The United Nations
and other intergovernmental organizations

UN/WHO

As the United Nations specialized agency for health, WHO collaborates with other United Nations organizations, agencies, funds and other intergovernmental organizations to ensure effective coordination and policy coherence to support Member States to improve health for all.

United Nations agencies

WHO/Europe supports coordination among the United Nations agencies through well-established regional and country-level mechanisms, such as the joint meeting of the Regional Collaborative Platform. A pan-European mechanism that WHO/Europe leads is the Issue-based Coalition on Health and Well-being, which brings together relevant United Nations agencies to facilitate and promote the implementation of Sustainable Development Goal 3 and the health-related targets in the European Region.

WHO/Europe is also part of additional thematic working groups with other United Nations agencies and partners focusing on specific issues. The Regional Working Group on Gender, for example, promotes gender equality and women’s empowerment in Europe and central Asia. Also, the Issue-based Coalition on Adolescent and Youth links and promotes global, regional and national policy and programme initiatives for young people in the European and Central Asian region (ECA).

At the country level, WHO/Europe’s country offices are members of the United Nations country teams. These country teams bring together all United Nations agencies present in a country to coordinate and amplify activities. WHO country offices also participate in the United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework, another related coordination mechanism, all aiming to increase the impact of United Nations agencies’ work in countries.

Other intergovernmental organizations

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is an international organization set up in 1961 to improve economic and social conditions for people. It aims to foster prosperity, equality and well-being for all.

The OECD and WHO established a framework for mutually agreed health priorities in 1999 and 2005, particularly in relation to health and development. The long-standing relationship focuses on improved collection, harmonization and dissemination of health data and indicators, health systems and the link to the environment, and noncommunicable diseases.

In 2012, the WHO Regional Director for Europe and the Deputy Secretary General of OECD signed a Joint Action Plan to intensify collaboration in the European Region in developing reliable health information and analysing challenges to health systems and policy responses. Work on health information therefore continues to be at the core of the collaboration, especially on defining indicators and joint datasets. In 2016, WHO became an official observer in the OECD Health Committee. This cooperation is of particular importance to advance the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

World Organisation for Animal Health

The World Organisation for Animal Health was founded in 1924 as the Office International des Epizooties (OIE). Renamed in 2003, it is an intergovernmental organization that coordinates the global response to animal health emergencies, the prevention of zoonotic diseases, the promotion of animal health and welfare, and better access to animal health care.

The World Organisation for Animal Health and WHO work together under the One Health approach recognizing that the health of humans, domestic and wild animals, plants, and the wider environment (including ecosystems) are closely linked and interdependent. WHO and the World Organisation for Animal Health are both members of the One Health Quadripartite along with the Food and Agriculture Organization and the United Nations Environment Programme. The 4 organizations work together to promote multisectoral responses to public health threats originating in the animal-human-environment interface and to provide technical advice on how to reduce these risks.