The Work of Who 1955
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
OFFICIAL RECORDS OF THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION No. 67 THE WORK OF WHO 1955 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR - GENERAL TO THE WORLD HEALTH ASSEMBLY AND TO THE UNITED NATIONS The Financial Report, 1 January --31 December 1955, whichconstitutesasupplementtothisvolume, is published separately as Official Records No. 70 WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION PALAIS DES NATIONS GENEVA March 1956 ABBREVIATIONS The following abbreviations are used in the Official Records of the World Health Organization : ACC - Administrative Committee on Co- ordination CIOMS Council for International Organizations of Medical Sciences ECAFE Economic Commission for Asia and the Far East ECE - Economic Commission for Europe ECLA - Economic Commission for Latin America FAO Food and Agriculture Organization ICAO - International Civil Aviation Organization ICITO Interim Commission of the International Trade Organization ILO - International Labour Organisation(Office) ITU - International Telecommunication Union OIHP - Office International d'Hygiène Publique PASB Pan American Sanitary Bureau PASO Pan American Sanitary Organization TAB Technical Assistance Board TAC - Technical. Assistance Committee UNESCO - United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization UNICEF - United Nations Children's Fund UNKRA - United Nations Korean Reconstruction Agency UNRWA - United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East UNTAA - United Nations Technical Assistance Administration WFUNA World Federation of United Nations Associations WMO - World Meteorological Organization PRINTED IN SWITZERLAND CONTENTS Page Introduction v PART I - GENERAL REVIEW Chapter 1. Communicable Diseases 3 Chapter2. Public -Health Services 15 Chapter 3. Environmental Sanitation 28 Chapter4. Education and Training 31 Chapter 5. Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy 35 Chapter 6. Services in Epidemiology and Health Statistics 38 Chapter 7. Drugs and other Therapeutic Substances 44 Chapter 8. Publications and Reference Services 48 Chapter9. Public Information 52 Chapter 10.Constitutional, Financial and Administrative Developments 54 PART II - THE REGIONS Chapter 11.African Region 61 Chapter 12.Region of the Americas 66 Chapter 13.South -East Asia Region 74 Chapter 14.European Region 83 Chapter 15.Eastern Mediterranean Region 92 Chapter 16.Western Pacific Region 101 PART III - CO- OPERATION WITH OTHER ORGANIZATIONS Chapter 17.Co- ordination of Work with other Organizations 111 Chapter 18.Expanded Programme of Technical Assistance for Economic Development 118 PART IV - PROJECT LIST Projects in Operation in 1955 125 ANNEXES 1. Membership of the World Health Organization 231 2. Membership of the Executive Board in 1955 232 3. Expert Advisory Panels and Committees 233 4. Organizational Meetings and Meetings of Expert Committees and Advisory Groups held in 1955 235 - III - 24628 Page 5. Tentative Schedule of WHO Organizational Meetings in 1956 236 6. Non -governmental Organizations in Official Relations with WHO 236 7. Regular Budget for 1955 237 8. Structure of the Headquarters Secretariat 238 9. Numbers and Distribution of the Staff 239 10. Composition of the Staff by Nationality 241 MAPS 1. International Sanitary Regulations :Position at 31 December 1955 40 2. Regions and Offices of the World Health Organization 60 -- IV - INTRODUCTION DURING 1955, the World Health Organization has achieved substantial results in three categories of programmes of fundamental importance for the improvement of health conditions throughout the world: the fight against communicable diseases, the strengthening of national health services, and the raising of standards of education and training for all types of health personnel. In the field of communicable diseases, the main development in 1955 undoubtedly was the new approach to the malaria programme adopted by the Eighth World Health Assembly.After the recommendations made earlier by the XIV Pan American Sanitary Conference and the Second Asian Malaria Conference, the Assembly decided that, as the capacity of anopheline vectors to acquire resistance to insecticides can now be considered as an established fact, the only rational plan was to aim at the eradication of the disease in the shortest possible time, wherever this was technically feasible. During the second part of the year, the first steps were taken by WHO to play its part in making the new plan operative by rendering technical assistance to individual countries as well as by providing the opportunity for co- ordination both in the mobilization of available resources and the planning of national programmes. It is clear from the discussions held at several of the regional committee meetings which took place in 1955 that, while the feasibility of eradication is generally accepted, the time - tables and the details of operations would have to vary from region to region and from country to country. Under the most favourable conditions, such as are found in a number of countries in Europe, the Americas and Asia, spraying of houses with residual insecticides during a period of four to five years would interrupt transmission, thus creating a situation in which there would practically no longer be a source of infection in the population.Spraying operations could then be stopped provided that a thorough system of surveillance is established. Should new cases of malaria be introduced from outside, or remaining pockets of transmission be discovered, these could then be dealt with until complete eradication of malaria is achieved. Thereafter, the regular health services could take care of all imported cases. In other countries where less favourable conditions prevail, antimalaria programmes may have to be carried out in phases and different areas may have to be dealt with successively. In yet other countries, including those of tropical Africa, pilot projects are still required before any full -scale eradication plan can be worked out. Eradication of malaria requires .strengthening of the malaria services and long -term planning : two important points which were emphasized by some regional committees were the commitment of adequate funds in advance for the long -term programmes and the advisability of inter -country co- ordination. In another field, development in the chemotherapy of tuberculosis was reflected in a change of emphasis in WHO's approach to this disease in 1955. While the Organization continued to assist BCG mass vaccina- tion campaigns as well as teaching and training centres in a number of countries, it was confronted with new tasks as a result of recent trends in dealing with tuberculosis. More and more countries are turning to WHO for information and advice on the use of ambulatory treatment as a control measure. In addition, the need for more accurate information on the prevalence of tuberculosis is being more generally recognized. The Organization is thus concentrating much of its effort on developing satisfactory techniques for surveys of tuberculosis, on helping governments to carry out such investigations and on studying how simple, economical control measures can be fitted into the existing framework of public- health programmes. During 1955, assessment and survey teams were working in the Eastern Mediterranean, South -East Asia, Western Pacific and African Regions, and, at the same time, preparations were made for joint studies of the effects of domiciliary treatment with antituberculosis drugs, to be undertaken in 1956 in conjunction -v - with the Indian Council of Medical Research and with the assistance of the British Medical Research Council. In the field of virus diseases, WHO's main interest in 1955 was concentrated on the problems of production and application of a safe and effective vaccine against poliomyelitis.The experiences during the year in several different countries were reviewed at a meeting called by WHO in November, in Stockholm, attended by leading medical scientists from nine countries :Canada, Denmark, Federal Republic of Germany, France, Norway, Sweden, Union of South Africa, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United States of America. The group devoted special attention to the problems confronting public- health services in the large -scale application of poliomyelitis vaccine and the measures necessary to ensure the safety and efficacy of the vaccine under conditions of mass production. In giving guidance as to the criteria which should determine any decision on the use of the vaccine, it was stressed that the total and the age incidence of paralytic poliomyelitis were the most important factors, both in coming to a decision and in planning a programme, and that in many countries there was insufficient information on these points.Methods of obtaining this information were outlined.Only when this is available can the cost of a large -scale vaccination programme be considered in relation both to the results which can be anticipated and to other demands on the funds available to public- health services. Progress during the year in developing this programme includes the design of methods for serological surveys to determine the state of immunity of the population, the establishment of standard sera, and the provision of strains of virus and scarce materials used in tissue -culture work. Serological surveys conducted by WHO Regional Poliomyelitis Laboratories and by national laboratories, in some cases with WHO's assistance, have been completed or were in progress at the end of the year in several countries in Europe, the Americas,