‘Political interference’ in WHO’s work

New Delhi, July 12: The World Health Organisation has said that despite its existence for over quarter of a century, health problems in a number of countries have become worse. A WHO report on its “first 25 years” says that venereal diseases — after a low in the 1950s — have now increased in many parts of the world, and malaria still continues to be a problem. Political interference from member States is claimed to have slowed down the work of WHO “which was set up purely as a technical agency.” WHO could not keep the world informed about the global cholera situation because some member States refrained from notifying the appearance of cholera in their own countries, the report says. According to WHO, the number of disease-causing insects, which have developed resistance to insecticides, had increased from 35 to 110 in just 13 years and “the geographical areas where resistant species were found had also increased.” Pollution has caused considerable problems and in the estimate of WHO some 15 million persons suffering from active tuberculosis will this year infest about 50 million children and adolescents. “A number of hydro-electric and irrigation schemes for economic development have tended to be self-defeating because they have led to an increase in ill-health,” it said.