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The League of Nations Health Organisation was the first international health organisation with a broad mandate and global responsibilities. It acted as a technical agency of the League of Nations, an institution designed to safeguard a new world order during the tense interwar period. The work of the Health Organisation had distinct political implications, although ostensibly it was concerned merely with health. Until 1946, it addressed a broad spectrum of issues, including public health data, various diseases, biological standardization and the reform of national health systems. The economic

"The UN World Commission on Environment and Development, chaired by former Norwegian Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland, alerted the world to the urgency of making progress toward economic development that could be sustained without depleting natural resources or harming the environment. Written by an international group of politicians, civil servants and experts on the environment and development, the Brundtland Report changed sustainable development from a physical notion to one based on social, economic and environmental issues. This book positions the Brundtland Commission as a key event within a longer series of international reactions to pressing problems of global poverty and environmental degradation. It shows that its report, "Our Common Future", published in 1987, covered much more than its definition of sustainable development as "development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs" for which it became best known. It also addressed a long list of issues which remain unresolved today. The book argues that the Commission's immense success was also its failure. Coining an irresistibly simple definition enabled the Brundtland Commission to place sustainability firmly on the international agenda. But this success both provoked and smothered fundamental discussions. By finding an ideal definition the Commission gained acceptability for a potentially divisive concept, but it also diverted attention from its demands for fundamental political and social changes. Its central message--the need to make inconvenient sustainability considerations a part of global politics as much as of everyday life-- has been sidelined. The book thus asseses to what extent the Brundtland Commission represented an immense step forward or a missed opportunity"--

"The UN World Commission on Environment and Development, chaired by former Norwegian Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland, alerted the world to the urgency of making progress toward economic development that could be sustained without depleting natural resources or harming the environment. Written by an international group of politicians, civil servants and experts on the environment and development, the Brundtland Report changed sustainable development from a physical notion to one based on social, economic and environmental issues. This book positions the Brundtland Commission as a key event within a longer series of international reactions to pressing problems of global poverty and environmental degradation. It shows that its report, "Our Common Future", published in 1987, covered much more than its definition of sustainable development as "development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs" for which it became best known. It also addressed a long list of issues which remain unresolved today. The book argues that the Commission's immense success was also its failure. Coining an irresistibly simple definition enabled the Brundtland Commission to place sustainability firmly on the international agenda. But this success both provoked and smothered fundamental discussions. By finding an ideal definition the Commission gained acceptability for a potentially divisive concept, but it also diverted attention from its demands for fundamental political and social changes. Its central message--the need to make inconvenient sustainability considerations a part of global politics as much as of everyday life-- has been sidelined. The book thus asseses to what extent the Brundtland Commission represented an immense step forward or a missed opportunity"--

From Religion to Science: Western Medicine's Role in Reforming China / Qiusha Ma -- From Extending French Colonial Control to Safeguarding National Prestige : The French Medical Dispensaries in Southern China / Florence Bretelle-Establet -- Social Darwinism, Public Health and Modernization on China,1895-1925 / Liping Bu -- (Re)Claiming Sovereignty: The Manchuria Plague Prevention Services (1912-31) / Liew Kai Khiun -- The History of Chinese Medicine: Empires, Transnationalism and Medicine in China, 1908-1937 / David Luesink -- The Rockefeller Foundation's Struggle to Correlate Its Existing Medical Program with Public Health Work in China / Socrates Litsios -- Thinking Big: League of Nations Efforts towards a Reformed National Health System in China / Iris Borowy

Increasing production and wealth in industrialized countries led to an increase in waste production, part of which was clearly harmful to human and non-human health. Out of several intergovernmental organizations that addressed related questions, the NATO Commission on Challenges of Modern Society (CCMS) was the first to organize a specific project dedicated to the topic. Between 1973 and 1981, delegates from nine NATO countries studies aspects ranging from the organization and recommended procedures of waste management to landfills, transportation, various ways of disposal and chromium recycling. Thereby, the CCMS got to set the agenda for problematic wastes, effectively establishing 'hazardous waste' as a recognized category. It also framed the challenge as one of 'disposal,' discouraging systemic socio-economic reviews. Overall, this framing drew attention to the potential dangers of some forms of waste to human health and to the environment and the need for special protective measures, while normalizing and potentially diverting attention away from other forms of waste. At the same time, CCMS activities provided an important push towards international guidelines and regulations of hazardous waste management and trade.

COVID-19 has been the deadliest pandemic since the Spanish flu of 1918-1920. While people in the twentieth century had to wait for the pandemic to run its course before life could return back to a pre-pandemic normal, COVID-19 saw the emergence of several effective vaccines within a year. This quick development is unprecedented. Usually, it takes many years for a vaccine to become applicable in real life, and it is the first time in human history that a vaccine has affected the cause of an ongoing pandemic. While a major scientific success, this situation has also created the unprecedented challenge of how to distribute vaccines at a time when existing stocks are far below what is required for global herd immunity. This paper explores vaccine globalism, nationalism, and commercialism, as the three major drivers underlying the worldwide provision with vaccines. It discusses ways in which they have contributed to vaccine development, production, and distribution and tries to draw lessons for the preparation and management of future pandemics.

