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Ext 6116/46(S) 'Secret Weekly Political Intelligence Summaries, nos 356-416, August 1946-November 1947' [‎13r] (25/978)

The record is made up of 1 file (478 folios). It was created in 6 Sep 1946-14 Nov 1947. It was written in English. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .

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21
in a succession of like resolutions—to the
effect that nations which had been repre
sented at the World Health Congress in
1946 ought now to ratify the Charter then
adopted. When the Assembly began,
nearly half the twenty six ratifications
n^ded were still to come; but a good many
have been announced since, while soundings Measurements of the depth of a body of water.
taken at the last session of the Interim
Commission of the W.H.O., which was held
at Geneva in the first part of September,
show that the prospect of a quorum by the
end of the year is at last a really bright one.
This change from doubt whether the
W.H.O. would ever be realised to near
certainty that it will is an international
event of some significance; it marks a stage
in the development of a form of mutual
understanding and co-operation among
nations for an end common to all, and one,
moreover, in which there has been no
marked cleavage between the Russian-led
group and the other United Nations.
The development of international col
laboration in the health field has been, per
haps, more consistent and continuous than
that in some other fields. From early nine
teenth century combinations to minimise
the danger of the Mecca pilgrimage
becoming a means for the spread of plague
and other diseases, with consequent renewal
of that danger to Western Europe, a series
of steps leads up to the Rome Convention
of 1907, aimed at preventing travellers in
any part of the world from carrying the
infection of plague, cholera, typhus, yellow
fever and small-pox. By this agreement,
the scope of the international action was
extended to cover the principal dangers to
public health then considered to be latent
in international communications, and a
special body was set up in Paris to
organise the necessary control and organi
sation throughout the world and to act as
a clearing house of information. This was
the Office International d’Hygiene
Publique. Before the first world war, this
combined attack on specific problems as
they arose in practice was the measure of
international collaboration in health
matters. Despite the wide organisation and
the accumulation of data, it was limited
in its scope. The Office did not undertake
to cure the diseases; the local medical
services had to see to that. After the inter
ruption caused by the first world war, the
next step in the development of interna
tional health work was the attempt—ulti
mately successful—to prevent the spread
of typhus from Eastern Europe and as far
as possible to eliminate the epidemic then
raging. One of the first practical actions of
the newly-established League of Nations
w r as to set its improvised Epidemics Com
mission to work at forming and operating
a sanitary cordon and at direct treatment
of infected people. This was something
new—a service drawn from many nations
working to a plan on the territory of
another. Armies had done so in the past,
but not public servants devoted to the arts
of peace. At first sight, the attempt might
have seemed impossible, but it was a great
success as things turned out; and the
League soon launched a similar attack on
malaria in south-eastern Europe. From
these practical beginnings arose the Health
Organisation of the League of Nations, in
the development of which a vital new
activity was fostered—international col
laboration in the search for fundamental
knowledge. While the Health Organisation
was available to assist Governments at their
request, either in handling specific urgent
problems such as epidemics, or in re
organising their national health services,
it also worked in conjunction with such
institutions as the Rockefeller Foundation
to enable doctors to travel abroad for pur
poses of study or research and further
arranged for research establishments in
several countries to combine in planned
study of given problems. The Health
Organisation itself also worked at funda
mental research into biological standards,
whereby a great deal of new knowledge
might be translated into universal terms
and measurements, and thus become gener
ally available for technical application.
These examples show how, step by step, a
new perspective was brought into view.
Not only was it found that the technical
experts of several nations could work
together on this common health problem or
that, but it began to be seen that health in
general might be understood as a leading
world problem and what shape that world
problem was likely to take.
The second world war rudely interrupted
this development. The Office International
ceased to function as soon as Paris and
Singapore (the seat of its eastern agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. )
were occupied; the League was in eclipse;
Geneva was isolated; such fundamental
work as could be carried on by the
diminished Health Organisation was a
matter of great difficulty. However, the
very magnitude of the disaster brought two
important factors into play—the rapid
growth and dissemination of new know
ledge about some of the worst and most
dangerous war-time diseases and the
preparation of a far-reaching scheme for
medical relief at the end of hostilities.

About this item

Content

This file contains a set of Weekly Political Intelligence Summaries published by the Foreign Office. The summaries are numbered, and begin from 356 at the back of the file, and end with number 416 at the front. The weekly reports contain military and political intelligence spanning all theatres of the Second World War and its immediate aftermath, and are divided in to sections by geographic region.

Extent and format
1 file (478 folios)
Arrangement

The papers are arranged in approximate chronological order from the front to the rear of the file.

Physical characteristics

Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 480; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio.A previous foliation sequence, which is also circled, has been superseded and therefore crossed out.

Written in
English in Latin script
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Ext 6116/46(S) 'Secret Weekly Political Intelligence Summaries, nos 356-416, August 1946-November 1947' [‎13r] (25/978), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/12/1167, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100066445302.0x00001a> [accessed 29 March 2024]

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