Total income of WHO 1990-2013
World Health Organization
The WHO has increased their total income in recent decades, from 1.3 billion U.S. dollars in 1990 to 2.5 billion U.S. dollars in 2013. The organization's development assistance for health also grew during this time from 1.3 billion U.S. dollars in 1990 to 2.76 billion U.S. dollars in 2013.
In 1945, Dr. Szeming Sze, a delegate from China proposed the creation of a global health organization. At first the resolution failed to pass but on July 22, 1946, the constitution of the World Health Organization was signed by all 51 countries within the United Nations. Andrija Stampar was elected the first president of the WHO. Its main goals at this time were to mitigate the spread of malaria, tuberculosis, and sexually transmitted diseases as well as improving global maternal and child health. Today there are several regional headquarters around the world including Copenhagen, Denmark; Cairo, Egypt; and Washington D.C., United States. Recently, critics claimed that the WHO had over-exaggerated the danger of the 2009 swine flu pandemic, which caused citizens to panic due to a lack of information. At its peak, the swine flu (influenza A H1N1) caused over 1,000 deaths in one week worldwide.