The Global Agenda The World Health Organisation (WHO) is a specialised agency of the United Nations with 191 member states. On April 1948, the WHO constitution came into force. This day is now recognised as World Health Day each year. Much of the world has benefitted from better health since WHO was founded. It continues to take the lead in areas such as tobacco, malaria, HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis. The first International Conference on Health Promotion, met in Ottawa in 1986, in response to growing expectations for a new public health movement around the world. The charter for action was an agreement by the member countries to aim at 'Health for All' by the year 2000. 'Health For All does not mean an end to disease and disability, or that doctors and nurses will care for everyone. It means that resources for health are evenly distributed and that essential health care is available to everyone. It means that health begins at home, in schools, and at the workplace, and that people use better approaches for preventing illness and alleviating unavoidable disease and disability.' In 1994 the charter was recalled and will be revised taking the changing global conditions into consideration. More information on the Ottawa Charter is available:http://www.who.int/hpr/archive/docs/ottawa.html The WHO website has further information http://www.who.int/ Contents Case Studies Health and development facts Background: Health Australian response to health and development The global agenda Other useful resources More links   © Commonwealth of Australia