The World Health Organization: 

    Enlightened Goals and Remarkable Achievements

    世界卫生组织：高远的目标、卓越的成就

    Introduction

    The World Health Organization (WHO) was founded in 1948 as a special agency of the United Nations. With nearly two hundred member countries, the agency implements worldwide programs to prevent and eliminate disease. But the WHO's mission goes beyond the mere treatment of physical illness, its stated objective being "the attainment of the highest possible level of health for all people in the world" with health defined as "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being."

    世界卫生组织（World Health Organization,简称WHO）成立与1948年，是联合国的一个专门机构，目前大约有200个会员国。自成立以来，WHO一直不断地推动各项防治疾病的计划，但其任务并不仅局限与防治身体上的疾病，而是以「使全世界的人都能获致最高的健康水平」为宗旨。此外，WHO为「健康」所下的定义是：身体、精神及社会福利都达到健全的状态。意谓着其目标已扩大到全面改善世人的生活品质。

    AchievementsOver the years, the WHO has continually found ways to achieve this goal, with its first major accomplishment the eradication of smallpox, long considered the most deadly and persistent human infectious disease. Smallpox had caused millions of deaths and much suffering for centuries, but once the agency set out to eradicate it, WHO personnel traveled the world to conduct a massive vaccination program. And as a result, smallpox was eliminated in 1977. Since then, the WHO has turned its attention to other diseases such as polio and leprosy, which are now on the verge of eradication as well.

    多年来，WHO不断地寻求各种方法来达成这项目标。第一项成就，是使天花从世上绝迹。这个致命的传染病，曾夺走了数百万人的生命，并带来许多苦难。但是WHO展开根除天花的计划，服务范围无远弗届；只要有人居住的地方，都有专人将牛痘疫苗送达该处。由於他们的努力，天花已於1977年宣告自地球绝迹。此，WHO将工作重点转向小儿麻痹、麻疯等疾病的防治。目前这两种疾病也即将消失无形。

    In addition to fighting illness, the World Health Organization has been a key player in promoting worldwide disease prevention and health programs. Working with partners in health research, the WHO gathers data on global health conditions and needs, particularly in developing countries. One of its most recent initiatives is the Global Strategy on Diet, Physical Activity and Health. This project, mandated by the World Health Assembly in May 2002, arose through the discovery that more and more people in the developing world were suffering from chronic disease.

    除了对抗疾病，WHO在推展增进世人健康和预防疾病的全球性计划方面，也担任举足轻重的角色。他们和参与计划的伙伴，一起从事相关的研究工作，收集有关健康情况与需求的资讯，尤其是开发中的国家。有 於在这些国家中，有越来越多的人民饱受慢性病之苦，WHO最近推动了一项专案计划--「全球饮食、运动及健康对策」，这项计划由世界卫生大会於2002年5月授权发起。

    Increasing urbanization was found to play a large part in changing health conditions among residents of developing countries. In addition, it was long known that city dwellers are more likely to consume energy-dense diets high in saturated fats and refined carbohydrates. For the newly urban poor, this sudden change in diet, along with the transition to a sedentary lifestyle, resulted in an increasing incidence of chronic health problems such as heart disease, diabetes, stroke, cancer and respiratory ailments. However, most risk factors for these conditions - high blood pressure, high cholesterol, increased body weight and decreased physical exercise - are largely preventable.

    随着大量农村人口放弃耕作，迁往都市发展，使得都市化程度日益升高，这是造成开发中国家人民健康情况改变的一大原因。众所周知，都市人偏爱高热量食物，而这些食物通常含有大量饱和脂肪和精致的碳水化合物，对这些都市新贫而言，饮食习惯的突然改变，加上久坐的生活型态，逐渐造成严重的健康问题；诸如心脏病、糖尿病、中风、癌症和呼吸道疾病等慢性病，有日益增多的趋势。然而，这些慢性病的致病因素--高血压、高胆固醇、体重过重、缺乏运动等，绝大多数都是可以事先预防的。

    Research conducted after the World Health Assembly found that diet and exercise are key elements in combating many of these risk factors. For example, diets rich in fruit and vegetables, which contain immune-system boosting micronutrients, enhance the body's natural defenses against infectious disease. Specifically, the following recommendations for preventive health were made by the WHO:

    * Eat more fruit and vegetables, nuts and whole grains

    * Engage in daily physical activity

    * Replace saturated animal fats with unsaturated vegetable oil-based fats

    * Cut the overall amount of fatty, salty and sugary foods in the diet

    * Maintain a normal body weight

    * Stop smoking

    WHO与2002年召开世界卫生大会之后，在一项研究中发现，饮食和运动是战胜许多致病因素的要诀。例如，多吃富含微量营养素的蔬菜水果，可以提升免疫系统的功能，增加身体抵抗力，预防传染病。WHO并明确提出以下几项防治疾病的建议：

    * 多吃蔬菜水果、坚果类和全谷类。

    * 每天规律的运动。

    * 选用不饱和脂肪的植物油，取代饱和脂肪的动物油。

    * 避免摄取高脂肪、高盐分、高糖分的食物。

    * 维持正常的体重。

    * 不抽烟。

    While these guidelines do not specify a completely vegetarian diet, they clearly emphasize fruits, vegetables, nuts, grains and vegetable fats. In addition, the recommendations are based on data gathered from all over the world, and so reflect both a concern about nutrition and a respect for cultural diversity, including groups that value vegetarianism from the standpoint of compassion for animals. For example, the WHO received input from the International Vegetarian Union, an organization with a worldwide membership founded in 1908.
    
    虽然这些健康指引并没有指出要吃全素，但很明显地强调要多摄取水果、蔬菜、坚果、谷类和植物油。此外，这些指引系根据世界各地收集来的资料综合而成；不仅顾虑到营养的层面，而且也尊重不同文化背景和信仰的差异，例如，顾及到有些人基于对动物的慈悲心，非常重视素食。例如：WHO接受「国际素食联盟」（International Vegetarian Union，属于世界性的组织，创于1908年）的加入成为其工作伙伴。

    In May 2004, the World Health Organization will present these suggestions as a global prevention-based proposal to the World Health Assembly to provide the Assembly's member states with solid evidence for implementing national health strategies. The WHO will also seek interaction with the international food industry to stress the business sector's responsibility in helping to achieve these goals.

    WHO于2004年5月将「预防保健」提案提交世界卫生大会审议，此项全球性提案能够提供各会员国有力的明证，继而使其推动国内的健康对策。同时，WHO也将与全球的食品业者进行沟通，强力要求他们负起责任，以协助他们达成这些目标。

    Other recent WHO projects include campaigns to reduce tobacco use worldwide, and research on the health effects of the electromagnetic field surrounding cell phones.

    除此之外，近来WHO更展开降低全球烟草使用的行动，以及研究手机电磁波对人体的影响。

    ConclusionDuring its fifty-six year history, the World Health Organization has performed earthly miracles. In the above-mentioned case of smallpox eradication alone, the agency accomplished in twenty years what the medical profession had not been able to achieve in the previous two hundred. For, although the smallpox vaccine was discovered in 1796, it was only after the WHO began carrying the torch to eliminate it that the disease was finally wiped out in 1977.

    综观WHO成立五十六年以来的成就，的确创造了不少世界奇迹。单以天花为例，尽管牛痘疫苗早在200多年前（西元1796年）就已发现，人类却一直无法将它根绝，而WHO在20年之内就完成使命，天花终于在1977年完全消失。