World Health Statistics

IT IS a cause of rejoicing to be able to speak here today of World Health Statistics, not as one of the many desiderata still needed as a basis for a vigorous and wholesome international life, but as an accomplished fact. When we are now primarily concerned with further extension, betterment of quality, and problems of comparability of world health statistics, our younger colleagues are apt to forget that the very creation of the system is of such a recent date that several of its pioneers are still with us. More than thirty years ago, while in the service of the Prudential Insurance Company of America, one of my daily tasks consisted of preparing ratings for extra life insurance premiums payable by Americans who were foolhardy enough to insist on travelling abroad. Our collection of mortality statistics and of information on health conditions in foreign countries was one of the very best existing at the time. Nevertheless, by far the most weighty ingredient of the brew was an arbitrary loading. Today there is a steady flow of valuable information from all parts of the world, and it is readily and promptly accessible to anyone who takes the trouble to ask for it. The history of health statistics as an international enterprise falls into three major periods. The first period, which lasted up to 1921, was characterized by private initiative. Then came the League of Nations period of a quarter of a century's duration. The third period, barely arising from our blueprints, is under the auspices of the United Nations and its specialized agencies, notably the World Health Organization. While inter-governmental organizations have taken the lead since 1921, private initiative is not dispensed with. Also, it should be remembered that no organization, however strategically placed, is better than the men who furnish the leadership and the daily work.