Overview
The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. Founded in 1948 and headquartered in Geneva, WHO sets global health standards, coordinates responses to international health emergencies, compiles and disseminates health statistics, and supports national health systems. For demographic and mortality research, WHO's primary roles are maintaining the WHO Mortality Database (cause-of-death data from member states' vital registration systems) and publishing the Global Burden of Disease study series in collaboration with the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME). The Young Adult Mortality Hump literature (Heuveline 2002) draws on the WHO Mortality Database for 26-country comparative analysis of violent mortality patterns 1950–1996.
Key Contributions / Features
- WHO Mortality Database: Cause-of-death data from civil registration systems of member states; used for international comparative mortality research; underpins the Young Adult Mortality Hump comparative analysis (Heuveline 2002) and cause-specific mortality studies
- Global Burden of Disease (GBD): Collaborative framework with IHME quantifying DALYs, YLLs, and YLDs by cause, age, sex, and country; provides Disability-Adjusted Life Year and Healthy Life Expectancy estimates; see Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation
- ICD coding system: Maintains the International Classification of Diseases (ICD), the standard coding system for cause-of-death data worldwide; ICD revisions affect cause-specific mortality trend analyses
- HALE estimates: WHO publishes Health-Adjusted Life Expectancy (HALE) as part of the World Health Statistics series
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