scholarly journals Re-assessing the Foundations: Worldwide Smallpox Eradication, 1957–67

2019 ◽  
Vol 64 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-93
Author(s):  
Sanjoy Bhattacharya ◽  
Carlos Eduardo D’Avila Pereira Campani
Keyword(s):  
Majority Vote ◽  
World Health ◽  
Significant Progress ◽  
Eradication Programme ◽  
World Health Assembly ◽  
Western Africa ◽  
The World ◽  
Complex Picture ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
National Governments

An expansive, worldwide smallpox eradication programme (SEP) was announced by the World Health Assembly in 1958, leading this decision-making body to instruct the World Health Organization Headquarters in Geneva to work with WHO regional offices to engage and draw in national governments to ensure success. Tabled by the Soviet Union’s representative and passed by a majority vote by member states, the announcement was subject to intense diplomatic negotiations. This led to the formation, expansion and reshaping of an ambitious and complex campaign that cut across continents and countries. This article examines these inter-twining international, regional and national processes, and challenges long-standing historiographical assumptions about the fight against smallpox only gathering strength from the mid-1960s onwards, after the start of a US-supported programme in western Africa. The evidence presented here suggests a far more complex picture. It shows that although the SEP’s structures grew slowly between 1958 and 1967, a worldwide eradication programme resulted from international negotiations made possible through gains during this period. Significant progress in limiting the incidence of smallpox sustained international collaboration, and justified the prolongation and expansion of activities. Indeed, all of this bore diplomatic and legal processes within the World Health Assembly and WHO that acted as the foundation of the so-called intensified phase of the SEP and the multi-faceted activities that led to the certification of smallpox eradication in 1980.

scholarly journals Large fall in new HIV diagnoses in Latvia in 2002

2003 ◽  
Vol 7 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
I Upmace ◽  
Laura Seïakova
Keyword(s):  
World Health Organization ◽  
World Health ◽  
Foodborne Diseases ◽  
World Health Assembly ◽  
The World ◽  
Response Systems ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
National Governments

The World Health Organization (WHO) has published guidance to help national governments minimise terrorist threats to food by integrating the mechanisms which manage outbreaks of both unintentional and deliberate foodborne diseases and contamination (1,2). The need for guidance was raised during the 55th World Health Assembly in May 2002, and Terrorist threats to food: guidance for establishing and strengthening prevention and response systems (www.who.int/fsf) is a response to recent increasing concern worldwide about the possible use of chemical, biological or radionuclear (CBRN) agents against civilian populations.

scholarly journals WHO publishes guidance to minimise both terrorist and unintentional threats to food

2003 ◽  
Vol 7 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Keyword(s):  
World Health Organization ◽  
World Health ◽  
Foodborne Diseases ◽  
World Health Assembly ◽  
The World ◽  
Response Systems ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
National Governments

The World Health Organization (WHO) has published guidance to help national governments minimise terrorist threats to food by integrating the mechanisms which manage outbreaks of both unintentional and deliberate foodborne diseases and contamination (1,2). The need for guidance was raised during the 55th World Health Assembly in May 2002, and Terrorist threats to food: guidance for establishing and strengthening prevention and response systems (www.who.int/fsf) is a response to recent increasing concern worldwide about the possible use of chemical, biological or radionuclear (CBRN) agents against civilian populations.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS AND REPORTS

PEDIATRICS ◽  
1948 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 499-504
Keyword(s):  
Child Health ◽  
Malaria Control ◽  
Venereal Disease ◽  
World Health ◽  
International News ◽  
World Health Assembly ◽  
The World ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
First World ◽  
And Child Health

The First World Health Assembly convened in Geneva, Switzerland, on June 24, 1948, and remained in session until July 24. Fifty-four nations sent delegates. The work of this First Assembly centered around the development of a program of action for the World Health Organization. After discussions of a long list of possible activities, the Assembly adopted a program which established certain priorities for the work of the Organization during the coming year. Malaria control, maternal and child health, tuberculosis and venereal disease control, nutrition and environmental sanitation were placed in the top priority. To carry out these priority programs the WHO authorized the appointment of expert committees and the establishment of appropriate sections of work in the secretariat of the Organization.

scholarly journals In Memoriam Dietrich Hoffmann

2011 ◽  
Vol 24 (6) ◽  
pp. 254-256 ◽  
Author(s):  
H Klus ◽  
M Kunze ◽  
Beiträge Editors of
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
International Organizations ◽  
Tobacco Industry ◽  
World Health ◽  
Regulatory Agencies ◽  
International Agency ◽  
The World ◽  
In Memoriam ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
National Governments

AbstractDietrich Hoffmann passed away on April 20, 2011, at his home in Larchmont, New York. He had suffered from Parkinson's disease for more than 20 years. With Dietrich Hoffmann's death the tobacco community lost one of its most prominent scientists, who was familiar with all areas of tobacco research. His work guided and influenced a whole generation of scientists working in the tobacco industry, universities, regulatory agencies, national governments or international organizations, such as the World Health Organization and the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). It is an obligation of honor for the authors M. Kunze, H. Klus, and the editors of BeiträgezurTabakforschung International publish a short tribute in memory of Dietrich Hoffmann.

