First Director General of the World Health Organization who became “Doctor to the World”
In the immediate aftermath of World War II, a new commitment to international cooperation helped create the United Nations. One of the UN’s greatest agencies, the World Health Organization (WHO), has since been at the forefront of efforts to promote health and well-being worldwide. Canadian Major General Dr. G. Brock Chisholm, one of the founders of WHO, served as its first Director General from 1948 until 1953. Dr. Chisholm led the WHO at a time when the world was struggling to recover from the devastation of war and the challenges of cholera in Egypt, malaria in Greece and Sardinia, as well as tuberculosis. As a result, he led the WHO’s response to the urgent needs for sanitation, child and maternal care, and public health worldwide.