6. Biographies

Han sang-tae

Pioneer of International Health

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Han Sang-tae was born in Sajik-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul, in 1928 when the Republic of Korea was still under Japanese control. After graduating from Kyungbok High School and Seoul National University College of Medicine, he went on to get his master’s degree in public health at the Graduate School of Public Health at the University of Minnesota. He received his doctoral degree in medicine at his alma mater, Seoul National University, in 1967.

Han had an excellent command of English. Even foreigners who met him expressed their admiration for his fluent English. His English skills can be traced to the influence of his father who was an English teacher and Han’s work as an interpreter for a United Nations medical officer during the Korean War.

After graduating from Seoul National University College of Medicine in 1955, Han began his career as a government officer at the Ministry of Health and Social Affairs (MOHSA) on the recommendation of his uncle who was the vice-minister of Health and Social Affairs. Throughout his career, he held various posts at the Ministry of Health and Social Affairs, including director of the Health Medical Care Equipment Management Division, leader of the mobile leprosy diagnosis and treatment team, director of the Planning Division, director of the Communicable Disease Control Division, and director-general of the Health Service Policy Bureau.

Han pushed various projects that seemed unimaginable under the circumstances of the country at the time, such as the establishment of the public health centre network, administration of poliomyelitis vaccine and the construction of settlements for leprosy patients. From 1958 to 1967, when Han was working at MOHSA, the national budget and the outlays for human resources for health were insufficient to promote these activities. As such, Han used his excellent English and interpersonal skills to secure assistance from many development partners such as WHO, UNICEF and United States Operations Mission (USOM).

In 1967, after shifting his career focus to international health, Han joined WHO as a health development adviser in Western Samoa (now Samoa). In April 1968, he was appointed as the first WHO Country Liaison Officer in Samoa. In 1970, he became the first Korean national to work at the WHO Regional Office for the Western Pacific in Manila when he accepted the post of regional adviser for health systems. He was promoted to the position of direc-

tor of the Family Health Division in 1973, and further to director of Programme Management in 1979, which was the number two position for a Regional Office, reporting directly to the Regional Director.

Han was elected WHO Regional Director for the Western Pacific at the thirty-ninth session of WHO Regional Committee for the Western Pacific in 1988. He served for two consecutive terms, from 1989 to 1999. One of Han’s greatest achievements during his terms in office was the eradication of poliomyelitis in the Western Pacific Region.

In 1988, poliomyelitis cases totalled 35 251 globally and 2126 in the Western Pacific Region. In September 1988, the Regional Committee for Western Pacific adopted a resolution calling for the eradication of poliomyelitis in the Region by 1995. Han led the development of the Regional Plan of Action for Poliomyelitis Eradication in the Western

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Q han sang-tae (second from right) worked at the Ministry of health and social affairs of the republic of Korea from 1958 to 1967. Pacific in 1991, and oversaw the organization of large-scale immunization activities in the Region, including national immunization days in Member States. In China, more than 83 million children under age 4 were immunized during the first national immunization campaign, which took place over four days (5–6 December 1993 and 5–6 January 1994). The Region declared the eradication of poliomyelitis in 2000, three years after the last case was reported on 19 March 1997 in Cambodia.

In 1994, Han launched New Horizons in Health, a regional policy framework to achieve the global goal of “Health for All by the Year 2020”. New Horizons in Health stressed that local and national governments are responsible to provide supportive environments that encourage an individual to make healthy choices. Many countries in the Region adopted the framework as part of their health policy development

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Q han sang-tae on his first day as the Who regional director for the Western pacific with francisco dy, regional director emeritus, and Kwon e-hyock, Minister of health and social affairs, on 3 february 1989.

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Q han sang-tae (left), Who regional director for the Western pacific, meets Kim young-sam (right), president of the republic of Korea, in 1998.

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Q han sang-tae receives the sikatuna Medal, distinguished order of diplomatic service, from Joseph ejercito estrada, president of the philippines, in 1999. and planning process. Examples include China’s long-term health plan to the year 2010, Singapore’s National Healthy Lifestyle Campaign and Green Plan for the New Century, and the Yanuca Island Declaration for Healthy Islands in the Pacific, endorsed by Pacific health ministers.

For his outstanding contributions to public health in the Region, Han received the Sikatuna Medal, Distinguished Order of Diplomatic Service, from the president of the Philippines on 6 January 1999, and also the Order of Civil Merit, Rose of Sharon Medal, from the president of the Republic of Korea on 7 April 1999 (35–37).

Lee sung-woo

A smiling face in the midst of health problems

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Lee Seong-woo was born in Seoul in 1934. After graduating from Seoul National University College of Medicine in 1959, he joined the Ministry of Health and Social Affairs, starting his career on the malaria control task force in 1962. He served in many positions at the Ministry of Health and Social Affairs and the National Institute of Health until his retirement in 1993.

