[The founding fathers of the International Union for Health Education]

At the Fourteenth World Conference on Health Education in Helsinki in June 1991, a special ceremony will celebrate the fortieth anniversary of the founding of the International Union for Health Education. The Union was created following studies and discussions among delegates from thirty-five countries and representatives from fifteen non-governmental organizations (NGO), and in the presence of observers from WHO and UNESCO. The document creating the Union was signed at the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs on May 30, 1951. This article evokes the memory of the pioneers under whose authority the Union was formed and has developed. The leading thinkers in health education were the creators of a work still referred to today when we examine the history and evolution of the IUHE. Our pioneers were Jacques Parisot and Lucien Bivorel in France, Clair E. Turner in the United States of America, and Giovanni Canaperia in Italy. An English translation of this homage to the founders of the international Union for Health Education will appear as a publication made available at the Fourteenth International Conference on Health Education in Helsinki. It will also be available from the IUHE's Headquarters.