Minutes of the second meeting, WHO Conference Hall, Saturday, 27 September 1958 at 9:00 a.m.

.. 29 .. (WP;RC9!Min;2 Rev.1 • 6 October 1958) MrIIDrES OF THE SECOND MEErING WHO Conference Hall Saturday! 27 September 1958 at 9.00 a.m. CHAIRMAN: Dr. H.E. DOWNES 1. Procedure to be followed by the Commi ttee With regard to the review of salaries, allowances and benefits •••••••••••••••• 32 2. Address by Chairman of the TeChnical Discussions ••••••••••••••• 32 ;. Acceptance of the Programme for TeChnical Discussions •••••••••• " 4. Report of the Regional Director •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 33 5.. Report on accommod.ation for the western Pacific Regional Office •••..........•...•.•...•....••..•................•..•..•. 54 6. Review of salaries, allowances and benefits •••••••••••••••••••• 54 • WP/RC9/Min/2 Rev.l - 30 - Second Meeting Saturday, 27 September 1958 at 9.00 a.m • PRESENT I. ReEresentati ves of lvlember States AUS'l'P-ALIA CAMBODIA CHINA {TAIWAN) FEDERATION OF MAIAYA FRANCE JAPAN KOREA IAOS NETHERIANOO NEW ZEAIAND PHILIPPINES PORTUGAL UNITED KINGDOM UNITED STATES OF AMERICA VIET NAM Dr. H.E. Downes Dr. Thor Peng Thong Dr. Keo Phann Dr. C.K. Chang Dr. C.H. Yen Dr. Y.T. Kuo Dr. Tan Hor Kee Medecin-Colonel M. Demange Dr. Ryu Ozawa Mr. Akira Sai ta Mr. Hiromu Fukada Dr. Eung Soo Han Dr. Oudom Souvannavong Dr. Phouy Sunthor Dr. D. Metselaar Dr. H.B. Turbott Dr. Jose N. Rodriguez Dr. J. Paiva Martins Dr. P.W. Dill-Russell Dr. D.M. Cameron Dr. R. Dickie Dr. D.J.M. Mackenzie Dr. Richard K.C. Lee Dr. Robert L. Cherry Dr. Le-Van-Khai Dr. Nguyen-Van-Hon -31 - WP/RC9/Min/2 Rev.~ II. Representatives of the United Nations and Specialized Agencies UNITED NAT IONS UNITED NATIONS CHILDREN I S FUND UNITED NATIONS TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE BOARD Mr. Richard de Roussy de Sales Mr. Paul B. Edwards Mr. C. Hart Schaaf III. Representatives of other inter-governmental organizations and of non- governmental organizations DlTERNATIONAL DENTAL FEDERATION INTERNATIONAL LEPROSY ASSOCIATION INTERNATIONAL PAEDIATRIC . ASSOCIATION INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY FOR THE WELFARE OF CRIPPLES INTERNATIONAL UNION FOR HEALTH EDUCATION OF THE PUBLIC SOUTH PACIFIC COMMISSION WORLD FEDERATION FOR MENTAL HEALTH WORLD VETERANS FEDERATION Dr. Dominador Santos Dr. F. Vila Dr. Jose N. Rodriguez Dr. Fe del Mundo Dr. Deogracias J. Tablan Miss Carmen del Rosario Dr. Thos. C. Lonie Dr. Estefania Aldaba-Lim Dr. Abelardo M. Inocentes WP/RC9/M1n/2 Rev.l - 32 - 1. PROCEDURE TO BE FOLLOWED BY TEE COMMITI'EE WITH REGARD TO THE REVIEW OF SAIARIES, ALLOWANCES AND BENEFITS: Item 15.1 of the Agenda (Document 'WP /RrJ:) /8) The CHAIRMAN stated that item 1 of the order of the day related to the procedure to be followed with regard to consideration of the "Review of salaries, allowances and benefits u. The Committee had to decide 'Whether the matter was to be dealt with in a plenary session or referred to the SUb-committee on Programme and Budget. Mr. A. SAITA (Japan) stated that he had requested additional information the day before on this item because he felt it was a very important matter and the Regional Committee had been asked for comments. The Japanese delegation was not very keen that it should be dealt with by a smaller group although a smaller number of people might expedite the formulation of a resolution for consideration and approval of the plenary meeting. He further suggested that this matter be deferred until item 7 had been reached. Dr. LE-VAN .. I<HAI (Viet Nam) was in favour of the discussion by a sub- cOIIDl1itt e. It was decided to defer fur\ire r discussion until the item was reached on the agenda. 2. ADDRESS BY CHAIRMAN OF THE TECHNICAL DISCUSSIONS Dr. D. 1>IDrSEIAAR (Netherlands) stated that the topiC of the Technical Discussions was of interest to almost all countries represented on the Committee. There would be three meetings, at one of which a panel of specialists would discuss some probl.ems and basic principles related to malaria eradication. - 33 - WP/ReY)/M:J.n/2. Rev.l Following this, the representatives would be asked to submit questions to the members of the panel. Representatives would then be divided into four groups, details of which were contained in document WP /PD) /T05. Dr. Mm'SELAAR then stated that it was the privilege of the Chairman of the Technical Discussions to designate the discussion leaders of the groups and he hoped the f'ollowing would accept appointment: Dr. C.K. Chang (China) Dr. Eung SOo Han (Korea) Dr. Robert L. Cherry (United states of' .America) Dr. Le-Van-Khai (Viet Nam) All those deSignated consented to act as leaders. The entire day on Mond.a\Y would be assigned to the Technical Discussions and all the groups would reconvene on Tuesday afternoon when the reports of' the discussion groups would be discussed tully by the plenary session. ,. ACCEPrANCE OF THE PROGRAMME FOR TECHNICAL mSCUSSIONS: Item 6.2 of' the Agenda (Document WP /ReY) /TD2) The proposed programme was adopted. 