scholarly journals Global neurosurgery: continued momentum at the 72nd World Health Assembly

2020 ◽  
Vol 132 (4) ◽  
pp. 1256-1260 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gail Rosseau ◽  
Walter D. Johnson ◽  
Kee B. Park ◽  
Peter J. Hutchinson ◽  
Laura Lippa ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Global Surgery ◽  
World Health ◽  
World Federation ◽  
Health Coverage ◽  
World Health Assembly ◽  
Liaison Committee ◽  
Emergency Care Systems ◽  
The World ◽  
Care Systems ◽  
Health Organization

Global neurosurgery is the practice of neurosurgery with the primary purpose of delivering timely, safe, and affordable neurosurgical care to all who need it. This field is led by neurosurgeons, and global neurosurgery sessions are now part of every major international neurosurgical meeting. The World Federation of Neurosurgical Societies (WFNS) is working to coordinate activities and align all related activities for greater impact. This report updates the contributions made by the WFNS-WHO Liaison Committee at the most recent World Health Assembly (WHA) in 2019. The WHA is a decision-making body of the World Health Organization (WHO), attended by its 194 Member States. The WFNS has maintained official relations as a nongovernmental organization with the WHO for over 30 years, and this year 15 neurosurgical delegates attended events during the WHA. Participation by neurosurgeons continues to grow as many WHA events focused on global surgery have intrinsically involved neurosurgical leadership and participation. This year, resolution WHA72.31, entitled “Emergency and trauma care, Emergency care systems for universal health coverage: ensuring timely care for the acutely ill and injured,” was passed. This resolution provides further opportunities for neurosurgical advocacy as the landscape of global surgery gains recognition and momentum.

scholarly journals Taiwan and the World Health Assembly/World Health Organization: Perspectives from Health Services and Research

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 10-27
Author(s):  
Yen-Fu Chen
Keyword(s):  
World Health Organization ◽  
Contextual Information ◽  
International Health ◽  
World Health ◽  
Active Member ◽  
World Health Assembly ◽  
The World ◽  
Taiwanese People ◽  
Health Related ◽  
Health Organization

Despite being one of Asia’s major economies with a population of over 23 million, Taiwan has been mostly excluded from the World Health Assembly/World Health Organization (wha/who) since 1972, due to China’s objection. While this has not stopped Taiwan from developing a comprehensive healthcare system and being an active member of international health community, the lack of membership in the world’s leading health authority undermines global health and presents perverse, and yet often neglected, inequality faced by Taiwanese people. This article aims to provide contextual information concerning the impacts of Taiwan’s exclusion from wha/who by: (1) enumerating health-related areas where Taiwan has rich knowledge and experiences that would have been cascaded much more widely and efficiently to those in need around the world had it been allowed to participate; and (2) highlighting difficulties faced by Taiwanese people and potential threats to international health arising from the exclusion.

scholarly journals World Health Organization

1947 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 535-537 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Personnel ◽  
World Health ◽  
Wide Spread ◽  
World Health Assembly ◽  
The Third ◽  
The World ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
First World ◽  
Develop Program

Interim Commission of WHO: The third session of the Interim Commission of WHO, which began on March 30, 1947 at Geneva, closed on April 12, after assigning priority to the various health problems confronting the world. Representatives of sixteen of the eighteen member states (Liberia and the Ukrainian SSR being absent) attended the session. Results of Conference discussions indicated wide-spread agreement on such matters as 1) appointment of expert committees to develop program proposals relating to specific diseases, 2) strengthening of national health services, and 3) facilities for training public health personnel. It was hoped that a practical first year's program could be presented to the first World Health Assembly when that body convenes, probably in February, 1948.

Current Problems in the World Health Organization's Program

1952 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-50 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles S. Ascher
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
United Nations ◽  
International Organizations ◽  
International Health ◽  
World Health ◽  
World Health Assembly ◽  
The World ◽  
Set Up ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
First World

The International Health Conference, convened by the United Nations in New York in the summer of 1946, adopted a Constitution for a World Health Organization. It set up an Interim Commission of persons designated by eighteen named states to prepare for the First World Health Assembly and to carry on tasks inherited from previous international organizations. Unexpected delays in ratifications of the Constitution obliged the Interim Commission to operate for two years. WHO has thus been free to shape its destiny only from the time of the First World Health Assembly in the summer of 1948; it began its work formally as of September 1, 1948. The activities from 1946 to 1948 were largely determined by heritages from earner organizations; these, indeed, dominated the first program of WHO. The intervening three years have witnessed new trends, which some observers applaud and others view with doubt, if not alarm. It may be fruitful at this time to record some of these trends, to note the pressures which caused them and their implications for WHO's program and work-plan.

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