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    What Is WHO And What Does It Do?

    The organization at the eye of the coronavirus pandemic is taking heat from U.S. critics. Here's a look at its history, its mission and its role in the current crisis.
    by Pien Huang Apr 28, 2020 6 minutes
    (From L) World Health Organization leaders at a press briefing on COVID-19, held on March 6 at WHO headquarters in Geneva. From left: emergencies program director Michael Ryan, director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and technical lead Maria Van Kerkhove.

    The World Health Organization describes its job as "the global guardian of health."

    It is now possibly facing the most devastating global health threat in its 72-year history: the novel coronavirus pandemic. WHO is devoting hundreds of millions of dollars and an all-hands-on-deck approach to the effort to vanquish the virus.

    And it is being accused of failing to uphold its mission. On April 14, President Trump put a temporary halt on U.S. funding for the agency, pending an investigation to see if WHO is "severely mismanaging and covering up the spread of the coronavirus."

    (China responded by making an additional $30 million contribution as a show of support for WHO).

    Here's a look at the agency at the eye of the pandemic.

    How did it start?

    As World War II was winding down, countries came together to form the United Nations and voted to create a global health agency as a U.N. arm.

    And so in 1948 the World Health Organization was founded for "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level.

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