The occasion: the meeting of the subcommittee on health and medical care(headed by U.S. Surgeon General Thomas Parran) of the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration. The time: last fortnight. The place: Atlantic City. The talk: tidal. The plans: global. Some of them:
UNRRA’s international health policy will consist of helping war-torn governments to get their own health services working. This will be done by providing “equipment and supplies, personnel, expert advice, facilities for technical training,” etc.
UNRRA will cooperate with “governmental health agencies” (e.g., the Health Organization of the League of Nations) and “nongovernmental health agencies” (presumably the Red Cross, the Rockefeller Foundation, etc.).
The subcommittee proposed that UNRRA’s health organization be headed by a Director of Health and a Regional Health Director for each area served. The countries concerned would have Regional Health subcommittees composed of their own nationals.
>UNRRA’s first job: to inventory needs and resources of each area.
>UNRRA’s hardest job: to find men who combine technical knowledge with tact.
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