[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 65 (Wednesday, May 20, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E917-E918]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. SAM GEJDENSON

                             of connecticut

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, May 20, 1998

  Mr. GEJDENSON. Mr. Speaker, this year marks the Fiftieth Anniversary 
of the World Health Organization. I want to congratulate them, and 
everyone else who has joined in the fight against infectious disease 
around the world. I also congratulate Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland, the 
recently-elected Director-General of the World Health Organization, who 
has announced her commitment to improving the lives and health of 
children around the world.
  In the last five decades, human longevity worldwide has increased by 
more than 40% and the average life expectancy at birth rose from 46 
years in the early 1950s to almost 65 years by 1996. These great 
strides forward in health would not have been possible without the 
efforts of WHO and their many local and international partners in the 
private, public and non-profit sectors.
  In 1967, WHO started an ambitious effort to eliminate smallpox 
worldwide. At the time, no one believed that a disease which afflicted 
up to 15 million people annually could be eradicated in just thirteen 
years--but that's exactly what happened. According to WHO, if smallpox 
had not been eliminated in 1980, the past twenty years would have 
witnessed some 350 million new victims--roughly the combined population 
of the USA and Mexico--and an estimated 40 million deaths--a figure 
equal to the entire population of Spain or South Africa.
  Today, close to 90% of children in the world are being reached by 
immunization services--a dramatic increase from the 5% vaccinated only 
twenty-five years ago. Two million deaths from measles alone are 
prevented worldwide every year by current immunization efforts. WHO, 
its Member States and international partners are conducting extensive 
immunization, treatment and prevention campaigns to end polio, malaria, 
tuberculosis, cholera, dracunculiasis, Chagas disease, and HIV/AIDS 
around the globe.
  Unfortunately, this story is not entirely filled with happy tidings. 
Today, malnutrition is implicated in the deaths of seven million of the 
twelve million children who die of preventable causes each year. Many 
households around the world still lack access to safe drinking water 
and often use the same water supply for cooking and sanitation. Deaths 
from easily preventable, waterborne illnesses and the more elusive but 
equally deadly diseases like Ebola make the battle against infectious 
disease a war with many fronts.
  To further complicate the picture, noncommunicable diseases like 
cancer and heart disease--the leading causes of death in the

[[Page E918]]

United States and Europe--are making inroads into Africa, Asia and 
South America. WHO projects that deaths related to tobacco use over the 
next 30 years will rise from 4 million to 10 million by the year 2030, 
with 70 percent of these deaths occurring in developing countries.
  The unfettered globalization of the tobacco market--which is 
dominated by U.S. companies--will cause untold devastation on the 
health of every citizen on the planet over the next few decades. We 
cannot stand idly by when we have the tools to stop such practices.
  I am proud to be an original co-sponsor of the Bipartisan NO Tobacco 
for Children Act of 1998 which will establish an international ``code 
of conduct'' for U.S. tobacco companies selling their products abroad. 
If tobacco companies cannot market in a particular way to American 
children, they should also be prohibited from using those methods on 
children in other parts of the world.

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