WEBVTT 00:00:08.000 --> 00:00:10.133 [Music] 00:00:10.133 --> 00:00:18.066 The United Nations Film Board presents The Eternal Fight 00:00:18.066 --> 00:00:45.932 [Music] 00:00:45.933 --> 00:00:51.266 [Narrator:] Deliver us. Deliver us from the plague, from hunger, from war. 00:00:51.266 --> 00:00:54.899 This has been the cry of mankind throughout all time. 00:00:54.900 --> 00:01:03.400 Blinded by ignorance, filled with terror, he lashed out against the black plague with witchcraft, against typhus with superstition. 00:01:03.400 --> 00:01:09.466 And so maddened efforts to stem the terrifying ravages of epidemics, prejudice, and intolerance, 00:01:09.466 --> 00:01:27.866 too often resulted in cruel and vicious treatment of those suffering from contagious diseases. 00:01:27.866 --> 00:01:34.732 Despite the raging panic of ignorance, the lurking danger of contagion, scientists of many nations went to work. 00:01:34.733 --> 00:01:38.799 Painfully they labored to nurse the flickering light of research into a broad searchlight of knowledge, 00:01:38.800 --> 00:01:48.000 using every means of communication to share their findings with each other. 00:01:48.000 --> 00:01:52.466 It was the Dutchman, Leeuwenhoek, whose research helped provide scientists everywhere 00:01:52.466 --> 00:01:55.766 with a new and powerful vision of the microscope. 00:01:55.766 --> 00:02:00.699 Now at last the hidden enemy could be examined under the probing searchlight of science. 00:02:00.700 --> 00:02:06.066 The hunt was on for contagious diseases and their causes, wherever they existed. 00:02:06.066 --> 00:02:19.866 [Music] 00:02:19.866 --> 00:02:25.899 [Narrator:] Spallanzani in Italy pioneered the work on the origin and growth of microscopic organisms. 00:02:25.900 --> 00:02:29.466 He proved that fermentation did not take place in sealed containers, 00:02:29.466 --> 00:02:48.299 but occurred only through contact with the microorganisms present in the air. 00:02:48.300 --> 00:02:53.166 Jenner, in England, painstakingly evolved the basic principles of vaccination, 00:02:53.166 --> 00:03:09.899 and a little British girl was the first to wince at the sting of a vaccinating needle. 00:03:09.900 --> 00:03:16.900 And Pasteur in France, his was the brilliant research that resulted in the discovery of the causes of contagious diseases. 00:03:16.900 --> 00:03:22.066 He proved that microbes were at the root of such diseases, and thus medical science marched forward 00:03:22.066 --> 00:03:28.999 bringing light where once there had been darkness, hope where once there had been despair. 00:03:29.000 --> 00:03:42.666 And in Germany, Koch identified and isolated the Koch bacillus and the dreaded germ of cholera. 00:03:42.666 --> 00:03:49.699 Across the sea in America, Walter Reed and his colleagues sought to prove that the mosquito was the sole transmitter of yellow fever. 00:03:49.700 --> 00:03:52.266 They offered their lives, and won. 00:03:52.266 --> 00:03:56.566 And so the old prejudices were smashed and the free exchange of information forged modern weapons, 00:03:56.566 --> 00:04:01.032 like the ancient diseases of mankind. 00:04:01.033 --> 00:04:05.866 Then, in the course of the nineteenth century, the world underwent a striking change. 00:04:05.866 --> 00:04:10.466 It gave birth to the Industrial Revolution... transformed man's way of life. 00:04:10.466 --> 00:04:14.899 Men, women, and children crowded into cities, became part of a vast machine. 00:04:14.900 --> 00:04:29.400 Deprived of sun and fresh nourishment of the country, men's bodies rusted, became more vulnerable to contagion. 00:04:29.400 --> 00:04:46.000 New means of transportation brought the world tight and close together, making it one tremendous and congested city. 00:04:46.000 --> 00:04:52.166 From a disease-infected zone the traveler now became, unwittingly, a carrier of deadly germs. 00:04:52.166 --> 00:04:59.066 Wherever he went the germs stayed and spread. 00:04:59.066 --> 00:05:08.432 [Dramatic music] 00:05:08.433 --> 00:05:11.933 Epidemics break out far from the known infected areas. 