About us

We prevent diseases by providing leadership and building country capacity in key areas of environmental health, including water, sanitation and hygiene; clean, reliable and sustainable energy; air quality; harmful chemicals and radiation; climate change; ecosystem disruption; and emerging environmental health threats.

We address health threats through a One Health approach ranging across human, animal, and environmental sectors. We address the specific health needs of migrants and refugees through inclusive policies and health systems.

Water, Sanitation, Hygiene and Health

The Water, Sanitation and Health Unit’s mission is the attainment by all peoples of the lowest possible burden of water and sanitation-related disease through primary prevention.

The Unit :

• provides leadership in Water, Sanitation and Hygiene related issues by making authoritative statements, influencing policy and coordinating networks of partners and collaboraing centres
• issues normative work mainly on water quality, but also on monitoring approaches and interventions, resulting in guidelines and best pactice texts
• provides evidence through various monitoring activities, but also through commissioned research
• supports Member States through technical cooperation and capacity building
• respond to emergencies to restore safe water supplies and adequate sanitation
• participates in knowledge management through analyis, synthesis and dissemination of reliable and credible information.

Health and Migration

Migration and displacement are defining realities of our time. Promoting the health and well-being of migrants and refugees is a public health priority and essential to achieving health for all, advancing health equity, and realizing universal health coverage.

WHO’s Special Initiative on Health and Migration leads the Organization’s work on the health dimensions of migration and displacement. Building on the priorities set by the 2019-2030 WHO global action plan on promoting the health of refugees and migrants, PHM works to strengthen inclusive, equitable, and resilient evidence-informed policies, governance, health systems, and public health responses that address the needs and rights of these populations.

Bringing together expertise from across WHO headquarters, regional and country offices, the PHM provides global leadership through policy, advocacy, health diplomacy, norm-setting, data and evidence generation, and strategic partnerships. Working with governments, United Nations partners, academia, civil society and communities, PHM promotes rights-based, people-centred, and whole-of-government approaches that support equitable, affordable access to quality, culturally-sensitive health services, while strengthening inclusive and resilient health systems.

Through global leadership, setting norms and standards and country collaborations, PHM advances universal health coverage, health equity, and sustainable development, helping ensure that no one is left behind, regardless of status or circumstance.