NURS FPX 4055 Assessment 2 Community Resources

Community Resources

Student name

Capella University

NURS-FPX4055 A2

Prof. Name

Submission date

Introduction

Good health is a right for all. Unfortunately, many people in the world don’t have access to quality health care services. Lack of access negatively affects individuals, families, and communities. Non-profit health organizations and government agencies are critical to reducing the gap in access to health care. Of these organizations, one of the most influential non-profits at the international level dedicated to improving the health of the peoples of the world is the World Health Organization (WHO).

The WHO supports health and safety around the world in line with its mission of providing everyone with the highest possible standard of health care (World Health Organization (WHO), 2025). This paper will evaluate WHO’s objectives and goals; WHO’s efforts to provide equal opportunities; the funding and policy implications of WHO’s activities; and how WHO’s global efforts can have an impact on the local community. This paper also discusses how nurses can work with the WHO to enhance the WHO’s goal of improving global health.

Mission, Vision, and Public Health Contributions

The World Health Organization was established in 1948 as an international organization whose goal is to become the leading UN organization for health and public health policy-making. The aims of WHO are to enhance the health of populations, to maintain the health of populations, to support community development, and to assist vulnerable groups and individuals. It aims for all people and communities to achieve the best health possible (World Health Organization, 2025). All WHO activities are based on these principles. The principles are used as a basis by the World Health Organization (WHO) in formulating policies, designing programmes, and establishing partnerships with other countries.

WHO believes that all people have a right to health, so it will always focus on those groups most likely to have poor health consequences (World Health Organization, 2025). WHO sets or maintains reference standards, collects and aggregates important health information, and advises governments on how to best leverage these resources in evidence-based decision-making (World Health Organization, 2025). WHO’s focused efforts on health worldwide will enhance the capacity to effectively address the public health challenges faced by all countries and to prepare for unexpected health emergencies. Obviously, the WHO will continue to give necessary help to countries to help people live safer and healthier lives.

However, the impact of the vision and mission of the World Health Organization has to be seen in the real world, and in the context of their work, like the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access (COVAX). The COVAX Initiative is among the best-regarded COVID-19 vaccination distribution tools that the WHO uses in its international efforts to provide equitable access to all vaccines. The objective of COVAX is to cover 20% of the population of the country where it is implemented (Santangelo et al., 2023). Thus, through the COVAX Initiative, more than a billion vaccine doses have been delivered to low- and middle-income countries, providing these communities with direct access to life-saving vaccines, which they would otherwise not have had access to.

This mirrors WHO’s fundamental principle that no one should be denied quality health services because of their geography, social status, or financial resources. The GPEI has also played a crucial role in the global decline of polio cases by over 99% since 1988, advocating for its inclusion in the Comprehensive Child Protection Strategy and ensuring that the WHO is a key partner in the fight against the disease, helping to save thousands of children from paralysis annually (GPEI, 2025). WHO’s work in the field of global health improvement is concrete and measurable, showing how its purpose and mission are manifested.

Equal Opportunity and Quality of Life

The universal health coverage (UHC) agenda of the WHO shows that no one should be unable to access the services they need without falling into debt in relation to their income (Debie et al., 2024). UHC is intricately connected to Sustainable Development Goal #3 (SDG3) and is a proposed initiative led by WHO. There are a lot of hurdles to care that will need to be overcome if equality of opportunity is to be achieved for everyone.

Of these, discrimination against women, refugees, and Indigenous peoples is linked to delays or avoidance in accessing needed health care. The problems of many health programs are due to cultural barriers, including language barriers and distrust of Western medicine. If the cultural aspect is not taken into account, health programmes may fail to achieve their goals (Taylan & Weber, 2022).

In addition, the poorest are unable to afford medicines or transport (economic barriers), and populations in rural, disabled, and conflict areas have been physically cut off from healthcare (geographical barriers). WHO has come up with specific strategies to tackle these barriers (World Health Organization, 2025). Some of these approaches include the formulation of gender-responsive health policies, engaging in the production of bilingual and multilingual health information materials, producing an essential medicines list, and strengthening mobile health clinics. A comprehensive assessment of WHO’s capacity to deliver an equitable opportunity to all groups indicates that there are strengths and weaknesses.

