1627 



A uthors Reassessment 



No changes occurred in the 4 years after preparation of the study in 

 1971 which would modify its conchisions, except in some matters of 

 detail. Author Freeman H. Quimby's comments in reviewing the situ- 

 ation in July 1975 were as follows : 



(a) Because science and medicine have an international 

 character of their own, it seemed to make sense that DHEW 

 justify before Congress the U.S. fundmg of international health 

 organizations. However, in recent years domestic problems have 

 so preoccupied DHEW, NIH, and AMA (American Medical 

 Association) that their attention to international concerns has 

 been minimal. Today it would be prudent to consider additional 

 options for a new organizational spokesman for health concerns, 

 as suggested in the Peterson Report, or a combination of services 

 from the National Academy of Sciences Foreign Office and 

 Institute of Medicine. 



(b) The diplomatic potential for the worldwide improvement 

 of human health lies primarily in preventive medicine and in 

 related socioeconomic factors. The relatively high level of medical 

 teclinology in the developed countries is not a primary contributor 

 to this potential, though it may have its uses as a diplomatic 

 tool in dealing with the ruling elites of the less developed nations. 

 Diplomatic efforts should b« aimed at providing technologies 

 to benefit the health of whole populations, thereby also sub- 

 stantially promoting development. (As indicated in The Politics 

 of Glohal Healthy a correlation study of a broad spectrum of social 

 and economic indicators in 115 countries showed that health 

 variables tended to be the most highly correlat/cd with all other 

 measures of progress.) ^*^ There is no doubt as to how this factor 

 operates, and most international public health experts, sociol- 

 ogists, and economists understand it. In simple terms, good health 

 equates with social, economic, and personal development. 



(c) The role of WHO in the administration ot programs for 

 the control and eradication of disease is the same as it was 4 

 years ago. The importance of that role, however, has been under- 

 lined by subsequent events: The growing competition for food 

 and energy resources, heightened perception of environmental 

 problems and the need for controlling them, and further pressures 

 for the advances in family planning. The essentially international 

 character of these problems, along with those of health, becomes 

 increasingly clear, as does the fact of interaction among many 

 of them; a global perspective is essential to their management 

 and ultimate solution. 



(d) The 1971 study suggested that the Congress may not have 

 gi-asped the significant relationship of international health to 

 national health. Since then, other international problems have 

 gained priority in Congress over those in the health field ; except 

 in connection with food reserves, congressional attention is per- 

 haps even less focused on international health than it was 4 

 years ago. 



n'Quimby, The Politics of Global Health, vol. U,\).7rA. 



96-243 O - 77 - 9 



