Overview

This is a double-delegate committee.

The World Health Organization is a specialized international agency that works to promote global health and is responsible for addressing emergency international health crises. Currently there are 149 member states within the WHO, which functions as the primary role model for international health coordination. Aside from managing disease outbreaks like COVID-19 or conducting critical medical research, the WHO addresses serious risks that pose a threat to public health. WHO will be a double delegation committee, so two delegates will jointly represent their assigned countries.

Topic 1: Anti-Microbial Resistance

Topic one addresses anti-microbial resistance (AMR), which is a result of overusing medicines and antimicrobial drugs leading to viruses, fungi, and parasites evolving to become drug resistant. While antimicrobials have been an essential innovation in public health, without proper administration methods and frequencies, common infections that are easily treated are left without cures. AMR has a myriad of causes across countries from over-prescription from medical professionals, lack of sanitation breeding resistant strains of bacteria, and widespread international travel spreading resistant strains. Delegates will have to find solutions that address structural healthcare issues that take into account varying degrees of healthcare coverages and infrastructure across countries.

Topic 2: Climate Change and Emerging Diseases

Topic two addresses emerging diseases as a result of climate change. Climate change manifests in environmental disruptions such as temperatures reaching record high and lows, influxes in natural disasters such as floods, and bodies of water becoming increasingly acidic. An overlooked symptom of climate change is the rise of diseases, specifically vector-borne diseases. Vector-borne diseases are spread through vectors like ticks and mosquitos which thrive in warm weather. Changes in rainfall patterns and rising temperatures make the geographic areas where these infections spread wider and in new places. Delegates will have to find issues that address the nuanced causes of these diseases as well as address how they disproportionately impact vulnerable, lower socioeconomic status populations.