4. REPORr OF THE REGIONAL mREC1.rOR: Item 9 of the Agenda (Document WP/RcY)/2., WP/RC9/2 Corr.l) The SECRETARY in presenting his report asked that the Comm1 ttee wou1d conment freely and f'rankly. Without such discussion he had no way of' judging 'Whether Member Governments were satisf'ied with the services provided by the Regional. Of1'ice and the development of' the health programme in the Region. Before discussion on the report was opened, he would like, however, to malte brief mention of some of the major happenings. WP/RC9/Min/2 Rev.l - 34 - A more definite pattern of health administration was emerging in a number of countries. The most distinct change was that authorized by the Government of the Philippines where emphasis would be placed on decentralized health services under eight regional directors. Short-term objectives were also being defined in a more positive manner. In the Viet Nam maternal and child health project, for example, the formulation of future activities was being planned on the basis of addenda to the agreement, new activities being introduced gradually and only when adequate progress had been achieved in successive phases. !J:)ng-term health planning had been emphasized on a number of occasions by the World Health Assembly, th Executive Board and the Regional Committee, and although rapid progress in this field was hampered in many countries by limitations in personnel and financial resources for health work, he was glad to state that this was being very gra.dually developed. The SECREI'ARY reminded the Committee that the Regional Office, through its area representatives and public-health administrators, would welcome requests to assist governments in drawing up long-term programmes. Closer co-opera.tion with other agencies interested in the field of health, through the establishment of national health programme co-ordinatiOn committees, such as existed, for example, in China and the Philippines, was also emphasized. Such committees enabled governments and outside agencies to study more closely the different types of assistance given so that outside aid could be effectively used in a courprehensi ve and co -ordinated. planned programme. Considerable progress could be made in health planning if countries receiving different types of aid from outside agencies were to establish such committees and he commended this procedure to the attention of representatives of countries recei nng such assistance. - 35 - WP /RC9 /Mln/2 Rev.l The Regional Committee at previous sessions had asked for a report on the usefulness of area representatives. He was glad to state that the appointment of such representatives had been of considerable value to the Regional Office and, he hoped, also to governments. Because of their closer contact with conditions in the countries concerned, the area representatives had been in a position to obtain information which had enabled the Regional Office to assess more clearly the most urgent needs of a country and this had facilitated the determination of priorities when all requests could not be fitted into the programme and budget estimates. Further, the fact that area representatives were on the spot to discuss matters with governments had resulted in a much more expeditious manner of dealing with urgent matters. POints relating to the signature of plans of operations, administrative matters relating to the assignment of new staff had been clarified by personal conversation, and agreement reached much more rapidly than in the early days when these had to be discussed in a number of communications. SUch appointments had also facilitated liaison with other agenCies working in the field of health and have been of assistance to field staff when administrative difficulties have arisen. During the period under review there had been ample evidence that the education and training programme of the Organization was beginning to pay dividends. Considerable progress had been made in a number of WHO-assisted projects with the return of technical personnel from WHO fellowships. A pre- liminary evaluation report on fellowships had been distributed to governments and, although the method of evaluation used was now being revised and inq)roved on the basis of comments received, this had had. a most stimulating effect on the submission of follow .. up reports from fellows. The SECREI'ARY stated that he would like to take the opportunity to thank governments for the interest they WP /RC9/Min/2 Rev. 1 - 36 - had shown in this evaluation, the comments they had made and the support they had. given to the Organization in ensuring that follow-up reports are submitted by fellows. Activities to control or eradicate communicable diseases had been expanded during the period under review. Malaria programmes were being intensified as a result of the additional staff provided with the assistance from the Malaria Eraclication Special Account. The fall in the indidence of yaws resulting from the mass campaigns has been maintained and in certain areas the goal of era.d1ca- tion has apparently