Halfdan T. Mahler

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Halfdan T. Mahler
3rd Director-General of the World Health Organization
In office
1973–1988
Preceded byMarcolino Gomes Candau
Succeeded byHiroshi Nakajima
Personal details
Born
Halfdan Theodor Mahler

(1923-04-21)21 April 1923
Vivild, Denmark
Died14 December 2016(2016-12-14) (aged 93)
Geneva, Switzerland
Alma materUniversity of Copenhagen

Halfdan Theodor Mahler (21 April 1923 – 14 December 2016) was a

Alma Ata Declaration that defined the Health for All by the Year 2000 strategy.[2][3][4]

Biography

Mahler was born in

Red Cross antituberculosis campaign in Ecuador between 1950 and 1951.[6]

In 1951, Mahler joined the World Health Organization (WHO) and spent almost ten years in India as Senior WHO Officer attached to the National Tuberculosis Programme. From 1962, he was Chief of the Tuberculosis Unit at the WHO Headquarters in Geneva until 1969, when he was appointed Director, Project Systems Analysis. From the late 1960s, under Mahler's lead, the WHO projects related to the development of "basic health services" were increased; these projects were the institutional predecessors of the primary health care programs that would later appear.[6] In 1970, he was made Assistant Director-General of WHO while retaining the direction of Project Systems Analysis.[5]

Mahler was elected WHO's third Director-General in 1973. In the same year, the Executive Board of WHO issued the report "Organizational Study on Methods of Promoting the Development of Basic Health Services". Mahler established a close rapport with

Primary Health Care, which led to a worldwide debate.[5]

Mahler's grave in Geneva

Mahler delivered a speech at the 1976 World Health assembly describing weakening social structures and launching his Health for all by 2000 goal.

AIDS epidemic, he acknowledged that WHO were slow to respond to the spread of the disease.[5]

After leaving WHO, Mahler became director of the International Planned Parenthood Federation. He left the role in 1995. Mahler died in Geneva on 14 December 2016 at the age of 93.[5][7] He is buried at the Cimetière des Rois in Geneva. His tombstone bears the quote:

"Health for all. All for health"

References

  1. ^ Den store Danske. Gyldendal. Retrieved 18 December 2016.
  2. ^ "Halfdan T. Mahler Kubulus Alumni". Københavns Universitet. Archived from the original on 16 July 2011. Retrieved 2 March 2010.
  3. ^ "Primary health care comes full circle. An interview with Dr Halfdan Mahler". Bulletin of the World Health Organization (BLT) Volume 86, Number 10, October 2008, 737-816. Archived from the original on October 5, 2008. Retrieved 2 March 2010.
  4. ^ Forstå hvordan befolkningen tænker. Portræt / interview: Halfdan Mahler Dagens Medicin, 26 October 2000, 1. sektion, Side 17
  5. ^ a b c d e Chan, Sewell (15 December 2016). "Halfdan Mahler, Who Shifted W.H.O.'s Focus to Primary Care, Dies at 93". The New York Times. Retrieved 18 December 2016.
  6. ^ a b c d e Cueto, Marcos. 2004. The ORIGINS of Primary Health Care and SELECTIVE Primary Health Care. Am J Public Health 94 (11):1864-1874.
  7. The Associated Press. The New York Times. December 15, 2016. Archived from the original
    on December 20, 2016. Retrieved December 15, 2016.
Positions in intergovernmental organisations
Preceded by Director-General of the World Health Organization
1973–1988 		Succeeded by
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