In May 1953, before its independence, Cook Islands was assigned to the Western Pacific Region at the Sixth World Health Assembly ''without prejudice to any questions regarding sovereignty'' as an area. On 4 August 1965, it became a self-governing territory in free association with New Zealand. It joined the World Health Organization on 9 May 1984 as a Member State followed by the establishment of its Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1983.
The WHO Representative Office in the South Pacific covered Cook Islands from 1956 to 1986, when the WHO Representative Office in Samoa was established to cover the American Samoa, Cook Islands, Niue, Samoa and Tokelau.