title: A World Health Organization primer.
abstract: The World Health Organization (WHO) can be considered the primary agency of the United Nations that promotes global public health. This article provides a general overview of WHO by exploring the history, current, and future practices of the organization, and by addressing its major roles and functions in the present day.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  Srimathy Vijayan is a fourth-year medical student at the University of East Anglia, Norwich, United Kingdom. She interned at the WHO headquarters in Geneva during the summer of 2007.
authors.affiliation: University of East Anglia, Norwich, United Kingdom. s.vijayan@uea.ac.uk
authors.forename: Srimathy
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Vijayan
mesh_terms: D003906:Developing Countries; D014943:Global Health; D006801:Humans; D007391:International Cooperation; D007857:Leadership; D009936:Organizational Innovation; D011634:Public Health; D012380:Role; D014480:United Nations; D014944:World Health Organization / Q000458:organization & administration*