Halfdan T. Mahler of Denmark was born on 21 April 1923 at Vivild, Denmark. In 1951, he joined the World Health Organization (WHO) and spent almost ten years in India as Senior WHO Officer attached to the National Tuberculosis Programme. From 1962, he was Chief of the Tuberculosis Unit at the WHO Headquarters in Geneva until 1969, when he was appointed Director, Project Systems Analysis. In 1970, he was made Assistant Director-General of WHO while retaining the direction of Project Systems Analysis. In 1973, while occupying that position, Dr Mahler was elected WHO's third Director-General. He was re-elected for two successive five-year terms in 1978 and 1983 respectively. Under Dr Mahler, in 1979, the Thirty-second World Health Assembly launched the Global Strategy for Health for All by the Year 2000.