almost been achieved. The evaluation of projects had been given increasing attention during the period under review. All WHO-assisted projects were now being reviewed at regular intervals in order to assess the progress made and to decide Whether redefinition of the programme was required as a result of the developments wich had taken place. In line with the resolutions of previous regional Committees, selected reports had been distributed to other interested governments. The SECRETARY formally thanked the governments concerned who had agreed to the distribution • of such reports and expressed the hope that the governments Who had received the reports had found them not only informative but useful. Attention was drawn to the increasing interest which was being shown in vital and health statistics. The Regional Adviser in Statistics had visited a number of countries in the Region and it was hoped that it would be possible for him to visit all countries before the next meeting of the Committee. Such visits were not only advisory but also educationa.l, a.s in this way the Organiza. tion would be able to obtain a clear picture of the situation in the Region and would thus know in what "tray one country could help another. - 37 - wp/RC9/Min/2 R v.l Dr. D. METSEIAAR (Netherlands) stated that he noted that the term 'W st New Guinea" was used throughout the report. He regretted that his remarks wer connected with political matters but constitutionally Netherlands New Guinea was the correct name and this was registered in the Secretariat of the United Nations. If, therefore, this name was changed in reports and documents without consent, politics were introduced but not on behaJ.f, or with the res- ponsibility, of his Government. He added he was fully aware that the Regional Director acted on instructions fram 1{HO Headquarters, nevertheless, Netherlands New Guinea was the only acceptable name. He asked that this name should bE) used in fUture records and that the request should be brought to the attention of all concerned. The CHAIRMAN called on Dr. Kaul to comment. Dr. P.M. KAUL (WHO) stated that this subject had been raised not only at the previous Regional Committee Meeting but at previous Health Assemblies. At the Tenth World Health Assemb~y 'When a s:iJnilar question had been raised, the Director-General informed the Assembly that in matters of this nature he followed the practice adopted by the United Nations, and at that time the United Nations in designating this territory was using the terminology of West New Guinea. WHO had accordingly done the same. He had no information with regard to the change of terminology. The Secretary-General had recently issued to its staff some further instructions 'Which did not seem to state clearly on 'What occasions some other terminologies might be used. The Director-General had decided to continue to use the same title until any other change had been formally adopted by the United Na.tions. WP/RC9/Min/2 Rev.l - 38 - The representative from the Netherlands said he was aware of what had hap- pened in previous Regional Committee meetings. He asked that his and Dr. Kaul' s remarks be incorporated in the minutes of the session. Dr. LE-VAN-KHAI (Viet Nam) stated that his delegation would like to con- gratulate the Regional Director and. his secretariat for the report which gave a clear and. concise picture of the work done by WO in the Region. He had two remarks to make. In the report reference was made to the fact that observers from th Organization had attended several conferences, meetings and seminars organized by other agenCies during the year under review. His del.egation would like to have a brief review of these cnnf'erences and seminars, or perhaps the benefits, as far as the health aspects were concerned, which could be drawn there- from and suggested that this review should be included in the Annual Report. Further , it was mentioned that in some areas, insecticide spraying had not inter- rupted malaria transmission and in Sarawak a second vector was reported. It would be interesting for countries, especially those undertaking malaria control for the first time, to have the advice of WHO specialists on this matter. He aJ.so requested clarification as to the period of the report - 1 July to 30 JUne, he believed that the Director-GeneraJ. I s report to the World Health Assembly covered the period 1 January to 30 December. The SECImrARY referred to the first point raised by Dr. Le-Van-Khai and stated that the information had not been included in the report in an effort to make it as brief and concise as possible. If, however, it was the wish of the Committee to have a summary of the seminars and meetings of other agenCies in which WO had partiCipated during the year, it would not be difficult to have this included in the next report. With reference to the malaria problems, a project of assistance to Viet Nam would shortly be implemented. The services of the Regional Adviser on Malaria - ~ - wp/RC9/M1n/2 Rev.l and the advisory team which