The International Tuberculosis Campaign: a pioneering venture in mass vaccination and research.

Abstract

If an American pediatrician's conversation with Dr. Johannes Holm, a Danish pathisiologist and future director of the International Tuberculosis Campaign, had not been interrupted, the campaign would probably not have become a monumental precedent for world health activities. The International Tuberculosis Campaign was conducted under the auspices of the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund and three Scandinavian voluntary organizations. In a program that started in the war-torn areas of Europe, nearly 30 million persons underwent tuberculin testing, and almost 14 million were given BCG (bacille Calmette-Guérin) vaccine. In addition, a postgraduate school for physicians was initiated, new laboratories were established and old ones were improved, hundreds of young doctors and nurses were introduced to international public health, and, perhaps most important, research and service were successfully integrated. The success of the campaign led to its becoming the first major disease control and research activity of the World Health Organization.