micronesia, Tonga and Vanuatu. Working together as a Division, these offices provide support to: American Samoa, Cook Islands, Fiji, French Polynesia, Guam, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru, New Caledonia, Niue, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Palau, Pitcairn Islands, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, and Wallis and Futuna.

The Division’s work spans five main areas of work and is delivered in close collaboration with Pacific governments, other UN agencies, development partners, donors, and non-governmental organisations to achieve better health outcomes for Pacific Island communities.

 

WHO History

The Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands was a member of the UN Trust Territory of the Pacific islands dominated by the United States of America after World War Ⅱ. In 1953, it was assigned to the Western Pacific Region at the Sixth World Health Assembly ''without prejudice to any questions regarding sovereignty'' as an area. It became a Commonwealth in political union with the United States of America in 1978.

The Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands was covered by the WHO Representative Office in Singapore from 1 January 1957 after the office was established in May 1956. It was then covered by the WHO Representative Office in Taipei, China (Taiwan) from 1959 until its closure on 30 June 1972. Responsibility over the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands was transferred to the Western Pacific Regional Office in 1972, and it was decided that the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands was to come under the WHO Representative Office, Suva, Fiji in 1976.

 

 

Contact WHO

WHO Representative for the South Pacific:
Dr Mark Jacobs

Office address:
Level 4 Provident Plaza One Downtown Boulevard 33 Ellery Street, Suva, Fiji

Postal address:
P.O. Box 113, Suva, Fiji

Telephone number:
(679) 3304600 & 3234100 (general line)
(679) 3300727 (WR's direct line)
(679) 3306177 (MOH)

Fax number:
(679) 3234166 and 3234177

Office hours:
08.00 - 17.00 (Monday to Friday)

Email:
wpfjiwr@who.int

Division of Public Health Services

Address:
CHC, Lower Navy HIll P.O. Box 500409, CK, Saipan MP 96950, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands

Telephone number:
(670) 234-8950

Fax number:
(670) 234-8930

http://chcc.gov.mp/index.php/division-of-public-health