III. Integration of Existing International

Organizations of World Scope

In the period between the world wars there existed two official international health agencies, the Health Organization of the League of Nations and the Office International d'Hygiène publique. An effort to integrate these agencies, at the time of the development of the health work of the League of Nations, had failed. A formal and complex interrelationship had, however, been developed. This did not prevent duplication of effort nor did it provide a central impetus in international health work.

A third organization entered the international health field through the necessities of war. The United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration found itself forced to take over the international exchange of epidemiological information, work which the Office could not perform effectively from its European base. In 1944 new international sanitary conventions were drawn up and signed, giving UNRRA the authority and responsibility to carry on this important work. The end of the war therefore found three agencies functioning internationally in the field of health. Of these, the League had agreed to turn over its work to the United Nations and the life of UNRRA was limited by international agreement. The International Health Conference therefore had the opportunity of building a single structure, an opportunity that had been missed in an earlier era. Definitive action was taken by the Conference, as described below, to effect this end, fusing into the World Health Organization the Office, the Health Organization of the League of Nations, and the essential peacetime health activities which had been assumed by UNRRA. The Arrangement establishing the Interim Commission instructed its Executive Secretary, in selecting his staff, to give particular consideration to the desirability of appointing available personnel from the staffs of these agencies.

OFFICE INTERNATIONAL D'HYGIÈNE PUBLIQUE

The Technical Preparatory Committee, foreseeing the need for unification in international health work, had recommended that the new Organization should absorb the Office International d'Hygiène publique, and suggested to the Economic and Social Council that invitations to the Conference include a request that states empower their

delegates to take appropriate action to effect such absorption. As a result the delegations were, in general, empowered to take this action. The United States Delegation presented to the Conference a draft protocol designed to accomplish the absorption of the Office by the World Health Organization. With slight modifications, this was adopted by the Conference and signed concurrently with the Constitution.

The principal provisions of the protocol are that: (1) the signatory governments agree that as between themselves the duties and functions of the Office conferred on it by the Agreement signed at Rome on December 9, 1907, and by certain agreements enumerated in an Annex to the protocol, should be performed by the Organization or its Interim Commission; (2) the Agreement of 1907 shall be terminated and the Office dissolved when all parties to the Agreement have agreed to its termination (by becoming a party to the protocol, a government agrees to such termination); (3) in the event that all the parties to the Agreement have not agreed to its termination by November 15, 1949 the parties to the protocol will then, in accordance with Article 8 of the Agreement, denounce it.

LEAGUE OF NATIONS

Early in 1946 the United Nations, through negotiation, arranged for the transfer of the functions of the Health Organization of the League of Nations to the United Nations. The International Health Conference incorporated in its Final Act a resolution requesting the United Nations to transfer these functions as soon as possible to the World Health Organization or its Interim Commission. It further provided authority to the Interim Commission to accept these functions. It is expected that, in this way, the work of the League of Nations in the field of health, to which the Technical Preparatory Committee by resolution paid a special tribute, will be continued and expanded by the new Organization.

UNITED NATIONS RELIEF AND REHABILITATION

ADMINISTRATION

The Technical Preparatory Committee recommended that the functions and duties assigned to UNRRA by the international sanitary conventions of 1944 be assumed by the World Health Organization or its Interim Commission as soon as possible.

Provision was made by the Conference, in the Arrangement establishing the Interim Commission, for the Commission to assume these functions and duties.

IV. Interim Arrangements

Under the authority of a resolution adopted by the Conference on July 18, an Interim Commission was elected by the Conference. On motion of the Delegate from the Argentine, at a plenary session on July 18, the states whose nationals were serving on the General Committee of the Conference were unanimously elected to membership on the Commission. In the same action, the General Committee was requested to nominate four additional states in order to bring the Interim Commission to its full membership of eighteen states. The General Committee, accordingly, nominated Australia, Mexico, Liberia, and the Ukraine, basing its selection on geographical considerations, one state being selected from each of the major areas of the world. These states were elected to the Commission.

The Conference invested the Commission with authority to convene, and prepare for, the first session of the World Health Assembly. It further authorized the Commission to enter into negotiations with other organizations with the view to coordinating international health action.

