1729 



The study chronicled an interesting initiative in 1851 in the design of 

 the First International Quarantine Congress in Paris. By arranging 

 that each of the 12 participating nations be represented by one 

 diplomat and one doctor, the French government as host ensured 

 that the primary conflict would center on technical versus political 

 views, ratner than on political views alone. Essentially, this amounted 

 to a defusing of nationalistic interests. Moreover, it established a 

 principle that in the field of global health it was necessary for diplo- 

 mats and doctors to talk with each other to seek workable political 

 solutions to technical problems. Significantly, a continuity of progress 

 in global health has beep, maintained on this basis down to the present 

 da}^ 



Since the study was first issued there have been some moves in the 

 direction suggested. However, the field is far from saturated and the 

 interrelations between this issue and those in the section to follow 

 suggest that the opportunity is still open and the urgency of its ex- 

 ploitation increasing. The author's preference appears to be for the 

 multilateral approach and he also emphasizes the importance of the 

 participatory role of the Congress, the executive branch, and the U.S. 

 public. Thus, he concludes : 



It would seem appropriate for the United States to utilize the authority of 

 WHO and the power of its international voice in the support of national as well 

 as international programs. This country has the resources, the systems skills, and 

 the biomedical technology for making WHO a better institution than it now is. 

 The United States can be the instrumentality for preparing and shaping WHO 

 to manage the common global health problems of the future. 



Yet WHO wiU shape nothing without stronger support than is now evident for 

 international health institutions, in the Congress or at Secretarial levels in the 

 Departments of State and of Health, Education, and Welfare. The situation seems 

 to be a most peculiar one for world health, namely, commitment without involve- 

 ment. The United States is meeting its fiscal obligations to WHO and PAHO 

 with very little organizational evidence as yet that it also intends to play a 

 positive determinant role in an area where American technical competence is at 

 its best, where its presence is least offensive, and indeed where American leadership 

 is fully expected by the rest of the world. 



Perhaps there is need to mount an educational program so that a larger segment 

 of the public is included in the discourse surrounding the issues of national and 

 global public health. The status of the world's health might become a public 

 issue; and that issue coiild stimulate scientific, medical, and economic debate. 

 For in the United States, at least, debate is absolutely essential to both clarifica- 

 tion and political action.'** 



ISSUE three: beyond malthus 



The theme of this study was that "Finding a solution to the food/ 

 population dilemma is the central problem of international develop- 

 ment." ^"Initiatives in this complex field encounter deep emotional 

 conflict and anxiety. Reaction is called for to respond not only to the 

 political views of other nations but also to the more urgent and dra- 

 matic needs of their peoples as drought and famine cause food stocks 

 to run short. 



*** U.S. Congress, House, Committee on Foreipn Affairs, The Politics of Global Health, a study in the series 

 on Science, Technology, and American Diplomacy prepared for the Subcommittee on National Security 

 Policy and Scientific Developments by Freeman H. Quimby, Science Policy Research Division, Congres- 

 sional Research Series, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. U.S. Govt. Print. Off., 1971: vol. II, p. 763. 



3<5 U.S. Congress, House, Committee on Foreign Affairs, Beyond Malthus: The Food/People Equation, a 

 study in the series on Science, Technology and American Diplomacy prepared for the Subcommittee on 

 National Security Policy and Scientific Developments by Allan S. Nanes, Foreign Affairs Division, Con- 

 gressional Research Service, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. U.S. Govt. Print. Off., 1971: vol. II, 

 p. 819. 