00:05:11.933 --> 00:05:16.866 Country to country, continent to continent, the deadly cargo of microbes is transported, 00:05:16.866 --> 00:05:27.199 menacing on a vast scale the very existence of humanity. 00:05:27.200 --> 00:05:31.500 Mass infection and epidemics are a threat to every city, to every nation. 00:05:31.500 --> 00:05:40.533 Scientific and medical work on a local scale are no longer enough. 00:05:40.533 --> 00:05:46.499 Thus, in common defense, nations joined an international agreement in the battle against epidemics. 00:05:46.500 --> 00:05:53.566 Medical agreements and protective measures are formulated, quarantine measures extended, frontier control set up. 00:05:53.566 --> 00:05:58.299 When an epidemic strikes, that country is subjected to special restrictive measures. 00:05:58.300 --> 00:06:05.566 Suspected carriers are isolated, and step-by-step the dangers of contagion grow less and less. 00:06:05.566 --> 00:06:26.799 [Music] 00:06:26.800 --> 00:06:34.366 War. The first great World War, like all wars, sucking mankind down to misery and death. 00:06:34.366 --> 00:06:42.332 And together with war, pestilence, and disease. Epidemics wreak havoc greater than war, wipe out civilian populations. 00:06:42.333 --> 00:06:53.199 The problem is everywhere and must be dealt with internationally. 00:06:53.200 --> 00:06:58.900 A network of medical information is swiftly organized through radio, newspapers, pamphlets, bulletins. 00:06:58.900 --> 00:07:04.533 The League of Nations spreads information that all may fight the contagion of diseases. 00:07:04.533 --> 00:07:19.666 [Music] 00:07:19.666 --> 00:07:28.032 In Geneva, this immense storehouse of information becomes part of the arsenal of embattled doctors and scientists everywhere. 00:07:28.033 --> 00:07:34.999 Heath reports are received, checked, filed, collated, and sent out again ready for use. 00:07:35.000 --> 00:07:40.200 Because now trains are entering and leaving stations. 00:07:40.200 --> 00:07:44.966 Ships leave and dock at foreign ports. 00:07:44.966 --> 00:07:52.699 Millions live, work, and suffer. 00:07:52.700 --> 00:07:56.466 For this sailor it's always hard to say goodbye. 00:07:56.466 --> 00:08:02.299 Harder still when your wife is sick, burning with fever, and you have to pull anchor. 00:08:02.300 --> 00:08:07.200 There's nothing to worry about, you say. She'll be all right in a couple of days. 00:08:07.200 --> 00:08:22.066 Besides, you need the job. 00:08:22.066 --> 00:08:30.266 But neither of you suspect...typhus. The black plague. 00:08:30.266 --> 00:08:40.999 [Music] 00:08:41.000 --> 00:08:43.033 And so goodbye. 00:08:43.033 --> 00:08:55.999 Both have become carriers of death-dealing germs. 00:08:56.000 --> 00:08:58.600 Germs that will blast the lives of shipmates. 00:08:58.600 --> 00:09:05.933 Germs traveling across seas to start a terrible epidemic at any moment, any place. 00:09:05.933 --> 00:09:22.066 [Music] 00:09:22.066 --> 00:09:28.899 Epidemic starts anytime, anyplace, wherever you are, wherever she is now in a hospital. 00:09:28.900 --> 00:09:43.300 There are no doubts, it is contagious. 00:09:43.300 --> 00:09:49.400 Immediate action, a life at stake, and though she might infect or has already infected, who is she? 00:09:49.400 --> 00:09:51.333 A friend. Her kinfolk. 00:09:51.333 --> 00:09:56.133 Send the alert everywhere, to every nation, to every port, in every language. 00:09:56.133 --> 00:09:59.899 Easy enough to locate all ships which left the area before the outbreak. 00:09:59.900 --> 00:10:01.833 Message to all ships at sea. 00:10:01.833 --> 00:10:05.666 The quarantine must know the health condition of your ships in every port. 00:10:05.666 --> 00:10:15.099 Every day, almost every moment, for epidemic strikes any time, any place, wherever you are. 00:10:15.100 --> 00:10:47.100 [Music] 00:10:47.100 --> 00:10:49.700 A protective mechanism is set in motion. 00:10:49.700 --> 00:11:01.300 The quarantine service issues the necessary orders to the ship for investigation and control. 