Understanding the history of health during the past 60 years helps us to respond to the health challenges of today. Sharing health knowledge inspired by history enriches global public health and benefits society at large. With these basic principles in mind, the Global Health Histories initiative was established by WHO in late 2004, with the aim of making a number of valuable contributions to this field. This volume is the first publication within the initiative. Based almost exclusively on publications from that period, it offers insights into not only the Organization itself but also the political, social and economic background against which many far-reaching health decisions were made. This volume then, reflects the first five of the 'Mahler years', which saw growing support for the primary health care movement. Thirty years after Alma-Ata, that movement is once again much in evidence; primary health care is again a WHO priority, in a renewed, reinvigorated form. This volume will be of great assistance to scholars, historians and researchers and to the many WHO staff members, past and present, who will be able to turn these pages and remember that they, too, were a part of this history.