Headquarters provided for periodical evaluation and' advice to countries were also available. He assured Dr. Le-Van-Khai that his government would receive complete co-operation. ~e SECRErARY reminded the Commi.ttee that his Annual Report had originally covered the period September - August. The Regional COmmittee, at its fourth session, had adopted resolution lVP/RC4.R7 changing the period to August '- July; again, at its fifth session the COmmittee, in adopting resolution wp/RC5.Rl, changed it to JUly - June which was the period covered by the present report. He was aware that the Director-General's Annual Report covered the period 1 January to 31 December. This report was reviewed by the Executive Board at its meeting in January and presented to the World Health Assembly in May. Very unfortunately, regional committees met in September; therefore, if the Regional Director's report covered the period 1 January - 31 December, there was a lapse of nine months before it 'WOuld be presented to the committee. The Regional Committee had tBk n this factor into consideration when it made its deCision on the present period. ~e SECRErARY stated that he did not have any objections to having the period of his report cover the calendar year if the Committee so wished, but reit rated his previous statement that information on the activities of the Region would be made available to the Committee nine months later, if such a change wer made. Dr. LE-VAN-KHAI thanked the Secretary for his explanation "Which was satisfactory. Dr. P.W. DILL-RUSSELL (United Kingdom) congratulated the Regional Director on his excellent report and on the obvious progress made in the regional programme. He drew attention to the reference made by the Regional Director to programme analysis and evaluation on page 3, which had also been mentioned in his intro- ductory remarks, and wanted to know about the functions of this particular - wp/RC9/Min/2 Rev.l - 40 - activity and how far these had been exercised to date. Programme evaluation, to him, meant the assessment of programmes - whether or not these had been developing favourably, but this had been done in the past. He hoped that this activity would not result in additional reports and questionnaires which tended to increase the costs not only of national staff but also of international staff and the Secretariat. The SECRETARY stated that in the course of project development the government and the Organization sometimes found it necessary to amend or re-define the terms laid down in the existing plan of operations, and without the assistance of a statistiCian and programme evaluator it was often difficult to assess progress obj cti vely • It was only in the last two years that the Regional Office had been able to recruit a very qualified person to fill this post and therefore the assess- ment of projects was being undertaken. The SECRm.'ARY expressed the hope that this would not require more time from the national counterparts than was absolutely n cessary, but if this was so he '\-TaS sure that it would be profitable both to the government and to the .Organization. The present system was satisfactory to those countries with projects requiring assessment and evaluation, and with their con- sent reports were issued to other governments for their information. Mr. A. SAlTA (Japan) wished his delegation to be associated with those who had congratulated the Regional Director for having produced an annual report which described in detail the work accomplished for another year. His Government was interested in the statement made by the Regional Director in Part I, page 1 of his report that "Interest in comprehensive rather than specialized programmes is slowly growing and progress towards improved health services oontinues to be steady.· and was happy to learn that some governments in the Region had begun to realize that comprehensive long-term programme planning was needed to raise the standard of health rather than emphasis on single specialized prograzmnes which had been developed in the past. 'WHO should encourage governments to - 41 - WP/RC9/Min/2 Rev.l follow this trend. It 'W8S understood that WHO acted only upon governments I requests i however, this should not preclude the Director-General or his repre- sentatives from taking the initiative of giving leadership in the field of health. Govercm.ents, of course, would not want WHO to tell them what to do, but, as a co- ordinating agency and as one of the most effective organizations of the United Nations, it should play a leadership role in advising governments on activities --which were necessary to the improvement of general health conditions. The RegLonaJ. Director might approach governments and indicate the aspects of health pl.anning which needed to be strengthened. His delegation was also happy to note that ample a:ttention had been given to the training of personnel. In Part I of the Regional Director's Annual Report much space had, in fact, been devoted to fellowships and other training programmes, and to the