An Impactful Relationship Shapes Global Public Health

The Foundation participated as an observer at the first International Health Conference in June 1946, where WHO’s constitution was signed and the Organization became the first specialized agency of the United Nations.

The constitution was ratified and WHO was officially formed on April 7, 1948.

The links between John D. Rockefeller III and independent India’s first health minister, Amrit Kaur contributed to the decision to open WHO’s first regional office in Delhi, said Sanjoy Bhattacharya, Head of the School of History at the University of Leeds, where he is also Professor of Medical and Global Health Histories.

Just six months after WHO’s formal founding, the first session for the WHO Regional Committee for South-East Asia was held in Kaur’s office.

“This fact sheds a light on the rich and complex relationship that WHO had with The Rockefeller Foundation—a relationship that contributed to a more inclusive, racially diverse and inspiring history,” Bhattacharya said.

Connections between the Foundation and WHO continue to grow.

In fact, the partnership between WHO and The Rockefeller Foundation “is not only historic, but a living alliance that speaks to our shared vision of the importance of medical science and data-driven innovation to advance public health,” said Dr. Naveen Rao, Senior Vice President for Health at The Rockefeller Foundation.

The Foundation has long been a pioneer in global health.

Even before it was founded in 1913, J.D. Rockefeller created and endowed the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research in New York, the first in the United States dedicated exclusively to understanding the bioscience of disease.

In the decades after its founding, the Foundation led campaigns to eradicate hookworm disease, malaria, and yellow fever, and funding research into vaccine development.