Respect for AIDS victims rights, wars against polio, smoking asked.

Respect for the human rights of victims of acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) and campaigns against polio and smoking have been called for by the 41st World Health Assembly (Geneva, 2-13 May). The 166-member body which guides the work of the World Health Organization (WHO), also urged that "unprecedented measures" be taken to help the least developed countries improve the health of their people.

Governments were also called on to increase their primary health care efforts in order to attain the WHO goal of "Health for All by the Year 2000" so that all the peoples of the world could lead socially and economically productive lives.

At a solemn ceremony on 4 May to celebrate the 40th anniversary of WHO, outgoing Director-General Dr Halfdan Mahler said the organization had made "a unique contribution to the restoration of social justice in health matters by demonstrating how health can be achieved by all and not just by the privileged few".

He reviewed the organization's main achievements, including the eradication of smallpox and the success of the Expanded Programme on Immunization, which now covers half of the world's children, compared to 5 per cent 10 years ago. He also cited programmes to combat diarrhoeal diseases; prevent coronary heart disease and lung cancer; control parasitic diseases; develop vaccines for leprosy, typhoid fever and cholera; and promote the concept of essential drugs.

Dr. Hiroshi Nakajima of Japan was appointed the new DirectorGeneral of WHO, beginning 21 July for five years. Dr. Mahler was named Director-General Emeritus, in recognition of his 15 years of dedicated service.

Assembly President DE NganduKabeya Dibandala, Minister of Public Health and Social Affairs of Zaire, said that if health was the ultimate goal of development, it was also one of the most important instruments for development. AIDS rights

In a text sponsored by 70 nations, the Assembly made a unanimous call to all Governments to avoid any form of discrimination against people infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) or people with AIDS. Respect for the rights and dignity of those people was vital to the success of national and international efforts against the deadly discase, it said.

Member States, it said, should foster a spirit of understanding and compassion for them through information, education and social support, should avoid stigmatizing them in the provision of services, employment and travel, and should also ensure the confidentiality of HIV testing.

Dr. Jonathan Mann, Director of the WHO Global Programme on AIDS, said that the prevention of discrimination was now "a central part" of WHO's global health strategy. "Failure to prevent discrimination can actually endanger public health", he declared.

Polio, No Smoking

The Assembly also committed WHO to eradicate polio from the planet by the year 2000 and to continue its struggle against the hazards of using tobacco. The world's first "No-Smoking Day", sponsored by WHO, was observed on 7 April. The WHO DirectorGeneral was asked to especially tackle the problems of developing countries that are heavily dependent on tobacco exports.

Once more, the Assembly strongly backed the integration of family planning with maternal and child health care. Family planning, health and development were closely connected, it reiterated.

Ecology also became an issue this year. The Assembly advocated international action to protect medicinal plants, which provide basic products for both traditional and modern drugs, from extinction.

A set of ethical criteria for medicinal drug promotion was approved. The successful worldwide application of WHO's 1986 revised drug strategy, a component of which is the approved ethical criteria, was described as "a triumph of tolerance". All parties concerned were congratulated, including Governments, the pharmaceutical industry and consumer groups. In the context of the strategy, WHO is setting international medicinal drug quality and safety standards and has developed a list of essential drugs for developing countries.

The Assembly reaffirmed the right of the Palestinian people to have their own health and social service institutions. WHO would continue to help train Palestinian health workers, in order to develop primary health care services in the occupied Arab territories.

Substantial assistance was again approved for programmes for Lebanon, southern Africa, refugees and displaced persons in Cyprus, and the Afghan population.

Other issues

Infant and young child nutrition in general and the status of implementation of the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes in particular, radionuclides in food and the two conventions on nuclear accidents were other subjects discussed by the Assembly.

WHO's financial crisis was a cause of concern for the Assembly. The "alarming deterioration" in the payment of contributions to the WHO regular budget had had "a deleterious effect" on the implementation of health programmes.

Three prizes were awarded at the Assembly-the Ldon Bernard Foundation Prize to Dr. Meropi Violaki-Paraskeva of Greece for outstanding service in the field of social health- the A.T. Shousha Foundation Prize to Dr. Hani A. Shammout of Jordan for significant health services in the Middle East; and the $100,000 Sasakawa Health Prize for innovative work in health development, shared by Dr. Christian Aurenche of France (for his work in northern Cameroon) and the Indonesian Family, Welfare Movement.