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) evolved in the competition between two perspectives on development: one that sees the reasons for poverty and misery in the specificities of the countries concerned (the localist view) and another that looks at the global context, including and especially the policies of "developed" high-income countries (the globalist view). The core of the MDGs emerged in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and shifted the public focus from the globalist approaches of recent United Nations (UN) conferences to a localist approach. Subsequent UN discussions broadened the perspective again, leading to a more hybrid final form. In the process, goals on equitable trade and financial relations, on market access for products from the Least Developed Countries and on HIV/AIDS and malaria were added, while a goal on access to reproductive health was dropped. Meanwhile, inherent economic–environmental contradictions have remained unresolved. Spanish
Los Objetivos de Desarrollo del Milenio (ODM) evolucionaron a través de la competencia entre dos puntos de vista sobre el desarrollo: uno que ve las razones de la pobreza y la miseria en las especificidades de los países en cuestión (la visión localista) y otro que las ve en el contexto global, incluyendo especialmente las políticas de los países "desarrollados" de altos ingresos (la visión globalista). El núcleo de los ODM surgió en la Organización para la Cooperación y Desarrollo Económicos (OCDE) y cambió la perspectiva pública de enfoques globalistas de las conferencias recientes de Naciones Unidas por un enfoque localista. Discusiones posteriores de las Naciones Unidas ampliaron la perspectiva de nuevo, dando lugar a una forma final más híbrida. A lo largo de este proceso, se añadieron metas sobre el comercio justo y las relaciones financieras, el acceso a los mercados para los productos de los países menos adelantados, el VIH/SIDA y la malaria, mientras que se redujo el objetivo del acceso a la salud reproductiva. Mientras tanto, las contradicciones inherentes a temas económicos y ambientales han quedado sin resolver. French
Les Objectifs du Millénaire pour le développement (OMD) ont évolué entre deux points de vue concurrents sur le développement : celui qui voit les causes de la pauvreté et de la misère dans les spécificités des pays concernés — la vision localiste — et un autre qui prend en considération le contexte mondial, y compris surtout les politiques des pays «développés» -la vision mondialiste-. Le noyau des OMD a émergé au sein de l'OCDE et il a détourné l'attention publique des approches globalistes des conférences récentes des Nations Unies vers une approche localiste. Les discussions ultérieures des Nations Unies ont de nouveau élargi la perspective, conduisant finalement à une forme plus hybride. Au cours de ce processus, les objectifs en matière de commerce équitable et de relations financières, l'accès aux marchés pour les produits des pays les moins avancés et ceux qui concernent le VIH / sida et le paludisme ont été ajoutés, tandis que l'objectif de l'accès à la santé reproductive a été abandonné alors que les contradictions inhérentes à l'économie et à l'environnement sont restées en suspens

Der Beitrag betrachtet die Entwicklung der Aktivitäten der Gesundheitsorganisation des Völkerbundes (GO) in der Zeit zwischen den beiden Weltkriegen. Dabei gliedern sich die Ausführungen in (1) den Hintergrund und die Struktur der GO, (2) die Profilsuche in den 1920er Jahren sowie (3) die Schwerpunktsetzung auf die Sozialmedizin in den 1930er Jahren. Im Verlauf ihrer zwanzigjährigen Tätigkeit integriert die GO zunehmend Gebiete außerhalb Europas und der USA in ihr Arbeitsgebiet. Während der Einfluss kolonialer Denkmuster innerhalb der Organisation einer gleichberechtigten Behandlung von Gesundheitsthemen im Wege steht, eröffnet insbesondere die Betonung sozialmedizinischer Ansätze in den dreißiger Jahren neue, modernere Perspektiven. Die Übertragung dieser in Europa verbreiteten Sichtweisen auf andere Kontinente ist das Verdienst der GO und führt zur Verbreitung eines allgemeinen Gesundheitsverständnisses und einheitlichen Menschenbildes. In diesem Sinne leistet die GO einen spürbaren Beitrag zur Demokratisierung und Globalisierung der Welt. (ICG2)

"Das deutsche Verhältnis zum Völkerbund war schwierig. Im Fall einer seiner technischen Unterorganisationen, der Gesundheitsorganisation, wurde dieses Verhältnis zusätzlich durch wissenschaftliche, humanitäre und taktische Überlegungen kompliziert. Unbestreitbar bot die Kooperation Vorteile: Deutsche Wissenschaftler konnten den Anschluss an die internationale Forschungslandschaft finden und deutsche Behörden von den epidemiologischen Daten und medizinischen Erkenntnissen aus anderen Staaten profitieren. Deutsche Tropenmediziner konnten Zugang zu sonst meist verschlossenen Arbeitsgebieten erhalten. Das Deutsche Außenministerium konnte sich so unauffällig über Zustände und Stimmungen im Ausland informieren. Vertreter Deutschlands konnten internationale Übereinkommen beeinflussen und generell deutsche Positionen darlegen. Allerdings verlangte dies alles den Preis einer Annäherung an andere Staaten, einschließlich der ehemaligen Kriegsgegner Frankreich und Belgien, sowie die implizite Anerkennung des Versailler Systems. So stellte die Kooperation mit der scheinbar unpolitischen Einrichtung gleichzeitig Chance und Gefahr dar. Während der Weimarer Republik stellte sich für verschiedene Akteure in Politik und Wissenschaft fortwährend die Frage nach der richtigen Haltung in einem Netzwerk ambivalenter Interessen, bis der deutsche Austritt aus dem Völkerbund die Zusammenarbeit mit der Gesundheitsorganisation weitgehend beendete. Der Aufsatz zeichnet die Entwicklung dieser belasteten Beziehung von 1920 bis Ende 1933 nach." (Autorenreferat)