UNICEF: suggestions for change

[...]WHO formulated a series of guidelines to implement the Declaration.3–5 UNICEF cosponsored the Alma Ata conference as a sleeping partner, but nevertheless as a partner. In the wake of UNICEF, other agencies such as the World Bank, UN Development Programme (UNDP), US Agency for International Development (USAID), and NGOs, and most donors, impose vertical programmes for health on underdeveloped countries, based on their own interests rather than on the needs of the countries, resulting in the sorry fragmented state of affairs Horton deplores in his Comment. Wise policy and strategy decisions need to be made by an Executive Board whose government representatives are wisely elected by the United Nations Economic and Social Council.