OFFICIAL DOCUMENT NO. 81 2 NDEXED EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE OF THE PAN AMERICAN HEALTH ORGANIZATION 55th MEETING-7 October 1966 56th MEETING-26 April-3 May 1967 57th MEETING-28-29 September 1967 58th MEETING-12 October 1967 a~) Official Document No. 81 June 1968 PAN AMERICAN HEALTH ORGANIZATION Pan American Sanitary Bureau, Regional Office of the WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION 525 Twenty-third Street, N.W. Washington, D. C. 20037, E.U.A. TABLE OF CONTENTS Page 55th MEETING OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE Précis Minutes of the Single Plenary Session .................. 3 Final Report ............. ... 7 56th MEETING OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE* Précis Minutes of Plenary Sessions ............................ 15 Annexes: 1. Agenda . ... ....................................... 239 2. List of Participants .................................... 241 57th MEETING OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE Précis Minutes of Plenary Sessions ........................... 247 Final Report ................................ .. 299 58th MEETING OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE Précis Minutes of the Single Plenary Session ................ .. 307 Final Report .................................................. 312 INDEX ............................................ 314 * The Final Report of the 56th Meeting of the Committee appears in Official Document PAHO 79. 55th MEETING OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE PRECIS MINUTES AND FINAL REPORT CONTENTS Page SINGLE PLENARY SESSION (Friday, 7 October 1966, at 3:20 p.m.) Item 1: Opening of the Meetlng ............................. 3 Item 2: Adoption of the Agenda ............................. 3 Item 3: Taking of Office by the Representatives of Colombia and the United States of America ................. 3 Item 4: Election of Chairman and Vice-Chairman ............. 3 Item 5: Study of Resolutions of the Conference, of Interest to the Executive Committee ....................... 4 Item 6: Date of the 56th iveeting of the Executive Committee. 6 FINAL REPORT ................................................... 7 SINGLE PLENARY SESSION OF THE 55th MEETING OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE Friday, 7 October 1966, at 3:20 p.m. Acting Chairman: DR. MANOEL JosÉ FERREIRA (Brazil) Chairman: DR. ALBERTO E. CALVO (Panama) ITEM 1: OPENING OF THE MEETING The ACTING CHAIRMAN opened the session and welcomed the members of the Committee and others attending the meeting. ITEM 2: ADOPTION OF THE AGENDA Dr. SUTTER (Assistant Director, PASB) outlined the agenda presented in Document AG/1. 1/ Decision: The agenda was unanimously approved. ITEM 3: TAKING OF OFFICE BY THE REPRESENTATIVES OF COLOMBIA AND THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA The ACTING CHAIRMAN welcomed the Representatives of Colombia and the United States of America, the countries elected by the XVII Pan American Sanitary Conference on the termination of the periods of office of Brazil and Mexico. He also expressed his thanks for the excellent cooperation and assistance he had re- ceived in carrying out his duties as Chairman. ITEM 4: ELECTION OF CHAIRMAN AND VICE-CHAIRMAN The ACTING CHAIRMAN stated that the meeting would proceed with the elec- tion of the Chairman and the Vice-Chairman. Dr. SUTTER (Assistant Director, PASB) read Article 18 of the Constitution and Rule 9 of the Committee's Rules of Procedure governing the election of officers. Dr. ACOSTA-BORRERO (Colombia) proposed Dr. Alberto E. Calvo, the Repre- sentative of Panama, as Chairman. 2/ Mimeographed document. -3- Page 4 Single session 55th Meeting Dr. ANDRADE (Ecuador) seconded the proposal. Dr. CALVO (Panama), seconded by Dr. ANDRADE (Ecuador), proposed Dr. Daniel Orellana, the Representative of Venezuela, as Vice-Chairman. Decision: Dr. Alberto E. Calvo, Representative of Panama, and Dr. Daniel Orellana, Representative of Venezuela, were unani- mously elected Chairman and Vice-Chairman, respectively. Dr. Calvo (Panama) took the Chair. The CHAIRMAN thanked the members :for having elected him Chairman of the Committee. Dr. ORELLANA (Venezuela) likewise thanked the members for electing him Vice-Chairman of the Committee. ITEM 5: STUDY OF RESOLUTIONS O0 THE CONFERENCE, OF INTEREST TO THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE Dr. HORWITZ (Director, PASB) said that a review of the resolutions did not appear to indicate that there were any which called for decisions by the meeting but rather should be dealt with by the 56th Meeting, to be held in April 1967. Nevertheless he would like to refer briefly to two or three of them. First, with reference to Resolution IX, 2/ on the provisional draft of the proposed program and budget of the Pan Anerican Health Organization for 1968, he stated that, as in previous years, the debate on the item would be taken carefully into consideration together with the resolutions adopted in plenary session and, naturally, with any developments taking olace between the date of the present meeting and the 56th Meeting