ABSTRACT
In 1946, the member states of the newly formed United Nations gathered in New York to draft and sign the constitution for the World Health Organization (WHO), which entered into force on 7 April 1948. The right to health and the conditions which are indispensable for its implementation are delineated in several international conventions. Due to the binding character of international agreements, the states whose legislative organs ratified the conventions have the obligation to guarantee the corresponding rights. Until the mid-1980s the evolution of global health policies largely coincided with the WHO’s role on the global scene; later the WHO had to progressively negotiate its role with a number of emerging global actors. The focus on rural and on the most deprived urban population groups, on basic health services, and thus on the primary needs and pathologies of the poorest people, was met with resistance from the social hierarchy and power base in many countries.
