Novice World Health Organization (WHO)

Committee Profile

What is antibiotic resistance? How does health care access disproportionately affect individuals around the world? To what extent does over-prescription harm society? Over the course of the conference, we will address all of these questions in our committee. Antibiotic resistance refers to the evolution of bacteria where medicine and drugs become no longer effective. It has the ability to spread from human to human, animal to person, and animal to animal very quickly. Historically, diseases and illnesses have spread worldwide such as the Spanish Flu in the 1920’s and more recently with COVID-19. Although antibiotic resistance has no correlation to COVID-19, it can be used as an example of how quickly disease can be spread. Financial restrictions and limited medical resources prevent impoverished communities globally from receiving the care they seek. Financial instability has produced many medical issues for centuries, but after the modernization of hospitals and healthcare systems, these concerns have only been amplified. Initially built to serve the poor, hospitals have become costly due to insurance, private and public funding, and other factors. Delegates will have the opportunity to address these issues throughout the committee and build upon their public speaking skills and collaboration.

Chair Letter

Dear delegates,

Welcome to BruinMUN 31! My name is Frank Hobson (he/him), and I am excited to be your chair for the World Health Organization committee! I am a second year Political Science and Applied Mathematics double major and have been in MUN since my seventh grade. I was initially born in Australia, moved to the Bay Area at age five, but then moved again for two years to live in Vietnam! I attribute my interest in international relations to my time in Vietnam, as my family took the opportunity to explore as many countries in the world as possible while we lived there. I think so far I have visited 17 countries!

In middle school, I attended two MUN conferences in Malaysia (MYMUN) that captured my attention in MUN and were the reason I joined MUN when I returned to the states for high school. Here, I participated mostly in local high school and a few university conferences having as much fun as possible while learning about international issues and finding solutions to them. In senior year, I was the club president and enlivened the club as we returned in-person from online conferences the previous year.

At UCLA, I staffed UNWTO at BruinMUN last Fall and was a crisis staffer for LAMUN (college circuit) in April. I’m thrilled that this year I have the honor of senior staffing/chairing a BruinMUN committee and contributing to make this one of the best, enjoyable conferences for high school students.

Lastly, I’d like to emphasize that this is a novice committee. Being nervous is normal especially if this is your first university conference (or first conference at all!). My hope, however, is that I and all of the staff who make this conference possible will make you feel supported and will teach you everything you need to know about the basics of committee and procedure. After all, BruinMUN is the first conference for so many students. I look forward to meeting you all in committee and hearing your solutions to two of the world’s pressing health problems.

Best wishes,

Frank Hobson | Chair | BruinMUN 31

who@bruinmun.org