World Health Organization

Polity & Governance glossary

Also called: WHO · Topic: Statutory, Regulatory and Quasi-judicial Bodies · NCERT: Beyond NCERT

Meaning

The World Health Organization (WHO) is the United Nations' specialised agency (a UN body that works on one subject) for international public health, based in Geneva. It sets health standards, judges health risks, approves medicines and vaccines for global buying, and its Director-General can declare a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC).

It matters because many countries copy WHO's standards into their own laws, India among them. WHO also guides how the world responds to outbreaks that cross borders, such as the 2026 Bundibugyo Ebola outbreak.

Explanation

What WHO does

  • Declares global health emergencies
  • Under the International Health Regulations (IHR), 2005, the WHO Director-General can declare a PHEIC. A PHEIC is a formal alarm that a disease risk is spreading across borders.

  • An IHR Emergency Committee of experts advises the Director-General and meets again over time to review the situation.

  • Assesses risk

  • WHO publishes Rapid Risk Assessments. These rate how dangerous an outbreak is at the national, regional and global levels.

  • Its Disease Outbreak News reports give official case and death counts.

  • Prequalifies medicines and vaccines

  • WHO Prequalification (PQ) means WHO checks that a vaccine or drug is safe, works and is made well. UN agencies and poorer countries rely on this check when they buy.
  • Example: Ervebo is WHO-prequalified only for disease caused by the Zaire species of Ebola.

  • WHO PQ inspectors check sterile factories against WHO TRS No. 1044, Annex 2.

  • Sets standards

  • WHO's Technical Report Series (TRS) contains Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) texts. GMP means quality rules for how medicines are made.
  • TRS 1044, Annex 2 (2022) covers sterile medicines and replaced TRS 961, Annex 6 (2011). WHO wrote it together with the EU and PIC/S (a group of national drug inspectorates).

  • For Grade A clean areas, the most critical zone where a sterile product is open to the air, WHO's microbial limit is "No growth".

  • Warns about unsafe products

  • Medical Product Alerts warn countries about substandard (poor-quality) or contaminated medicines.

How WHO shapes research and emergency money

  • R&D Blueprint (2016): a WHO plan to speed up research on dangerous pathogens that have few or no vaccines and medicines.
  • Ebola/Marburg R&D Roadmap (2019): it says the commercial markets for these vaccines, drugs and tests are weak. This is why governments have to pay for the research.
  • Contingency Fund for Emergencies (CFE): a small pool of money WHO can spend straight away. Early in the 2026 Ebola response, WHO released US$3.9 million from it.
  • Trials during outbreaks

  • WHO uses unproven tools only inside proper trials. Ervebo is being tested against Bundibugyo, and treatments are being tested through the WHO-sponsored PARTNERS trial in Ituri.

  • Partners

  • WHO works with Africa CDC and the ICG (International Coordinating Group on Vaccine Provision), which manages the emergency vaccine stockpile.

Limits on WHO's power

  • It advises; it does not command. WHO cannot force a country to act. Countries decide whether to adopt its standards, and India adopts them through its own rules (for example, Schedule M).
  • Its tools depend on what exists. A PHEIC cannot create a vaccine. In 2026 there was still no licensed vaccine or specific treatment for Bundibugyo virus disease.
  • Its figures can lag behind national ones. On 23 September 2026 WHO counted 7,890 confirmed cases. By October the DRC government's figure was above 10,000.
  • Its emergency money is small. Fast funds like the CFE are tiny compared with research contracts.

In the Constitution and practice

  • Constitutional basis for India's role
  • Article 51(c): the state shall try to build respect for international law and treaty duties. This is a Directive Principle (a guideline for the state that courts cannot enforce).
  • Article 253: Parliament can make laws to carry out international treaties and decisions of international bodies, even on State List subjects.
  • Union List, Entry 13: taking part in international bodies and carrying out their decisions. Entry 81: inter-state quarantine.

  • State List, Entry 6: public health and sanitation. So hospitals and disease control are mainly run by the states, but India's dealings with WHO are a Union matter.

