1617 



its six regional offices) is unique among the specialized agencies of the 

 United Nations. 



There was another major development in international health 

 organization before World War 11. The League of Nations set up an 

 International Epidemic Commission in 1920; this was succeeded by a 

 health organization in 1923. The latter was a success despite feeble 

 financial support from member governments (it had substantial 

 assistance from the Rockefeller Foundation) ; it soon outstripped the 

 Paris office in both importance and influence. 



The League of Nations Health Organization expanded to a new 

 order of magnitude both the pattern of large-scale cooperative effort 

 through international organizations in general and the dissemination 

 of public health knowledge and skills in particular. It stimulated 

 quarantine reform and quelled numerous epidemics; sought to 

 standardize serums and vaccines; set up epidemiological centers in 

 Geneva, Singapore, and Melbourne; established international study- 

 tours, lectureships, and a public health library; published monographs; 

 placed its experts at the disposal of governments; and brought together 

 public health officials from many countries to coordinate their efforts. 

 Thus, when the World Health Organization was born, it began not 

 as a revolutionary experiment in public health but as the sophisticated 

 heir to the work of the League Health Organization and its 

 predecessors. 



ESTABLISHMENT OF WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION 



The World Health Organization was formed in July 1946 within 

 the terms of the United Nations Charter. (The United States, which 

 had not belonged to the League of Nations or its Health Organization, 

 became a member of WHO in June 1948.) The WHO constitution 

 cites a single objective: "The attainment by all peoples of the highest 

 possiblelevelof health." Health is defined by WHO as ''. . . a state 

 of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely 

 the absence of disease or infirmity." 



The WHO constitution specifies 22 functions for the organization, 

 ranging from the broad mandate to "act as the directing and co- 

 ordinating authority on international health work" through "assist 

 governments, upon request, in strengthening health services," "estab- 

 lish and maintain such administrative and technical services as may 

 be required, including epidemiological and statistical services,'^ 

 "promote and conduct research in the field of health," and "assist in 

 developing an informed public opinion among all peoples on matters 

 of health," to "take all necessary action to attain the objective of the 

 Organization." 



These high aims and the need to resume work interrupted by the 

 war, as well as to deal with conditions caused by it, gave WHO an 

 early momentum. It has since grown into an international operation 

 of considerable size and significance. At the time of this study (1971), 

 its regular budget, funded by assessed contributions from member 

 governments, had risen from an initial $5 million to $73 million — 

 that of WHO and PAHO together to above $100 million. (The latter 

 figure had grown to more than $150 million by 1975.) It had (and 

 still has) regional offices in Copenhagen, Alexandria, Brazzaville, 



