A United Nations Global Health Panel for Global Health Governance

The World Health Organization now relies upon voluntary contributions tied to specific projects, underwriting 75% of operations. A resulting cacophony of non-governmental, foundation, and private sector actors have emerged overlapping and fractionating WHO programs. In this expanding world of global health organizations, WHO's role must be redefined. We propose coordination of global health initiatives through a United Nations Global Health Panel with active participation of WHO. Given recent events, the UN is poised to take a greater leadership role in global health. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.