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disease that affects the nervous system, was not a problem during World War II be- cause soldiers were immunized before going overseas. After thewar, the discovery of newmedical techniques anddrugs went onunabated, especially in the field of nuclear medicine. The U.S. government shipped radioisotopes, created during the building of the atomic bomb, to doctors and scientists around the world for study in the hopes they would develop new diagnostic tools for cancer and new cures for disease. A new type of medicine—nuclear medicine—was born. Healing Despite Borders Y et something more profound was happening in the war’s aftermath. When the guns of war had silenced, the world began to think about health and medicine in a new way. Germs and disease do not stop at border crossings, rivers, or mountain ranges. Nor do germs care about political, economic, and social ideologies. Disease attacks without regard to race, religion, national origin, or political philosophy.

Members of the World Health Organization in Kampala, in present-day Uganda, during the 1950 conference on malaria eradication.

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CHAPTER ONE