While serving as head of the Vector Control Division in 1967, Lee stayed in Yeongju-gun, Gyeongsangbuk-do, where malaria was endemic, to care for patients. He invited the K-0025 project team (see Chapter 2 for more on the K-0025 project) from Chungcheongnam-do to learn how to implement a project based on a single household as the smallest unit. To that end, he trained health-care personnel in the use of family health records for malaria control in that area. In the 1980s, when cholera was sweeping the nation, the Government remained silent. It did not make official statements on the outbreak and required treatment of the disease to be carried out in secret. The press worked hard to find out the reasons for this approach, but health-care workers had to follow government orders. Lee, then director of the Health Service Division at the Ministry of Health and Social Affairs, handled the situation well without offending the press. Whenever the media reported on an outbreak of acute infectious diseases, it was Lee who always appeared on the screen with his unique smile.

From 1974 to 1977, Lee also worked as a WHO medical officer in Malaysia. When the Republic of Korea was designated to appoint a member of the WHO Executive Board in 1984, Lee was named as the representative of the Republic

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Q lee sung-woo worked as a Who medical officer in Malaysia from 1974 to 1977.

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Q lee sung-woo (centre) served as Who executive board Member for three years from 1984.

of Korea and participated at annual sessions of the World Health Assembly.

Lee did not slow down after his retirement. He took up the positions as head of KIHASA, vice-president of the Korea Public Health Association, member of the Rural Area Development Commission, head of the Medical Expenses Review Committee of the Health Insurance Federation, chairman of the Helpline for the Elderly, vice-president of the Social Welfare Council, and chairman of the Automobile Insurance Dispute Mediation Committee. Lee died on 25 August 2002 at the age of 69.

Lee encouraged his co-workers and junior staff members to “work really hard” and “don’t worry”. Even when the situation appeared grave, with no end in sight, he instilled in them a sense of hope that the Republic of Korea’s control of infectious diseases would advance to the level of developed countries.

Lee was also adept at communicating with professionals at different fields. As such, he attracted skilled professionals who wanted to work with him on his projects. Wherever Lee was, there were many people and much laughter. Perhaps this best describes the “health team approach” that Lee practised in his life.

When remembering Lee, one high-ranking administrative officer highly praised him by saying: “Lee Sung-woo was such a respectable health worker who, in my opinion, strived harder than any other public health official to put theory into practice” (38, 39).

Wilfried Kreisel

Environmental Health Specialist who cherished the Republic of Korea

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After obtaining a doctorate in physics at Heidelberg University in Germany, Wilfried Kreisel continued his research on energy and the environment at Dortmund University in Germany. While working at WHO, he served as an air pollution control adviser in the Republic of Korea for six years, from 1977 to 1983. At that time, the number of factories and vehicles in the Republic of Korea was increasing exponentially under the Government’s five-year economic development plan. Accordingly, the environmental problems caused by exhaust fumes and industrial waste emerged as a major issue, but the Republic of Korea, like most developing countries, believed it could not afford to give consideration to environmental concerns.

When he first came to the Republic of Korea, Kreisel was surprised by the rapid economic growth of the country. But he also was concerned about the lack of countermeasures to deal with the worsening environmental problems, such as air pollution, water pollution and heavy-metal contamination. He therefore provided concrete data and actively engaged with media to raise the public’s awareness of environmental issues. Through his efforts, more people came to realize the seriousness of environmental problems.

Furthermore, Kreisel played a critical role in determining the key issues related to national health and environment. With the establishment of the Ministry of Environment in the 1990s, the environment came to have more importance in the health sector, and Kreisel made a great contribution to the collection of basic data required for environmental management and the restoration of the natural environment.

After serving as the WHO air pollution control adviser in the Republic of Korea for six years, Kreisel served as

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Q Wilfried Kreisel and his family wearing the hanbok, a traditional Korean outfit.

the health and environment adviser to the Philippines and Malaysia from 1986 to 1993, and then worked as the director of the Environmental Health Project Division at WHO headquarters in Geneva.

While in that position, he helped the WHO DirectorGeneral establish plans to develop health projects through the enhancement of environmental health in many countries. He also contributed to laying the foundation for various projects in the environment sector, especially in protecting the environment from water pollution, air pollution and radiation; in setting up development plans on healthy cities and climate change; and in encouraging Member States to implement those plans.

Kreisel and his family cherished their time in the Republic of Korea. According to his co-workers, Kreisel acted like a typical Korean that others did not consider him as a foreigner (32, 40).

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Q Wilfried Kreisel and his colleagues attend a gosa, a traditional Korean ritual wishing good luck. Kreisel served in the republic of Korea for six years and acted like a typical Korean.