Q U a R T E R L Y the Cruise Group in the Canary Islands
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APRIL 2013 QNT91 Q u a r t e r l y from the Association of Former WHO Staff Tel :+41(0)22 791 3192 Office 4141, WHO, CH- 1211 Geneva, Switzerland E-mail: [email protected] Website: http://who.int/formerstaff/en/ Informed opinion and active co-operation on the part of the public are of the utmost importance in the improvement of the health of the people (WHO, Basic Documents, 47th Edition, 2009) The cruise group Photo Pierre Carteret In the Canary Islands Photos of(5 the-12 cruise Jan (uaseery pages 2013) 10 and 13) The photos in the lockets are by Claude Castella APRIL 2013 QNT91 Photos of the cruise (see pages 12 and 15) Volcanos (« Montañas de fuego ») in Timanfaya Park, Lanzarote A view of La Palma Mount Teide in Tenerife (more than 2,000 meters) San Bartolomo Church, Gran Canaria Riding on dromadery back Gala dinner P.Carteret The photos of the Gala dinner are from P.Carteret Gala dinner See other photos in the French version 2 APRIL 2013 QNT91 CONTENTS Pages EDITORIAL Decease of Dr Nakajima 4 Dr Hiroshi Nakajima, WHO Director General from Dr Mahler‘s 90 years 5 l988 to l998, died on 28 January at 85 years of Our health 6 What is new in pensions? 7 age (see next page). As is so often the case, his Interfon Insurance; 8 management was praised by some and criticized On the lighter side SHI: what are your representatives by others. Dr Nakajima achieved a lot especially doing?; WHO bookshop 9 after Dr Halfdan Mahler, very popular after 15 Executive Board January session10 New members years at the head of the Organization. News from WHO 11 Well, Dr Mahler will be 90 in April this year. We WHO’s future hangs in the 12 would like to associate ourselves fully with the balance; Canary cruise tribute prepared by Dr Socrates Litsios, and send Talking about art 13 him our best wishes for long life in good health. Publication; Readers’ corner 14 Readers’ corner (contd); Your new Committee continues to work for the Canary cruise (contd) 15 interests of all the retirees and strives to meet In memoriam 16 your expectations. The new management structures of the Health -------------------------- Insurance are being put in place after a little de- Editorial Team lay. We hope they will give full satisfaction to Editing and layout : David Cohen those insured with SHI whether or not they are members of our Association. We remind you of Editorial Board the names of your representatives elected to the Yves Beigbeder, Sue Block Tyrrell, Global Oversight Committee : Ann van Hulle and Maria Dweggah, Cläs Sandström (alternate) and Global Standing Samy Kossovsky, Jean-Paul Menu, Dev Ray, Committee : Marjory Dam, Jean Paul Menu and Michel Thuriaux, Carol Collado and Françoise Héry-Persin, (alter- Rosemary Villars. nates). It is encouraging to note that all the rep- Translations: all the Editorial Board resentatives are members of our Association or a ---------------------------------------- sister Association (AFSM/PAHO). We pay special tribute DC to the Printing, Distribution and Mailing Services. The opinions expressed in this magazine are Important contacts those of the authors AFSM: see on page 1 and not necessarily Health Insurance (SHI): +41(0)22 791 18 18; in case of ab- those of the sence, please leave a message: someone will cal back, Or email to: [email protected] Editorial Board. Pensions: +41(0)22 928 88 00; -------------- Email: [email protected] for Geneva Send your contributions to: Or +1 212 963 6931 and [email protected] for New York AFSM office covered on Tuesday and Wednesday From 9:30 David Cohen: to 12:00 [email protected] Otherwise, please leave a message: someone will call back. 3 APRIL 2013 QNT91 Death of Dr Nakajima Dr Hiroshi Nakajima, Fourth Director-General of WHO from 1988 to 1998, passed away on 26 January, 2013, in Poitiers, France. In 1978, the WHO Regional Committee for the Western Pacific nominated Dr Nakajima as Regional Director, an office he held for two consecutive terms until 1988 when he was elected Director-General of WHO. He served two terms as Director-General until 1998 when he stepped down. He had very close ties to the countries of the Western Pacific, including Phil- ippines, and strongly supported the passage of the Philippines Generic Law to facilitate the use of generic pharmaceuticals in the country. He led WHO in its fight against infectious dis- iroshi Nakajima was born on May 16, eases, including AIDS, tuberculosis and den- 1928 in Chiba, Japan. He received his gue fever. He boosted theWHO programme on M.D. from Tokyo Medical University, health and environment and initiated the Or- HJapan. After studying psychiatry and pharma- ganization’s work in emerging and re-emerging cology at the University in Paris, he returned