Ma famille et moi même sommes de tout coeur avec vous, et très attristés par la disparition d'un homme dans le bon sens du mot, ainsi qu'un ami. On vous embrasse tous. Augusto, Maria Luisa et Enrique Noguer.

It has been a tremendous shock to hear of Professor Lepes death. I was looking forward to visit him on my expected return to Geneva, after staying for Christmas and New Year with my daughter in the Australian Gold Coast, on 17th January. Nevertheless, my plans were drastically changed because on 19th December I had an emergency heart operation to set three coronary by-passes, and have to remain in Australia until mid-February Dr. Lepes will always be remembered as the eminent parasitologist and epidemiologist, who directed the eradication of malaria from Yugoslavia, but above all, and throughout the world, because of his leadership as the Director of the global antimalarial programme of WHO during the difficult 12 years following the 1969 abandonment by the World Health Assembly of malaria eradication as a time limited campaign, which resulted in the withdrawal of financial support from international and bilateral agencies, which had contributed to the eradication campaign. Dr Lepes saw that malaria control, as a long term public health programme, had to be designed based on a deep knowledge of the local epidemiology, instead of on the routine application of a single attack measure everywhere; he therefore concentrated his efforts into strengthening the regional and country capabilities for training in malaria epidemiology and control, as well as advocating and stimulating national and international research institutions to assist in the solution of problems encountered in the field. Under his leadership, antimalarial programmes were able to adapt to the change from the eradication to the control strategy as well as to the policies of integration and decentralization and the adoption of primary health care as the strategy for health development Personally, I admired Dr Lepes since I met him on a WHO Itinerant seminar on Vector and Rodent Control in the summer of 1959 and had the privilege of working under his guidance and collaborating with him since I was working in the malaria department of PAHO when he was director in Geneva. I have enjoyed his friendship ever since.