World Health Organization responds to Fiona Godlee and Ray Moynihan

In her editor’s choice in the print issue of 14 May Godlee asks: “Who should define disease?”1 This question was answered by international treaty in 1948, when the World Health Organization was founded as a specialised agency of the United Nations. The WHO has unique authority to establish global health standards and secure international agreement on defining diseases. Among the core functions in its constitution are responsibility for international definitions and nomenclatures of disease, and standardising diagnostic procedures.2 The WHO’s 193 member states have agreed to use the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) as a basis for reporting health information that is usable and comparable across countries. The World Health Assembly—comprising the health ministers of …