| Native Name: | Office International d'Hygiène Publique |
| Symbol Type: | Emblem used by the OIHP, depicting Hygieia |
| Image Symbol: | Hygieia (logo of the Office International d'Hygiene Publique).svg |
| Symbol Width: | 175px |
| Status: | Former international organization |
| Event Start: | Arrangement of Rome |
| Year Start: | 1907 |
| Date Start: | 9 December |
| Event End: | Dissolution |
| Year End: | 1946 |
| Date End: | 22 July |
| S1: | World Health Organization |
| Flag S1: | Flag of WHO.svg |
| Common Name: | OIHP |
| Official Languages: | French |
| Admin Center: | 195 boulevard Saint-Germain, Paris |
| Recognized Languages: | French |
| Coordinates: | 48.8548°N 2.3253°W |
The International Office of Public Hygiene (OIPH), also known by its French name as the Office International d'Hygiène Publique (OIHP), was an international organization founded 9 December 1907 and based in Paris, France.[1] It merged into the World Health Organization in 1946.[2] [3]
It is the world's first universal health organization. Member states exchanged information about the presence and spread of disease, as well as provided recommendations for sanitation. The organization helped restructure public health services in Greece and China in the late 1920s.
It was created to oversee international rules regarding the quarantining of ships and ports to prevent the spread of plague and cholera, and to administer other public health conventions,[4] leading to engage on other epidemics, and the collection of broader epidemiological data on various diseases, as well as issues such as the control of medicinal opium, cannabis, and other drugs,[5] the traumas created by World War I, etc.
The idea to establish an international office for the purpose of acquiring and disseminating information about communicable diseases such as cholera and yellow fever was first proposed in 1903 at the International Sanitary Convention in Paris. The French government assumed the responsibility of drafting a proposal for establishing an organization and the final draft was submitted in August 1907. A following conference was held in Rome on December 3, of that same year, and in attendance were delegates from Belgium, Brazil, British India, Egypt, France, Great Britain, Holland, Italy, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Spain, Switzerland, and the United States. After some modifications, all delegates except from Romania, signed the organic statutes on December 9.
November 4, 1908, a committee composed of members from each country that ratified the document met at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Paris. This would be the blueprint of the body’s permanent form. Its responsibilities were to create the bureau, draw up its regulations, supply its expenses, and direct its first operations.
The OIHP was part of the complex structure known as the Health Organization (French: Organisation d'Hygiène) of the League of Nations,[6] in an often-competing, and sometimes collaborative relation with the League of Nations' Health Committee.[7]
The OIHP was dissolved by protocols signed 22 July 1946[8] and its epidemiological service was incorporated into the Interim Commission of the World Health Organization on 1 January 1947. However, the OIHP remained in existence legally until 1952.
The OIHP was managed by a "Permanent Committee" chaired successively by Rocco Santoliquido (1908-1919), Oscar Velghe (1919-1932), George S. Buchanan (1932-1936).[9] [10] Important personalities were taking part in the work of the OIHP such as Camille Barrère.
As of 1933, the OIHP was composed of the following contracting parties:[11]
Argentina, 1910
Australia, 1909
Belgium, 1907
Brazil, 1907
Bulgaria, 1909
Canada, 1910
Chile, 1912
Denmark, 1913
Netherlands (Dutch Indies), 1925
Egypt, 1907
France, 1907
Germany, 1928
Greece, 1913
Ireland (Irish Free State), 1928
Italy, 1907
Japan, 1924
Luxembourg, 1926
Madagascar, 1920
Morocco, 1920
Mexico, 1909
Monaco, 1913 Netherlands, 1907
Norway, 1912
New Zealand, 1924
Peru, 1908
Poland, 1920
Portugal, 1907
Romania, 1921
Sudan, 1926
Sweden, 1909
Switzerland
Spain, 1907
Turkey, 1911
United States, 1907
Uruguay, 1913. Steven Johnson (author) . Extra Life . . 2021 . 978-0-525-53885-1 . 1st . 57–58 . en.