conference and study tour. His government endorsed this trend and wished WHO to place continued emphasis on it as on this depended the success of the overall health programme. He then pointed out the evidence I in certain cases, of the lack of organized and co-ordinated planning and liaison between the Regional Office and Headquarters. His government had been invited to participate in some of the training courses organized by Headquarters but had been supplied with very scanty information on the purpose and content of the courses. This was greatly needed if governments were expected to send the best qualified persons and to prepa.re them in order that they could pe.rticipate effectively and make their contribution to these activities. Mr. SAl'.I!A said that these '~onustt fellowships were appreCiated, but he would like to know what the Secretariat had in mind regarding the planning of such training programmes. He drew the attention of the representative of the Director-General wp/RC9/Min/2 Rev.l - 42 - and the Regional Director to the need for better planning of these programmes and for the maintenance of closer co-ordination on headquarters and regional levels, in order to produce more effective results. Referring to statistical services, MR. SAlTA agreed with the Regional Director that without a statistician it was difficult to assess the health needs of countries. He hoped that this aspect would be encouraged and strengthened mor in the coming year and finances properly allocated to it. It might be necessary, in addition to individual fellowships, to hold long-term training seminars in this field in order that participants, on returning to their countries, could assist their governments in improving and developing the existing statistical services. Mr. SAlTA informed the Committee that at present a four-month (from September to December) training course in statistics was being held in Tokyo under the sponsorship of FAO and with the assistance of the Japanese Government. The results of this course could, naturally, not be determined at this time but WHO could very well profit from the experience of its sister organization. He S\1g- gested that the Regional Director look in to the results of the FAO seminar. The SECRETARY was appreciative of the remarks made by the representative of Japan and was certain that, insofar as fellowship or training programmes were con- cerned, the latter would agree that these were being planned and carried out ac- cording to schedules. On some occasions, however, fellowships had been implemented as a result of savings arising in the third quarter of the year. The Regional Office co-operated with the other regional offices and worked very closely with Headquarters. There had been instances when one of the regional offices planning and organizing a seminar had invited, at short notice, participants from the Western Pacific. Although full details were not available the Western Pacific Regional \ Office had wasted no time in issuing invitations to the governments in order that - 4; - wp/RC9/Min/2 R v.l they might have as long notice as possible. The Secretary believed that such a situation had he.ppened on two occasions, and in the case of Headquarters, he could recall only one activity - the group fellowships to the U.S.S.R. - which had come quite suddenly ~d had not been planned for. This was a situation which was beyond the control of the Regional Office but was not, however, expected to occur very otten. Dr. P.M. KAUL (WHO) supplemented the statement made by the Secretary. He felt that the representative of Japan had made a number of very important remarks and he had very rightly emphasized certain activities, among 'Which was the approach to the development of integrated health services. That approach should certainly be used wherever feasible and wherever transi tiona! arrangements could be effected. In that connexion, the representative of Japan had mentioned that, although the services requested by governments were the basis on which the Organization gave assistance, the Organization should provide leadership. Dr. RAUL stated that WHO did play this role and at tre central level one of the major functions undertaken by the Organization was 1;o..d,evelop adequate knowledge and disseminate this to e.1l its Member states in order that they could utilize it in their own programme planning. iul example wastbe convening of expert committees to stu~ specific subjects and the circul.ati~n of their findings in the form of Technical Report Series. 