WHO Code of Conduct and Anti-Harassment Policy

The WHO has a robust Code of Conduct to ensure there is professional and ethical behavior associated with all WHO activities and platforms. Participants should declare conflicts of interest and conduct themselves in a manner that is attune to the highest professional ideals.

For WHO meeting attendees (members-only) and employees, review the specific anti-harassment policy and ways to confidentially submit and register incidents.

Conflict of Interest policies

Members of the WHO Board and of the WHO House of Delegates who have an interest that is or may be material to the matter being considered and that would reasonably be expected to impair the objectivity of the individual must publicly disclose that interest.

• WHO Board of Trustees, Officers of the WHO and members of the WHO’s councils, committees and task forces
• House of Delegates

Digital Code of Conduct

By accessing and using this website you agree to the following Code of Conduct. If you do not agree to the Code of Conduct, Terms of Use, and Privacy Policy, you must immediately terminate use of this site.

To help the World Health organization (WHO) maintain dialogue that is relevant and respectful of the rights of others, you understand that when you submit comments, posts or images on WHO’s digital platforms, you will not:

• Spread false and/or defamatory information.
• Include content that is discriminatory, abusive, vulgar, hateful, harassing, obscene, profane, sexually oriented, threatening, invasive of a person’s privacy or right to publicity, or otherwise violative of any law.
• Infringe on copyrights, trademarks or trade secrets.
• Post content that includes private and/or personal information, such as home phone numbers and email addresses.
• Seek medical advice (consult your personal physician) or disclose personal health information.
• Promote commercial services and products, or causes.
• Post in manner that would constitute spamming (e.g., posting with such frequency or repetitiveness that others may be discouraged from posting, posts that are irrelevant to the topic and/or the WHO’s mission, and “follow me” posts) or trolling (defined as comments that appear intended to send the discussion in a fruitless direction).

The WHO does not have the obligation to monitor User-Generated Content, but reserves the right to do so. Content that is posted in violation of this policy may be blocked or removed in the WHO’s sole discretion. Violations of this Code of Conduct may cause your access to this site or ability to post content to be suspended or terminated.

By submitting content online, you grant to the WHO a perpetual, non-exclusive, fully paid and royalty-free, transferable, sub-licensable, worldwide license to use, download, duplicate, display, distribute, modify and create derivative works of that content without your further approval or permission and without compensation by the WHO.

As a courtesy, please do not send commercial messages directly to participants on this social media platform unless specifically invited to do so by such individual. Complaints about unsolicited commercial messages are taken very seriously.

The WHO is not responsible for the opinions or claims of other users posted to our digital channels and we do not typically confirm the accuracy of postings. User-generated content, such as comments or posts, represent the views of those providing the content, and do not necessarily represent the views or policy of the WHO. References or links (provided by the WHO or by a user) to products or services do not constitute endorsements by the WHO.

Pursuant to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998, 17 U.S.C. § 512 (c), if you believe in good faith that a copyrighted work has been reproduced on this website without authorization in a way that constitutes copyright infringement, you may send a notice to: American Medical Association, 330 N. Wabash Avenue, Suite 39300, Chicago, Illinois 60611-5885; Attention, Office of General Counsel. Your notice must contain, at a minimum, (a) a statement that you believe in good faith that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright owner, (b) the identification and location of the material claimed to be infringing, (c) reasonably sufficient information for WHO to identify and contact the infringer, (d) a statement that the information in the notification is accurate, (e) a statement, under penalty of perjury, that you are authorized to act on behalf of the copyright owner, (f) your contact information, and (g) your physical or electronic signature. See 17 U.S.C. § 512 (c) for further information. This Code of Conduct may be amended or modified at any time.

Revised December, 2023

World Health Organization