In November 1951 I was appointed WHO administrative officer, International Tuberculosis Campaign in Pakistan, where a country-wide BCG-vaccination campaign against tuberculosis was to commence.

A Danish team of doctors and nurses under the auspices of the World Health Organisation and with financial and material assistance by UNICEF helped the Pakistani health authorities in the organisation of this extensive work.

Both wings of Pakistan - East and West Pakistan - had a joint population of about one 100 million inhabitants in 1951 and tuberculosis was a dreaded illness in both areas with a high TB-incidence in the population. Malaria was rampant, Leprosy and Trachoma endemic, maternal and infant care severely lacking and many women died in childbirth. The local midwives, called dais, had inherited their profession from their mothers and their knowledge of hygiene was rudimentary.

In 1999 Pakistan has a population of 130 million and Bangladesh (formerly East Pakistan) a population of 125 million inhabitants,which is an enormous increase from the 1951 figures (quoted above and which were about 100 million for both areas). The increase has been more than 150 million human beings with all the possible physical, economic and psycological consequences. The family planning campaigns have not done their work.

The literacy percentages for the two countries are estimated at: 50% for men and 25% for women. These are devastating figures and augur ominous for the future.

My 1951 contract with WHO in Pakistan was of a temporary character, so Tove and I left Denmark for what we believed would be a shorter period. We never returned to Denmark, but continued to live abroad associated with the work of the United Nations Childrens Fund (UNICEF) in developing countries.

Pakistan was proclaimed an independent state on the 14th of August 1947, carved out of the Indian Subcontinent.

The borders were drawn according to religious lines in such a way that West Pakistan and East Pakistan (now Bangladesh ) would be an islamic state - Pakistan, the Land of the Pure.

The divisions of the two biggest states - Punjab and Bengal - were traced on a map of the subcontinent and the result of this arbitrary division unleashed a horrid uprooting of millions of helpless peasant people and the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of human beings, both Hindues, Muslims and Sikhs in a gastly genocide. Hindues and Sikhs streaming out of Pakistan and Moslems out of India. More than 10 million people were made homeless.

Kashmir, the huge territory and valley of beauty in the north towards the Himalayas, was and continues to be contested by both India and Pakistan. This land of beauty has been the cause for two wars between the two countries.

At the time of partition between India and Pakistan in 1947 the Maharajah (Hindu) of Kashmir chose to join India, but the majority of the population was Muslim and rebelled against the decision. United Nations mediated and a shaky peace was proclaimed. Plebiscite was refused by India and both countries continue to claim Kashmir.

On the dates of writing this note - second half of 1999 - a new crisis is developing in the volatile relationship between the two countries over Kashmir Both are now atomic potentates and are confirmed to possess nuclear devices (Pakistan: 25, India: 60)

In June 1954 I was appointed UNICEF Resident Representative in Pakistan, a post I held until mid 1964. During this period UNICEF with technical assistance of the specialised agencies of the United Nations participated in the Pakistani Government�s efforts to establish an infrastructure of basis health services in the two wings : East and West Pakistan. These health services encompassed mother and child health care, erradication of malaria, control of communicable diseases, control of leprosy, trachoma, provision of clean water and training of all categories of health personnel. The Government�s Bureau of laboratories was refurnished with modern equipment to improve and expand sera production, among which snake serum production. A BCG vaccine laboratory was built and production commenced to continue the BCG vaccination of the population as a regular feature of public health.

UNICEF also assisted in the construction of plants for production of penicillin and DDT powder (for spraying against malaria-carrying mosquitoes). Processing plants for dried milk powder were constructed and initiated, cattle herds improved, milk collecting centers built with the proviso that milk distribution would a regular feature in the maternal and child health programmes.

In the fields of education, social services and community development, particularly in urban community development UNICEF provided financial and material assistance in programmes, where technical orientation and direct intervention came from the UN specialized agencies.

These programmes were part of the Government�s extended 5-year plans and as such had long term objectives for both Pakistan and Bangladesh.

In the planning work for the execution of the BCG Vacination Campaign, which required many and long field visits to the four provinces - Punjab, NorthWest Frontier, Baluchistan and Sind - and the states - Bahawalpure and Khaipure of West Pakistan - Tove accompanied me on many Jeep tours on hot and dusty desert roads and got to know the Pakistani map in an expert way. It was an interesting and productive period of our lives and we felt that we were usefully participating in work which could improve the destiny of the less fortunate in our society.

Tove also participated in voluntary work with UNICEF and with non-governmental organizations in Karachi and Britt was born in August 1956 in Copenhagen. Our doctor in Karachi recommended that the delivery took place in Denmark due to the special treatment Tove had to receive for her diabetes.

Tove and Britt arrived in Karachi in September 1957, Britt then one year old. She adapted very well to conditions of Karachi, got her small circle of friends of both Pakistanis and other nationalities. We lived in a housing complex with 2 Pakistani families and one Danish . All had young children of Britts age so she developed in a healthy atmosphere of understanding between the two races.

Sundays we went to the Beach at Hawkes Bay swimming in the Indian Ocean, playing games at the beach and watching the occasional spectacle of giant sea-turtles crawling up upon the beach to lay their eggs in the sand. It was a fine period in our lives.

Britt started kindergarten in 1960 in the day school of the convent of Jesus and Mary in Clifton, Karachi and the small three-member family went on home leave to Denmark in the summer 1961. The return in September to Pakistan from Copenhagen was undertaken in a Volkswagen beetle-type, which covered the 11,000 kilometer stretch in six weeks. (See the Year-end letter 1961, attached as an appendix.) Three trunks tied to the roof, a linen sack filled with water tied to the front grill, (for cool water), specially selected spareparts and some essential tools, and from the date of entry into Iran plenty of bottles with water, stacked between the front seats and the rear seat, where Britt had arranged her abode. Over Iran�s sand surfaces we set our course using a compass.

The years in Pakistan offered a splendid opportunity to participate in the country�s social and economic development plans and UNICEF actively played its part, particularly in the field of health. More than 1000 health centers , in both wings of the country, were opened and equipped, drugs and diets supplements were provided for distribution to women and children frequenting the health centers, vaccinations against smallpox, difteria, tetanus, wooping cough, tuberculosis with BCG vaccine were undertaken, direct treatment against tuberculosis were given, millions of women were given pre- and postnatal treatment and assisted in child birth.Training of health personnel was a very important feature.

Also in education, social services and in community development projects were commenced, expanded, improved, so as to better services for childrens� populations groups in both urban and rural areas.

In May 1964 after a total of twelve years in Pakistan: seven as UNICEF Representative, two as field representative and three as BCG Admin. Officer came transfer orders from UNICEF Hq to go to South America to take charge of the office in Lima. We left Pakistan with a heavy heart.

After a brief language training course in Spanish taking place in Barcelona, Spain for the whole family and we were on our way to Lima.