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REMARKS BY:	DONNA E. SHALALA, SECRETARY OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
PLACE:		Luncheon Honoring Dr. Gro Brundtland,, Woodrow Wilson Center, Washington, D.C.
DATE:		September 22, 1998

Ambassador Shelton-Colby's remarks about our work for children in the world call to mind President Wilson's timeless recipe for human progress. He said: "There can be no equality or opportunity . if men and women and children be not shielded . from the consequences of great industrial and social processes which they can not alter, control, or singly cope with."

I can't imagine a better way to describe the work of our hosts today. With the help of US AID, the Environmental Change and Security Project is working to protect us from industrial and social consequences that President Wilson never could have foreseen in his day.

Wilson's words also describe the challenges to global health that face our special guest today, Dr. Gro Brundtland, Director-General of the World Health Organization. Together, our nations must protect the health of an aging population. We must protect our health against environmental degradation. We must guarantee that all people -- all women and all children -- have access to quality health services. We must fight the spread of emerging and infectious diseases. We must finish the job of our friends, the late Dr. Jonathan Mann and Dr. Mary Lou Clements-Mann, and wipe the HIV/AIDS epidemic off the face of the earth. And we all know we must take drastic measures to protect our children from tobacco.

In choosing the right Director-General, the world's health ministers called for a natural born leader who would make WHO the global force for health in the 21st Century, and find new ways of meeting new health challenges. We called for a passionate advocate for health, to reach the minds and hearts of every political and financial leader in the world. We called for a leader to set quality health standards for nations, and to balance regional solutions with global needs. And finally, we called for a tough, smart, strong manager. Someone who would lead and inspire a vital and diverse staff. Someone who could make the most of a tight budget. And someone who would make every program effective and efficient.

In other words, we called for a new Director-General with a tight fist, a large heart, a clear vision and a strong voice. A voice for the most vulnerable citizens and the countries in greatest need. A voice that would resonate with every citizen of the world. We asked our new Director-General to be a lot of things. And when we chose Dr. Gro Brundtland, we got everything we asked for.

The Clinton-Gore Administration is committed to working closely with her and her colleagues at WHO to advance global health. It is consistent with our national security strategy of global engagement. We know in this century, isolationism has always been a failed option, in Wilson's day, and in our day, in trade, finance, diplomacy -- and also in public health. And so, we must engage the world to advance our health -- and we are strongly committed to the success of Dr. Brundtland and WHO. So it is my great honor to introduce my distinguished friend and colleague, the Director-General of the World Health Organization, Dr. Gro Brundtland.

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