LAUNCH OF THE CENTENNIAL
Full text of the speech by PAHO's Director, Dr. George A.O. Alleyne
(Washington, D.C. - January 7, 2002)

Ms. Rea Blakey, Dr. David Satcher, Dr. Alvin Walks, Ms. Elsa Ochoa, distinguished Ambassadors; invited guests; PAHO staff, ladies and gentlemen. Let me say a special word of welcome to Dr. Charles Williams, a former Deputy Director of PAHO.

And now, welcome the house of Hygeia in the Americas; welcome to the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO); welcome to the launch of the activities that will mark this centennial year of the Pan American Health Organization.

I suppose that it is a play on the "pan" in our name that had Ms. Bryna Brennan invite a steel band to provide the sounds of sunshine as a background to our celebrations.

In the words of a popular song-"It is celebration time! Come on"!!

I am particularly pleased to have Dr. Satcher, the Surgeon General of the United States, to be with us today and deliver the keynote address. It was one of his predecessors-Surgeon General Walter Wyman, who presided at that First General International Sanitary Convention of the American Republics in the Willard Hotel in 1902 that was the beginning of our life as an organization.

As the year 2001 came to a close and I was asked what were my New Year wishes, I had no hesitation in saying that apart from health for me and my loved ones, my wish would be for a 2002 that was full of activities to mark the fact that this Organization of ours could celebrate 100 years of unbroken existence - productive existence - 100 years of service to the people of the Americas. My wish is that throughout the length and breadth of the Americas, men, women, and their children would find time to reflect on how far we have come in health, where we can go, and the extent to which PAHO has helped and can continue to help.

I will have many opportunities to recount and recall the history of those early days, when I can relive with you the excitement that must have accompanied the pathbreaking demonstration by the eminent Cuban scientist Carlos Finlay, at that first convention that a mosquito was the vector responsible for the transmission of yellow fever. I will have opportunities to recount the manner in which my predecessors as Directors kept PAHO strong and the debt we owe to their sagacity and perspicacity. We will have the opportunity to see how the research PAHO has spawned has made a difference to our perception of the appropriate approach to health in the Americas. We will revisit the efforts we have made over 100 years to provide the multiple kinds of information that our countries need.

During the course of the past year I have been asked why we should mark our centennial year. The first and perhaps obvious reason is that none of us here will be present to celebrate the bicentennial!! At least not physically!! But the main reason is that we think it fit and proper that the countries of the Americas should celebrate their achievements in health over the past 100 years the many great achievements that there have been, and we in PAHO should celebrate the role we as an organization have played in helping them. We should celebrate the extent to which we have lived up to the charge given to us by Surgeon General Wyman at that first convention when he said:

Is this a time to speculate on the future? By definition none of us know what the next 100 years will bring, but we do know that human beings will continue to value their health as something important in and of itself. We know they will also see it as a critical and essential instrument for the realization of that potential with which we are all endowed. We also know that the various ills to which our human flesh is heir will be always with us. There will be new diseases and new forms of old diseases that will challenge the ingenuity of humankind to overcome them. But I have every confidence based on the history of 100 years that PAHO will be of use in addressing these problems. I will predict that if we continue to be demonstrably useful we will retain that critical support of our Member governments, and if we keep our collective gaze fixed on the holy grail of service--service without servitude, our future is assured. If we continue, as in the past to reach out to all those fellow travelers who share the same ideals, if such principles as the search for more equity in health are carried forward from our generation to those to come, our future is assured. It is not arrogance to say that part of my confidence in our future is based on the quality of the staff of this Organization people from the countries of the Americas, and some from outside our continent who through the years have shown a dedication and a commitment of which we can all be proud. Long may it continue!!

Once again a warm welcome to you all--it is celebration time! Come on!!