723 



cally in the field of internatioiiul health, but which was built 

 and run by member governments. Tlie withdrawal for a short 

 period into "inactive membership'' of the group of Eastern 

 European countries was a blow to the organization, from 

 which, however, it recovered. The lacli of success in bringiiig 

 the People's Republic of China in as a member, was — and 

 still is — much worse. It means that a whole wall is missing in 

 the building. The Arab- Israel conflict also created some trou- 

 ble. As if this was not enough, influential political forces of 

 a more general character made themselves felt through the 

 UN itself, threatening the independence and technical integ- 

 rity of WHO and other specialized agencies. The ver}^ prin- 

 ciple established at San Francisco in 1945, namely to give 

 scientists, technicians and administrators a chance, in the 

 specialized agencies and independently of political considera- 

 tions, to build international co-operation on a broad scale, 

 was in the process of being betrayed. 



The most dangerous attack came through the proposal in 

 the UN for a "consolidated budget". In principle this meant 

 that all the member states of the UN would liave had to pay 

 only one contribution, namely directly to the United Nations. 

 Like the individual ministries in a national government, the 

 various specialized agencies would have to produce their sep- 

 arate programmes. A clear-cut political body, namely the UN 

 itself, would then have discussed, accepted or rejected these 

 programmes, decided priorities and finally allotted to each 

 specialized agency one part of the total consolidated budget. 

 If I am not wrongly informed, high credit goes to the 

 Di rectors- Greneral of the most important specialized agencies 

 at that time — Morse, Iloxley, Boyd Orr and Chisholm — for 

 stopping this frontal attack to get political control over the 

 specialized agencies. 



A weaker and more indirect attempt was made later when 

 the UN progrannne of technical assistance was introduced, 

 but this also worked out in a satisfactory way on the whole. 

 Again great credit for political wisdom goes to the non- 

 political heads of these organizations, including Dr. Candau 

 (AYHO)."^ 

 Cost of U.S. Participation in ths World Health Organization 



Few problems have come before the governing bodies of WHO so 

 regularly and have remained so stubbornly controversial as the ques- 

 tion of how nnich money it should spend on its work. In the early 

 period of the Organization's history C. E. A. Winslow tried to lay 

 out the general guidelines : 



The tavsk is a vast and difficult one. It is particularly chal- 

 lenging to the World Health Organization, because it seems 

 clear that a public health program adapted to the individual 

 needs of each area offei-s the most economical method of break- 

 ing the chains of disease and poverty and initiating an up- 

 ward cycle of social evolution. To accomolish the end in view 



1"* "Health of Mankind," op. cit., pages 205-206. 



