Overview of Organization
The World Health Organization (WHO) was formed in 1948 as a special health agency for the United Nations (UN). It incorporated many organizations already in place, thus marking a long history in international health cooperation. The organization’s main objective is to attain the highest level of health for all individuals, explained as a state of full social, mental and physical well-being and not the prevention and eradication of infirmity or disease.
According to the organization’s constitution, health is a fundamental right for all human beings, and all governments should take adequate responsibility for the health of the citizens. WHO has a governing body in all the member nations and its funding system, a unique feature in the UN specialist agencies.
Like the other agencies in the UN, the WHO governing body in the different countries makes personal decisions, but it is mandated to report to the UN annually. The 192 member states are responsible for approving the work programmed, making the budgets, and deciding on the policy through the World Health Assembly. Among the critical areas of focus of WHO are disease control and prevention, strengthening of the healthcare systems, healthcare promotion, and healthcare emergencies.
Organizational Challenges
Many WHO departments and programs are forced to spend their monetary value on overheads and salaries rather than programmed duties. This trend has an increased negative impact on the coordination among the organizational department or the effectively resourced fundamental programs such as publishing, interpretation, and translation. For example, in one fairly typical and important HQ department, the biennial budget of employing close to 30 new staff members is estimated at many million dollars; however, the normal program budget is US $ 500, 000 which is supplemented with little extrabudgetary funds, (Sperre Saunes et al., 2020).
The employees conduct different programs that are hardly funded by the central budget of the organization, and even others still need to be funded. Thus, the program’s organizational staff development and culture are negatively impacted.
Many motivated employees are forced to look for greener pastures in different organizations, and the remaining ones are referred to as dead wood. Furthermore, many of the employees who work on contracts in the organization are less paid and have minimum benefits, thus damaging the productivity and the security of the workers thus undermining the sustainability of various programs such as fieldwork research on communicable diseases.
Reimbursement Issues
It is always assumed mistakenly that the WHO is responsible for donations as an agency. Programs and projects such as conducting a training and workshop program for clinical doctors or conducting an advocacy campaign about mental illness stigmatization or HIV/AIDS destigmatization, most pioneers for the projects face WHO for monetary support and provision of funds.
To make matters worse, to achieve its goals and objectives and conduct its functions well, it has to seek support from charitable institutions, other agencies, and countries willing to offer support. Most well-developed nations tend to put much control over their funds, and they provide extrabudgetary funds for particular programs rather than support funds. Competition for such funds needs effective internal coordination and much input from staff members and professionals responsible for fundraising. The two factors are unavailable in the organization; thus, much effort and time are well-spent. Projects in the organization compete for scarce funds externally and internally, but the employees hired to offer technical knowledge reluctantly participate in raising funds.
Delivery of Care Issues
Responding to pandemics and emergencies in the 194 member countries can be challenging regarding coordination responses. The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in the world is among the many challenges faced. The coronavirus affected people worldwide, and the containment measures were expensive and demanding. The virus was a risk to even the health care delivery personnel such as nurses and doctors since some were affected and others died in the line of duty.
There also needs to be better accommodation of the needs of patients. Many of the healthcare resources and the disease burden are channeled to chronic conditions treatment, but most of the member states healthcare systems are still oriented and organized in the provision of acute care. According to the National Center for Health Statistics, the population of America that will be 65 years and above will be 70 million by 2030 thus an increase in chronic conditions (Sperre Saunes et al., 2020).
The Course of Action to Solve the Problem
To ensure the organization can allocate the funds to more important programs, the World Health Assembly should incorporate efficient planning and budgeting mechanisms to capture the important programs first. Value proposition budgeting is an appropriate course of action for World Health Organization member states. The member countries should create a value proposition budget to ensure that any program budget adds value to WHO.
Secondly, to avoid reimbursement challenges, WHO must put effort into diversifying its sources of funds. Public-private partnership financing mechanism is highly recommended as the course of action to ensure that the organization gets access to funds for the smooth running of the organization. Lastly, the health care system used by member countries should be organized to provide chronic conditions treatment to cater to the increasing aged population.
Justification of the Position
The recommended course of action is based on evidence-based research and can help address the issues, concerns and problems WHO is facing. Value proposition budgeting is appropriate in ensuring the organization avoids unnecessary expenditures and concentrates on additional value expenditures. The public-private partnership financing mechanism enables the organization to collect enough funds to help the developing member countries. It helps maintain security for the operational funds. The healthcare system should be organized to allocate resources for chronic illness treatment to help WHO manage the aging population.
Reference
Sperre Saunes, I., Karanikolos, M., Sagan, A., & World Health Organization. (2020). Norway: health system review.