Understanding the health challenges of the past can help us confront those of today. This rings especially true in a world still suffering the effects of the 2008 global financial crisis, which has imposed severe budgetary constraints on WHO and many other organisations. The fourth 10 years of WHO's existence began with the optimism of the preceding decade still in the air and the Alma-Ata Declaration emphasising primary health care (PHC) as the key to achieving health for all by 2000. Economic upheaval soon conspired, however, to present the Organisation with a daunting task. Intransigent recession in the industrialised world, declining commodity prices, rising interest rates, trade barriers, crippling international debt, plus severe drought in sub-Saharan Africa took their toll, restricting the Organisation's ability to help countries in need. Like its predecessors in the series, this volume details how the Organisation responded to the trials of the day; in this instance by orienting its work under the leadership of Dr Halfdan Mahler to the health-for-all vision. The volume sketches the political, social and economic background behind WHO's key decisions, describes UNICEF's move towards a more selective approach to PHC, and charts the World Bank's entry to the health scene in a major way as a direct lender for health. Drawn from reports of the activities of the Organisation and its partners, this 'record of the records' will be of great assistance to scholars, historians and researchers, and to current WHO staff members and health workers looking for insights and inspiration in these challenging times.