'l'herefore, it could be seen that Headquarters was trying to give leader- ship and provide' the best knowledge available by getting together various experts and placing their services at the disposal of the Organization. Mr. saita had also referred to training. In all health services, training was the most basic element and unless there were adequately trained personnel the development and expansion ot health services were not possible. In many w~s, therefore, training was one ot the highest priorities. Insofar as future planning tor training programmes was concerned, Dr. KAUL said that fellowship activities depended on WP/R(J:)/1:!iin/2 Rev.l -44- individual requests from governments ~, as far as possible, these were related to the long-term plans of the pa.rtic~ government fellows being given specific assignments on their return from training. In addition to individual fellowships, the Organization was making plans for the future. For example, in incorporating the modern public-health approach in the educational curricula of medical schools, WO was organizing study groups or expert committees to study the problems. Dr. KAUL sa1d that he was not sure whether Mr. Sai ta had any specific examples 'Wher WHO had failed or had. been a bad. planner. The Organization would be happy to correct such Inistakes and learn from them. The Secretary had. mentioned that to his knowledge, there was only one sudden development - i. e., the group fellowships to U.S.S.R. 'Which had. been recently arranged. This might seem a sudden development, but actually planning had. been going on for the last fourteen months. In order to acq¢.re knowledge of integrated health services a programme had been planned 'Which included visits to services which were in operation. After the U.S.S.R. had resumed membership in the Organization, negotiations were started in connexion with visits to that country and as soon as the programme was planned, invitations were sent to the regional office~first by cable,and then details were communicated to them in order that they could quickly organize the training programme. There had,therefore, been certain special circumstances which made it difficult in the early stages to give fuller information. DR. KAUL emphasized that it was the Director-General I s intent to co-ord1D.ate the work of the Organization in the best possible way, and one of the ways by which this was done was by having as often as possible an exchange of views between regional office and Headquart rs staff and each time staff travelled to another country opportunity was taken to have such exchange of views. In addition, whenever the Regional Directors were in H adquarters they conferred not only with the senior staff and the Director-General, but they also discussed problems with the .. 45 .. WP /R(J} /Min/2 Rev.l chiefs of technical sections and specialists at Headquarters. P rhaps, more of this was required and if more funds were available for travel,co-ordination would even be better, to the extent that the Organization had the resources every effort was being made to achieve this co-ordination. Dr. KAUL then referred to the training programme in the field of statistics and stated that the collection of statistics was fundamental to the basic planning and evaluation of health projects. Apart from international requirements, nations themselves should know 'What the state of affairs was in their own countries before they planned for the future and, therefore, the development of statistics services . and data would be one of the fundamentals for all programmes. Dr. KAUL a.dm1 tted that it had been difficult to give the necessary priority to some of the statis- tical services because other problems had taken first attention. Now that some of the more urgent problems were beginning to get under control, the Organization had begun to give greater emphasis to the development of statistical services. In the future, more and more attention would be given to these services as far as it would be possible. Mr. SAITA said he sincerely appreciated the very cordial comments made by . the Secretary and Dr. Kaul as regards his remarks on the Annual Report of the Regional Director. He emphasized that his comments were not meant as criticism but were intended rather to assist in improving the services of the Secretariat. His delegation had fUll confidence in the Secretariat and no complaint was intended. However, there had been instances, which were exceptional, where there appeared to be a lack of co-ordination and liaison which resulted in certain dissatisfaction on the part of Member Governments. His delegation thought these cases should be pointed out to the Secretariat for their future reference and consideration. WP/RC9/Min/2 Rev.l - 46 - Since Dr. Kaul had. kindly invited. further comments on the particular oc- casions 'Which lacked. co-ordination or planning of training programmes, MR. SAITA wanted to call attention to the two exceptional occasions: (1) The training course on bilharziasis to be held in Cairo very soon. The Government of Japan approved. of this training course and appreciated the opportunity afforded to Member States to send e~erts. However, this was a headquarters project and so far no details had been given to the governments. (2) The leprosy conference. Originally, the Seventh Leprosy Congress was to be held in New Delhi by invitation 0'£ the Government of India. Due to certain reasons, India 'Withdrew her invitation rather suddenly in May of this year. It was then decided that Japan would take over