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REPORT _OF THE REGIONAL COMMITTEE -_.
41 ANNEX 3
REPORT OF THE SUB-COMMITl'EE ON PROGRAMME AND BUDGET 1 INTRODUCTION
At its seventh session, the Regional Committee, in resolution
WPjRc:r. I((,
decided "that the establishment of a sub-commi ttee on programme
and budget, consisting of six members plus the Chairman of the Regional COmmittee, should become a routine activity of' the Regional Committee "; and recommended that ''the membership of this sub-committee be rotated among the Representatives of various ~mbers,
subject to the provision
that any Representative desiring to be a member of the sub-committee should be entitled to participate ". The members of the Sub-Committee and their alternates and advisers
were as follows: Australia Dr H.E. Downes
Cambodia China
Dr Aka Toua (alternate) Dr C.J. Ross-Smith (alternate) Dr In Sokan Dr Keo Phann (alternate) Dr C.K. Chang Dr T. C. Hsu (alternate) Dr N. Tatebayashi Dr J. Urata ( alternate ) Dr S. Mitani (alternate) Dr C.N. Derek Taylor Dr Youn Keun Cha (Chairman) Dr Taek n Kim (alternate) Dr C.H. Gurd Dr Koukeo Saycocie (LaOs), Dr L. W.
Japan
New Zealand Republic of Korea
Republic of Viet-Nam Dr Le Cuu 'mIong United Kingdom The follOwing also. attended:
Jayesuria (MIl.aysia), Dr N.C. de Andrade (Portugal), Dr M.F. Matias (portugal), Mr A.E. McBain (UNICEF), Dr S.H. Yoon (International Dental Federation), Dr Y.C. Kim (League of Red Cross Societies) and Vice-Admiral S.H. Lee (World Veterans Federaticm).
REPORr OF THE REGIONAL COMMITTEE
by the World Health Assembly and the Regional Committee.
The finan-
cial obligation of each Member goverllment in the year concerned could not be determined at this stage because this would be established on the basis of the global activities of t'lHO which would be submitted by the Director-General. This aspect, thercf'ore" would be fully disAssemb~r.
cussed during the florld Health
The Sub-CoInraittee noted further that the Regional. Director had. carefully cxa.m.ined the requests received from l{cmber governments in consultation with the regional adviSers and the ~l.H0 reprcsent~tives.
In finalizing his proposed programme and budget he had. also been guided by the general programme of work covering the specific period 1967-1971, which had. been prepared by the Executive Board and subsequently adopted by the Eighteenth World Health Assembly. 2.2 Regular Budget - Proposed Bud;;et Level for 1967 The Sub-Cor.1l1littee noted tha t the e!fec tive working budget proposed for the Region under the regular programme in 1967, including expenses in connection with the meeting of the Regional Committee, amounted to ~ :3 821 000. Of this amount, %>
488 454 had been allocated
to the Regioml Office, ~ 3 326 l36to fi(:ld activities •
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Regional Office The Sub-Committee noted that there was a slight increase over th.:l.t of the previous year. This was attributable to the normal statutory
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lncrements and the cost connected with the s~lary and allowances of three
REGIONAL COMMITTEE: SIXTR=:::::EN=:-:,:.;;'TH:.::;::-=.;SE;:::~S;;.::S,-=I:.;:;ON:;;.-_ _ _ _ _ _ __
new posts - a personnel officer at P.l level whose services were required because of the increasing work-load connected with reCruitment, a clerktypist to deal with the work involved as a result of the decision to promote a wider sale of WHO publications, and an additional secretarial post in the Bureau of Health Services. The Representative of China noted that the prOvision for the duty travel of the regional advisers had not increased. He believed
that the amount indicated was not sufficient to enable them to carry out the work required of them. The Secretary stated that it had always been
the policy of the Regional Director to maintain the requirements of the Regional Office at a minimum so that priority could be given to requests for direct assistance from Member governments. The
budget was, however,
flexible and if there was any definite need for an increase in the amount of funds for duty travel, this cotud be arranged by using savings which would become available.
2.4
Regjonal Advisers and WHO Representatives The Sub-Committee noted that there were eighteen technical
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advisers in different fields and that the amotUlt allocated for this item showed a slight decrease. This was attributable to the uneven
distribution of bome leave during the two years, which was, of course, offset by the normaL statutory increments. It also noted that the posts of seven WHO representatives would be continued and that their areas of responsibilities '!ere as follows: Ca"'bodia; -China _ (Taiwan), the representative here also covers
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Guam, Hong Kong, Japan, Macao, the Ryukyu Islands and the TrUst Territory of the Pacific Islands; Fiji, also covering Australia, New Zealand and
REPORT OF THE REGIONAL COMMITTEE
the South Pacific territories; Laos; Malaysia, also for Brunei and Singapore; Republic of Korea; and Republic of Viet-Nam. The Secretary informed the Sub-Committee that one of the major tasks of a WHO representative was to assist the government to review its health needs and resources and to develop, plan, co-ordinate, inu>lement and evaluate the national health programme and policy. The WHO represen-
tatives, therefore, also served as senior adviser in public health administration in the country or countries to which they were assigned. As this
was considered to be an extremely inu>ortant post both from the technical and administrative points of view, special training courses had been
organized at WHO Headquarters for incumbents and. potential candidates. 2.5 2. 5.1 Field Activities Country Programme s It was noted that the field activities proposed had been classified under twenty-one different major headings. $pecial emphasis
continued to be given to projects relating to the basic needs and problems of the Region. The largest percentage of funds continued to be
budgetted for public health administration with 21.26 per cent. of the total, followed by malaria with 19.25 per cent. In 1967, continuing
projects accounted for approximately 81.95 per cent. of the allocation (see pages 53-54). The Sub-Committee reviewed a working document which had been .>
prepared as a result of a request made at the fifteenth session, when
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a representative had stated that discussions on the proposed programme and budget estimates would be faCilitated if representatives could be provided with information on the different subjects under some of the
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SIXTEENTH
SESS~I~QN~___________
major headings (see page 55).
