UNITED NATIONS NATIONS UNIES
W O R L D H E A L T H ORGANISATION MONDIALE O R G A N I Z A T I O N DE LA SANTÉ
FIRST WORLD HEALTH ASSEMBLY A/Prog/бО 12 July 191+8 1 2 . 1 . 1 1 Health Statistics
(Off, Rec,WHO, 10, page 22)
PROGRAMME COMMITTEE
The Working Party on Health Statistics appointed by the Programme Committee on 8 July 194-8 met at 5 p.m.
on 9 J u l y ' 1 9 4 8 , in Room V, and at 12 &,m, on 12 July 194-8, in Room K-4 of the Palais des Nations, Geneva,
The Party included the following members appointed by the Programme Gommittee:
Dr, С. BANNING (Netherlands), Dr, L. BERNARD (France), Dr, M, KACPRZAK (Poland)*, Dr. M. KRAMER ( U . S . A . ) , Dr, G, NORTH (United Kingdom) and Dr. Percy STOCKS
(Chairman of the WHOЛС Expert Committor on International L i s t s )
Secretariat; Dr. Y» BIRAUD, Director cf Epidemiology and Public Health Statistics,WHO Dr, Marie CAKRTOVA, Medical O f f i c e r ,
Secretary of the WHO.1С Expert Committee on Inter-
national 'Lists,
The Working Party elected Dr, С, Banning as Chairman*
The Working Party considered the. following document s :
S , 2 8 Supplementary Report, Summary
Statement introducing the following documents:
Off,Rec,WHO,£,pp*28-30 Narrative of work done on Inter- national Lists
Report on Third (and f i n a l ) Session of the Expert Committee for the
Preparation of the Sixth Decennial Revision of the International L i s t s of Diseases and Causes of Death
Report of the International Conference for the Sixth Decennial Revision of the International Lists of Diseases and Gauses of Death
(*)Was unable to attend the f i r s t meeting.
S . 1 8 ( W H 0 , I C / 2 0 0 )
s . 2 9 (А/4-)
S , 3 0 (A/3) Draft WHO Regulations N o Л regarding Nomenclature with respect to Diseases and Gauses of Death
(A/3«Add,l) Documents referred to in the Regulations (Documents resulting
from the Sixth Decennial Revision) The Working Party was impressed by the extent and thoroughness of the work carried Out in the preparation of the Sixth Decennial Revision of the International Lists of Diseases and Causes of Death, by the Expert Gommittee
appointed for this purpose by the Interim Commission, and which resulted in the establishment of. the International Statistical Classification of Diseases? Injuries and Causes of Death, special l i s t s for tabulation of morbidity and mortality statistics., international form of Medical
Certificate of Cause of Death and Rules for Classification,, It noted that the task of the Expert Committee could not have been accompli shed -satisfactorily within the time available without the considerable amount of preliminary work done by the U . S . Committee on Joint Causes of Death, and the technical contributions of Experts and governmental agencies from Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States of America,
It noted further that the proposals of the
WHO.1С Expert Committee had been subjected to the scrutiny of national health and statistical administrations, as well as Social Security agencies, and formally endorsed
by the representatives of twenty—nine countries participating in the Conference for the Sixth Decennial Revision of the International Lists, held in Paris in April 19^8,
The Working Party also noted with satisfaction that the Convention signed on 30 April' 19¿!-6, at the end of the said Conference, recognized the competence and
responsibility of the World Health Organization (evidenced by Article 2 ( s ) of its Constitution) with regard* to
revision of international lists of diseases and causes of death» The Party wished to emphasize the contribution to health statistics made by the French Government in
organizing during the last fifty years the decennial conferences which kept the international lists abreast with medical progress. .
The Party appro v*1! the Draft Regulations
(document A/3) based on the recommendations of the Expert Committee and the Paris Conference, It added to the text an Article outlining the procedure for extending the application of the Regulations to non self-governing
territories, and introduced a series of minor drafting changes proposed by the United Kingdom Delegation in document A / L / 1 0 ,
A/Prog/бО Page 3
The Working Party decided to request the Programme and Legal Committees to recommend to the Assembly to adopt under Article 21(b) of the Constitution as WHO Regulations No,l the revised text ( A / 3 , R e vtl ) of the Draft Regulations regarding Nomenclature (See Draft Resolution No»l)*
Considering that pending further studies; certain points bearing on citai and health statistics? i , e « ,
definition of livebirth and residence allocation of vital data, could not properly be incorporatéd in Regulations, but should nevertheless be brought to the notice of Govern-»
ments, the Working Party decided to request the Programme and Legal Committees to recommend to the Assembly to adopt, undçr Article 23 of the WHO Constitution, Recommendations concerning these points as proposed by the Expert Committee (S»18—WHO.IC/200, page 15) (See Draft Resolutions Nos02 and 3 K
The Working Party also endorsed Other recommend- ations of the Expert Committee (S,18-WH0ЛC/200, page ЗЛ) as to the publication of the Manual the outline of which is given in annex to the Regulations, and strongly supported its proposal to publish a supplementary index of Latin
diagnostic terms.