00:11:01.300 --> 00:11:04.500 The ship is stopped, the sick man brought ashore. 00:11:04.500 --> 00:11:11.633 All others are fully protected by inoculation. 00:11:11.633 --> 00:11:49.333 [Music] 00:11:49.333 --> 00:11:52.033 And now the ship is thoroughly disinfected. 00:11:52.033 --> 00:11:54.466 Rats are hunted out of their hiding places. 00:11:54.466 --> 00:11:56.699 Cyanide gas does the trick. 00:11:56.700 --> 00:12:02.200 Teams of specialists fumigate the boat from stem to stern, from staterooms to the hold. 00:12:02.200 --> 00:12:08.166 Everything completely disinfected before the ship is able to sail on in safety. 00:12:08.166 --> 00:12:36.366 [Music] 00:12:36.366 --> 00:12:40.099 Such cooperation protects mankind from recurring epidemics. 00:12:40.100 --> 00:12:53.933 International cooperation provides immediate action to smash a swift-striking enemy. 00:12:53.933 --> 00:12:55.899 Today there are no distances. 00:12:55.900 --> 00:13:00.133 Today the aeroplane links continents as trains link cities. 00:13:00.133 --> 00:13:07.099 Today the peoples of the world are one people joined by wings over the globe. 00:13:07.100 --> 00:13:26.166 [Music] 00:13:26.166 --> 00:13:38.966 Today people of all races, of every level, move from country to country in a matter of hours. 00:13:38.966 --> 00:13:45.699 Today vital medical control is established around the modern points of international exchange, the airports. 00:13:45.700 --> 00:13:50.733 The network of health information and services has been extended here from the seaport organization. 00:13:50.733 --> 00:13:52.566 But is this sufficient? 00:13:52.566 --> 00:14:08.499 How long does it take before a potential epidemic can be detected? 00:14:08.500 --> 00:14:16.266 From one continent to another, only a few hours flying time. 00:14:16.266 --> 00:14:19.166 But cholera takes longer to show itself. 00:14:19.166 --> 00:14:21.866 And yellow fever three to six days. 00:14:21.866 --> 00:14:40.132 And the incubation period of smallpox from 7 to 16 days. 00:14:40.133 --> 00:14:43.433 Passengers in a modern plane look perfectly healthy. 00:14:43.433 --> 00:14:47.733 They are, but how do we know? 00:14:47.733 --> 00:14:52.833 That little girl, when she got the doll did she receive germs as well? 00:14:52.833 --> 00:14:57.966 Some passengers may be germ carriers, perhaps already in the incubation stage. 00:14:57.966 --> 00:15:01.566 They'll reach their destination before any symptoms show. 00:15:01.566 --> 00:15:07.932 The quarantine service can't keep every plane and passenger grounded for several days to effect thorough medical control. 00:15:07.933 --> 00:15:15.399 Today, that system of defense is no longer enough. Today, epidemics must be crushed at the very source. 00:15:15.400 --> 00:15:29.333 [Music] 00:15:29.333 --> 00:15:34.666 Unfortunately, in some countries, contagious diseases exist in an endemic state. 00:15:34.666 --> 00:15:37.932 That is, permanently. 00:15:37.933 --> 00:15:42.899 India, for instance, has certain areas that are always infected with cholera. 00:15:42.900 --> 00:15:47.400 This plague can extend to Western Europe. 00:15:47.400 --> 00:15:57.433 In Africa, some forms of malaria still rage, germs that might easily be transmitted to South America. 00:15:57.433 --> 00:16:08.833 And cholera in Japan could strike suddenly at the west coast of the United States. 00:16:08.833 --> 00:16:15.733 Permanently infected zones are localized but may cover large areas of territory, sometimes entire continents. 00:16:15.733 --> 00:16:24.966 Modern transport poses new dangers of complete universal contagion. 00:16:24.966 --> 00:16:27.632 The struggle against epidemics is a global one. 00:16:27.633 --> 00:16:35.499 For the danger of death is worldwide. 00:16:35.500 --> 00:16:39.000 Then...what is the answer? 00:16:39.000 --> 00:16:47.600 [Music] 00:16:47.600 --> 00:16:54.000 Within the framework of the United Nations, a new organization exists to promote the welfare of all people: 00:16:54.000 --> 00:16:56.200 the World Health Organization. 