A World Health Organization primer

The World Health Organization (WHO) can be considered the primary agency of the United Nations that promotes global public health. This article provides a general overview of WHO by exploring the history, current, and future practices of the organization, and by addressing its major roles and functions in the present day. BACKGROUND: Srimathy Vijayan is a fourth-year medical student at the University of East Anglia, Norwich, United Kingdom. She interned at the WHO headquarters in Geneva during the summer of 2007.