this Congress and Japan willingly extended the invitation to all the leprologists in the world to attend the Congress whiCh WOuld be held from 12 to 19 November 1958. WHO then asked the Government of Japan if the WHO Leprosy Conference planned to follow the Congress might also be held in Japan. This was agreed. but so far no detailed infonnation as regards the agenda, the requirements or preparations for the WHO Conference had been received. Mr. SAITA drew attention to the fact that the WHO Conference was planned by Headquarters on the basis ·of a World Health Assembly resolution adopted two or three years ago. Mr. SAITA reiterated that the two cases he quoted were exceptional but they did show lack of co-ordination. Dr. KAUL expressed his gratitude to the Japanese delegation for quoting the two examples, i. e. the training course on bilharZiasis and the leprosy conference. In the first place, in Official Records 74, whiCh is the Programme and Budget for 1958, page 368, under Inter-country Programmes, both the training course on bilhar- ziasis and the leprosy conference were fully described. These programmes were of course approved. by the World Health Assembly. . , " , . 1 - 47 - WP /RC9 /Min/2 Rev.l With regard to the training course, the Western Pacific Regional Office, on receipt of details from Headquarters, circulated this information to certain Member states in the Region in April 1958. '!his informatory letter includ. d details about the course, its objectives and the major headings. Unless some delays were caused in some other Channels, it seemed that both Headquarters and the Regional artic had circulated the information in time. Planning for the WHO Leprosy Conference, whiCh was associated with the International Leprosy Congress, had had to be held in abeyance for several months until information was available as to where the Congress was to be held. It was very generous of the authorities of Japan to have offered to act as host at suCh short notice. WHO had issued information on the convening of the WHO Conference along with the Congress and every effort would be exerted to provide the fullest information at the earliest possible moment. Dr. KAUL felt that by quoting these two examples, WHO and Member states would have a better understanding of the situation and he appreCiated very much the opportunity afforded him to explain the situation. Dr, C.H. YEN (China) wished to join with the others in congratulating th Regional Director and his able staff in having established an excellent report. H referred to the subject of fellowship evaluation and stated that fellowships played a very important part in their programme and they were very happy to see that a start had been made to evaluate fellowships. '!here was, however, room for ~rovement • Governments could help the Secretariat by trying to collect more returns to the questionnaires which had been sent' out. The criteria used for evaluation might also be studied. For eltample, the promotion of an individual ~ fellow should perhaps not be enq>hasized as credit to the fellow'S rating. Fellow- ships were sometimes awarded to persons who were already in hiGh posi tiona and on their WP /RC9 /Min/2 Rev. 1 - 48 ,'" return no opportunity for promotion~~B~ed~ The type of work and services rendered by a fellow should be studied after the fellowship, whether he was able to do more work, whether he was of more benefit after his fellowship and also whether he could use more judgement. Dr.. YEN stated that whatever he had said was in no way meant as critiCism. Secondly, he referred to the subject of reports raised by the representatives from Viet Nam. Dr_ YEN believed that such reports should come as soon as possible after seminars had been held rather than wait and attach these to the Annual Report of the Regional Director. He agreed with the remarks made on the importance of integration, his country was trying its best to accomplish this. Without integration, kingdoms would be bull t within kingdoms. Dr. YEN requested the Regional Director to call the attention of international members who were working in the field to this point. China had no specific complaint but there was a possibility and danger of sending so many specialists into the field who were well qualified and so intensely devoted to their work that there was the potential danger of their becoming detached from others. Dr. R.K.C. LEE (United States of America) stated that his delegation would like to associate i tself with the many members of the Committee in congratulating the Regional Director on the excellent report and on the progress that had been mad on training, evaluation, additional training facilities and all the other comments by representatives. He wished to refer in particular to co-operation with other organizations working in the field of health. The Secretariat should be congratulated on the Health Education Training Course which was developed in co-operation with the South Pacific Commission. He hoped that co-operation on an inter-governmental level