name: WHO API Rate Limits
description: >
  The World Health Organization does not publicly document formal rate limits
  for its GHO OData API or ICD API. Both are provided as public goods and are
  intended for reasonable programmatic access. Users are expected to implement
  polite crawling practices. No burst limits, quota windows, or throttling
  thresholds are published in official documentation as of June 2026.
apis:
  - name: GHO OData API
    base_url: https://ghoapi.azureedge.net/api
    authentication: None
    rate_limit_documented: false
    notes: >
      No published rate limits. Hosted on Azure CDN (azureedge.net), which
      provides inherent scalability. Recommended to implement exponential
      backoff for batch requests to avoid service disruption.
  - name: ICD API
    base_url: https://id.who.int/
    authentication: OAuth 2 (client credentials)
    rate_limit_documented: false
    notes: >
      No published rate limits. OAuth 2 token endpoint is at
      https://icdaccessmanagement.who.int/connect/token. Tokens should be
      cached and reused until expiry rather than re-fetched per request.
      Local deployment option available via Docker/Windows Service/Linux
      to remove cloud API dependency.
best_practices:
  - Cache responses where possible to reduce repeated calls
  - Reuse OAuth 2 tokens until expiration for ICD API
  - Implement exponential backoff on 429 or 503 responses
  - Avoid parallel bulk downloads; sequence requests
  - Contact gho_info@who.int for high-volume access inquiries