762 



Let a second objective be to attacjv those diseases endemic to .the 

 less developed c.oi;i,ntries a,nd amenable to .eradication or control by 

 means of , scientifically based sanitary and medical practices, ar^d 

 to mount sych attacks in the common interest of economic and social 

 progress of both the less developed countries and the United States, 



Finally, consider a thirid objective to be to promote on a generally 

 global scale tjie utilization of readily available and effective mpdical 

 and engineering technology towards the improvement of the state of 

 health of the human species. 



If these objectives are a reasonable. approximation of the Anierican 

 purpose in contributions to and participation in the activities of 

 WHO, it may follow that the structure of policy and the working .re- 

 lations between the United States and WHO are a combined function 

 of the Congress in general and of an expert Federal health agency 

 in particular. Technical asn'ifitcnce is technical cwd it is good or had 

 tecJinicaUy before if cam hecowe anything else. As and if U.S. tech- 

 nical assistance in health matters becomes more concentrated in multi- 

 national health organizations, the greater the need will be to appraise 

 its results and to apply American technical competence in that field. 



The Department of Health, Education and Welfare might well be 

 considered as the future and more emphatic focal point of technical 

 documentation, plaiming, review, and analysis of issues in connection 

 with U.S. participation in AVHO. PAHO, and certain bilateral bio- 

 medical programs. DHEW successfully explains and defends a multi- 

 billion dollar program before the Congress, which includes overseas 

 laboratories and grants. The extension of that performance to V.S. 

 participation in international health organizations sliould not be be- 

 yond its capacity. By training, by alnlation. by profes'^ional contacts 

 with counterpart experts around the world, the DHEW seems to be a 

 logical Federal a.Qency to establish and maintain a working liaisojn. 

 between Congressional appropriation committees and international; 

 health organizations to which the appropriations are made. 



The World Health Organization is chartered to do a great deal 

 about the health of human beings. It appears to be a satisfactory in- 

 stitution for arriving at international health priorities, even if it is 

 often criticized for not stating categorically what these are. It pro-i 

 vides technical assistance and advice to national health services where 

 the need appeai-s to be greatest, but those needs far exceed its resources. 



The Regional Directors and Committees of WHO bring both de- 

 mands and influence from their sections of the world. The World 

 Health Assembly yields to this influence and supports the Secretaryr 

 General's program, wliich is in effect tlie sum of the reg'onal requii^e- 

 ments. The power of WHO's Secretariat, its Executive Board, and its 

 Assembly far exceeds the amount of money which is acquired and 

 dispensed each yeaj- by the organization. The funds v.hich WHO 

 spends to maintain its stafl' at Geneva and elsewhere and the 

 amount it si^rinkles around the world on activities it rarely has time 

 to follow up on, is a drop in the international monetary bucket. The 

 power of WHO is not in its budget but rather in the universality of 

 its membership, the high regard in which it is held among scientific 

 and public health people of the world, and its acceptance as the 

 highest medical forum or final consensus of world medical opinion. 



