The WHO, or World Health Organization, is a real organization. It has succeeded the RMS as the main cure research organization as of the Mutation 8 update.
In the game, they provide reports and analysis on natural disasters and diseases. For example, a severe storm in the Philippines may kill 56 people, but the WHO will say that the repairs will be easily made (cure research doesn't decrease). Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, and any other disasters are also rated by WHO.
Diseases are also rated by the WHO, but not until doctors notice the disease. Once the disease is considered 'worthy', it will be placed on the WHO watchlist. Once it has killed enough people, the WHO will tell the world exactly how dangerous it is by placing the disease much higher on the list, provided that the player hasn't killed most of the world yet. They also publish their cure report, which is the update on how far along the cure for a disease is.
Shadow Plague
The WHO is the second biggest threat of Shadow Plague. If the player evolved the Shadow Blessing symptom, the WHO will build their labs world wide in order to stop the plague. Countries with WHO labs will invest more into the cure development, exceeding its investment limit. Destroying WHO labs, however, will provide setbacks to the cure development. After a certain amount of labs are destroyed, the WHO labs initiative will be considered a failure, and they will give up on building more labs.
Trivia
- There is a news headline which states that a new leader of WHO has been elected. This has no influence on the cure, and, in fact, is not even highlighted.
- In comparison to the Templars, the WHO can be viewed as a lesser threat.
External Links
- http://www.who.int/en/ The WHO website in English
- http://www.who.int/es/ The WHO (OMS) website in Spanish
- http://www.who.int/fr/ The WHO (OMS) website in French
- http://www.who.int/ru/ The WHO (BO3) website in Russian
- http://www.who.int/zh/ The WHO website in Chinese
- http://www.who.int/ar/ The WHO website in Arabic