to diseases. He also enlarged the Organization’s Tokyo Medical University to earn a PhD in efforts on preventive medicine and vaccina- medical sciences. He spent the next seven tions for children, as well as the fight against years in research working in the Institute of polio. He was remarkably prescient about the Health and Medical Research in Paris. He then use of technology and information sciences in became research director for Nippon Roche, the health sector. the Japanese subsidiary of Hoffman-LaRoche. His decade-long term at the head of WHO be- He joined WHO in 1974 in the position of Sci- came somewhat controversial, marked by ac- entist, Drug Evaluation and Monitoring. In 1976 cusations in the western press of undue influ- he became Chief of the WHO Drug Policies ence by Japan in his elections as the first and Management Unit. In this position he Japanese to head a United Nations agency. played a key role in developing the concept of The Executive Board and the current Director- essential drugs as Secretary of the first Expert General – Dr Margaret Chan – paid tribute to Committee on the subject. The programme Dr Nakajima for his contribution to world health was further reinforced by Dr Halfdan Mahler, on 28 January 2013. Dr Nakajima is survived the then Director General. by his wife and two sons. Dev Ray Some personal reminiscences: Fernando Antezana (DDG under Nakajima): I always remember his invariable interest in the wellbeing of developing countries as well as the poor segments of populations and stressing the need for intensive north-south cooperation. I am sure that most of those who knew him will remember him as a very gentle and friendly person. Perhaps the future will be much fairer to him in assessing his accomplishments. Jean-Paul Menu (former Emergency Coordinator): I have a vivid memory of him visiting war devastated Rwanda and refugee camps in August 1994. He was the first Head of a UN agency to do so. Arriving clearly ex- hausted after a gruelling flight, his physical courage earned him admiration and respect from all present. A high point of his visit was a banquet offered by the top brass of the UN peace-keeping forces, consisting of canned sardines and army rations. 4 APRIL 2013 QNT91 The 90 years of Dr Halfdan Mahler Readers of the WHO Quarterly News know that Dr Mahler presided as WHO’s Director General for 15 years (1973-1988). uring this time his name became associ- WHO, under Mahler's leadership, contributed ated with the development of the Pri- to these global developments. He challenged D mary Health Care (PHC) approach, the leaders in other sectors to become more sensi- advocacy of Health for All by the Year 2000, tive to the central place of health in socio- the development of an economic development, as well as to the Con- essential drugs pro- stitutional role expected of WHO as THE coor- gramme, the creation of dinator of global health. He also called upon the Tropical Diseases political leaders to make tough choices in fa- Research programme, vour of health, choices that often went against and the adoption of the the vested interests that make up national and International Code of international health. Marketing of Breast-milk On his appointment, Dr Mahler urged health Substitutes. This period professionals to broaden their functions and has rightly been called 'a apply their skills to the most pressing needs. golden age of WHO'; the He employed the phrase ‘health for all by the eradication of smallpox year 2000’ in 1975, urging us to view health in further added to WHO’s lustre. the broader context of attacking social poverty, Dr Mahler joined WHO in 1951 after having which he described as 'a pernicious combina- completed his medical studies in 1948 and tion of unemployment and underemployment, served as Planning Officer for a mass BCG economic poverty, scarcity of worldly goods, a vaccination in Ecuador from 1950 to 1951. He low level of education, poor housing, poor sani- spent almost ten years in India as Senior WHO tation, malnutrition, ill health, social apathy, Officer attached to the National Tuberculosis and lack of the will and the initiative to make Programme. changes for the better'. In June 1975, he called for 'leadership in social and economic devel- Mahler’s experience in India made him realize opment aimed at bringing the right solution to that the control of tuberculosis had to be part of the right problems with the right amount and a broader approach to health and well-being. quality of resources at the right time and place'. As Chief of the Tuberculosis unit at HQ (1962- These personal ideas preceded the 1978 Con- 1969) he became an advocate of integrating ference held in Alma Ata which set out the pol- WHO’s vertical disease-control programmes icy of improving the well-being of all peoples.