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Today, developing nations around the world are plagued by diseases such as HIV/AIDS, malaria, and measles. The United Nations brings together resources, experts, and partners to address global health issues, which has been instrumental in the prevention and treatment of global diseases.
Stopping the Spread of Malaria
Under the Roll Back Malaria initiative, a global partnership founded in 1998 by the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the World Health Organization, the United Nations Development Program, and the World Bank, the UN system is working towards the goal of halving the world’s malaria burden by 2010. Malaria infects more than 500 million people a year and kills more than a million. Through the work of the UN and its partners, malaria has been brought under control and even eliminated in many parts of Asia, Europe, and the Americas.
Fighting HIV/AIDS
The UN coordinates national and regional programs to aid the distribution of medicine and supplies and supports national responses to the AIDS epidemic in over 100 countries. This works is done primarily through the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Joint UN Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS). In 2003, WHO and UNAIDS created the 3x5 initiative seeking to expand global access to anti-retroviral therapy. Originally devised to provide anti-retrovirals to three million people in low and middle income countries, by 2006 the program had increased the number of people in Sub-Saharan Africa receiving treatment ten-fold.
Coordinating Resources for Global Health: The Global Fund
The Global Fund was created in 2002 to dramatically increase resources to fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria around the world. The Global Fund's purpose is to attract, manage and disburse resources to fight the three disease. To date, the Global Fund has committed $10 billion in 136 countries to support aggressive interventions against all three diseases.
Global Response to Avian Influenza
The avian influenza crisis began in Asia in 2003 and has since spread to parts of Europe and Africa. Given the nature of the avian flu threat, international partnerships have been vital to slowing the spread and preparing for a possible human influenza pandemic. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) are on the front lines of stopping the spread of avian flu, working in partnership with 14 other UN agencies. The FAO provides strategic planning, technical expertise, training, equipment, and supplies to help countries stay ahead of the pandemic. The WHO coordinates the global effort to respond and prepare for the outbreak of avian flu, by creating a global influenza preparedness plan and assisting in the creation of national preparedness plans.
Working to Eradicate Polio
The UN has led the effort to eradicate polio and helped reduce the number of nations with active polio cases to an all-time low of four. The success has been the result of an improved vaccine and the intense efforts by the Global Polio Eradication Partnership, an effort of Rotary International, the United Nations Foundation, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the World Health Organization. Since the Partnership's inception in 1988, the number of polio cases reported has declined by more than 99 percent.
Protecting Children from Measles
Measles is the leading vaccine-preventable childhood killer in the world. The American Red Cross, the United Nations Foundation, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), and the World Health Organization are leading the effort to control measles. The disease has been eliminated in the Western Hemisphere and measles deaths globally have been reduced by 48% largely as a result of this initiative.
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