World Health Organization

This archive collects coverage of the World Health Organization, the United Nations agency that coordinates global public health efforts. Stories here focus on positive milestones, policy advances, and initiatives that reflect progress in disease prevention, health equity, and international cooperation.

Pakistani malaria eradication stamp, for article on global malaria eradication

WHO launches the world’s first global malaria eradication programme

Global malaria eradication became an official international goal in the spring of 1955, when the World Health Assembly voted to coordinate the first planet-wide campaign against the ancient disease. By the time the effort was suspended in 1969, malaria had been eliminated from 37 countries and territories — proof that organized human cooperation could push back a killer older than civilization itself.