They have world-class recognition based on the scope of their frameworks and substantial evidence through the frameworks. However, many countries can make strides in enhancing the health situation and reducing financial burden through the UHC framework alone. But in countries where, because of bad governance or unstable government, they fail to implement the recommendations of the WHO, it has no authority to enforce compliance. So, despite the efforts by the WHO to increase the awareness of its recommendations among rural and underserved communities across the globe, the biggest constraint for the WHO to improve the quality of life of all humans is the lack of policy at the local level.

Funding Sources, Policy, and Legislation

World Health Organization (WHO) sources of funding include assessed contributions from the 194 member countries and voluntary contributions by partner governments, philanthropic organizations, and other partners. Around 20% of the WHO’s total budget is paid for by assessed contributions; the rest of the WHO’s fund arises from voluntary contributions (World Health Organization, 2022). This means that there are important constraints on how the WHO can allocate its resources. With so much funding coming from donors that specify how their donations should be spent, the WHO cannot always distribute resources according to global health needs.

Usually, funds for health needs are allocated to high-visibility programs, resulting in a funding bias against less visible health concerns. All this is complicated by the choices of political leaders. For instance, the USA has announced its withdrawal from the WHO in 2020 and 2025, resulting in a significant lack of funding to support malaria control, HIV/AIDS treatment, and maternal health programmes (Ogieuhi et al., 2025). Loss of or interruption to these programs can endanger lives and families reliant on them.

Global health policy is set by WHO treaties and frameworks, but there is limited enforcement. The COVID-19 pandemic has shown the strengths and weaknesses of current frameworks. For instance, institutional responses were not necessarily all in line, and thus, a preventable global health threat has been allowed to escalate (Coccia, 2021). The Framework Convention on Tobacco Control is an example of the successes of the WHO. Globally, 182 countries have seen declines in smoking and smoking-related illness since this treaty was adopted.

WHO cannot legislate, and the capacity of member states to legislate in accordance with WHO guidance will be dependent on the governance capacity of countries. Countries that make effective governance turn the WHO guidance into the legal protections of those at risk. In contrast, in countries with low levels of governance, the same guidance will not be followed: the most vulnerable will not receive the protection they need.

Community Health and Safety Impact and the Role of Nurses

Through its partnership with national Ministries of Health, WHO’s worldwide efforts have an enormous impact at the community level. To vaccinate communities against pertussis, malaria, measles, cholera, and other diseases, WHO invested countless hours and expended vast amounts of resources in international campaigns to do so. To ensure communities can access adequate and safe water, the WHO developed guidelines for drinking water and sanitation that are safe for the community.

To reduce maternal and child morbidity and mortality from a lack of access to health care, the WHO developed programs for maternal and child health care in developing countries. The mhGAP Program is a training initiative for member state health workers to deliver basic mental health services in the absence of mental health services (Queiroz et al. 2025). Many nations have used the WHO’s policy work to formulate programs that can help, and in some cases, they have no one to turn to for help for themselves or their families. Nurses have been vital in providing success on behalf of the WHO worldwide.

As a WHO nurse, you can help make this success happen by creating a country office program, using the WHO technical division, and getting involved in WHO’s programs for emergency response teams. In working with WHO, the Chief Nursing Officer at WHO will advocate for the nursing profession when it comes to global health policy (Rumsey et al., 2022). All nurses will also have the ability to have a direct impact through their participation with WHO through the Global Strategic Direction for Nursing and Midwifery 2021–2025, which defines nursing’s role in the accomplishment of global WHO goals.

Nurses can continue to be part of WHO’s surge capacity rosters for emergency deployment; when deployed, they can have an impact at the national level by using their national nursing bodies and by undertaking community health research that can be used to inform WHO’s guidance. In this way, nurses are standing as essential participants in the global health policy to practice integration.

Conclusion

The World Health Organisation is one of the biggest global/public health organisations with various programmes in place to support accessibility to healthcare through its equity framework, policy development processes, and so many others. But help to ensure anyone receives care will be constrained by finances and lack of cooperation between members, and the benefit will be felt in many communities around the world. Furthermore, the nurse as a health advocate, educator of health, change agent, and supporter of local action toward global health goals/nursing, etc., can support the work and initiatives of the WHO.