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The World Health Organization (WHO) was the first UN agency to establish a
country office in Maldives.
WHO was also the first UN agency to conduct programmes in Maldives.
WHO started its work when Maldives
was still a British protectorate? The first mission by WHO was in 1951, when
a filaria survey team visited the country at the request of the United
Kingdom to review the disease situation in the southern atolls .In 1957, the
Area Representative for Ceylon visited Maldives and obtained basic data and
background information to base a future WHO programme in the country.
Prior to the establishment of a country, WHO programmes
for Maldives
were conducted from the WHO Liaison Office in Sri
Lanka (then, Ceylon).
Based on the findings and recommendations of the WHO Area Representative, a
WHO team consisting of a public health officer, a laboratory technician and a
sanitary officer was stationed in Male’, starting December 1959. The team assisted
in the establishment of basic health services, training of health assistants,
and creation and organization of health services based on the utilization of health assistants. These
services were gradually expanded in support of the establishment of health
services through training of health manpower, surveillance and control of
specific diseases such as malaria, leprosy, gastroenteritis, cholera and TB,
maternal and child health, malnutrition, and water and sanitation.
The WHO Office in Maldives
was opened on 25 February 1965,
while the country was still a British protectorate.
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