New Zealand, one of the WHO founders, participated in the International Health Conference in 1946, which resutled in the drafting of the WHO constitution, turning over the functions of the Office International d'Hygiene Publique (OIHP) to WHO and setting up of an Interim Commision to prepare for the First WOrld Health Assembly. It joined WHO on 10 December 1946.

It is covered by the WHO Representative Office in the South Pacific.