WORLD HEALTH ORGAN I ZATION
ORGANISATION MONDIALE DE LA SANT~
REGIONAL OFFICE FOR
THE WESTERN PACIFIC
BUREAU R~GIONAL DU PACIFIQUE OCCIDENTAL
REGIONAL COMMITTEE Thirteenth Session Manila 20-25 September 1962 Agenda Item 16
WP/RC13/6 Add.l 6 September 1962 ORIGINAL: ENGLISH
SELECTION OF TECHNICAL DISCUSSION TOPICS FOR THE FOURTEENTH (1963) SESSION OF THE REGIONAL COMMITTEE The Regional Director has the honour to transmit herewith a complete list of the subjects selected by the Regional Committee for the Technical Discussions during the period 1952-1962. Session number Third session (195 2 ) Fourth session (1953) Fifth session (1954) Subject 'fhe education and training of medical and public health personnel Health planning Public health administration with particular reference to the organization of health departments Domiciliary midwifery as an approach to the people in the development of rural health services Approach to and management of the preschool child. (from one to six) Leprosy control Malaria control and eradication The control of tuberculosis The organization and administration of rural health services Dental health The role of the health services in the improvement of community water supplies
Sixth session (1955)
Seventh session (1956) Eighth session (1957) Ninth session (1958) Tenth session (1959) Eleventh session (1960) Twelfth session (1961) Thirteenth session (1962)
WORLD HEALTH ORGAN I ZATION
ORGANISATION MONDIALE DE LA SANT~
REGIONAL OFFICE FOR THE WESTERN PACIFIC BUREAU R~GIONAL DU PACIFIQUE OCCIDENTAL
REGIONAL COMMITrEE
Thirteenth Session Manila 20-2 5 September 1962 Agenda Item 16
WP/RC13/6 5 July 1962 ORIGINAL: ENGLISH
SELECTION OF TECHNICAL DISCUSSION TOPICS FOR THE FOURTEENTH (19 63) SESSION OF THE REGIONAL COMMITTEE The Chairman of the Technical Discussions, held during the seventh (1956) session of the Regional Committee, reportedl that the discussion
group made, inter alia, the follOwing recommendation:
"In selecting topics for future Technical Discussions, consideration should be given to matters of regional interest which are particularly appropriate to the place of the Regional Committee Meeting." The Technical Discussion group may wish to consider, among others, the follOwing topics s~sted by the Secretariat: 1 PUBLIC HEALTH NUTRITION PROGRAMMES
.,
For some time there has been an increasing awareness of the ~rtance of nutrition in the welfare of the community, but many of the efforts to improve the nutritional status have met with little success. It might now be considered worthwhile to examine the difficulties which are encountered when planning remedial nutrition programmes. In the first instance an examination of the causes of past failures might be made and the reasons for such failures defined. The Committee t s views might be sought on whether programme planning is satisfactory; such a discussion, based on the past experience of Member countries, might well indicate ways and means of planning successful programmes. Again, whilst nutrition surveys must be considered a necessary part of remedial programmes, it might be worthwhile discussing whether the role of nutrition surveys has not been over-emphasized in the past. The nutrition problems which face the countries in the Region are probably known in outline, and it /m1ght well be ••• lunpublished document WP/RC7/TDS
WP/RC13/ 6 page 2 might well be that more remedial work might be based, in the first instance, on existing qualitative knowledge with a simultaneous quantitative assessment as part of the remedial programme. New ideas from people with practical experience of nutrition planning are urgently required. The opinions of the Regional Committee would be of considerable assistance in planning successful nutrition work in the future.
2 CONTENTS OF ANNUAL HEALTH REPORTS National and provincial (state) health administrations publish and distribute annual reports, the contents of which vary from country to country. Relevant to this activity, questions may be raised as to the objecti yes of and the minimum requirements for such a report and the deadline for its publication. This topic is suggested for discussion so as to provide an opportunity for reviewing in detail the objectives, effectiveness, usefulness and essentials of annual health reports, as well as the most efficient way in which they should be prepared and published.
3 THE ROLE OF LOCAL HEALTH SERVICES IN LEPROSY CONTROL Despite substantial progress made during the past decade in the treatzoont of leprosy, this continues to be an ilqportant problem in many countries of the Region. In these areas, many are still unaware of its relatively low infectivity and the favourable response of cases to treatment. National health administrations continue to encounter difficulty in liberalizing obsolete segregation laws with the result that many untreated cases are in hiding, thus serving as reservoirs for effective propagation. At its twelfth session in Wellington in 1961 the Regional Committee that leprosy should be an early subject for the Technical Discussions. In considering this subject it is suggested that stress should be given to the 1lqportant role of local health services in control operations, because of the general impetus given in recent years to their strengthening and expansion and the adoption of ambulatory chemotherapy as a means of leprosy control. The responsibility of local health services for case-finding, follow-up treatment, prevention and health education, can be cxitically considered. The new role of specialized teams in providing local health services with technical support in case-diagnosis and management, and a new approach whereby leprosaria are considered as being merely temporary havens for infectious cases before they are returned to their communities can be discussed. There would be a pooling of the experiences, practices and views of the participating national health administrations, which would gain new insight on how to deal with their indi vidual country problems. The discussion should also pinpoint specific problem areas along which future WHO assistance may be guided. su~sted