The Acting Secretary-General of the United Nations agreed to make an allotment to the Interim Commission of an amount not to exceed $350,000 for its work in 1946 and stated his belief that the General Assembly would appropriate the necessary funds for the work of the Commission during 1947. The Arrangement establishing the Interim Commission provides that the expenses of the Interim Commission should be met from funds provided by the United Nations. It also provides that if these funds prove insufficient the Interim Commission may accept advances from governments against their future contributions to the Organization.

The Interim Commission met at Hunter College on July 19 and 20, 1946, under the authority of the resolution of July 18, and on July 23, under the authority of the Arrangement signed on July 22. The chairmen of the delegations accredited to the International Health Conference, who represented states elected to the Interim Commission, served on the Commission during these meetings.

At its first meeting on July 19, Dr. Paz Soldán (Peru) presided. From the chair, he nominated Dr. Thomas Parran (United States) as Chairman of the Commission. Dr. Parran withdrew his name and

nominated Dr. Krotkov (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics) who. was unanimously elected Chairman for the current session, having informed the Commission of his unavailability as permanent Chairman. Dr. Sze (China), Dr. Shousha Pasha (Egypt), and Dr. Mondragón (Mexico) were elected vice chairmen. Dr. G. Brock Chisholm was chosen as Executive Secretary.

The Commission appointed three ad hoc committees: Rules of Procedure, Terms of Employment of the Executive Secretary, and Budget. Rules of Procedure, which included the definition of the relationship of the Executive Secretary to the Commission, were adopted by the Commission. The ad hoc committees on Terms of Employment of the Executive Secretary and on Budget submitted reports, accepted by the Commission, which defined the authority of the continuing Committee on Administration and Finance in these matters.

The Commission elected three continuing committees, viz., Administration and Finance, Relations, and Epidemiology and Quarantine. The United States was elected to membership on each of these committees.

The Committee on Administration and Finance, composed of nine members (Canada, China, France, Mexico, the Netherlands, the Ukraine, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Yugoslavia), was authorized to act for the Commission in all matters of administration and finance. It was given authority to adopt a budget not to exceed $300,000 for the remainder of 1946 and $1,000,000 for 1947. It was empowered to negotiate with the United Nations for the necessary funds and to establish financial and personnel policies and procedures for the Commission.

The Relations Committee is composed of nine members (Australia, Brazil, Egypt, Mexico, the Netherlands, Norway, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the United States, and Venezuela). The Chairman of the Commission was authorized to subdivide this Committee into smaller groups, as required, for conducting negotiations with various organizations.

The Committee on Epidemiology and Quarantine, composed of eleven members (Brazil, China, Egypt, France, India, Liberia, Peru, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Yugoslavia), was charged with responsibility for coordinating the international exchange of epidemiological information and for carrying out the preparatory work necessary for revising and unifying international sanitary conventions.

On the suggestion of Dr. Stampar (Yugoslavia), the Commission considered the advisability of establishing a Committee on the Health

Problems of Devastated Areas, but agreed to postpone consideration of this proposal until its next session.

At its final meeting on July 23, on the nomination of Dr. Krotkov (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics), the Commission elected Dr. Stampar as its permanent Chairman. The Interim Commission decided that its next meeting would be held in Geneva, Switzerland, during the first part of November 1946.

The Committee on Administration and Finance met July 24. Dr. Van den Berg (Netherlands) was elected Chairman. The Committee approved a budget, submitted by the Executive Secretary, for the remainder of 1946 and for 1947, within the amounts proposed by the Commission; authorized the Executive Secretary to negotiate with the United Nations to secure the funds necessary to meet this budget; adopted the staff, financial, and travel regulations of the United Nations as regulations to govern the Executive Secretary in the conduct of his work; established the salary of the Executive Secretary at the salary level of an Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations, authorizing the Chairman of the Interim Commission to sign a contract with the Executive Secretary; approved five names submitted by the Executive Secretary for employment at a salary of $5,000 or more; and determined that its next meeting should be held in conjunction with the next meeting of the Interim Commission.