The Sub-Comm:i.ttee noted that the heading
''public HeaJ.th Administ.ration If covered a w:tde range of activ:i.ties including public heaJ.th laboratory services, medical care, hospitaJ. administration, hospital architecture and such integrated fields as rural health and public health programmes. BrtL'1ei The Secretary stated that the Government had submitted a request
for the continuation of the malaria eradication programme.
The Regional
Director considered, however, that by 1967 the Government might well find the malaria problem under control and might not require any further assistance. The Government's request for continuation of the services of
the WHO adviser had therefore been :.ncluded in the supplementary list. If, how~ver,
there was need for further extension of WHO assistance to
the progra.:rm;e, the Regional Director would be more than willing to meet this request. Ch:Lna - Virus laboratory services The Secretcry informed the Committee that the Goverru:nent' s request for assistance in connexion with a virus laboratory services project had been changed and would now consist of a medical officer, a virologist and fellowships. -<
Gilbert and Ellice Islands Tuberculosis control The. Sub-Committee noted that it had been proposed that UNICEF assistance sL.uuld be given in 1967. As far as WHO a3sistance YlRS
concerned,
the WHO tuberculosis advisory team would spend at least two months in the area to evaluate the project.
Diarrhoeal disease control The Secretary said that it appeared that the Government was
placing emphasis on environmental sanitation, as this was the title it had used when submitting the request. The Regional Director had con-
sidered that a diarrhoeal disease adviser and a sociologist should be provided under the country project, but that the services of the sanitary engineer could be provided from the regional environmental'sanitation team which would assist all the countries and territories in the South Pacific area. The post of sanitary engineer, which .the Government had requested, It was noted
had therefore not been included under the country request.
that the sociologist would actually be a social anthropologist whose main function would be to study the various habits. and customs of. the people with regard to their eating habits and waste disposal. Before the people
could be educated on the use of certain facilities, it would be necessary to know the causes and factors which would influence the health education approach. Macao The .Representative of Portugal stated that the Government .of
Macao now wished to he,ye on:j.y a fellolfShipin
~f!.lth edu~ation •.
He drew
attention to the fact that the request for fellowships for Portuguese Timor had arrived too late for inclusion in the budget and sugsested that as Macao had reduced its request from three to one fellowship the money thus saved should be used to cover fellowships in nursing and public health administration for portuguese Timor. It was so agreed.
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Malaysia The Secretary informed the S~b-Committee
that the document had The necessary
been prepared before Singapore had separated from Malaysia.
changes would be reflected in the Official Records printed at Headquarters. The projects pertaining to Singapore could be easily identified, as there were indications as to which state each project belonged. The
Government
of Singapore had already informed the Regional Director that it wished to continue to receive the assistance approved and 2.5.2 Inter-Country Programmes The Sub-Committee noted that provision had been made for a number of continuing projects, including the Malaria Eradication Training Centre and the regional tuberculosis advisory team. A new advisory team, consisting ~lanned.
of an epidemiologist and a bacteriologist, two seminars - one on occupational health and the other on paediatric education - and a training course in international quarantine, were among the ne,T activities proposed. It was also noted that provision had been made for a public health nurse educator to develop post-basic courses in public health nursing and to advise on the development of public health nursing services in the South Pacific. The Representative of the United Kingdom stated that Fiji
had just started
a post-basic'coursein
public health nursing w1d asked
if the services of the vffiO public health nurse educator' would be available to strengthen that course. It was agreed that this could be arranged. 2.6 Technical Assistance Programme The Sub-Committee noted that the proposals under the Technical Assistance programme for 1967 were merely tentative. They consisted of
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estimates for the continuation of projects already approved beyond 1966
REPORT OF THE REGIONAL COMMITTEE
by the Technical Assistance Board, as -vrell as recommendations -made by the Regional. Director to governments covering the extension or mod.ification of existing projects, and the establisp~nt
of new ones.
No
precise information on the Technical Assistance programme would be available until after the meeting of the Tech."lical Assistance Board in the autumn of 1966. The Sub-Committee noted further that it was the r~eponsibility
of the Regional Director to secure funds for inter-country projects proposed under the Technical Assistance programme. It agreed, therefore,
that the three projects concerned - seminar on health planning in urban development and the maternal and child health advisory services and environmental health advisory services projects, both for the South Pacific area, - should be endorsed 2.7 by the Committee.
Special Account for Community ifater Supply, Malaria Eradication Special Account and Special Account for the Yaws Programme The Sub-Committee noted that the proposals appearing under the
Special Accounts for Community Water Supply, l-tUaria Eradication and the Yaws Programme were purely tentative and that their implementation was subject to the availability of funds under these accounts.
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CONCLUSION The Sub-Committee considered that the proposed programme was
acceptable for transmission to the Director-General for inclusion in his proposed programme &1d
budget for 1967.