The Working Party expressed its conviction that the International Statistical Classification, the application of which will be developed by WHO Regulations, will greatly contribute to the production of improved national morbidity and mortality statistics.
The Party was equally convinced that the Inter- national Classification, together with the Regulations, intended to ensure uniform compilation of statistics, represented only one step toward the effective use of statistics in guiding national and international health work in the attack on diseaseP
The Party therefore strongly approved in principle of the methods for international co-operation in vital and health statistics proposed by the Paris Revision Conference
(document A/lJ-j Recommendations J and К and Resolutions Nos»
8 and 9 ) ,
The Working Party particularly supported Resolution No„9 recommending to Governments interested the establishment of national committees of vital and health statistics, with a view to co-ordinating statistical activities within the countries and integrating them into the international programme of vital and health statistics,,
The Working Barty accordingly suggested that the Assembly adopt in principle the Recommendation of the Paris Conference on the subject ( a / 4 , page 7 J ( b ) ) and instruct thé Executive Board to take the necessary steps to implement thic (See Draft Resolution No„ Ц-) „
The Working Party also endorsed Resolution No.10 of the Paris Conference ( a / ^ , page 18) recommending a
study of the teaching of statistics in medical schools.
Finally, the Working Party expressed its satis-»
faction for the decision taken by the Programme Committee in endorsing the plan for future work in health statistics submitted by the Interim Commission, including an Expert Advisory Committee and an adequately staffed section on Health Statistics within the Secretariat ( 0 f f . R e c . 1 0 , pages 22-23). *
* + Draft Resolution No. I
WHEREAS Article 21 of the WHO Constitution provides that the Health Assémbly shall have authority to adopt Regulations
concerning "(b) Nomenclature with respect to diseases, causes of death and
THE WORLD HEALTH ASSEMBLY ADOPTS the Draft WHO Regulations No,l regarding Nomenclature (including the compilation and publication of statistics) with respect to diseases and
causes of death (document A / 3 * R e v , l ) , together with its Annexes (document A/3«Add, 1)л
Draft Resolution No.2
WHEREAS Article 23 of the WHO Constitution provides that the Health Assembly shall have authority to make Recommend- ations to Members with respect to any matter within the competence of.the Organization,
WHEREAS the different definitions of what constitutes a
"liveblrth" used In many countries diminish the international comparability of infant mortality rates and other vital
statistics rates, and
WHEREAS any decision as to uniform definition of liveblrth and stillbirth will have to await the results of studies recommended by the International Conference for the Sixth Decennial Revision of the International Lists of Diseases and Causes of Death to the World Health Organization, THE WORLD HEALTH ASSEMBLY RECOMMENDS that, as an interim measure, Members include for statistical purposes among liveborn Infants all infants who after complete separation from the mother showed any sign of l i f e .
Draft Resolution No«3
WHEREAS Article 23 of the WHO Constitution provides that the Health Assembly shall have authority to make Recommend- ations to Members with respect to any matter within the competence of the Organization,
A/Prog/бО Page 5 WHEREAS, for the interpretation of vital and health
statistics, it is essential to know whether the tabulated data refer to the place of occurrence or to the place of residence, and
WHEREAS any decision as to uniform definition of residence for statistical purposes villi have to await the results of systematic studies on the international level,
THE WORLD HEALTH ASSEMBLY RECOMMENDS that, as an interim measure. Members, in publishing statistics, indicate whether the tabulated vital data refer to the place of occurrence or to the place of residence, whatever the definition of
"residence" may be0
Draft Resolution No*4
WHEREAS co-ordination between the various administrations preparing vital and health statistics within a country is desirable in view of the intimate relationship between vital, health and population statistics,
WHEREAS a national co-ordinating agency would greatly facilitate effective co-operation in vital and health statistics between the World Health Organization and the country concerned,
WHEREAS the Conference for the Sixth Decennial Revision of the International Lists of Diseases and Causes of Death has recommended "that all governments establish,. c „ national committees on vital and health statistics composed of
representatives of administrations entrusted with the
compilation of such statistics" (Resolution No6r', page l6, in document A / 4 ) ,
THE WORLD HEALTH ASSEMBLY RESOLVES to endorse the principle contained in the Recommendation of the Paris Revision
Conference regarding the establishment of national committees on vital and health statistics, and
further RESOLVES to instruct the Executive Board to take the steps necessary to co-ordinate the work of such committees with that of the World Health Organization-:
