722 



lliG ^YHO concept of a single international health organization re- 

 mains technically unfulfilled. Meanwhile, in accordance with prior 

 agreements, the Pan American Sanitary Bureau functions much as do 

 the other Regional Offices of WHO."=^ The Pan American Health Or- 

 ganization remains legally an Inter- American specialized organiza- 

 tion of OAS. But the arrangement is working and the technicalities 

 are being ignored. 

 Persistent Tendency to Neglect Health oh an Internatloval Goal 



Apart from the scientific and political difficulties of establishing 

 multinational machinery for cooperation in health, it is disconcerting 

 to note that on at least' two major occasions formal diplomacy came 

 close to overlooking global health altogether. Both the Health Or- 

 ganization of the League of Nations and the World Health Organi- 

 zation were last-minute additions to the Covenant of the league and 

 the IT.N. Charter. Dr. K. E^^ang of the Health Services of Norway 

 recalls : 



One interesting historic exami)le is that health was "for- 

 gotten" M-hen the Covenant of the Tieague of Nations Avas 

 drafted after the first World War. Only at the last moment 

 was world health brought in, producing the Health Section 

 of the League of Nations, one of the forerunners of the pres- 

 ent FAO, as well as of WHO. Althougli international par- 

 ticipation in the League of Nations was limited, the Health 

 Section of the League developed into one of the most success- 

 ful and non-controversial parts of the organization, making 

 itself indispensable through its statutory functions. 



Who Avould have thought, therefore, that health would 

 again be "forgotten" when the Charter of the United Nations 

 was drafted at the end of the Second World War? However, 

 tliis was exactly what happened, and the matter of world 

 health again had to be introduced more or less ad hoc at the 

 United Nations conference at San Francisco in the spring of 

 1945."'' 

 It was only the vigorous intervention of the national delegations 



from Brazil, China, and Norway that held a plac« for an international 



health organization under the United Nations.^^'^ 



Three advisers in health matters. Dr. De Paula Souza, Dr. Szeming 



Sze, and Dr. K. Evang— hardly diplomats or politicians in the usual 



sense — took the initiative which ultimately resulted in the World 



Health Organization. 

 Evang is quick to note that the reluctantly-launched WHO Avas 



not to be in for smooth sailing : 



The World Health Organization came into being just nt the 

 time (1948) when the political honeymoon which the United 

 Nations had enjoved for a short period after the Second 

 World War had definitely come to an end, and the "cold war" 

 had started. It was of coiu-se a most unfortunate political cli- 

 mate for a newcomer which was supposed to act non-politi- 



cs Ibid., paK*' 24. 



"" ••Rcaltli of Miiiikiiul," oil. cit.. i)ai,'(s 202-::. ^ ^ „, ,^ 



""Ibid., page 20;i. See also: Charles. "Origiii>', bistor.v. and achievements of the World 



Health Ovgaiiization," op. cit., page 294. 



