Faculty of Theology, University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland
Faculty of Theology, University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland.
BMJ Glob Health. 2021 Apr;6(4). doi: 10.1136/bmjgh-2020-004073.
Much has been written about WHO. Relatively little is known, however, about the organisation's evolving relationship with health-related personal beliefs, 'faith-based organisations' (FBOs), religious leaders and religious communities ('religious actors'). This article presents findings from a 4-year research project on the 'spiritual dimension' of health and WHO conducted at the University of Zürich. Drawing on archival research in Geneva and interviews with current and former WHO staff, consultants and programme partners, we identify three stages in this relationship. Although since its founding individuals within WHO occasionally engaged with religious actors, it was not until the 1970s, when the primary healthcare strategy was developed in consultation with the Christian Medical Commission, that their concerns began to influence WHO policies. By the early 1990s, the failure to roll out primary healthcare globally was accompanied by a loss of interest in religion within WHO. With the spread of HIV/AIDS however, health-related religious beliefs were increasingly recognised in the development of a major quality of life instrument by the Division of Mental Health, and the work of a WHO expert committee on cancer pain relief and the subsequent establishment of palliative care. While the 1990s saw a cooling off of activities, in the years since, the HIV/AIDS, Ebola and COVID-19 crises have periodically brought religious actors to the attention of the organisation. This study focusses on what we suggest may be understood as a trend towards a closer association between the activities of WHO and religious actors, which has occurred in fits and starts and is marked by attempts at institutional translation and periods of forgetting and remembering.
关于世卫组织，已经有很多文献。然而，人们相对较少了解的是，该组织与与健康相关的个人信仰、“信仰组织”（FBO）、宗教领袖和宗教团体（“宗教行为体”）之间不断演变的关系。本文介绍了在苏黎世大学开展的一项为期四年的关于健康的“精神层面”与世卫组织关系的研究项目的研究结果。我们通过在日内瓦的档案研究以及对在世卫组织工作的现任和前任工作人员、顾问和项目伙伴的采访，确定了这种关系的三个阶段。虽然自成立以来，世卫组织内部的一些人偶尔会与宗教行为体接触，但直到 20 世纪 70 年代，在与基督教医疗委员会协商制定初级卫生保健战略时，他们的关切才开始影响世卫组织的政策。到 20 世纪 90 年代初，由于未能在全球范围内推广初级卫生保健，世卫组织内部对宗教的兴趣也随之减弱。然而，随着艾滋病毒/艾滋病的传播，精神健康司在制定一项主要生活质量工具时，以及在世卫组织癌症疼痛缓解专家委员会的工作中，以及随后建立姑息治疗方面，越来越认识到与健康相关的宗教信仰。虽然 20 世纪 90 年代活动有所降温，但在那之后，艾滋病毒/艾滋病、埃博拉和新冠肺炎危机使宗教行为体定期成为该组织关注的焦点。本研究关注的是我们认为可能被理解为世卫组织活动与宗教行为体之间更紧密联系的趋势，这种趋势时断时续，其特点是试图进行体制翻译以及遗忘和记忆的时期。