00:16:56.200 --> 00:17:03.733 It its first assembly July 1948, Director-General Dr. Chisholm declared that this organization was physically prepared 00:17:03.733 --> 00:17:11.833 to raise the health level of all people and to forever destroy the human afflictions of malaria, cholera, tuberculosis, and syphilis. 00:17:11.833 --> 00:17:26.266 The prime objective of the World Health Organization is the fight against disease on a global scale. 00:17:26.266 --> 00:17:30.566 The representatives of nearly every nation have signed the great Charter of Health. 00:17:30.566 --> 00:17:34.532 This means an organization with the authority and means to act. 00:17:34.533 --> 00:17:40.233 Epidemics, no matter what part of the world they may infect, are a potential danger to all other nations. 00:17:40.233 --> 00:17:47.099 The World Health Organization will make full use of every existing means: education, prevention, cure. 00:17:47.100 --> 00:17:52.333 All peoples of every race and belief will be helped by doctors from all races and nations. 00:17:52.333 --> 00:17:56.533 A tremendous movement of world solidarity is now born. 00:17:56.533 --> 00:18:00.199 Inoculation already widely used will be extended. 00:18:00.200 --> 00:18:03.500 Millions of people will be given prophylactic injections. 00:18:03.500 --> 00:18:09.200 A worldwide system of medical control will exist everywhere. 00:18:09.200 --> 00:18:26.200 [Music] 00:18:26.200 --> 00:18:32.466 Enormous quantities of serums, vaccines, new and powerful drugs such as penicillin and sulfonamides 00:18:32.466 --> 00:18:35.932 are already being manufactured at increasingly lower cost. 00:18:35.933 --> 00:18:41.866 Crates of ampules are shipped to all parts of the world, ready for emergency measures. 00:18:41.866 --> 00:18:57.332 A constant flow of up-to-date information from every nation in every tongue now makes it possible to apply the latest discoveries of modern medicine. 00:18:57.333 --> 00:19:03.733 Cholera broke out in Egypt shortly before the first assembly meeting of the World Health Organization. 00:19:03.733 --> 00:19:36.366 The first cases were instantly reported, and from Cairo every nation was immediately alerted. 00:19:36.366 --> 00:19:40.099 New York was then the clearinghouse for the incoming orders for vaccines and equipment 00:19:40.100 --> 00:19:43.066 needed to fight the epidemic that was menacing Egypt. 00:19:43.066 --> 00:19:52.232 Dr. Calderon issued orders. How about sulfadiazine, serums, needles, syringes, anything else? Anything. 00:19:52.233 --> 00:19:54.299 Don't worry about the payment. 00:19:54.300 --> 00:19:56.266 The World Health Organization will pay. 00:19:56.266 --> 00:19:58.299 Let's get going fast. 00:19:58.300 --> 00:20:03.200 The answer was swift. From France, China, Indochina, Soviet Union, and the United States, 00:20:03.200 --> 00:20:05.900 vaccines were shipped by the fastest means. 00:20:05.900 --> 00:20:08.666 Planes flew the precious fluid into Egypt. 00:20:08.666 --> 00:20:12.366 They brought thousands of needles, syringes, other indispensible instruments. 00:20:12.366 --> 00:20:16.899 In record time, the Egyptian government had the entire population immunized, 00:20:16.900 --> 00:20:23.000 the sick put into isolation wards, and the infected areas methodically disinfected. 00:20:23.000 --> 00:20:24.966 The epidemic was checked, 00:20:24.966 --> 00:20:30.066 and within three months completely eradicated from Egypt. 00:20:30.066 --> 00:20:45.199 [Music] 00:20:45.200 --> 00:20:48.533 In the eternal battle a struggle has been won, 00:20:48.533 --> 00:20:51.633 won by international cooperation. 00:20:51.633 --> 00:20:57.299 But there is yet a tremendous task before us, a task for all peoples, by all peoples. 00:20:57.300 --> 00:21:00.633 The lives of these little children too must be saved. 00:21:00.633 --> 00:21:05.266 That a light of hope may revive the courage of those who suffer. 00:21:05.266 --> 00:21:08.866 That mothers might yet smile in a new world. 00:21:08.866 --> 00:21:18.332 [Music ]