WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION

Chair: Iverlyn Alicon

Committee Type: General Assembly

Founded in 1945, the United Nations aims to maintain international peace and security, protect human rights, aid humanitarian causes , and promote global health. As part of this mission, the World Health Organization (WHO) was established in 1948 as a specialized United Nations agency dedicated to the promotion of global health. WHO works on improving health care access, addressing public health issues, and disease control and response. Over the past 78 years, WHO has managed to make advances in the healthcare world that have greatly improved the lives of millions, such as the eradication of smallpox (1980), launch of primary healthcare (1978), and a significant decrease in childbirth mortality rates.

To achieve their mission, WHO follows an extensive process of research and development and global distribution of health resources, ensuring that the health advances reach countries with vulnerable populations. WHO plays an important role in improving global healthcare access and reducing disparities in health care around the world.

One of the United Nations' top priorities since its founding has been protecting global health. To advance this mission, the World Health Organization (WHO) was established on April 7, 1948—just three years after the UN’s inception. As a specialized agency of the UN, the WHO has consistently worked to expand universal health coverage, with its member states dedicated to ensuring that everyone, regardless of their background, can lead healthier lives. Under WHO leadership, the organization has achieved significant milestones, including the eradication of smallpox, expanding access to antiretroviral therapies for HIV/AIDS, and coordinating the largest global response to COVID-19. Today, the WHO remains more vital than ever, leading efforts to address global health emergencies, providing primary and preventative healthcare, and protecting the environment through initiatives that promote clean air and water as a means to prevent infectious diseases.

Topic 1

Risk of a Superbug

Due to the overuse and misuse of antibiotics to quell everyday inconveniences, the rapid rise of antimicrobial resistance poses a threat to health stability. With once-treatable germs evolving into superbugs, infections are becoming difficult to treat with standard medicine, threatening agriculture through contamination and increasing mortality rates. As a result, superbugs present a major global health threat. This crisis exposes weaknesses in healthcare structures and hinders medical advances being made, calling into question the accessibility of and prescriptions needed for everyday medicine. Heavy reliance on over-the-counter medications, widespread use of antibiotics in industrial agriculture, and human behavior in general have accelerated the mutation of pathogenic bacteria at a rate that research and development cannot keep up with. As a result, individuals with once-treatable diseases are left exposed to new, deadly challenges. This committee will explore the scientific, economic, ethical, and political factors of a potential superbug crisis. What steps should be taken to prevent the rise of superbugs? Should the government be able to regulate the balance between medical intervention and behavior change? How will the economy be affected by the development of new drugs to combat superbugs and produce counteractives? To what extent will newly developed drugs be distributed? Will they be accessible to everyone or only some people? How will the role of antibiotics change in environmental and agricultural practices? How will these changes affect everyday lives? How will research and development be funded? What international agreements, if any, should be made to regulate the global development and spread of a superbug? To what extent should humans continue to attempt to control natural evolution? Through this committee, delegates will be encouraged to think about the challenges and limitations of global governance, public health, and law.

Topic 2

Access to Advanced Medical Devices

As medical technology continues to advance, access to advanced medical devices does not follow suit, remaining largely inequitable. Thus, while medical innovations across a plethora of fields such as surgical robotics, system imaging, and essential medical equipment have improved—and have the potential to further improve—the lives of citizens, the distribution of these devices continues to lag behind. This disparity has resulted in increased hospital visits, once-treatable conditions developing into deadly conditions, and the growing distrust in medical practices. As it stands, existing healthcare infrastructure incentivizes efficiency, profit, and exclusivity over equitable access.
Through this committee, legal frameworks, insurance systems, protections, and ethical practices will be closely examined to discuss the practices used to determine who receives the benefits of advanced medical devices; practices that often reinforce economic and social inequalities across communities and nations. How should governments respond to the widening gap within healthcare systems? To what extent should governments intervene in regulating the cost, distribution, and privatization of medical technology? How do patent systems affect accessibility and distribution? Should medical developments be shared globally or kept within individual nations? What steps should be taken to ensure the distribution of medical technology without causing significant economic strain? Should there be a global law to ensure healthcare equity? How will increased access to healthcare affect nations, populations, and the future? This committee will bring to the surface the issues surrounding healthcare infrastructure and the challenges faced by nations in improving healthcare access.