1830s

Sanitary, Medicine, and Quarantine Board is founded in Alexandria, Egypt.

1838

Superior Counci1 of Hea1th is founded in Constantinople (Istanbul) with Ottoman and European representation.

1840

International Board of Hea1th is created in Tangier, Algeria.

23 July 1851

First International Sanitary Conference is held in Paris. It fails to produce an International Sanitary Convention.

1856

European Commission of the Danube is established, which takes over certain powers on health issues.

1859

Second International Sanitary Conference is held in Paris.

1863-64

International meetings of Red Cross societies are held in Geneva, which eventually lead to the creation of the League of Red Cross Societies in 1919.

1866

Third International Sanitary Conference is held in Constantinople to discuss cholera.

1867

First International Medical Congress is held in Paris.

1 July 1874

Fourth International Sanitary Conference is held in Vienna.

1889

Congrès International d'Assistance is held in Paris.

1891

International Lists of Diseases and Causes of Death are introduced by the International Statistica1 Institute.

1892

First International Sanitary Convention is approved, proposing such international health measures as quarantine and hygiene practices.

1902

International Sanitary Bureau of the Americas is established in Washington, D.C., as the world's first permanent international health organization. The organization will later become the WHO Regional Office for the Americas.

International Central Bureau for the Campaign against Tuberculosis is founded in Berlin.

1903

Eleventh International Sanitary Conference is held in Paris. The meeting agrees to consolidate and codify four existing International Sanitary Conventions, including those on cholera and plague.

1906

First International Agreement for the Unification of the Formulae of Potent Drugs is adopted.

9 December 1907

Office International d'Hygiène Publique (OIHP) is created in Paris by the Rome Agreement, signed by 12 European countries. The new organization includes a permanent secretariat and committee of senior public health officials.

1909

Rockefeller Sanitary Commission for the Eradication of Hookworm in the United States is initiated.

1913

Rockefeller Foundation is created, which includes the International Health Commission.

1915

International Health Commission of the Rockefeller Foundation adopts resolution to eradicate yellow fever in the Americas.

1918

Global campaign to eradicate yellow fever is launched by William Crawford Gorgas, with the support of the Rockefeller Foundation. It is the first concerted effort to eradicate a human disease.

1919

League of Red Cross Societies is established.

1923

International Sanitary Bureau of the Americas is renamed the Pan American Sanitary Bureau (PASB).

1924

First Pan American Sanitary Code is adopted.

1926

International Sanitary Convention is revised to include provisions against smallpox and typhus.

1931

International Council of Scientific Unions, a nongovernmental organization, is created.

1938

Final International Sanitary Conference is held in Paris. Conseil Sanitaire, Maritime, et Quarantenaire (forerunner to the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office) in Alexandria is handed over to Egypt.

1940

Special Office for Europe (forerunner of European Regional Office) opens.

1943

United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA) is created, with its operations to include meeting health needs in Europe and the Far East.

1945

UNRRA assumes responsibility for the Office International d'Hygiène Publique.

September 1945

United Nations Conference on International Organization, in San Francisco, unanimously approves a proposal by Brazil and China to establish a new international health organization at the International Health Conference, to be held in New York in 1946.