CHAPTER
2: 1961–1979
3.6 Other WHO support activities 3.6.1 Public Health Laboratory In April 1974, WHO supported the National Plan for the Control of Disease Vectors and Rodents. To successfully implement the plan, a two-week retraining course for personnel in charge of disease vector control was carried out from May to July 1974. During this period, a WHO adviser taught experimental testing techniques and introduced the fluorescent treponemal antibody absorption test (FTAAbs) to staff in the venereal disease research laboratory. WHO helped to significantly improve infectious disease diagnostic techniques in the Republic of Korea by introducing the plaque reduction test for vaccine quality control, introducing new viral diagnostic techniques, including enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and immunofluorescence assay (IFA) in 1983, as well as conducting training to enhance the biosafety level of infectious disease laboratories (62).
3.6.2 The expansion of the medical insurance system With a scholarship from WHO, Yang Jae-mo of Yonsei University College of Medicine (YUMC) visited WHO and the International Labour Organization (ILO) in Geneva, as well as health agencies in China, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Japan, Norway, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to research and inspect the health security system of each country. In May 1961, upon returning to the Republic of Korea, he submitted his recommendations on the establishment of a social security system to the Government. Subsequently, there was movement towards the introduction of a medical insurance system, such as the revision of the Medical Insurance Act in 1963 and the foundation of the Blue Cross Health Cooperative, a private medical insurance union, by Jang Gi-Ryeo in Busan in 1969 (63).
Co-advisers from ILO and WHO were dispatched to the Republic of Korea in November 1969, and again in December 1974, to check the feasibility of the national medical insurance system. The advisers recommended expanding the medical insurance system to improve medical services in rural areas (64).
3.6.3 The national cancer registry system Supported by WHO, the Republic of Korea in 1977 conducted a survey on the status of cancer patients that revealed the importance of a hospital-based epidemiological investigation in laying the foundation for cancer management. In 1978, a workshop on cancer management was held in Seoul. Many experts from other countries participated in the workshop including Ramona Lunt from the cancer department of WHO. After attending the workshop and observing practices in the Republic of Korea, Lunt made several recommendations for the development of the national cancer registry system: 1) identify an organization and chronic disease experts to take charge of the national cancer registry; 2) form an advisory panel on the national cancer registry consisting of outstanding cancer experts and managers; 3) hold a national training seminar in 1978 at the National Medical Center (NMC) for major universities and hospitals and the Government, requesting the consultation of WHO for six to eight weeks; 4) enlist one or two pathologists at NMC in the six-week fellowship programme to study cytopathology and learn cancer screening methods; and 5) provide a twoto-three stage training course for cytologists at NMC (65). Accordingly, in 1980, the Government of the Republic of Korea established the Central Cancer Registry Headquarters at NMC to carry out the National Cancer Registration and Statistics Program, which was transferred to the National Cancer Center (NCC) in September 2000.
72 70 years working together for health – the World Health Organization and the Republic of Korea