which might in one way or another affect the struc- ture of the program and budget. He gave an assurance that an effort would be made to place the fullest information before the members of the Executive Com- mittee at an early date so as to enable it to take whatever steps were deemed necessary. Turning to the peculiar situation of the Pan American Health Organization with regard to funds for malaria eradication, he said that the fact that the generous voluntary contributions made for several years by the Government of the United States of America were being incorporated gradually into the regular budget for that activity meant that there would be an item of some $400,000 for 1968, and of course more for 1969--$600,000. On the basis of the rate of budgetary in- crease recorded regularly over the previous few years, if expenditures continued to rise at the same rate, the time might well come when the Organization could not carry out any, or virtually any, of its new projects, since the customary increase of 8 to 10 per cent was to be absorbed by the malaria program under its regular 2/ Official Document PAHO 74, 65. Page 5 55th Meeting Single session budget. That did not mean new projects, but merely covered the steady expansion of common costs arising from the mounting cost of living observed throughout the Hemisphere. With that in mind, it was proposed to place before the Executive Commit- tee a plan for financing malaria eradication similar to the one worked out by the World Health Assembly, which in three years had absorbed the $6,000,000 needed by WHO's world-wide malaria eradication program. When the time came for the Executive Committee to examine the two proposals--that of special contribu- tions to cover the malaria budget, and the proposal for a progressive system to be started in 1967, it was possible that it would decide on one or the other, or agree to submit both to the Directing Council for consideration. He felt that the Executive Committee should have all possible information at its dis- posal when it came to examine the Organization's financing. The demand for projects had increased enormously and would continue to increase. He considered that the execution of about 480 projects, some of them of considerable scope, on a total income of $22,000,000, was a most praiseworthy performance. That fact, taken in conjunction with the meager sums devoted to international health in Latin America, deserved to be borne in mind by Govern- ments when deciding what they should contribute to the Organization. Referring next to Resolution XV 3/ on the textbook program, he said that in compliance with the wish of the Conference, the proposal would be sent to the President of the Inter-American Development Bank, with the request that he ob- tain a definitive statement from its Board of Executive Directors at an oppor- tune moment. If the statement revealed the Bank's intention to make a loan and specified the terms on which it would be done, the Bureau would contact the members of the Executive Committee, or if circumstances warranted it, a special meeting would be convened. With regard to the eradication of Aedes aegypti, he hoped that by the date of the 56th Meeting of the Executive Committee more concrete data would be available, as well as on smallpox eradication. He pointed out that by the time of the 56th Meeting of the Committee the Meeting of the American Chiefs of State would have been held or would be taking place shortly thereafter, and the Committee would be informed of the measures taken in compliance with the resolution adopted. With regard to the use of artificial satellites for certain aspects of the health projects, he said that the question would be closely studied, and it was proposed, in collaboration with the OAS, to compile documentation on the subject so that the Executive Committee could give proper guidance. In conclusion, he expressed the hope that by the date of the next meeting, the Committee would have before it a proposal agreed jointly with the OAS, for placing the Pan American Foot-and-Mouth Disease Center on a sound financial foot- ing. The idea was to obtain the necessary funds from ministries of agriculture, 3/ Ibid., pp. 71-72. Page 6 Single session 55th Meeting and in that connection, support of the Venezuelan Minister of Agriculture had been obtained. ITEM 6: DATE OF THE 56TH MEETING OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE Dr. HORWITZ (Director, PASB) recalled that it was customary to schedule the meetings of the Committee close to the date of the World Health Assembly, in order to facilitate the travel arrangements of some of the representatives. The World Health Assembly was due to start on Monday, 8 May 1967; he therefore sug- gested that the Executive Committee meet during the week beginning 24 April. Dr. WEDDERBURN (Jamaica) said that if it were possible he would request that the dates proposed for the meeting of the Executive Committee, 24-29 April, be changed, since they conflicted with the dates of another meeting he had to attend. Dr. ORELLANA (Venezuela) thought it might be possible to review the dates in due course.