[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 89 (Wednesday, July 8, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Page S7697]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           DR. NILS DAULAIRE

 Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, when most of us think about health 
we think about it on a personal or local level. Perhaps a child is 
suffering from an ear infection or an outbreak of chicken pox has 
emptied the local elementary school. But when Dr. Nils Daulaire thinks 
about health it is from a global perspective, and I am delighted to 
report that Nils was recently named the next President and CEO of the 
National Council for International Health.
  I have known Nils for many years. He is a fellow Vermonter and a 
trusted friend whose advice I have valued enormously. Nils' boundless 
energy and devotion to helping others is an inspiration to everyone who 
knows him. He is as comfortable tending to a sick child in a remote 
village in Nepal as he is representing the United States Government in 
international health policy negotiations. Over the years, Nils has 
earned a reputation as a leading authority in the public health field.
  During his tenure as Senior Health Adviser at the Agency for 
International Development, Nils worked to ensure that international 
health is a major focus of AID's efforts worldwide. He played a central 
role in convening a conference of health agencies and organizations to 
develop a multi-year U.S. strategy to strengthen global surveillance 
and control of infectious disease. Nils' leadership was instrumental in 
the strategy that emerged from that conference, which should, over 
time, result in a significant reduction in the number of deaths from 
infectious disease. As the new head of NCIH whose membership includes 
over 1,000 medical professionals and organizations, Nils' continued 
involvement in this initiative will be critical to its success.
  The NCIH's mission to improve global health is a monumental task. I 
cannot think of a person more capable of leading NCIH into the next 
century than Nils Daulaire. He is a straight talker and he knows what 
he is talking about. He understands the medical issues and he 
understands the political issues. Once Nils begins his new job on 
August 1, NCIH's operations will be split between Nils in Vermont and 
his other capable staff in Washington. I look forward to continuing our 
close working relationship on infectious disease, on maternal health, 
and other important issues.
  Mr. President a June 24, 1998, article in the Washington Post 
described Nils Daulaire's contribution to the field of international 
health. I ask unanimous consent that the article be printed in the 
Record.
  The article follows:

               [From the Washington Post, June 24, 1998]

                  A Man to Make Health a Global Issue

                             (By Judy Mann)

       Nils Daulaire, the U.S. government's leading authority on 
     international health, is leaving his post as senior health 
     adviser to the Agency for International Development to become 
     president and CEO of the National Council on International 
     Health.
       The NCIH is an organization of more than 1,000 medical 
     professionals and organizations; pharmaceutical companies 
     such as Merck and Becton Dickinson & Co.; government agencies 
     such as the Peace Corps and the Centers for Disease Control 
     and Prevention; international relief organizations such as 
     CARE, Save the Children and Project Hope; Planned Parenthood; 
     religious relief agencies; and universities such as Harvard 
     and John Hopkins. It receives funding from the MacArthur, 
     Kellogg, Ford and Turner foundations, and some government 
     financing.
       Based in the United States, its mission is to advance 
     policies and programs that improve health around the world. 
     But a recent blue-ribbon panel headed by former surgeon 
     general C. Everett Koop recommended a major restructuring of 
     the organization. The new NCIH will focus on the need for 
     improving global health and making health one of the 
     cornerstones of globalization, on a par with international 
     trade, currency flows and information and communication. A 
     32-member board is being replaced by a smaller board where 
     leading medical experts can cross-fertilize ideas with 
     experts in development and leaders in the private sector.
       The Koop report also recommended hiring a president and CEO 
     with international stature, which the board has done: 
     Daulaire, 49, is a Phi Beta Kappa and summa cum laude 
     graduate of Harvard College and received his medical degree 
     from Harvard Medical School. He has a master's in public 
     health from Johns Hopkins. He has spent two decades in 
     fieldwork, including five years in Nepal, and has provided 
     technical assistance in more than 20 countries. He speaks 
     seven languages.
       He was the lead U.S. negotiator at the Cairo International 
     Conference on Population and Development in 1994, the Beijing 
     World Conference on Women in 1995 and the Rome World Food 
     Summit in 1996. He has represented the United States in the 
     last five World Health Organization assemblies and was 
     helpful in the election of Gro Brundtland, former prime 
     minister of Norway, to be director general-elect of WHO with 
     a mission to revitalize it.
       New leadership of both of these organizations holds 
     enormous potential for putting health at the center of 
     efforts to improve living conditions around the world. NCIH 
     plans to change its name to the Global Health Council and 
     aims to become, within five years, the preeminent 
     nongovernmental source of information, practical experience, 
     analysis and public advocacy for the most pressing global 
     health issues.
       ``You can get more done from the outside than the inside,'' 
     Daulaire says. ``In terms of my work over the last five 
     years, if I had had an outside organization that was highly 
     effective in explaining things to the public, tying people 
     together, involving the private sector, it would have made my 
     job much more effective. When you look at the whole movement 
     toward a globalized economy, you can't have enormous 
     differentials in health status. You can't have disruption of 
     economies and trade due to the spread of disease.
       ``A reason disease is uncorrected is people accept it as 
     natural,'' Daulaire says. ``One of the consequences of the 
     global communications revolution is people [elsewhere] will 
     be aware of how good we have it. They will see their poor 
     conditions and have an awareness that this is not a necessary 
     condition.''
       When he first arrived in Nepal 20 years ago, ``I thought 
     I'd landed in the 14th century. Kids had never seen a wheeled 
     vehicle. When I went back five years ago, there were 
     satellite dishes and cellular phones.'' The use of 
     information technology as a tool for health care workers and 
     educating people in poor, rural areas has led to astounding 
     changes in the last 15 years, he says.
       Currently, the council's top health priorities are AIDS, 
     maternal health, family planning and infectious diseases. It 
     plans to increase public and private funding to improve 
     effectiveness in these areas through sharing information 
     about what works best. Using cutting-edge technology and 
     communication is a key component of its plans. It plans to be 
     ready for emerging diseases.
       Daulaire believes the damage to foreign assistance programs 
     by congressional budget hackers has to be reversed, but he 
     also recalls a conversation with a staffer who works for a 
     prominent Republican. He bluntly told Daulaire that these 
     programs may be the right things to do but they have no 
     constituency and so they were ``going to get hammered.''
       The new NCIH plans to develop that constituency so that 
     people, governments and the private sector understand that 
     countries can't participate in the global economy when they 
     are dragged down by health care costs that can be avoided. 
     Daulaire sees a major role for the private sector in 
     promoting global health, and already Becton Dickinson & Co., 
     a multinational medical technology company, has indicated a 
     keen interest in developing a major partnership with the new 
     NCIH.
       Daulaire's appointment is to be announced officially 
     tomorrow at the NCIH's 25th annual meeting. He takes office 
     Aug. 1, bringing to the post a rare blend of medical 
     expertise, optimism, fieldwork, knowledge of bureaucracies, a 
     network of relationships with health experts and politicians 
     around the world, and an unusual ability to articulate 
     complicated health and development issues to the media.
       Global health is not them; it is all of us. Daulaire is the 
     person to move that principle into the center of efforts to 
     raise standards of living around the world.

                          ____________________