WHO leads the Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research, which aims to improve health policies and systems. [120] In 2014, WHO published the World Atlas of Palliative Care at the End of Life in a joint publication with the Worldwide Hospice Palliative Care Alliance, an affiliated NGO that works with WHO to promote palliative care in national and international health policies. [124] [125] 1998: On the fiftieth anniversary of WHO`s founding, the WHO Director-General highlighted improvements in child survival, lower child mortality, increased life expectancy and lower rates of “scourges” such as smallpox and polio. However, he acknowledged that more needs to be done to promote maternal health and that progress in this area has been slow. [41] “The right to the highest attainable standard of health” implies a clear set of legal obligations for States to ensure adequate conditions for the enjoyment of health for all persons without discrimination. Since 2012, WHO has defined its role in public health as follows:[45] Each year, WHO celebrates World Health Day and other events focusing on a specific health promotion theme. World Health Day is celebrated on 7 April each year, coinciding with the anniversary of WHO`s founding. Recent topics include vector-borne diseases (2014), healthy aging (2012) and drug resistance (2011). [126] In 2007, WHO organized the development of pandemic influenza vaccines through clinical trials in collaboration with many experts and health officials. [58] Then-Executive Director Margaret Chan declared a pandemic with the H1N1 influenza virus in April 2009. [59] Margret Chan stated in 2010 that H1N1 had moved into the post-pandemic era. [60] In the aftermath of the pandemic, critics claimed that the WHO had exaggerated the danger, spreading “fear and confusion” rather than “immediate information.” [61] Industry experts countered that the 2009 pandemic led to “unprecedented collaboration between global health authorities, scientists and manufacturers, resulting in the most comprehensive pandemic response ever undertaken, with a number of vaccines approved three months after the pandemic was declared. After failing to adopt a resolution on the subject, Alger Hiss, secretary-general of the conference, recommended using a declaration to establish such an organization.