The objective of this article is to discuss the emergence of the World Health Organization (WHO) as an international specialized agency. It also debates how the organization operates, major historic and political landmarks and its strategies in the struggle for hegemony in the international sanitary scenario. For such, we researched WHO's documents, directors-general's speeches, texts introducing the institution, articles and editorials. Two specific moments were of fundamental influence to WHO's international health policies: The program Health for All (2000) and the policies fostered by the Gro-Brundtland administration (1998-2002). In this period, not only profound transformations in international health policies were undertaken, but also, the need to establish political and methodological links to the globalization of the economy and the global health policies emerged.
World Health Organization; international health; globalization; international agencies; globalization in health work
