Internationalism and Health

1. Internationalism and Health Lecture: International Health Bureaucracies Aaron Pascal Mauck MA, PhD 3/12/2013 DATE LECTURER

2. Medicine and the Second World War • Internationalism and the Cold War • The World Health Organization

3. Medicine and the Second World War Mass-mobilization of troops was accompanied By the development of new standards for assessing health and war-readiness. Mental and physical hygiene came to be seen as vital For the war effort, and preventative medicine Took on an enlarged role. The medical response to the War shaped by the unique demands of combat with modern weapons. Unlike the First World War, emphasis wasplaced on controlling mortality and returning soldiers to battle afterInjury. The War witnessed significant advances in Trauma surgery and the first effective treatment of shock. In the Pacific and African War Theaters, medicine was shaped by the need to control tropical diseases. Diarrheal disease in North Africa, and Parasitic disease in the Pacific.

4. Medicine and the Second World War • DDT first synthesized in 1879, but its Insecticidal properties were only discovered in 1939 by the Swiss Chemist Paul Muller • DDT used extensively during World War II by the Allies to control typhus in Europe. In the South Pacific, it was sprayed aerially for malaria and dengue fever control

5. Medicine and the Second World War Discovery of penicillin attributed Alexander Fleming in 1928 Discovery of effective penicillin strain allowed 2.3 million doses to be produced in time for the Normandy invasion. Large-scale production followed, over 646 billion units per year being produced by 1945 During World War II, penicillin made a major difference in the number of deaths and amputations caused by infected wounds among Allied forces, saving an estimated 12%–15% of lives Subsequent method for mass-producing the drugdeveloped in 1945. Allows large-scale global use of the antibiotic

7. Internationalism and the Cold War • After 1945 Internationalism is widely embraced as a means to reducing the likelihood of future conflicts • The Marshall Plan (ERP) was set in place beginning in 1948 with the goals of rebuilding war-devastated Eastern Europe, removing trade barriers, modernizing industry, and preventing the spread of Communism The UN officially came into existence in October 1945 upon ratification of the UN Charter by the five permanent members of the Security Council (France, the Republic of China, the Soviet Union, the UK, and the US), and by a majority of the other 46 signatories Unlike the Marshall Plan, the UN explicitly adopted a neutral stance concerning Relations between the Western and Eastern Blocs, and focused more extensively Non-European affairs

8. Marshall Plan Expenditures by Country

9. The WHO was created in affiliation with the UN, and like the UN had an explicitly International approach designed to control the Impact of national politics in shaping its agenda The constitution of the World Health Organization was signed by all 61 countries of the UN by 1946. The first meeting of the World Health Assembly took place in 1948 The WHO incorporated both the Office International d'HygiènePublique and the League of Nations Health Organization , but developed an agenda of disease Control and eradication based on the advances that had taken place in WWII Central to early WHO activities were global activities to control infectious diseases Like gonorrhea, syphilis, and tuberculosis, and parasitic diseases like malaria. This reflected the presence of new tools: antibiotics and pesticides. G. Brock Chisholm , the first president, adopted an explicitly apolitical stance, and Worked to maintain membership even with the temporary attrition of Eastern Bloc Countries between 1953 and 1958.