WHOse health agenda? 70 years of struggle over WHO's mandate

Like any milestone, WHO's 70th anniversary offers an opportunity to reflect on its past trajectory and chart the challenges ahead. WHO's promising mandate for health cooperation, forged amid a short-lived post-war optimism, mapped out a world of possibilities. Yet its realisation has been limited across distinct eras by complex geopolitical, economic, and institutional pressures, ranging from the Cold War rivalry between US and Soviet blocs to contemporary assaults on WHO's independence by powerful private actors.