  • WHO standards in Indian law: Schedule M

  • Schedule M of the Drugs Rules, 1945 sets GMP for Indian drug factories.
  • It was revised by G.S.R. 922(E), 28 December 2023, in line with WHO standards.
  • The draft G.S.R. 953(E), 28 October 2026 from MoHFW would align Grade A microbial limits with WHO TRS 1044, Annex 2. Any microbial growth in Grade A would then require an investigation.

  • This is delegated legislation (the executive makes detailed rules under powers given by an Act). It is still a draft, and public comments have been invited.

  • WHO alerts on Indian medicines

  • 2022: Medical Product Alert N°6/2022 named four syrups from Maiden Pharmaceuticals (Haryana) that were linked to child deaths in The Gambia.

  • October 2025: Medical Product Alert N°5/2025 named three Indian oral liquid medicines, including COLDRIF. CDSCO had found diethylene glycol (a toxic industrial chemical) in them.

  • The 2026 Bundibugyo Ebola outbreak

  • 17 May 2026: the Director-General declared a PHEIC covering the DRC and Uganda.
  • 19 May 2026: the IHR Emergency Committee met for the first time.

  • August 2026: WHO rated the risk very high in the DRC, high for neighbouring countries and low at the regional and global level.

  • Learning from earlier outbreaks

  • 2022 Uganda (Sudan virus): candidate vaccines arrived 79 days after the outbreak was declared, which WHO called a record. The outbreak ended before the trial could start.
  • 2025 Uganda: WHO and partners made a candidate vaccine and treatments available very quickly.

Don't confuse with

  • Statutory bodies (NHRC, CVC, FSSAI): these are set up by an Act of the Indian Parliament, and Parliament can change them by amending that Act. WHO is an international body set up by its member countries, and no Indian law can change it.
  • CDSCO and State Drugs Controllers: these are India's own drug regulators. They license and inspect factories in India. WHO sets standards and prequalifies products, but it does not license Indian firms.
  • Africa CDC, Gavi, CEPI, IAVI: Africa CDC is a regional public-health body, and Gavi and CEPI fund vaccines. IAVI is a biomedical research organisation that got a U.S. contract to develop a Bundibugyo vaccine. None of them can declare a PHEIC.
  • Pandemic (a word for widespread disease) vs PHEIC: a PHEIC is a formal legal declaration under the IHR (2005). A PHEIC can be declared for an outbreak in just two countries, as in the DRC and Uganda in 2026.

Prelims Hooks

  • The WHO Director-General declares a PHEIC under the IHR (2005), on advice from an IHR Emergency Committee.
  • Ervebo is the only licensed and WHO-prequalified Ebola vaccine, and it covers the Zaire species only. "WHO has a prequalified Bundibugyo vaccine": FALSE.
  • The current WHO sterile-GMP text is TRS 1044, Annex 2 (2022), co-written with the EU and PIC/S. TRS 961, Annex 6 (2011) is the older version it replaced.
  • WHO's Grade A microbial limit is "No growth". India's draft G.S.R. 953(E) (2026), issued by MoHFW, adopts it.
  • WHO R&D Blueprint: 2016. Ebola/Marburg R&D Roadmap: 2019.
  • "Health is a Union subject because India deals with WHO": FALSE. Public health is in the State List (Entry 6). Carrying out decisions of international bodies is in the Union List (Entry 13), and Parliament can make laws for it under Article 253.

Mains Points

  • Advice without power to enforce
  • WHO can declare a PHEIC and rate risks, but it cannot make countries act or produce vaccines.
  • Its quick-release money is small (US$3.9 million from the CFE early in 2026). Yet contact tracing and isolation, which need fast money, are what end outbreaks while vaccines are still in trials.

  • Reform idea: get trial protocols and candidate doses ready before outbreaks, as in Uganda in 2025.

  • Global standards and India's regulators

  • When Schedule M matches WHO TRS 1044, Indian inspections can be judged by the same yardstick WHO uses. This helps Indian exports.
  • Real trust also needs good enforcement. Licensing and much of the enforcement sit with State Drugs Controllers, whose capacity is weak.

  • The WHO alerts of 2022 and 2025 show the gap is in testing raw materials, not only in rules on paper.

  • Federalism and treaty duties

  • Health is a State subject, but international health duties fall on the Union (Article 253, Union List Entry 13).
  • So putting WHO norms into practice depends on Centre–state coordination, which is visible in joint CDSCO–state inspections.

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