New WHO report outlines strategies driving recent reforms and definition of primary objectives to effectively meet its mandate

"TEN YEARS OF TRANSFORMATION: Making WHO fit for purpose in the 21st century"is a new report published by the WHO outlining the major reforms made by the Organisation to better fulfil its mandate. WHO was one of the first organisations in the UN system to adopt a results-based management approach for the definition of the programme budget for the biennium 2000-2001.

Three fundamental challenges were articulated as the drivers of change. 

First, WHO was overcommitted and overextended. It needed selective and strategically focused priorities that would best reflect the Organization’s comparative advantage in the changing global health landscape and lay the foundation for WHO’s leadership in the coming decades. 

Second, WHO’s role in global health governance and relation to other actors in international health required clarity. 

Third, when faced with new challenges and a rapidly changing environment, WHO needed to develop the capacity and culture to be able to respond with sufficient speed and agility. 

Ultimately, optimizing WHO’s governance, management and programmatic focus would enable the Organization to more effectively fulfil its constitutional mandate as the “directing and coordinating authority on international health work” and, most importantly, better serve Member States and communities in improving health. 

To make these changes a reality, WHO’s governing bodies defined three objectives: 

1. Improved health outcomes, with WHO meeting the expectations of its Member States and partners in addressing agreed global health priorities, focused on the actions and areas where the Organization has a unique function or comparative advantage and financed in a way that facilitates this focus. 

2. Greater coherence in global health, with WHO playing a leading role in enabling the many different actors to play an active and effective role in contributing to the health of all peoples. 

3. An Organization that pursues excellence, one that is effective, efficient, responsive, objective, transparent and accountable.