In the Beginning (1902 � 1920)
 
Chronology of events
 
The seeds of what became the Pan American Health Organization were planted in the 19th century, when serious health concerns brought political leaders from throughout the world together at four international international sanitary conferences beginning in 1851.

In the 1870�s an epidemic of yellow fever spread from Brazil to Paraguay, Uruguay, and Argentina and in 1878 reached the United States through maritime contacts. It was clear that something had to be done to develop an international system of notification as to the sanitary situation of ports and other places. By 1881, the insect vector of the disease, Aedes aegypti (then called Stegomyia fasciata) was singled out by Carlos Finlay.

At the turn of the century representatives from 11 countries in the Americas met to organize a united front against the spread of pestilence and disease that engulfed the region at that time. This gave birth to what was to become the oldest, continuously functioning international health agency in the world, The Pan American Sanitary Bureau (PASB) with Dr. Walter Wyman as the first Chairman.

Meetings were held every two years from 1905 through 1911 throughout the Americas with the focus on not only quarantine issues, but promotion of health as a whole, including smallpox vaccine, malaria and tuberculosis campaigns, national health legislation, scientific study of tropical diseases, with emphasis on parasitology and pathologic anatomy, laboratory research into tropical medicine and general pathology.

After World War I the stage was set for a new era of cooperative progress in health in the Americas. Scientific knowledge about the cause and spread of many infectious diseases had advanced enough to begin to control them, and governments were aware of the urgency of setting up services to protect the public health.
 
 
Chronology of the events 
1851 First International Sanitary Congress - Paris
1859 Second International Sanitary Congress - Paris
1866 Third International Sanitary Congress - Constantinople
1874 Fourth International Sanitary Congress - Vienna
1870�s Epidemic of Yellow Fever  

- Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Argentina causing more than 15,000 deaths in Buenos Aires alone.

1878 Epidemic of Yellow Fever reached US  

- through maritime contacts, with outbreaks up and down the Mississippi River

1881 Fifth International Sanitary Congress - Washington DC  

- secure international system of notification of sanitary situation of ports and places�

1881 Carlos Finlay, hypothesized the transmission of yellow fever required an intermediate agent and shortly singled out the mosquito Aedes aegypit (then called Stegomyia fasciata) as the insect vector of the disease.
1890 First International Conference of American States - Washington, DC
1891 Second International Conference of American States - Mexico City  

- call for representatives of health organizations in American republics to formulate sanitary agreements and regulations, and periodically hold health conventions

1902 First International Sanitary Convention of the American Republics - Washington, DC  

- representatives from 11 countries were responsible for "giving birth" to the oldest continuously functioning international health agency in the world, The Pan American Sanitary Bureau (PASB)

1905 Second International Sanitary Convention - Washington, DC  

reported successful control campaigns against yellow fever in Cuba, the Panama Canal Zone, and Mexico 

 

1907 Third International Sanitary Convention � Mexico City  

- urged each country to establish a committee to collect and communicate data related public health

1909 Fourth International Sanitary Convention � San Jose, Costa Rica  

- name changed to Conference and shift in nature of meetings, no longer solely or even primarily interested in quarantine issues, but promotion of health as a whole 

 

1911 Fifth International Sanitary Conference � Santiago, Chile  

- recommended that delegates be sanitary authorities in their own countries