My Life as a Doctor in the World Health Organization

The Permanente Journal/ Fall 2006/ Volume 10 No. 3 Editor’s Note: Over the course of time, I have come to see how easy it is to believe that what we believe and what we do medically in the United States must generally be the way medicine is viewed and practiced in most countries. We hope, therefore, that the readers of The Permanente Journal will be interested every so often to hear physicians around the world describe their medical practices, so that we all may better understand the wide range of what physicians do. This issue’s contribution is from Einer Helander, MD, PhD, a distinguished Swedish physician, trained as a cardiologist and biochemist, who has spent much of his professional life as Chief Physician for the World Health Organization, visiting countries most of us would not consider going to, and spending his time there among the destitute and the disabled. Dr Helander is the author of The World of the Defenseless a soon-to-be-published medical book about disability and abuse around the world, including some eye-opening stories from the United States. — Vincent J Felitti, MD of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.” Prior to the development of WHO, and even the UN, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) was developed in 1902 (as the Pan American Sanitary Bureau) to combat disease, lengthen life, and promote physical and mental health in the Americas. With the development of the League of Nations and its Health Programme, incorporating PAHO became important because the United States was not a League member. The advent of World War II and the development of the UN, in 1945, and WHO, in 1948, made the incorporation of PAHO even more significant if WHO was to be truly universal. PAHO’s desire to maintain independence led to the decision to create regional networks for WHO with offices in Washington, DC, Copenhagen, Alexandria/ Cairo, Brazzaville, New Delhi, and Manila. Although this added a layer of bureaucracy, all countries in the world joined WHO. They are able to belong to whichever regional office they choose and the headquarters (HQ) remain in Geneva. When I arrived at WHO, there was a remarkable and charismatic Director-General, Halfdan Mahler, MD, (1973-1988). He initiated a complete change of WHO’s policies, placing emphasis on programs for primary health care: everyone in the world My Life as a Doctor in the World Health Organization